Scientist: Gloria DeGrandi-Hoffman
EDUCATION:
Ph.D. 1983
M.S. 1980
B.S. 1975
Areas of Expertise: Crop pollination, African honey bee behavior and population dynamics, and mathematical modeling.
Dr. DeGrandi-Hoffman is a recognized expert in mathematical
modeling of honey bee populations. She has constructed the first fruit set
prediction models for apples and almonds. She also has uncovered
cross-pollination mechanisms for crops such as sunflowers, apples and almond.
Dr. DeGrandi-Hoffman also has spent the last 6 years studying the behavior of
Africanized honey bees to identify traits that have enabled African bees to
displace resident European populations in almost every habitat they have
invaded. These include studies uncovering interactions between workers and
queens during queen replacement in Africanized honey bee colonies, sperm
utilization by queens mated with African and European drones, and fluctuating
asymmetries in workers that are hybrids from crosses between African and
European bees. Dr. DeGrandi-Hoffman also has conducted experiments to determine
the inheritance of defensive behavior in crosses between Africanized and European
honey bees. She co-authored the chapter on Africanized honey bees in the
upcoming Entomological Society of America Annual Review of Entomology.
Current Research Program: Maintaining European colonies in
Africanized habitats is difficult. European colonies become Africanized if the
queen open mates. Africanized colonies often reject introduced European queens.
European colonies also can be usurped by small swarms of African bees. The
emphasis of my research program is to identify factors leading to the rejection
of European queens by Africanized colonies and develop methods for requeening
Africanized colonies with European queens. I also am determining
the factors leading to the usurpation of European honey bee colonies by African
bees including the effects of nest usurpation on
worker-queen interactions and characterization of pheromone profiles of
invading bees.
Publications in Previous 5 years:
DeGrandi-Hoffman,
G., J. Watkins, G.M. Loper, J.H. Martin, M.C. Arias, W.S. Sheppard,
and A.M. Collins. 1998.
Development times of honey bee (Apis
mellifera L.)
queens from
crosses between Africanized and European honey bees. Annals of
the Entomol. Soc of Am. 91: 52-58.
DeGrandi-
Hoffman, G., A. Collins, J.H. Martin, J.O. Schmidt and H.G. Spangler. 1998.
Nest defense behavior in colonies from crosses between Africanized and
European honey
bees. J. Insect Behav. 11: 37-45.
DeGrandi-
Hoffman, G. 1998. Defensive behavior in African and European
crosses. Bee
Culture 126: 21-23.
DeGrandi-Hoffman,
G. and J.C. Watkins 1998 Queen development time and
the
Africanization of European honey
bees. Amer. Bee J.135: 467-469.
Sammataro, D., G DeGrandi-Hoffman, G.R. Needham and G. Wardell. 1998.
Some
volatile plant
oils as potential control agents for Varroa mites (Acari:
Varroidae)
in honey bee
colonies (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Am.
Bee J. 138: 681-685.
DeGrandi-Hoffman, G. and J.C.
Watkins 2000.The foraging activity of honey bees (Apis
mellifera L.) and
non-Apis bees on hybrid sunflowers (Helianthus annuus L.)
and its
influence on cross- pollination and seed set. J. Apic.
Res. 39: 37-45.
DeGrandi-Hoffman, G. and J.C. Watkins 2000. The
influence that honey
bees and wild
Bees foraging together have on
sunflower cross-pollination and seed set. Am.
Bee J. 137:565-566.
DeGrandi-Hoffman,
G. and Hagler, J. 2000. The flow
of incoming nectar in a honey bee
(Apis mellifera L.) colony as revealed by a protein marker. Insectes
Soc.
47:302-306.
DeGrandi-Hoffman,
G. & Hagler, J. 2000. How honey
bees might use the placement of
incoming nectar in a colony as a means of communication.
Amer. Bee J. 137:892-894.
DeGrandi-Hoffman, G., J.C. Watkins, P.
Guerrero, and E. Erickson. 2000. Using honey
bees to teach
Mathematics and science to high school students. Amer. Bee J.
