Networks
Co-Authors
Co-Investigators
Map Of Science
Danforth, Bryan Nicholas
Cornell Faculty Member
Close
Positions
My work falls within the field of systematics and evolution. In particular, I am interested in the evolution of insects and how we can reconstruct the phylogeny of insects using molecular and morphological data. Given that insects comprise over 75% of the species of animals on earth, they are an extremely important group both ecologically and economically.
Research Areas
Websites
- Affiliations
- Research
- Publications
- Teaching
- Service
- Background
- Other
- View All
Affiliations
other Cornell affiliations
member of
- David R. Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future (ACSF) Faculty Fellow
Research
research overview
- Research in my laboratory focuses on the phylogeny, evolution, population genetics, and conservation of bees. Bees comprise a monophyletic group of over 20,000 species worldwide. The genus Apis, to which the common, domesticated honey bee belongs, comprises just 8 of the 20,000 species of bees in the world. The vast majority of bees are solitary, ground- or stem-nesting, and do not produce honey. However, they are extremely important pollinators of native and, in many cases, agricultural plants. We study the phylogeny of bees at all levels from the species level to the family level with a combination of morphological and molecular data. The recent publication of the honey bee genome has allowed us to develop data sets from a large number of nuclear genes. Studies that are ongoing in the lab include understanding the root node of bees, the pattern and timing of the early diversification of bees, the relationships among the bee families, and relationships at higher levels within bee families. Such studies are essential to developing a stable classification of the bees, inferring the historical biogeography of bees, understanding the history of bee/plant co-evolution, and reconstructing patterns of bee social evolution. We are currently focusing on the long-tongued bee families Megachilidae (in collaboration with Terry Griswold and Christophe Praz). Graduate student Jessica Litman is investigating the basal phylogeny of the Megachilidae, in particular the tribe Fideliini. Fideliines are distributed in arid regions of southern Africa, Morocco, and western South America. Graduate student Sophie Cardinal is investigating the phylogeny and evolution of the Apidae. Her results are providing new (and surprising) insights into the evolution of both cleptoparasitism and eusociality. Graduate student Margarita Lopez-Uribe is studying the population genetics of native bees in agricultural landscapes in the eastern US. Her studies are providing the first empirical data on gene flow and genetic diversity in native bee pollinators. Other projects include studies of the role of native bees in apple pollination (with graduate student Mia Park). It is becoming increasingly clear that declines in honey bee populations over the past 50 years means that increased work needs to be done on the role of native bees in agricultural settings. Apples are a crop in which native bees are most likely playing a very key role in pollination, but we need more information on how to manage and conserve these important native pollinators.
research activities
principal investigator on
- COLLABORATIVE DATABASING OF NORTH AMERICAN BEE COLLECTIONS WITHIN A GLOBAL INFORMATICS NETWORK awarded by NATL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 2010 - 2013
- PHYLOGENY OF APIDAE (HYMENOPTERA) WITH AN EMPHASIS ON THE EVOLUTION AND ANTIQUITY OF EUSOCIALITY awarded by DIRECTORATE FOR BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES NSF 2008 - 2012
- POLLINATION SECURITY FOR FRUIT AND VEGETABLE CROPS IN THE NORTHEAST awarded by NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURE-USDA 2011 - 2016
- QUANTIFYING AND ENHANCING POLLINATION SERVICES PROVIDED BY NATIVE BEES FOR SUSTAINABLE APPLE PRODUCTION awarded by NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURE-USDA 2011 - 2015
- REVSYS: PHYLOGENY AND SYSTEMATICS OF THE MEGACHILID BEES awarded by NATL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 2008 - 2013
keywords
- apoidea
- bees
- insect ecology
- pollination
submitted impact statement
Publications
individual publications
-
academic article
- Biogeography and diversification of colletid bees (Hymenoptera: Colletidae): emerging patterns from the southern end of the World. Journal of Biogeography. 39:526-544. 2012
- Discovery and characterization of microsatellites for the solitary bee Colletes inaequalis using Sanger and 454 pyrosequencing.. Apidologie. 44:163-172. 2012
- Identifying the sister group to the bees: a molecular phylogeny of aculeata with an emphasis on the superfamily Apoidea.. Zoologica Scripta. 41:527-535. 2012
- Phylogeny of halictine bees supports a shared origin of eusociality for Halictus and Lasioglossum (Apoidea: Anthophila: Halictidae).. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 65:926-939. 2012
