Etya Amsalem

Associate Professor of Entomology

Etya Amsalem

Research Summary

The evolutionary development and the mechanistic basis of social behavior in insects using an integrative approach encompassing chemical, genetic and physiological tools

Huck Affiliations

Links

Most Recent Publications

Do bumble bees make optimal nutritional choices?

Etya Amsalem, Anna Cressman, Seyed Ali Modarres Hasani, 2025, Journal of Insect Physiology

Sublethal pesticide exposure decreases mating and disrupts chemical signaling in a beneficial pollinator

Nathan Derstine, Cameron Murray, Freddy S. Purnell, Etya Amsalem, 2025, Science of the Total Environment

The Evolution of Queen Pheromone Production and Detection in the Reproductive Division of Labor in Social Insects

Juergen Liebig, Etya Amsalem, 2025, Annual Review of Entomology on p. 123-142

Hormetic response to pesticides in diapausing bees

Etya Amsalem, Nathan Derstine, Cameron Murray, 2025, Biology Letters

Post-transcriptional regulation of Dufour’s gland reproductive signals in bumble bees

N Derstine, Tatiana Laremore, Etya Amsalem, 2024, BMC Genomics on p. 976

The influence of the social environment on larval development and resulting caste in Bombus impatiens

Katherine Barie, Etya Amsalem, 2023, Animal Behaviour on p. 49-57

Differential gene expression underlying the biosynthesis of Dufour's gland signals in Bombus impatiens

Nathan Derstine, David Galbraith, Gabriel Villar, Etya Amsalem, 2023, Current Research in Insect Science

Communication Between Honeybees: More than Just a Dance in the Dark

Etya Amsalem, 2023,

The effect of bumble bee gynes’ reproductive status on the response to CO<sub>2</sub> narcosis

Rya Seltzer, Adi Domer, Levona Bodner, Sofia Bouchebti, Maya Malka, Etya Amsalem, Eran Levin, 2023, Journal of Apicultural Research on p. 1043-1051

Symptomatic Infection with Vairimorpha spp. Decreases Diapause Survival in a Wild Bumble Bee Species (Bombus griseocollis)

Margarita Orlova, Monique Porter, Heather M. Hines, Etya Amsalem, 2023, Animals on p. 1656

Most-Cited Papers

The Physiological and Genomic Bases of Bumble Bee Social Behaviour

Etya Amsalem, Christina M. Grozinger, Mario Padilla, Abraham Hefetz, 2015, Advances in Insect Physiology on p. 37-93

Conservation and modification of genetic and physiological toolkits underpinning diapause in bumble bee queens

Etya Amsalem, David A. Galbraith, Jonathan Cnaani, Peter E.A. Teal, Christina M. Grozinger, 2015, Molecular Ecology on p. 5596-5615

A conserved class of queen pheromones? Re-evaluating the evidence in bumblebees (Bombus impatiens)

Etya Amsalem, Margarita Orlova, Christina M. Grozinger, 2015, Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Chemical communication is not sufficient to explain reproductive inhibition in the bumblebee bombus impatiens

Mario Padilla, Etya Amsalem, N Altman, Abraham Hefetz, Christina M. Grozinger, 2016, Royal Society Open Science on p. 160576

Evaluating the molecular, physiological and behavioral impacts of CO<sub>2</sub> narcosis in bumble bees (Bombus impatiens)

Etya Amsalem, Christina Grozinger, 2017, Journal of Insect Physiology on p. 57--65

The effect of intrinsic physiological traits on diapause survival and their underlying mechanisms in an annual bee species Bombus impatiens

Erin Treanore, Etya Amsalem, 2020, Conservation Physiology

Do Bumble Bee, Bombus impatiens, Queens Signal their Reproductive and Mating Status to their Workers?

Etya Amsalem, Mario Padilla, Paul Schreiber, N Altman, Abraham Hefetz, Christina Grozinger, 2017, Journal of Chemical Ecology on p. 563--572

The road to sociality: brood regulation of worker reproduction in the simple eusocial bee Bombus impatiens

Jesse Starkey, Ahja Brown, Etya Amsalem, 2019, Animal Behaviour on p. 57-65

Optimizing laboratory rearing of a key pollinator, bombus impatiens

Erin Treanore, Katherine Barie, Nathan Derstine, Kaitlin Gadebusch, Margarita Orlova, Monique Porter, Frederick Purnell, Etya Amsalem, 2021, Insects

Shift in worker physiology and gene expression pattern from reproductive to diapause-like with colony age in the bumble bee Bombus impatiens

Erin D. Treanore, Jacklyn M. Kiner, Mackenzie E. Kerner, Etya Amsalem, 2020, Journal of Experimental Biology

News Articles Featuring Etya Amsalem

Sep 15, 2025

Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences names 2025-26 seed grant recipients

The Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences at Penn State has selected eight research teams that span 12 departments across six colleges to receive 2025-26 seed grant funding.

Full Article

Jul 02, 2025

What a bumble bee chooses to eat may not match ideal diet

A new study led by researchers at Penn State suggests that what bumble bees choose to eat may not line up with their ideal nutritional needs.

Full Article

Apr 09, 2025

Even sublethal insecticide dose may disrupt pollinator mating process

Insecticides can help protect crops against troublesome pests, but they also pose a risk for beneficial insects such as pollinators. A new study led by researchers at Penn State provided insight into how even sublethal doses of insecticides can negatively affect pollinators by disrupting the mating process.

Full Article

Mar 05, 2025

Pesticides affect bumble bee health in complex ways

New research has uncovered a surprising wrinkle in our understanding of how pesticides affect bumble bees.

Full Article

Feb 25, 2025

The complex effects of pesticide exposure on bumble bee health

The effects of pesticide exposure on pollinator health may be more complicated than originally thought, according to a team of researchers in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences who recently published an article on the topic in Biology Letters.

Full Article

Nov 30, 2022

New clues about how carbon dioxide affects bumble bee reproduction

While a beekeeper puffing clouds of carbon dioxide into a hive to calm the insects is a familiar image to many, less is known about its other effects on bees.

Full Article