Vulture bee microbiomes: Who, what, and possibly why

There is ever increasing recognition for the role of microbes on shaping the health of diverse organisms. Diet can shape the microbiome, and in turn microbes can influence how organisms digest different foods. In this presentation I will be discussing a unique model system that includes three distinct dietary lifestyles: the stingless bees (Hymenoptera; Apidae; Meliponini). Neotropical stingless bees can be either obligately pollinivorous (only obtain their protein from pollen), obligately necrophagous (only obtain their protein from carrion), or facultatively necrophagous (consume both pollen and carrion). I will present information on gut microbial abundance, diversity, and composition associated with bees from each of these dietary lifestyles, as well as recent metagenomic work that provides information on potential functional differences provided by the microbial communities.