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Dr. Belinda Kahnt

Research focus

• Species interactions
• Pollinator-plant coevolution
• Conservation genetics/genomics
• Phylogenetics

My main research interests concern the evolution of species interactions and the traits that mediate these interactions, particularly in mutualistic systems such as between plants and their pollinators. Moreover, I am interested in the effects that environmental factors as well as human disturbances such as fragmentation might have on the population genomics of animal species and their interaction partners.

Curriculum vitae

Since 03/2020: Research Associate

Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Institute of Biology, General Zoology

12/2013-2019: PhD studies

Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Institute of Biology, General Zoology

Dissertation title: ‚Evolutionary genetics of a bizarre adaptation: giant front legs of Rediviva bees as an adaptation to their Diascia hosts in the winter rainfall area of South-Africa‘

07/2013 - 09/2013: Research assistant

German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv)

09/2012: Master’s degree

Master’s thesis: ‘Population genetics of a rare bee in the Succulent Karoo vegetation region of South Africa’

09/2010: Bachelor’s degree

Bachelor’s thesis: ‘Importance of the range size and biogeographical distribution for evaluating the national responsibility for reptiles in Europe’

10/2007 - 09/2012:  Study of Biology

Specialisation: ‘Biodiversity and evolution of animals’

University of Leipzig (Germany)

Publications

Theodorou, P., Radzevičiūte, R., Lentendu, G., Kahnt, B., Husemann, M., Bleidorn, C., Settele, J., Schweiger, O., Grosse, I., Wubet, T., Murray, T. E., Paxton, R. J (2020) Urban areas as hotspots for bees and pollination but not a panacea for all insects.  Nature Communication 11: 576. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-14496-6

McDonald, R., Mansur, A.V., Ascensão, F., Colbert, M.L., Crossman, K., Elmqvist, T., Gonzalez, A., Güneralp, B., Haase , D., Hamann, M., Hillel, O., Huang, K., Kahnt, B., Maddox, D., Pacheco, A., Pereira, H., Seto, K. C., Simkin, R., Walsh, B., Werner, A.S., Ziter, C. (2020) Research gaps in knowledge of the impact of urban growth on biodiversity. Nature Sustainability 3: 16-24. doi: 10.1038/s41893-019-0436-6.

Kahnt , B., Hattingh, W. N., Theodorou, P., Wieseke, N., Kuhlmann, M., Glennon, K. L., van der Niet, T., Paxton,R. J., Cron, G. V. (2019) Should I stay or should I go? Pollinator shifts dominate the evolutionary history of South African Rediviva bees and their Diascia host plants. Molecular Ecology 28: 4181-4133. doi: 0.1111/mec.15154

Kahnt, B., Theodorou, P., Soro, A., Hollens-Kuhr, H., Kuhlmann, M., Pauw, A., Paxton Paxton. R. J. (2018) Small and genetically highly structured populations in a long-legged bee, Rediviva longimanus, as inferred by pooled RAD-seq. BMC Evolutionary Biology 18: 196. doi: 10.1186/s12862-018-1313-z

Theodorou, P., Radzevičiūte, R., Kahnt, B., Soro, A., Grosse, I., Paxton. R. J. (2018) Genome-wide single nucleotide scan suggests adaptation to  urbanization in an important pollinator, the red-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius L.). Proceedings of the Royal Society B 285: 20172806. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2017.2806

Kahnt, B., Montgomery, G. A., Murray,  E., Kuhlmann, M., Pauw, A., Michez, D., Paxton, R. J., Danforth, B. N.  (2017) Playing with extremes: origins and evolution of exaggerated  female forelegs in South African Rediviva bees. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 115:95-105. doi: 10.1016/j.ympev.2017.07.025

Pauw, A., Kahnt, B., Kuhlmann, M.,  Michez, D., Montgomery, G. A., Murray, E., & Danforth, B. N. (2017) Long-legged bees make adaptive leaps: linking adaptation to  coevolution in a plant–pollinator network. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 284: 20171707. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2017.1707

Kahnt, B., Gerth, M., Paxton, R. J., Bleidorn, C., Husemann, M. (2015) The complete mitochondrial genome of the endemic and highly specialized South African bee species Rediviva intermixta (Hymenoptera: Melittidae), with a comparison with other bee mitogenomes. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 116:940-953. doi: 10.1111/bij.12627

Kahnt, B., Soro, A., Kuhlmann, M., Gerth, M., Paxton, R. J. (2014) Insights into the biodiversity of the Succulent Karoo hotspot of South Africa: the population genetics of a rare and endemic halictid bee, Patellapis doleritica. Conservation Genetics 15:1491-1502. doi: 10.1007/s10592-014-0633-9

Conferences

08/2019: European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB) conference, Turku (Finland), talk: Should I stay or should I go? Pollinator shifts dominate the evolutionary history of South African Rediviva bees and their Diascia host plants

03/2019: DGaaE-Entomology conference, Halle (Germany), talk: Not the perfect match? Pollinator shifts rather than cospeciation dominate the evolutionary history of Rediviva bees and their Diascia host plants

09/2018: EurBee conference, Ghent (Belgium), talk: Not the perfect match? Biogeography and pollinator shifts rather than cospeciation dominate the evolutionary history of Rediviva bees and their Diascia host plants in the Cape biodiversity hotspot

08/2017: European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB) conference, Groningen (The Netherlands), poster: Cabinet of curiosities: the evolution of exaggerated forelegs in South African Rediviva bees

12/2016: British Ecological Society (BES) conference, Liverpool (UK), talk: Pollinator evolution and adaptation in South Africa: phylogenetics and co-phylogenetics of the bizarre Rediviva buzzer bee and its associated host plants

11/2016: Phylogenetic symposium: Evolution meets Ecology, Leipzig (Germany)

08/2015: European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB) conference, Lausanne (Switzerland), poster: Phylogenetics and evolution of extremely elongated front legs in the endemic South African bee genus Rediviva

10/2014: Hymenopterologen-Tagung, Stuttgart (Germany), talk: Insights into the phylogeny of the endemic oil-collecting bee genus Rediviva based on nuclear and mitochondrial data

10/2014: yDiv symposium, Leipzig (Germany), talk: Evolutionary genetics of a bizarre adaptation in the South African bee genus Rediviva

09/2014: iSEQ symposium on methods and applications of next-generation sequencing in evolutionary research, Leipzig (Germany)

09/2012: EurBee conference, Halle (Germany), poster: Population genetics of the rare halictid bee Patellapis doleritica of the Succulent Karoo biome of South Africa

Research stays abroad

02/2019: Research excursion to Ecuador, topic: Biodiversity and ecosystem services in relation to human disturbances

09/2016: Research stay (bioinformatics analyses, field work), University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (South Africa)

04/2015-05/2015: Research stay (phylogenetic analyses), Cornell University, Ithaca (USA)

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