Geographic Variation in Beetle Microbiome

Presenter: Katelyn Monteverde

Co-Presenter(s):
Elliott Smeds

Presenter Status: Undergraduate student

Department: Biology

Screenshot URL: https://drive.google.com/uc?id=18q2KF4lTRrDf39vh6J-yOHjSxyPVLS2z

Abstract:
The Sierra Nevada Mountains are home to a variety of organisms that must cope with environmental challenges. The montane leaf beetle, Chrysomela aeneicollis, must cope with these environmental challenges in addition to hosting bacteria which draw on their nutritional resources. Beetles live along elevation and latitudinal gradients where they experience stressfully low oxygen supplies and high daily temperature fluctuations that can cause mortality. Previous studies from Bishop Creek, the center of the latitudinal range, revealed that beetles there host three types of bacteria from the genus Wolbachia. I characterized the types of Wolbachia bacteria infecting montane beetles to the north and south of Bishop Creek. Populations along the latitudinal gradient all contained Wolbachia bacteria, however populations in different drainages along the gradient differed in the number and types of strains found. These differences may influence beetle ability to cope with environmental stress.