- Phylogeny of the bee family Megachilidae (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) based on adult morphology. Systematic Entomology. 37:261-286. 2012
- Taxonomic affinity of halictid bee fossils (Hymenoptera: Anthophila) based on geometric morphometrics analyses of wing shape.. Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. 10. 2012
- A simple and distinctive microbiota exclusively associated with honey bees and bumble bees. Molecular Ecology. 20:619-628. 2011
- Climate-associated phenological advances in bee pollinators and bee-pollinated plants. Proceedings at the National Academy of Science USA. 108:20645-20649. 2011
- Melittosphex burmensis (Apoidea: Melittosphecidae): detailed description of the morphology, classification, antiquity, and implications for bee evolution. Journal of Paleontology. 85:882-891. 2011
- Rooting phylogenies using gene duplications: An empirical example from the bees (Apoidea). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 60:295-304. 2011
- The antiquity and evolutionary history of social behavior in bees. PLoS One. 6. 2011
- Why do leafcutter bees cut leaves? New insights into the early evolution of bees. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B. 278:3593-3600. 2011
- Comprehensive phylogeny of apid bees reveals the evolutionary origins and antiquity of cleptoparasitism. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 107:16207-16211. 2010
- Isolation and cross-species characterization of polymorphic microsatellites for the orchid bee Eulaema meriana (Hymenoptera: Apidae: Euglossini). Conservation Genetics Resources. 3:21-23. 2010
- Unexpected polylecty in the bee genus Meganomia (Hymenoptera, Apoidea, Melittidae). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society. 83:221-230. 2010
- Episodes in insect evolution.. Integrative and Comparative Biology. 49:590-606. 2009
- Phylogeny and historical biogeography of the bee family Melittidae (Hymenoptera: Apiformes) based on combined molecular and morphological data. Systematic Entomology. 34:574-597. 2009
- Phylogenetic relationships and host-plant evolution within the basal clade of Halictidae (Hymenoptera, Apoidea). Cladistics. 24:255-269. 2008
- Phylogeny and biogeography of bees of the tribe Osmiini (Hymenoptera: Megachilidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 49:185-197. 2008
- Phylogeny of Halictidae with an emphasis on the endemic African Halictinae. Apidologie. 39:86-101. 2008
- Phylogeny of colletid bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea: Colletidae) inferred from four nuclear genes. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 50:290-309. 2008
- Phylogeny of the Xeromelissinae (Hymenoptera: Colletidae) based upon morphology and molecules. Apidologie. 39:75-85. 2008
- Bees - a primer. Current Biology. 17. 2007
- Low nuclear DNA variation supports a recent origin of Hawaiian Hylaeus bees (Hymenoptera: Colletidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 43:908-915. 2007
- A fossil bee from Early Cretaceous Burmese amber. Science. 314:614. 2006
- Analysis of family-level relationships in bees (Hymenoptera: Apiformes) using 28S and two previously unexplored nuclear genes: CAD and RNA polymerase II. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 39:358-372. 2006
- Changing paradigms in insect social evolution: insights from halictine and allodapine bees. Annual Review of Entomology. 52:127-150. 2006
- Evolution and biogeography of native Hawaiian Hylaeus bees (Hymenoptera: Colletidae). Cladistics. 22:393-411. 2006
- Recent and simultaneous origins of eusociality in halictid bees. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B. 273:1643-1649. 2006
- The history of early bee diversification based on five genes plus morphology. Proceedings at the National Academy of Science USA. 103:15118-15123. 2006
- How do insect nuclear ribosomal genes compare to protein-coding genes in phylogenetic utility and DNA substitution patterns?. Systematic Entomology. 30:549-562. 2005
- How do insect nuclear and mitochondrial gene substitution patterns differ? Insights from Bayesian analyses of combined data sets. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 30:686-702. 2004
- Molecular phylogenetics and evolution of maternal care in membracine treehoppers. Systematic Biology. 53:400-421. 2004
- Recent intron gain in elongation factor-1alpha (EF-1 alpha) of colletid bees (Hymenoptera: Colletidae). Molecular Biology and Evolution. 21:691-696. 2004
- Single copy nuclear genes recover Cretaceous age divergences in bees. Systematic Biology. 53:1-18. 2004
- Gene flow and population structure in an oligolectic desert bee, Macrotera (Macroteropsis) portalis (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae). J. Kansas Entomological Society. 76:221-235. 2003
- Phylogeny of eusocial Lasioglossum reveals multiple losses of eusociality within a primitively eusocial clade of bees (Hymenoptera: Halictidae). Systematic Biology. 52:23-36. 2003
- Evolution of sociality in a primitively eusocial lineage of bees. Proceedings at the National Academy of Science USA. 99:286-290. 2002
