The decline of bee populations threatens ecosystems and agriculture through reduced pollination.
This decline is influenced by factors such as habitat loss, pesticide use, climate change, and
pathogens, many of which relate to bee nutrition. The WEAVE project aims to explore the link
between bee health, nutrition and pathogen virulence at a molecular level, with a focus on pollen, a
key nutritional source for bees. Our objectives include (1) identifying key pollen molecules defining
the nutritional niche of bees, (2) understanding changes in nutritional niches in relation to pathogen
infection, and (3) identifying resilience molecules associated with bee tolerance and/or resistance to
pathogen pressure. Additionally, we will conduct metabolomic analyses to understand the metabolic
pathways involved in bee-pathogen interactions. This aims to elucidate the mechanisms behind the
nutritional resilience. We will use genomic-scale metabolic modeling to categorize different bee
species based on their metabolic similarities, to widen our initial focus on Bombus terrestris and
Osmia bicornis to more bee species. Finally, we will synthesize our findings to advance conservation
efforts for both common and rare bee species. We will calculate nutritional niche overlap to
promoting network stability in the underlying plant-pollinator networks.