Walter Sheppard

Walter (Steve) Sheppard is the Thurber Professor of Apiculture in the Department of Entomology at Washington State University.  Steve’s graduate research at the University of Illinois was on pollination biology, population genetics and evolution in honey bees.  Prior to joining the faculty at WSU, Steve was a research scientist for USDA-ARS, conducting studies on Africanized honey bees and the genetic processes that accompany insect range expansions.

Since 1996, the Sheppard lab at WSU has conducted basic work on honey bee population genetics and evolution, a long-term breeding program to select honey bees that exhibit improved tolerance to mites and diseases and novel approaches to improve honey bee health.  The laboratory has contributed a significant research effort on the use of fungal mycelium as a biocontrol agent for parasitic mites, of fungal extracts as antivirals for use in bees and the use of metabolic gas manipulation (controlled atmosphere storage) for indoor wintering and mite control.

In collaboration with US queen producers, his lab has been involved in the importation and distribution of honey bee genetics from Old World source populations.  Release of honey bee germplasm to commercial queen producers resulted in a significant increase in genetic diversity in US honey bee populations. Development of practical methods of honey bee semen cryopreservation in the Sheppard laboratory enabled WSU to establish the world’s first honey bee germplasm repository.  This repository currently houses samples of numerous Old World honey bee subspecies and domestic breeding stocks.