- Phylogeography of the socially polymorphic sweat bee Halictus rubicundus (Hymenoptera: Halictidae). Evolution. 56:330-341. 2002
- Australian Lasioglossum + Homalictus form a monophyletic group: resolving the "Australian enigma". Systematic Biology. 50:268-283. 2001
- Phylogenetic utility of the major opsin in bees (Hymenoptera: Apoidea): a reassessment. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 19:76-93. 2001
- Determining parasitoid species composition in a host population: a new molecular approach. Ann. Entomol. Soc. America. 93:640-647. 2000
- Emergence dynamics and bet hedging in a desert bee Perdita portalis. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London Series B. 266:1985-1994. 1999
- Male dimorphism in Perdita portalis (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae) has arisen from preexisting allometric patterns. Insectes Sociaux. 46:18-28. 1999
- Phylogeny of the bee genus Halictus (Hymenoptera: Halictidae) based on parsimony and likelihood analyses of nuclear EF-1 sequence data. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 13:605-618. 1999
- Phylogeny of the bee genus Lasioglossum (Hymenoptera: Halictidae) based on mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase. Systematic Entomology. 24:377-393. 1999
- Two new and highly apomorphic species of the Lasioglossum subgenus Evylaeus (Hymenoptera: Halictidae) from Central America. Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am.. 92:624-630. 1999
- Elongation factor-1 occurs as two copies in bees: Implications for phylogenetic analysis of EF-1 sequences in insects. Molecular Biology and Evolution. 15:225-235. 1998
- Mitochondrial DNA differentiation between two cryptic Halictus species. Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am.. 91:387-391. 1998
- Secondarily solitary: the evolutionary loss of social behavior. Trends in Ecology and Evolution. 12:468-474. 1997
- DNA fingerprinting and the problem of non-independence among pairwise comparisons. Mol. Ecol.. 5:221-227. 1996
- Nestmate relatedness in a communal bee, Perdita texana (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae), based on DNA fingerprinting. Evolution. 50:276-284. 1996
- Phylogenetic analysis and taxonomic revision of the Perdita subgenera Macrotera, Macroteropsis, Macroterella and Cockerellula (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae). Kansas Science Bulletin. 55:635-692. 1996
- Taxonomic review of Calliopsis subgenus Hypomacrotera (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) with special emphasis on the distributions and host plant associations. Pan-Pacific Entomol.. 70:283-300. 1994
- Dynamics of a host-cleptoparasitic relationship: parasitism of Calliopsis pugionis (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae) by Holcopasites ruthae (Hymenoptera: Anthophoridae). Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am.. 86:833-840. 1993
- Nesting, foraging and investment sex ratio in Calliopsis pugionis (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae). Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am.. 86:822-832. 1993
- A review of the Perdita subgenus Macrotera (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae). Contributions in Science. 436:1-12. 1992
- Male polymorphism and polyethism in Perdita texana (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae). Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am.. 85:616-626. 1992
- Taxonomic and bionomic notes on Perdita (Hexaperdita) graenicheri. Journal of Hymenoptera Research. 1:107-118. 1992
- The nesting and foraging behavior of Perdita texana Cresson (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae). J. Kansas Entomol. Soc.. 64:394-405. 1992
- Female foraging and intranest behavior of a communal bee, Perdita portalis Timberlake (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae). Ann. Entomol. Soc. Am.. 84:537-548. 1991
- The morphology and behavior of dimorphic males in Perdita portalis (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 29:235-247. 1991
- Provisioning behavior and the estimation of investment ratios in a solitary bee, Calliopsis (Hypomacrotera) persimilis (Cockerell) (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. 27:159-168. 1990
- Nesting behavior of four species of Perdita (Hymenoptera: Andrenidae). J. Kansas Entomol. Soc.. 62:59-79. 1989
- The evolution of hymenopteran wings: the importance of size. Journal of Zoology. 218:247-276. 1989
- Wing folding in the Hymenoptera. Ann. Entomol. Soc. Amer.. 81:342-349. 1988
- Mechanisms of spontaneous mutagenesis: an analysis of the spectrum of spontaneous mutations in the E. coli lac I gene. J. Mol. Biol.. 189:273-284. 1986
- Rapid repeated cloning of mutant lac repressor genes. Gene. 39:181-189. 1985
-
article
-
book
-
chapter
- The timeline of aculeate evolution . The TimeTree of Life. 2008
- RFLP analysis using heterologous probes. Molecular Genetic Analysis of Populations: A Practical Approach. 151-200. 1998
- The evolution of social behavior in the augochlorine sweat bees (Hymenoptera: Halictidae) based on a phylogenetic analysis of the genera. The Evolution of Social Behavior in Insects and Arachnids. 270-292. 1997
