Department Name: Department of Insect Pollination and Ecology
Leader: AN Jiandong    Email: anjiandong@caas.cn
Objectives:
      The research objectives our department is to better understand the status of bumblebee species diversity within China; to better understand the conservation biology of bee pollinators pathology, disease resistance, immune responses, host-parasite interactions, and diversity and evolution of their gut microbrota; to reveal the molecular mechanism of some important biological traits of bumblebees; and to select the effective bumblebee species for commercial rearing and pollination; and to better understand the  effectiveness and the mechanisms of insect pollination.

Research Focus:
1. Bumblebees resources investigation and assessment, includes field survey to fill in the gap of bumblebee fauna of China; diagnosis the difficult species (complex) by DNA barcoding; revision of some difficult groups such as the subgenus Megabombus and the subgenus Mendacibombus; application assessment to select effective native bumblebee species for commercial rearing and pollination.
2. Conservation biology of major managed bee pollinators, especially on bumblebees and honeybees pathology, disease resistance, immune responses, host-parasite interactions, and diversity and evolution of their gut microbrota; hazard assessments of neonicotinoids to bee pollinators; threaten assessment of introduced European bumblebee Bombus terrestris to China native bumblebee species.
3. Reveal the molecular mechanism of some important biological traits of bumblebees, such as the regulation mechanism of female egg laying using the next generation sequencing date, the ecological adaptability of species distribution based on the protein function and structure, the neuropeptides and their receptors involved in the regulation of physiological processes of bumblebee life cycle.
4. Study on insect pollination and application, includes effectiveness and the mechanisms of insect pollination, the importance of insect pollination for crop production, using pollinators as vectors to control the pests and diseases in greenhouse, and developing the effective pollination management tools.
Team members:
LI Jilian,       lijilian@caas.cn
LUO Shudong,  luoshudong@caas.cn
HUANG Jiaxing, huangjiaxing@caas.cn
ZHANG Hong,  zhanghong@caas.cn
YANG Huipeng, yanghuipeng@caas.cn
LIU Yanjie, liuyanjie@cau.edu.cn

Publications ( Selected SCI papers since 2011):
1. Li J, Powell JE, Guo J, Evans JD, Wu J, Williams P, Lin Q, Moran NA*, Zhang Z*. Two gut community enterotypes recur in diverse bumblebee species. Current Biology, 2015, 25(15): R652–R653.
2. Zhang H, Huang J, Williams PH, Vaissière BE, Zhou Z, Gai Q, Dong J, An J*. Managed bumblebees outperform honeybees in increasing peach fruit set in China: different limiting processes with different pollinators. PLoS ONE, 2015, 10(3): e0121143.
3. Huang J, An J*, Wu J*, Williams PH. Extreme food-plant specialisation in Megabombus bumblebees as a product of long tongues combined with short nesting seasons. PLoS ONE, 2015, 10(8): e0132358.
4. Huang J, Wu J*, An J, Williams PH. Newly discovered colour-pattern polymorphism of Bombus koreanus females (Hymenoptera: Apidae) demonstrated by DNA barcoding. Apidologie, 2015, 46(2): 250-261.
5. Williams PH*, Bystriakova N, Huang J, Miao Z, An J*. Bumblebees, climate, and glaciers across the Tibetan plateau (Apidae: Bombus Latreille). Systematics and Biodiversity, 2015, 13(2): 164-181.
6. Guo J, Wu J*, Chen Y, Evans JD, Dai R, Luo W, Li J*. Characterization of gut bacteria at different developmental stages of Asian honey bees, Apis cerana. Journal of Invertebrate Pathology, 2015, 127, 110–114.
7. Li J, Cornman RS, Evans JD, Pettis JS, Zhao Y, et al. Systemic spread and propagation of a plant-pathogenic virus in European honeybees, Apis mellifera. mBio, 2014, 5(1):1–11.
8. Li J, Cornman RS, Evans JD, Pettis JS, Zhao Y, et al. Reply to “Conclusive Evidence of Replication of a Plant Virus in Honeybees Is Lacking”. mBio, 2014, 5(3)：e01250-14
9. An J*, Huang J, Shao Y, Zhang S, Wang B, Liu X, Wu J, and Williams PH*. The bumblebees of North China (Apidae, Bombus Latreille). Zootaxa, 2014, 3830(1): 1-89.
10. Xie Z*, An J. The effects of landscape on bumblebees to ensure crop pollination in the highland agricultural ecosystems in China. Journal of Applied Entomology, 2014, 138, 555-565.
11. Koch H, Abrol DP, Li J, Schmid-Hempel P. Diversity and evolutionary patterns of bacterial gut associates of corbiculate bees. Molecular Ecology, 2013, 22, 2028–2044.
12. Li J, Chen W, Wu J, Peng W, An J, Schmid-Hempel P, Schmid-Hempel R. A diversity of Nosema associated with bumblebees (Bombus spp.) from China, International Journal for Parasitology, 2012, 42, 49-61.
13. Li J, Qin H, Wu J, Sadd BM, Wang X, Evans JD, Peng W, Chen Y. The prevalence of parasites and pathogens in Asian honeybees Apis cerana in China. PloS One, 2012, 7(11): e47955.
14. Williams PH, An J, Brown M, Carolan J, Goulson D, Huang J and Ito M. Cryptic bumblebee species: consequences for conservation and the trade in greenhouse pollinators. PLoS ONE, 2012, 7(3): e32992.
15. Williams PH, Brown MJF, Carolan JC, An J, Goulson D, Aytekin AM, Best LR, Byvaltsev AM, Cederberg B, Dawson R, Huang J, Ito M, Monfared A, Raina RH, Schmid-Hempel P, Sheffield CS, ima P, Xie Z. Unveiling cryptic species of the bumblebee subgenus Bombus s. str. world-wide with COI barcodes (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Systematics and Biodiversity, 2012, 10(1): 21-56.
16. An J, Williams PH, Zhou B, Miao Z, Qi W. The bumblebees of Gansu, Northwest China (Hymenoptera, Apidae). Zootaxa, 2011, 2865, 1-36.
17. Williams PH, An J, Huang J. The bumblebees of the subgenus Subterraneobombus: integrating evidence from morphology and DNA barcodes (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Bombus). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2011, 163, 813-862.
18. Li J, Peng W, Wu J, Strange JP, Boncristiani H, Chen Y. Cross-species infection of deformed wing virus poses a new threat to pollinator conservation. Journal of Economic Entomology, 2011, 104(2): 732-739.
19. Peng W, Li J, Boncristiani H, Strange JP, Hamilton M, Chen Y. Host range expansion of honey bee black queen cell virus in the bumble bee, Bombus huntii. Apidologie, 2011, 42, 650-658.
20. Boncristiani H, Li J, Evans JD, Pettis J, Chen Y. Scientific note on PCR inhibitors in the compound eyes of honey bees, Apis mellifera. Apidologie, 2011, 42, 457-460.