Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
This award supports the acquisition of a micro-Computed Tomography (micro-CT) machine to enable 3D X-ray imaging of biological samples to advance fundamental agricultural research. This instrument would be integrated into a shared-use imaging facility and would greatly strengthen the imaging infrastructure at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), opening up new avenues for collaboration with local extension and Ag-industry partners. We propose to use this instrument to non-destructively visualize changes in internal structures and biological processes (e.g., of pollinators, crop plants, and soils) over time and in response to environmental stressors. In particular, we aim to extend UCSB's capacity as a center of pollinator research by enabling internal imaging of rare and fragile specimens in the UCSB Natural History Collections and at collaborating entomological collections across the country.
Animal Health Component
30%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
70%
Applied
30%
Developmental
0%
Goals / Objectives
The goal of this project is to advance fundamental and applied agricultural research through microCT imaging of biological samples (e.g., insects, fruits, soils). Specifically, we aim to use this instrumenttolead innovative research on the functional morphology of pollinators and their responses to environmental change. Beyond our use of the instrument, we will facilitate agricultural research more broadly in partnership with community partners, including the UC Extension Office and a local Ag-Tech company, Apeel Sciences. These partners will conduct applied research on pest management, plant pathology, and innovative agricultural technology. For researchers at the UC Extension Office, projects of particular interest include investigation of the crop fruit infestation process, by fruit-boring pests and fungi, through repeated scanning of crop fruit samples, as well as assessing soil structure in upcoming soil health trials. Researchers at Apeel Sciences will use the machine to scan post-harvest produce to test and develop their products, which are protective coatings that extend the shelf life of fresh produce. Finally, this project will expand the scope of student and trainee research on campus and support local outreach programs using UCSB'sNatural History Collections.
Project Methods
Investigating physiological and fitness effects of environmental stressors: Micro-CT technology opens up a wealth of opportunities to study causal factors underlying bee declines by enabling non-destructive imaging of bees and their nests.Proposed studies include using micro-CT to visualize tissue-level changes (e.g., volumetric changes in brain regions, muscle tissue, fat stores, ovarian development, etc.) in response to environmental stressors, especially climatic stressors (thermal and water stress), agrochemicals, and habitat changes. Micro-CT technology also presents new frontiers in the study of bee development, reproduction, and nesting biology. Traditional methods for studying bee reproduction and nesting cycles involve destructive sampling of nests at multiple time points in the year. Non-destructive imaging of nests offers novel opportunities to track bees throughout their life cycles.As an example, we propose to repeatedly scan individual nests over the course of the reproductive season, allowing us to study the effects of environmental stressors (e.g., heat stress, agrochemicals) on the lifetime reproductive fitness of individual bees. Scan images will reveal the precise timing of reproduction as well as maternal investment (number and size of offspring), for fitness calculations. Directly linking fitness outcomes to environmental stressors will provide powerful insights into the evolutionary consequences of anthropogenic change, and help develop new metrics for quantifying bee health.Investigation of functional drivers of pollination phenotypes: The micro-CT scanner would also enable novel investigations of the morphological adaptations underlying variation in pollination behavior across bee taxa. Pollinator functional diversity is critical for maintaining crop yield, because it ensures complementarity between diverse plant morphologies and the bees adaptively specialized to collect pollen from them. Micro-CT imaging will enable visualization of morphological structures associated with diverse modes of pollination across bee taxa. For example, many economically important crops (e.g, tomatoes and potatoes) must be pollinated by bees that use their flight muscles to mechanically vibrate anthers at the appropriate frequency to release pollen, a phenomenon known as buzz pollination. We will utilize the UCSB micro-CT machine for a comparative study across bee species vary in their ability to buzz pollinate, to visualize differences in thoracic muscular morphology that enable this unique behavior. Other bees possess specialized internal and external structures for pollen collection, with functional consequences for pollination efficacy. Understanding this diversity and empirically linking it to crop pollination in the field is essential for maintaining reproductive success of crop plants. While traditional techniques for morphological analysis of these structures are destructive, access to a micro-CT machine will enable non-destructive analysis of rare and fragile specimens, extending our understanding of lesser-studied pollinator species.