140:
293-295.
DeGrandi-Hoffman,
G. and J. Watkins.2000. The foraging activity of honey bees (Apis
mellifera L.) and non-Apis bees on hybrid sunflowers (Helianthus annuus L.) and
its influence on
cross-pollination and seed set. J. Apic. Res. 39:
37-45
DeGrandi-Hoffman, G. and J.C. Watkins 2000. The
influence that honey
bees and wild
bees foraging together have on sunflower
cross-pollination and seed set. Am.
Bee J. 140: 565-566.
Evans, J.,
DeGrandi-Hoffman, G., and D. Wheeler. 2000. Honey bee queen production:
Tight genes or too
much food? Amer. Bee J. 140:
136-13.
Schneider S.S., S. Painter-Kurt, and G. DeGrandi-Hoffman. 2001.
Regulation of virgin queen behavior by the vibration signal of the honey bee
and its possible role in the Africanization process. In: Proceedings of the Second International Conference on
Africanized Honey Bees and Bee Mites (E Erickson & R Page, Eds). A.I. Root, Inc. pgs. 34-44
DeGrandi-Hoffman G. and S.S. Schneider. 2001.
Worker behaviors in queenless Africanized honey bee colonies. In: Proceedings of the Second International Conference on
Africanized Honey Bees and Bee Mites (E Erickson & R Page, Eds). A.I. Root, Inc. 104-108.
Schneider S.S., S. Painter-Kurt, and G. DeGrandi-Hoffman. 2001. The
role of the vibration
signal during queen competition in colonies of the honey bee, Apis
mellifera. Animal
Behaviour 61: 1173-1180.
Lewis,
selection of
recipients by workers performing vibration signals in colonies of the
honey bee, Apis
mellifera. Animal Behavior:
1173-1180.
Schneider, S.S. and G. DeGrandi-Hoffman. 2002 The
influence of worker behavior
and paternity
on the development and emergence of honeybee queens. Insectes Sociaux 49: 306-314.
DeGrandi-Hoffman,
G., D.R. Tarpy and S.S. Schneider. 2003.
Patriline composition
of worker
populations in honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) colonies headed by queens
inseminated with semen from African and European drones. Apidologie 34:
111-120.
DeGrandi-Hoffman, G. 2003. Honey
bees in
In: For non-native crops, whence
pollinators of the future. K. Strickler and J.
Cane Eds. Thomas Say Publications
pgs. 11-20.
Schneider, S.S. and G. DeGrandi-Hoffman. 2003.
The influence of paternity on virgin
queen success in hybrid colonies of European and African
honey bees, Apis
mellifera. Anim. Behav. 65: 883-892.
Sammataro D,
2003.
Combining IPM strategies to manage Varroa
destructor (Acari: Varroidae) levels in honey bee (Hypemoptera: Apidiae) colonies. Internatl.
J. of Acarology (in press).
Schneider,
S. S., G. DeGrandi-Hoffman and D. Smith. 2004. The African honeybee:
Factors
contributing to a successful biological invasion. Ann. Rev. of
Entomol. 49: 351-376
Schneider S.S., G. DeGrandi-Hoffman
& L.J. Leamy. 2004. Influence of hybridization
between African and European honeybees on
fluctuating asymmetry in wing size
and shape. Evolution 57: 2350-2364.
Schneider, S.S., T.A.Deeby, D. Gilley and G.
DeGrandi-Hoffman.
2004. Seasonal nest usurpation
of European colonies by African swarms in
Sociaux (in press).
DeGrandi-Hoffman, G., M. Chambers, J. Hooper, and S.S. Schneider. 2004. Description
of an Intermorph
Between a Worker and Queen in African Honey Bees Apis
mellifera
scutellata (Hymenoptera: Apidae). Annals of Entomol. Soc. Amer. (in
press).
DeGrandi-Hoffman, G. and R. Curry
2004. A Mathematical Model of Varroa
Mite
(Varroa destructor Anderson and Trueman) and Honeybee
(Apis mellifera
L.) Population Dynamics. Internatl J. of
Acarology (in press).