-
report
- Flowers and insect evolution: reply to Farrell 1999
- Reply to Scharff & Burda 1998
- Chemiluminescent DNA fingerprinting using PCR-labelled M13 and Jeffreys probes 1994
presentations
featured in archived article
- 100-million-year-old discovery pushes bees' evolutionary history back 35 million years
- History of 'cuckoo bees' needs a rewrite, study reports
- Researchers receive $1.5M NSF grant for bee database
- The dating game: Social behavior of sweat bees evolved with Earth's warming a mere 20 million years ago, Cornell study finds
Teaching
teaching overview
- I currently teach two classes current at Cornell. First, I teach Alien Empire: Bizarre Biology of Bugs (Entom 2010/2011). Alien Empire is an elective, non-majors class that is meant to introduce undergraduate students to the bizarre and fascinating world of insects. This course emphasizes insect evolution, behavior, natural history, and ecology, but also covers topics related to the interaction between humans and insects.... I have worked very hard in Alien Empire to captivate the students with the bizarre and interesting lives of insects. I make heavy use of color photographs to illustrate the diversity of insect form and anatomy. I use audio recordings to introduce students to the world of insect acoustic communication. I place short films (~5 mins.) throughout the lectures to show live insects in action. I also try to keep things entertaining with occasional segments from popular movies such as "Joe's Apartment" and "Bugs Life". In 2004 I developed a stand alone website for the course: http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/ent201/index.html The website provides an overview of the course as well as course materials. I use the website to post handouts (as downloadable pdf files), Powerpoint presentations (as downloadable pdf files), movie clips, reading assignments, and term paper guidelines. Alien Empire is one of my favorite courses to teach and I think the students react well to my enthusiasm. I have been told by some students that Entom 201 is the best course they have had at Cornell. Other student comments included: "I have never had a more enthusiastic instructor since I have been at Cornell," "Bryan is an enthusiastic teacher -- he loves the subject and transferred this excitement well," "I really enjoyed this class... Bugs are really neat!", "I loved this course and would recommend it to all my friends." Second, I teach Entom 3310/3311, a graduate/undergraduate level course in insect phylogeny and evolution. I taught this class for the first time in Spring, 2007 and will teach it again in Fall, 2009. This course provides students with a broad overview of insect diversity, phylogeny, evolution and fossil history. I incorporate some discussion of methods of phylogenetic analysis (including parsimony, maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods) in order to give the students an idea of what kinds of methods people use to reconstruct phylogenies. Students give presentations at the end of the semester on independent research they have done on one group of insects. The laboratory portion of the course (Entom. 3311; 1 credit) involves field collections and identification to the family level.
teaching activities
- ENTOM-2010: Alien Empire: Bizarre Biology of Bugs - Spring 2013
- ENTOM-2011: Alien Empire: Bizarre Biology of Bugs - Spring 2013
- ENTOM-7070: Individual Study for Graduate Students - Spring 2013
- ENTOM-7090: Teaching Entomology - Spring 2013
- ENTOM-8900: Master's Level Thesis Research - Spring 2013
- ENTOM-9900: Doctoral Level Thesis Research - Spring 2013
- ENTOM-7070: Individual Study for Graduate Students - Fall 2012
- ENTOM-7090: Teaching Entomology - Fall 2012
- ENTOM-8900: Master's Level Thesis Research - Fall 2012
- ENTOM-9900: Doctoral Level Thesis Research - Fall 2012
- ENTOM-7070: Individual Study for Graduate Students - Spring 2012
- ENTOM-7090: Teaching Entomology - Spring 2012
- ENTOM-8900: Master's Level Thesis Research - Spring 2012
- ENTOM-9900: Doctoral Level Thesis Research - Spring 2012
- ENTOM-3310: Insect Phylogeny and Evolution - Fall 2011
- ENTOM-3311: Insect Phylogeny and Evolution Laboratory - Fall 2011
- ENTOM-7070: Individual Study for Graduate Students - Fall 2011
- ENTOM-7090: Teaching Entomology - Fall 2011
- ENTOM-8900: Master's-Level Thesis Research - Fall 2011
- ENTOM-9900: Doctoral-Level Thesis Research - Fall 2011
Service
outreach overview
- My work has implications for plant pollination biology and therefore is of importance to maintaining healthy pollinator populations for native and agricultural crops in NY State.
service to the profession
- Southwestern Research Station Advisory Panel Member 1997 - 1999
reviewer or editor for
event host
Background
education and training
- Ph.D. in Entomology, University of Kansas 1991
- M.S. in Entomology, University of Kansas 1987
- Duke University 1984
awards and honors
Other
college
- CALS
research keyword
- apoidea
- bees
- insect ecology
- pollination
name prefix
- Dr.