Our team

Tugrul Giray

Interim Director

Department of Biology

University of Puerto Rico
P.O. Box. 23360

San Juan, PR 00931-3360

Phone: (787) 764 0000 x-2974 (l) x-4851 (o)

E-mail: tgiray2@yahoo.com /tugrul.giray@upr.edu

Education

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Ph.D., 1997, Entomology
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, M.Sc.,1993, Entomology
Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey, 1990, Biology

Our collaborators

Yves Le Conte, France

Director of the French National Bee Lab (l'Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, INRA) at Avignon

Christina Grozinger, Penn State http://ento.psu.edu/directory/cmg25

Charles Abrahmson, Oklahoma State http://psychology.okstate.edu/faculty/abramson/index.html

Gene Robinson, University of Illinois https://www.life.illinois.edu/robinson/

John Barthell, Provost, University of Central Oklahoma https://www.uco.edu/presidents-cabinet/provost

Mehmet Ali Doke

Postdoctoral researcher

E-mail: malidoke@gmail.com

Project(s): I am broadly interested in mechanisms by which honey bees survive adverse periods with limited resources. I use a variety of molecular and field techniques in order to understand the changes required the seasonal transition in honey bee biology on transcriptomic, physiological, organismal, and social levels. I am currently analyzing the transcriptomes of worker honey bees in summer and winter to decipher the gene regulation mechanisms resulting in the unique, long-lived winter phenotype

Yarira Ortiz-Alvarado

Doctoral Student

E-mail: y.ortizalvarado@gmail.com

Project(s): My research interests falls within the area of molecular ecology: development, behavior and gene expression. My thesis involves studying the effect of antibiotics in the development of the honey bee Apis mellifera. I am investigating the potential role of microbiota during development and how antibiotics, through their effects on the microbiome community, may affect not only development but behavior as well as physiology of the animal; that’s only the ecology part! For the molecular aspect, I’m studying through gene expression techniques, how known genes involved in the life stages of the honey bee are being expressed.

Carlos A. Ortiz-Alvarado

Doctoral Student

E-mail: cortiz3515@gmail.com

Project(s): My work is focused on determining the underlying molecular signature of foraging decisions in the honey bee (Apis mellifera mellifera)
Honey bees are an useful model for studies of neural and behavioral plasticity (especially of social behavior), learning, and memory. Honey bees have been used extensively to study the genetic components of behavior and how regulation of genes due to environmental stimuli produce variation of phenotypes. Using this model allows the examination of gene expression patterns during specific behaviors, and to determine how these can change as a consequence of environmental factors or behavioral shifts. For example, foragers can decide which flowers and flower patches it will visit and subsequently inform to the colony based on nectar concentration and accessibility of the resource. These behavioral patterns have been studied through the Octopamine, Dopamine (and their respective repressors) signaling pathways. My work involves the construction of foraging fields using the flower patch model as described by Cakmak et al. (2009) and conduct behavioral assays described by Giray et al. (2015) to collect and classify foragers into specific categories, assess the underlying molecular expression mechanisms of behavior of each forager category through the use of Next Generation RNA sequencing techniques. Our goal is to also determine if we can identify genetic expressional trends of decision making that can be tested in other species. The results of this research can help us to better understand factors in human diseases associated with memory, learning, and decision making.

Catalina P. Rodríguez Alemañay

Doctoral Student

E-mail: catalina.rodriguez@upr.edu

Project: I am interested in determining the stress response mechanisms in honey bees

Stephanie Feliciano Cardona

Master Student

E-mail: Stephanie.feliciano2@upr.edu

My Project is focused on finding differences in behavior associated with seasonality, summer and winter.

Organisms have developed physiological and behavioral strategies to survive environmental extremes, such as changes in temperatures, food shortages, and precipitation rates. In temperate regions, the honey bee, Apis mellifera, has the capacity to survive low temperatures during winter and during this time they produce “winter bees”. I will specifically examine whether A. mellifera uses similar strategies to cope with the stress of low food availability and lower night temperatures that occur in the tropical “winter”. To test the hypothesis that “winter bee” physiology is a general response to adverse conditions, I will examine bees in Puerto Rico, a tropical island with relatively warm temperatures year-round. However, during the dry and wet seasons there are changes in food availability (plants blooming patterns change over the year). We have demonstrated that genetically distinct, gentle Africanized bees (gAHB) in Puerto Rico demonstrate a reduction in colony brood levels with reduced temperature [ 24º C (75°F) vs 32º C (90°F) in wet season ], and reduced flowering of plants for foraging (15% of plants in bloom from November to February).

Aixa Ramirez

Doctoral Student

E-mail: Aixa.ramirez1@upr.edu

My research interests are focused on the effect of land use on honey bee health and to determine if land use habits affect honey bee colony population density and colony strength parameters. The unique conditions of the island of Puerto Rico can allow us to identify the factors and specific role they play in determining honey bee health.

My project aims complement the information gathered for the US National Bee Survey, through the establishment of sentinel apiaries across the island, with the aim to attain the most complete representation of the diseases and health status of bees in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico has participated in the US National Survey of Honey Bee pests and diseases since 2013. The results obtained during the past four years have consistently shown that the incidence of viral disease, varroa mites and nosema spores are very low on the island.

The process of selecting apiaries for participation in typical monitoring efforts, such as the National Honey Bee Health Survey, depends on the availability of beekeepers who wish to participate at the time the monitoring takes place. For this reason, in a given year there may be gaps in the areas covered within the island. However, the concentration of participants is similar from year to year and excludes many areas where feral bees could have undetected diseases and parasites.

Fanfan Noel

Master Student

E-mail: Fan fan.noel@upr.edu

My research is focused on understanding how honey bees, Apis mellifera, make decisions during foraging. Honey bees visit flowers in order to obtain nectar and pollen. I am investigating the neurobiological mechanisms involved in this decision making process and why a honey bee chooses a particular flower. I am also investigating the role of some neuromodulators on foraging decision making and how reward affects particular neural mechanisms. My research involves a comparative approach and aims to examine the decision making process during foraging in different subspecies of honey bees. In order to carry out this work I have traveled to Europe in order to examine and compare subspecies of honey bees that are not present in Puerto Rico.