Dr. P. Alexander Burnham, Vermont Bee Lab

Can we be good stewards of our environment? Healthy Bees, Understanding Disease Transmission, Increasing Foliage.

P. Alexander Burnham, PhD, is the technical advisor for University of Vermont’s

Bee Lab.

https://www.vermontbeelab.com/workerbees/

https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1365-2664.13962?campaign=wolearlyview

One word that comes to Alexander Burnham’s mind when he thinks of bees is “FUTURE”!

We have heard words like ‘COMPLEX’, ‘INTERESTING’, and ‘FASCINATING’ from our previous interviewees……and now Dr. Burnham associates the term ‘FUTURE’ with the bees.

Why FUTURE though?

Dr. Burnham’s interest in bees started ever since his grandfather got him involved

in beekeeping when he was 11 years old. Then during his undergraduate years,

he started working in a lab studying bee viruses which led to his interest in

bee research. He loves keeping honeybees and loves native bees as well. After

all, these insects are the FUTURE. According to him, “our future is dependent

on their future.” Bees are crucial to our food system. One of every three bites

of food we consume is a direct outcome of these pollinators, the majority of

which are bees. Hence according to Dr. Burnham, “we should be good stewards of

our environment…we are tightly linked to the bees.” As humans, our aim should

be to work towards a “healthy ecosystem and live in harmony with the species

that are so important to us without harming them.”

How do we keep our bees healthy then?

Dr. Burnham’s disease transmission work is noteworthy here. When he started working

on disease transmission of honeybees and native bees, the virus being

transmitted through shared flowers was a standing hypothesis, an idea, yet to

be tested. In this regard Dr. Burnham explained, for honeybees, viruses can be vectored by varroa mites which can transmit to a brood or another adult bee and spread the disease to the colony. But varroa mites don’t parasitize bumble bees, and hence it was a puzzle how the same virus from the honeybees is being transmitted to the bumble bees. It is definitely

not the varroa mite transmission. What Dr. Burnham’s group showed is that a honeybee

infected with deformed wing virus can visit a flower, deposit the virus on the

flower which can then be picked up by the bumblebees when they are visiting the same

flower. Professor Burnham and his colleagues tested this in their paper: https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1365-2664.13962

This research investigated the relationship between infected honeybees and bumblebees in the environment. Specifically, it showed that honeybees can actually drop viruses onto flowers, and that these flowers are capable of hosting Deformed Wing Virus. Afterwards, bumblebees can pick these viruses up from the flowers. Using mathematical models, they discovered that by increasing the number of flowers available to all bees, the virus transmission is decreased. More flowers lead to healthier bees, decreasing viruses in the honeybees. Having healthier honeybees in the system, and reducing the transmission in the system significantly improves the health of bumble bees as well. Increasing forage dilutes the probability of bumblebees and honeybees visiting the same flowers during the time window this transmission can happen. Further, Dr. Burnham and his colleagues are currently testing whether floral diversity plus abundance might lead to a decrease in transmission. This may show that we not only need more flowers, but also more kinds of native flowers.

Dr. Burnham’s love for bees, and motivation to keep them healthy shines through. We wish him the best in continuing this path of research!

When asked whether he has faced any challenges when researching bees, he had an

interesting response…

According to Dr. Burnham, ‘the challenge itself is his favorite thing about science.’

This really refers to the problem-solving aspect of scientific research where the ‘best-laid plans

fail and one needs to figure out alternative solutions on the fly. Such solutions could be a simple trip to Lowes to figure out what could be used as a better apparatus or creating a new tunnel through which the bees can go through. Having said that, he points out, bee-related or scientific research involves a lot of preliminary studies, checks after checks before the actual experiment is conducted. Despite that, even the ‘best-laid plans often do not survive the first contact with reality.’ For example, infected honeybees are not rare, but due to the seasonality of pathogens, trying to find honeybees with deformed wing virus can delay the start of the experiment.

In Dr. Burnham’s words, the “challenge of ideas not meshing with reality,” is his favorite part of conducting bee-related research.