New Extension Specialist At UC Davis

Kathy Keatley Garvey
UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology

Honey bee scientist Elina Lastro Niño of Pennsylvania State University (PSU), University Park,

known for her expertise on honey bee queen biology, chemical ecology, and genomics, is the

newly hired Extension apiculturist at the University of California, Davis. She will join the UC

Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology faculty in September, replacing Eric Mussen,

who will retire June 30 after 38 years in the position.

Niño currently works with Professor Christina Grozinger, director of the PSU Center for

Pollinator Research. Niño holds a postdoctoral fellowship funded by the U.S. Department of

Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA-NIFA).

“We are excited about Elina joining the Bee Biology program at UC Davis,” said Michael

Parrella, professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.

“ We have been in a rebuilding mode for the past few years and Elina joins the team of Dr. Neal

Williams, pollination ecology and bee biology with emphasis on foraging behavior; and Dr.

Brian Johnson, genetics, behavior, evolution, and health of honey bees. Dr. Niño will conduct

problem-solving research focused on honey bees and those crops in need of pollination services.”

“In addition, with the establishment of the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, adjacent to our bee

biology facility, Dr. Niño will be able to effectively provide outreach to backyard beekeepers

that represent a growing enterprise in California. In addition to current bee biology faculty,

Elina will be supported by Dr. Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology who studies

bumble bee behavior and systematics, and, of course, Dr. Eric Mussen whom she is replacing.

We are pleased that Dr. Mussen has agreed to remain active in an emeritus capacity and will be

advising Dr. Niño on both her extension program and research activities.”

Said Grozinger: “Dr. Niño is internationally recognized for her work on queen biology, and

has collaborated broadly with several key honey bee researchers in the United States, including

David Tarpy, Peter Teal, and Jerry Hayes, as well as researchers in Israel, Europe and Australia.”

Niño said she is very excited to start working closely with the California beekeepers and growers to develop sustainable approaches to bee management. “The UC Davis bee lab has such a long, outstanding contribute to this great program,” she said.

“Elina is a very accomplished scientist,” said Mussen. “Her research involves the reproductive

processes involved in queen bee mating, including the impacts of oviduct manipulation,

insemination volume and insemination substances. The induced changes include measurable

behavioral, physiological and molecular alterations that occur, including differences in

behavioral interactions between queens and worker bees.” Niño said considering her interests in honey bee queen health she anticipates fruitful collaborations with the California queen breeders.

As the Extension apiculturist, Niño will remain involved in basic honey bee biology studies,

moving the applied research forward. She will devote 70 percent of her appointment to

conducting practical, problem-solving research projects and interact with the beekeepers and

industry concerns.

In her research, Niño demonstrated that different components of the mating process (oviduct

manipulation, insemination volume, and insemination substance) drive different post-mating

changes in honey bee queens, Grozinger said. “Furthermore, she showed that queens signal

their mating status and mating quality to worker bees through their pheromones, and workers

preferentially respond to well-mated queens.”

As the recipient of prestigious USDA-NIFA postdoctoral fellowship, Niño expanded her

program to study the socioeconomic factors affecting the success of local queen breeding

programs, and spearheaded the annual PSU Honey Bee Queen Rearing Workshop, Grozinger

said.

Niño received her bachelor’s degree in animal science from Cornell University in 2003; her

master’s degree in entomology at North Carolina State University and her doctorate at PSU in

2012.

Niño has a varied entomology background. While working on her bachelor’s degree at Cornell,

she was involved in studies on darkling beetle control in poultry houses, pan-trapped horse flies, and surveyed mosquitoes in New York state. While working toward her master’s degree at North Carolina State University, she studied dung beetle nutrient cycling and its effect on grass growth, effects of methoprene (insect grown regular) on dung beetles in field and laboratory settings, and assisted in a workshop on forensic entomology.

As a USDA/NIFA postdoctoral fellow, Niño is contributing to honey bee stock improvement

programs through her research on proteins in honey bee semen. She also is cooperatively

reviewing the effects of Israeli Acute Bee Paralysis Virus, Deformed Wing Virus and Nosema on

honey bees on a molecular level.

A member of the Entomological Society of America (ESA), Niño received a number of

high honors as an entomology graduate student. She won the coveted John Henry Comstock

Graduate Student Award from the Eastern Branch of ESA in 2013; first place in a poster student

competition for the President’s Prize at the ESA Indianapolis meeting in 2006, and also a first-place poster award at the North Carolina Entomological Society’s Raleigh meeting in 2006.

Other awards include the 2012 Student Recognition Award in Insect Physiology, Biochemistry,

Toxicology, and Molecular Biology from the International Congress on Insect Neurochemistry

and Neurophysiology; 2012 PSU Alumni Association Dissertation Award; 2011 Lillian and Alex

Feir Graduate Student Travel Award in Insect Physiology, Biochemistry or Molecular Biology,

Entomological Foundation; 2011 Eastern Apicultural Society Student Award; 2011 Lorenzo

Langstroth Fellowship, PSU Center for Pollinator Research; 2011 Michael E. Duke Memorial

Scholarship, PSU Department of Entomology; and 2010 Sahakian Family Fund for Ag Research

Travel Award, PSU College of Ag Sciences.

Niño placed first in a student paper presentation at the 2008 American Bee Research Conference

in Sacramento, and received a 2007 scholarship from the Foundation for the Preservation of

Honey Bees, Sacramento. The North Carolina Entomological Society named her the 2006

Outstanding MS Student of the Year.


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