Tobin Hammer: Why Do Bees Keep Losing Their Symbionts?
Hammer will speak at 4:10 p.m. in 122 Briggs Hall. The Zoom link:
https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/99515291076.
Community ecologist Rachel Vannette, associate professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, is hosting the seminar.
"How do insects and microbes form symbioses, and why do these partnerships often break down?" Hammer asks in his abstract. "We are addressing these questions with the gut microbiomes of social corbiculate bees. Despite an ancient association with their bee hosts, these symbionts are surprising dynamic over developmental, ecological and macroevolutionary time scales. I will discuss our recent discoveries of symbiont loss in bees, and efforts to understand why and how these losses occur."
Hammer received his bachelor's degree in general biology from UC San Diego in 2009 and his doctorate in evolutionary biology in 2018 from the University of Colorado, Boulder. He served as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Texas, Austin, from 2018 to 2021.
Hammer's research interests include microbiomes, symbiosis, microbial ecology and evolution, bees, biodiversity, insect-plant interactions and tropical biology.
"We are a new research group at UC Irvine studying the ecology and evolution of symbioses between hosts (especially bees) and microbes," he writes on his lab website. His mission:
- To boldly venture into uncharted waters of symbiosis and bee biology, asking—and doing our best to answer—new questions about how they tick.
- To create a culture where lab members follow their curiosity, have fun, and regularly enjoy homemade baked goods.
- To contribute to making the academic community better reflect the diversity of society, and be a more welcoming, supportive place for historically marginalized scientists.
- To help wild bees, and connect people outside academia to insect biodiversity.
Hammer's most recent publications include
- Hammer, T.J., Le, E., Martin, A.N., Moran, N.A. 2021. The gut microbiome of bumblebees. Insectes Sociaux 68, 287-301.
- Silva Cerqueira, A.E., Hammer, T.J., Moran, N.A., Cristiano Santana, W., Megumi Kasuya, M.C., Canêdo da Silva, C. 2021. Extinction of anciently associated gut bacterial symbionts in a clade of stingless bees. The ISME Journal 15, 2813-2816.
- Hammer, T.J., Le, E., Moran, N.A. 2021. Thermal niches of specialized gut symbionts: the case of social bees. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 288, 20201480.
- Hammer, T.J., De Clerck-Floate, R., Tooker, J.F., Price, P.W., Miller, D.G., Connor, E.F. 2021. Are bacterial symbionts associated with gall induction in insects? Arthropod-Plant Interactions 15, 1-12.
- Hammer, T.J., Dickerson, J.C., McMillan, W.O., Fierer, N. 2020. Heliconius butterflies host characteristic and phylogenetically structured adult-stage microbiomes. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 86, e02007-20.
Nematologist Shahid Siddique, assistant professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, is coordinating the spring seminars. For Zoom technical issues, contact him at ssiddique@ucdavis.edu.