Maya Cabrera ’27, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Maya Cabrera ’27

Major

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Project Title

Understanding Host-Symbiont Interactions Across a Sociality Continuum: Insights from Bees and Nematodes

Presentation Link

View Maya's Presentation

Minor(s): Visual Arts

I studied two types of bees, Augochlorella aurata and Augochlora pura, and the nematodes that live inside them. These bees, commonly known as ‘sweat bees’ (Hymenoptera: Halictidae), have different social structures, with A. aurata being eusocial and A. pura being solitary. The overall goal of our project was to see how sociality affected nematode prevalence and burden in the two species, and to determine whether their nematodes act as parasites, commensals, or mutualists. I engaged in both fieldwork and lab work. In the field, I excavated sweat bees from their nests and collected them as they were foraging on flowers. In the lab, I dissected bees to see the number of nematodes in their bodies and performed “choice assays” to examine why nematodes choose to inhabit certain bees and not others. I now know how to identify multiple types of native bee species and properly dissect them and can also identify the different lifecycles of nematodes and perform choice assays using them. This experience has inspired me to seriously consider studying bees for my junior paper or senior thesis and I plan to continue working with the Graham and Kocher labs in the fall.