Heatwaves are frequent and intense across the united states

Kalamazoo College received a $126,234.36 Project Grant award dated September 15, 2025, from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) under the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI), CFDA 10.310. The grant supports research investigating the impacts of heatwaves on the blue orchard bee (Osmia lignaria), a managed crop pollinator critical to agricultural productivity. The project will deliver quantitative data on heatwave effects across two key developmental stages in three western populations through integrated field and laboratory experiments, with completion expected by March 14, 2027.

The research will produce insights into organismal-level responses to heat stress, including impacts on bee development and survival, alongside identification of molecular mechanisms associated with heat stress resilience. By clarifying the timing, geographic variation, and mechanistic pathways through which heatwaves affect orchard bees, this work will enable farmers and stakeholders to develop informed management strategies to sustain pollination services to agriculture in response to increasing heat stress events.

However, we have a limited understanding of how such events affect BEE survival, development, and fitness. This information is critical for guiding informed management decisions and predicting impacts to populations and pollination services for agriculture. My project will quantify the impacts of heatwaves on an important, managed crop pollinator – the blue orchard BEE, osmia lignaria. I will investigate the impacts of heatwaves on two key stages of early development across three western populations used for crop pollination. I combine field and laboratory experiments to (1) determine the impacts of heatwaves on organismal responses, such as development and survival, and (2) identify molecular mechanisms associated with heat stress and resilience. This research improves our understanding of when (with respect to life cycles), where (with respect to geographic variation), and how (at the organismal and molecular levels) heatwaves impact orchard bees. This supports sustained pollination services to agriculture and enables farmers and other stakeholders to plan for heatwaves.