In this new article, i share my findings.
Nosema ceranae, a known Asian parasite of honey bees, implicated in colony losses, is now infecting bumblebees! Following the parasites spread from Asian to European honey bees, Nosema ceranae is now found in most temperate countries.
After using sensitive molecular screening methods on almost 800 wild-caught bumblebees from the UK, I detect the honey bee parasite Nosema ceranae in several bumblebee species.
We find that following infection by this parasite, bumblebees show increased mortality and reduced sensitivity to sucrose (a measure of learning/foraging ability).
Discovering a high prevalence of Nosema ceranae in a range of bumblebees species is alarming and demonstrates the cosmopolitan adaptability of this parasite, spilling over from Asian honey bees to European honeybees and now becoming an emerging danger to bumblebees. Sadly, this also highlights yet another harmful threat faced by declining bumblebee populations.
The work was funded by NERC and the bumblebee conservation trust
Results from my newly published work, 
Back from co-supervising the 2013 Zoology/Ecology students in Spain. Despite an unusual lack of crab spiders, students still managed to get enough data for a good project/presentation. We also had projects including Messor Harvesting efficiency, Scorpion territories and competition between Messor Sp. and Tapinoma erraticum.
Sometimes, the most desirable tool, is an item of cutlery! Here is a picture of Chris Tranter and I, taking a closer look at some of the local ant colonies. When we weren’t doing this, we had students working on various projects including Messor ant scouting behaviour, forager recruitment in Camponotus ants and arthropod diversity.
There’s not a lot I can do to help my friend, or indeed CFS sufferers in general, though it seems in many cases, the Doctors can’t completely help either. What I can do, and will do however is try to raise awareness of the disease. Raising awareness amongst friends and strangers alike and hopefully as I go, I may raise some money for the ME association who will further increase awareness and research into the treatment of CFS.
Here we used the generalist entomopathogenic fungus Metarhizium to compare the disease resistance of a species of a weaver ant, Polyrhachis dives, which has lost the metapleural gland, with that of the well-studied leaf-cutting ant Acromyrmex echinatior and two other ant species, Myrmica ruginodis and Formica fusca, all of which have metapleural glands.
I am back from co-supervising students on the Ecology field trip. Projects this year have included the colony founding success of Polistes wasps, central foraging theory and Wild boar ecology. Altogether making this year really exciting with a lot of ideas for development next year!
Back from co-supervising the 2010 Ecology field course in Spain. With MSc and Bsc projects ranging from oil beatle behaviour to Messor ant aggression, its been a great trip with all the students doing really well!
”In a three year Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)- funded study PhD student Pete Graystock will screen native and foreign bumblebees as using advanced molecular techniques to identify parasite DNA. They will also investigate the affects of parasites on bee health.
PhD: I’ve embarked on a 3.5 year research PhD investigating pathogen spillover from commercial bumblebees colonies to native bees. Based at the University of Leeds with Dr William Hughes, the work will be done in partnership with the bumblebee conservation trust.
A week living in a hut in the middle of the Amazon, surrounded by insects…my idea of heaven!!