UPDATE:
Dr Cridge’s presentation was recorded as an audio file that can be accessed here via VIMEO
His PowerPoint presentation has been converted to a PDF File
Please scroll through the presentation while listening to the audio for best effect.
Contact Dr Cridge for any further questions: [email protected]
B3 is hosted Dr Andrew Cridge from the Laboratory for Evolution & Development at the Department of Biochemistry University of Otago to present on the topic Bees as Biosecurity Biomonitors: exotic plant detection & identification on Thursday 29th October.
The presentation shared information about a trial undertaken to evaluate if DNA metabarcoding can identify pollen of invasive plant species when gathered by foraging honeybees (Apis mellifera).
During the 2019/2020 season, pollen was collected from ~20 hives across Dunedin at residential, semi-rural, and town belt locations.
Over two-day windows, at three weekly intervals, pollen was obtained from the bees entering the hives using internal pollen traps. Pollens were taxonomically identified and quantified using DNA metabarcoding and microscopy.
Dr Cridge will present some early results indicating the types of pollen collected and the ability of this technology to identify invasive plant species.
He is being hosted by Karen Armstrong and B3 Director David Teulon.
For more information please contact Wanda Vivequin: [email protected]