A Middle Tennessee State University biology professor has received a $200,000 federal grant to study how honeybees’ internal biological clocks work, research that could help protect pollinators vital to the nation’s food supply and provide insights into human health.
Assistant biology professor Manuel Giannoni-Guzmán was awarded funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture to investigate how honeybee brains process time-of-day information. His team hopes the findings will improve understanding of the biological clocks that guide bee behavior and help identify early warning signs of colony decline.
Honeybees are responsible for pollinating crops that produce about one-third of the world’s food. Researchers say better understanding their behavior could help protect pollinators from threats such as pesticides and changing environmental conditions before colonies begin to collapse.
The project supports MTSU students and alumni working at the university’s Small Farm in Lascassas, where researchers currently maintain 10 honeybee colonies. The team also plans to establish an apiary near the MTSU Science Building for research and educational purposes.
Using fluorescent markers, researchers will study how neurons in honeybee brains respond to environmental changes and how their internal clocks influence behaviors such as foraging, navigation, temperature regulation, and mating.
Doctoral student Jocelyn Bransford said the research will also examine how pesticides may affect bee behavior, even when they don’t kill the insects outright.
Researchers say honeybees can serve as environmental indicators because changes in their health often reflect broader problems in the ecosystem. By detecting disruptions in bees’ internal clocks early, scientists hope to identify problems before colonies begin to fail.
The research could also have benefits beyond agriculture. Because honeybees share similarities with mammals in how their circadian rhythms function, scientists believe the findings may improve understanding of biological clocks in humans and how disruptions to those rhythms are linked to conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, and certain cancers.
Giannoni-Guzmán said the long-term goal is to develop tools that benefit both researchers and beekeepers while helping keep honeybee populations healthy for years to come.
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