Heather Hines

Interim Director, Center for Pollinator Research; Interim Director, Insect Biodiversity Center; Associate Professor of Biology and Entomology

Heather Hines

Research Summary

Applies genomic, transcriptomic, phylogenomic, and bioinformatic approaches to study the evolution and genetics of diverse traits in bees and wasps. This includes study of mimetic color diversification, plant gall induction, novel morphologies, speciation, and social evolution.

Huck Graduate Students

Huck Affiliations

Links

Most Recent Publications

Landscape transcriptomics as a tool for addressing global change effects across diverse species

J Keagy, Chloe Drummond, Kadeem Gilbert, C Grozinger, J Hamilton, H Hines, J Lasky, Cheryl Logan, Ruairidh Sawers, T Wagner, Molecular Ecology Resources

Two new species of Ormyrus Westwood (Hymenoptera: Ormyridae) from Cynipidae (Hymenoptera) galls on Silphium L. (Asteraceae: Heliantheae)

Louis F. Nastasi, Charles K. Davis, Jelani K. Alcorn, Timothy S. Frey, M. J. Hatfield, Heather M. Hines, John F. Tooker, Andrew R. Deans, 2025, Zootaxa on p. 265-287

Leveraging Transcriptional Signatures of Diverse Stressors for Bumble Bee Conservation

Gabriela M. Quinlan, Heather M. Hines, Christina M. Grozinger, 2025, Molecular Ecology

Does coevolution in refugia drive mimicry in bumble bees? Insights from a South Asian mimicry group

Jixiang Cui, Yuxin Chen, Heather M. Hines, Ling Ma, Wanhu Yang, Chao Wang, Shanlin Liu, Hu Li, Wanzhi Cai, Wa Da, Paul Williams, Li Tian, 2024, Science advances

Cryptic or underworked? Taxonomic revision of the Antistrophus rufus species complex (Cynipoidea, Aulacideini)

Louis F. Nastasi, John F. Tooker, Charles K. Davis, Cecil N. Smith, Timothy S. Frey, M. J. Hatfield, Tara M. Presnall, Heather M. Hines, Andrew R. Deans, 2024, Journal of Hymenoptera Research on p. 399-439

Deep learning for identifying bee species from images of wings and pinned specimens

Brian J. Spiesman, Claudio Gratton, Elena Gratton, Heather Hines, 2024, PLoS One

Pleistocene glaciation shapes population and color pattern diversity in a highly polymorphic bumble bee mimicry group

J Cui, Y Chen, Heather Hines, L Ma, W Wang, S Liu, H Li, W Cai, Paul Williams, Li Tian, 2024, Science Advances on p. eadl2286

The role of landscape factors in shaping bumble bee pathogen loads across regions of the eastern Nearctic

Elena Gratton, Darin McNeil, Ren Sawyer, Anna Martinello, Christina M. Grozinger, Heather Hines, 2024, Insect Conservation and Diversity on p. 1098-1112

Comparison of seasonal viral prevalence supports honey bees as potential spring pathogen reservoirs for bumble bees

B Wham, Elyse McCormick, Carrie Carr, Nicole Bracci, Ashley Heimann, Timothy J. Egner, Timothy Enger, Matthew Schneider, Heather Hines, 2024, Ecosphere on p. e4883

Field Guide to the Bumble Bees of Pennsylvania

Claire Travis, Heather Hines, 2024, on p. 28 pgs.

Most-Cited Papers

Pollen protein: Lipid macronutrient ratios may guide broad patterns of bee species floral preferences

Anthony Vaudo, John Tooker, Harland M. Patch, David J. Biddinger, Michael Coccia, Makaylee Crone, Mark Fiely, Jacob Francis, Heather M. Hines, Mackenzie Hodges, Stephanie Jackson, Denis Michez, Junpeng Mu, Laura Russo, Maliheh Safari, Erin Treanore, Maryse Vanderplanck, E Yip, Anne Leonard, Christina M. Grozinger, 2020, Insects on p. 132

Finding Our Way through Phenotypes

Andrew R. Deans, Suzanna E. Lewis, Eva Huala, Salvatore S. Anzaldo, Michael Ashburner, James P. Balhoff, David C. Blackburn, Judith A. Blake, J. Gordon Burleigh, Bruno Chanet, Laurel D. Cooper, Mélanie Courtot, Sándor Csösz, Hong Cui, Wasila Dahdul, Sandip Das, T. Alexander Dececchi, Agnes Dettai, Rui Diogo, Robert E. Druzinsky, Michel Dumontier, Nico M. Franz, Frank Friedrich, George V. Gkoutos, Melissa Haendel, Luke J. Harmon, Terry F. Hayamizu, Yongqun He, Heather M. Hines, Nizar Ibrahim, Laura M. Jackson, Pankaj Jaiswal, Christina James-Zorn, Sebastian Köhler, Guillaume Lecointre, Hilmar Lapp, Carolyn J. Lawrence, Nicolas Le Novère, John G. Lundberg, James Macklin, Austin R. Mast, Peter E. Midford, István Mikó, Christopher J. Mungall, Anika Oellrich, David Osumi-Sutherland, Helen Parkinson, Martín J. Ramírez, Stefan Richter, Peter N. Robinson, Alan Ruttenberg, Katja S. Schulz, Erik Segerdell, Katja C. Seltmann, Michael J. Sharkey, Aaron D. Smith, Barry Smith, Chelsea D. Specht, R. Burke Squires, Robert W. Thacker, Anne Thessen, Jose Fernandez-Triana, Mauno Vihinen, Peter D. Vize, Lars Vogt, Christine E. Wall, Ramona L. Walls, Monte Westerfeld, Robert A. Wharton, Christian S. Wirkner, James B. Woolley, Matthew J. Yoder, Aaron M. Zorn, Paula Mabee, 2015, PLoS Biology on p. e1002033

