Dr. Anja Tehel
Research Project
"Pathogen spill-over between pollinators: directionality and impact on biodiversity"
Bees are very important pollinators for wild plants and crops. Around 80 % of our crops are dependent on the ecosystem service of pollination and therefore bees are essential for the security of food supply. It has been shown that the presence of wild insects increase the crop yield in comparison to pollination only with honey bees (Garibaldi et al. 2013). But there is considerable evidence that wild bees are declining (Bartomeus et al. 2013, Carvalheiro et al. 2013, Biesmeijer et al. 2006). Pathogens that are till now linked with honeybees are talked about as one out of many possible reasons for declines. It was shown by Fürst et al. (2014) that wild bees and honeybees collected in the same regions of Great Britain contained the same strain of Deforming Wing Virus, a major honey bee pathogen. So it is not only that honeybee viruses are present in wild bees, there is evidence of ongoing or recent transmission of viral diseases between managed and wild bee populations. But there is little knowledge about the main direction of spread of pathogens between pollinator genera. The aim of my project is to investigate the directionality of virus transmission between different bee species and gain a better understanding of the virulence of different RNA-viruses in wild bee species.
Research questions
1.
Honey bee associated viruses in different bee families
2.
Experimental infection of bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) with DWV and BQCV
Short CV
2020 - 2023
researcher and mini apiary manager within B-GOOD project
2015-2022
PhD student, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Institute of Biology, General Zoology
topic: Pathogen spill-over: directionality and impact on biodiversity and the ecosystem service of pollination
2011 - 2014
M.Sc. Biology, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg
Master’s thesis: ‘Insights into the social organisation and patterns of spatial genetic structure in the primitively eusocial sweat bee,Lasioglossum laticeps (Hymenoptera, Halictidae)’
2008 – 2011
B.Sc. Biology, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg
Bachelor’s thesis: ‚Influence of light-dark cycles with different amplitude and frequency on the activity rhythm of Phodopus sungorus‘
Publications
Streicher T, Tehel A, Tragust S, Paxton RJ. 2022 Experimental viral spillover can harm Bombus terrestris workers under field conditions. Ecological Entomology. 48:1 81-89 https://resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/een.13203
Tehel A, Streicher T, Tragust S, Paxton RJ. 2022 Experimental cross species transmissionof a major viral pathogen in beesis predominantly from honeybeesto bumblebees. Proc. R. Soc. B 289:20212255 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.2255
Dosch C, Manigk A, Streicher T, Tehel A, Paxton RJ, Tragust S. 2020 The gut microbiota can provide viral tolerance in the honey bee. Microorganisms 9 (4), 871 https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms9040871
Tehel A, Streicher T, Tragust S, Paxton RJ. 2020 Experimental infection of bumblebees with honeybee-associated viruses: no direct fitness costs but potential future threats to novel wild bee hosts. R. Soc. Open Sci.7:200480 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.200480
Tehel, A., Vu, Q., Bigot, D., Gogol-Döring, A., Koch, P., Jenkins, C., Doublet, V., Theodorou, P., Paxton, R., 2019. The two prevalent genotypes of an emerging infectious disease, Deformed wing virus, cause equally low pupal mortality and equally high wing deformities in host honey bees. Viruses11, 114. doi.org/10.3390/v11020114
Tehel A, Brown MJF, Paxton R: Impact of managed honey bee viruses on wild bees. Current Opinion in Virology 2016, 19:16-22 doi:10.1016/j.coviro.2016.06.006
Conferences
2022
EurBee 9 Belgrade - poster: B-GOOD WP1: Make the lives of bees and beekeepers easier; talk: Honeybee viruses and where to find them across the phylogentic tree of bees
69. Jahrestagung der Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Institute für Bienenforschung e.V. (Hohenheim) -talk: Experimental transmission of DWV-A and DWV-B between honey bees and bumble bees
2021
68. Jahrestagung der Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Institute für Bienenforschung e.V. Göttingen - talk: Experimental infection reveals viral spill-over from honey bees to bumble bees but no spill-back
2019
Central European Meeting of the IUSSI Wien/Kloserneuburg - poster: Experimental infection of B. terrestris with DWV and BQCV
Entomologentagung der DGaaE Halle - talk: Experimental infection of B. terrestris with DWV and BQCV
66. Jahrestagung der Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Institute für Bienenforschung e.V. Frankfurt am Main/Oberursel - talk: Honey bee associated viruses in different bee families
2018
iDiv Annual Conference in Leipzig - talk: Experimental infection of bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) with DWV and BQCV
EurBee 8 Ghent - poster: Experimental infection of bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) with DWV and BQCV
65. Jahrestagung der Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Institute für Bienenforschung e.V. Koblenz - poster: Screening of different wild bee species for honey bee-associated viruses
2017
64. Jahrestagung der Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Institute für Bienenforschung e.V. Celle - talk: Assessing the virulence of Deformed wing virus and Varroa destructor virus-1 on the development of honeybee pupae (Apis mellifera)
2016
iDiv Annual Conference in Leipzig - poster: Assessing the virulence of Deformed wing virus and Varroa destructor virus-1 on development of honeybees (Apis mellifera)
2014
11. Hymenopterologen-Tagung Stuttgart - talk: Insights into the social organisation and patterns of spatial genetic structure in the primitively eusocial sweat bee, Lasioglossum laticeps