The gene cortex controls mimicry and crypsis in butterflies and moths

Nicola J. Nadeau, Carolina Pardo-Diaz, Annabel Whibley, Megan A. Supple, Suzanne V. Saenko, Richard W.R. Wallbank, Grace C. Wu, Luana Maroja, Laura Ferguson, Joseph J. Hanly, Heather Hines, Camilo Salazar, Richard M. Merrill, Andrea J. Dowling, Richard H. Ffrench-Constant, Violaine Llaurens, Mathieu Joron, W. Owen McMillan, Chris D. Jiggins, 2016, Nature on p. 106-110

Complex modular architecture around a simple toolkit of wing pattern genes

Steven M. Van Belleghem, Pasi Rastas, Alexie Papanicolaou, Simon H. Martin, Carlos F. Arias, Megan A. Supple, Joseph J. Hanly, James Mallet, James J. Lewis, Heather M. Hines, Mayte Ruiz, Camilo Salazar, Mauricio Linares, Gilson R.P. Moreira, Chris D. Jiggins, Brian A. Counterman, W. Owen McMillan, Riccardo Papa, 2017, Nature Ecology and Evolution

Bumble bees in landscapes with abundant floral resources have lower pathogen loads

Darin McNeil, Elyse McCormick, Ashley Heimann, Melanie Kammerer, Margaret Douglas, Sarah Goslee, Christina Grozinger, Heather M. Hines, 2020, Scientific Reports on p. 22306

Expanding insect pollinators in the Anthropocene

Guillaume Ghisbain, Maxence Gérard, Thomas J. Wood, Heather M. Hines, Denis Michez, 2021, Biological Reviews on p. 2755-2770

Ecology and evolution of cuckoo bumble bees

Patrick Lhomme, Heather M. Hines, 2019, Annals of the Entomological Society of America on p. 122-140

Substantial genetic divergence and lack of recent gene flow support cryptic speciation in a colour polymorphic bumble bee (Bombus bifarius) species complex

Guillaume Ghisbain, Jeffrey D. Lozier, Sarthok Rasique Rahman, Briana D. Ezray, Li Tian, Jonah M. Ulmer, Sam D. Heraghty, James P. Strange, Pierre Rasmont, Heather M. Hines, 2020, Systematic Entomology on p. 635-652

Phylogenomics of Ichneumonoidea (Hymenoptera) and implications for evolution of mode of parasitism and viral endogenization

Barbara J. Sharanowski, Ryan D. Ridenbaugh, Patrick K. Piekarski, Gavin R. Broad, Gaelen R. Burke, Andrew R. Deans, Alan R. Lemmon, Emily C. Moriarty Lemmon, Gloria J. Diehl, James B. Whitfield, Heather M. Hines, 2020, Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution

Divergence with gene flow across a speciation continuum of Heliconius butterflies

Megan A. Supple, Riccardo Papa, Heather M. Hines, W. Owen McMillan, Brian A. Counterman, 2015, BMC Evolutionary Biology

News Articles Featuring Heather Hines

Apr 29, 2025

Heather Hines named interim director of the Center for Pollinator Research and the Insect Biodiversity Center

Heather Hines, Associate Professor of Biology and Entomology, has been named Interim Director of the Center for Pollinator Research (CPR) and the Insect Biodiversity Center (IBC). Hines is succeeding Christina Grozinger, Publius Vergilius Maro Professor of Entomology and director of the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences.

Full Article

Mar 10, 2025

Analyzing genetic ‘signatures’ may give insight into what stresses wild bees

A new method of examining gene expression patterns called landscape transcriptomics may help pinpoint what causes bumble bees stress and could eventually give insight into why bee populations are declining overall.

Full Article

Sep 30, 2024

Honey bees may play key role in spreading viruses to wild bees

Honey bees may play a role in increasing virus levels in wild bumble bees each spring, according to researchers at Penn State who analyzed seasonal trends of parasite and virus transmission in bees.

Full Article

Aug 21, 2024

Honey bees may play role in spreading viruses to wild bumble bees

Honey bees may play a role in increasing virus levels in wild bumble bees each spring, according to researchers at Penn State who analyzed seasonal trends of parasite and virus transmission in bees.

Full Article

Oct 21, 2021

Scientists uncover the genetic pathway that colors bumble bee stripes

While most people in the U.S. may think of bumble bees as the standard yellow and black variety, there are an estimated 260 bee species that sport about 400 different color patterns. One reason many people associate bumble bees with distinct colors is because evolution can influence multiple bee species to share similar color patterns in specific geographic regions, which scientists call mimicry.

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Feb 11, 2020

Climate Change Has Driven Serious Declines in World’s Bumblebees

The number of habitats in North America that bumblebees occupy has fallen by almost 50 percent

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Feb 06, 2020

Bumblebees Are Going Extinct In A Time of Climate Chaos

Loss of the vital pollinators, due in part to temperature extremes and fluctuations, could have dire consequences for ecosystems and agriculture.

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May 01, 2019

How The Bumble Bee Got Its Stripes

Researchers have discovered a gene that drives color differences within a species of bumble bees. This discovery helps to explain the highly diverse color patterns among bumble bee species as well as how mimicry — individuals in an area adopting similar color patterns — evolves.

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May 01, 2019

Researchers Identify ‘Color Switch’ Gene in Black-Tailed Bumblebees

Penn State researcher Heather Hines and colleagues investigated the genetic basis of color in the black-tailed bumblebee, which exhibits two regional color patterns.

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