http://cecentralsierra.ucanr.org/Pest_Management/index.cfm?blogrss=17330&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed Bug Squad en-us UC ANR http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/rss/ Sun, 19 May 2013 06:50:01 PST Sun, 19 May 2013 06:50:01 PST UC ANR The lady beetle, aka ladybug, was at the wrong place at the wrong time. We don't know how she managed to get tangled in the cellar spider's web or why the cellar spider opted to have her for dinner instead waiting for a tasty honey bee, a nutritious leafcutter bee or a plump bumble bee. Nevertheless, we came upon this predator-prey attack in our backyard. It was too late to save the ladybug. Ordinarily, the ladybug's bright red coloration serves as a "warning" to predators. Plus, ladybugs......
]]> Fri, 17 May 2013 21:36:28 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10419&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10419 Consider the lady beetle, aka ladybug. It's not a bug, but a beetle. It belong to the family Coccinellidae, and scientists have described about 5000 species worldwide, and about 450 in North America. Some quick facts... Ladybugs are not always red with black spots. The colors can be red, yellow, orange, gray, black, brown and pink. And, not all ladybugs have spots. Some have stripes and some have neither spots nor stripes. Coccinellid are omnivores, dining on soft-bodied insects such as......
]]> Thu, 16 May 2013 23:08:20 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10411&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10411 "For many years, beekeepers and environmentally interested individuals have expressed the opinion that the use of neonicotinoid insecticides ("neonics") have interfered with the ability of honey bees and native bees to conduct their life activities properly," begins Extension apicuturist Eric Mussen of the UC Davis Department of Entomology in his latest edition of his newsletter, from the UC Apiaries. "Since laboratory studies have detailed the disruptive effect on those insects, it was......
]]> Wed, 15 May 2013 19:20:25 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10405&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10405 Don't ever call the European wool carder bee (Anthidium manicatum) a slow poke. It's not "as fast as a speeding bullet" (Superman), but close. The males, quite territorial, chase away other pollinators, including honey bees, sweat bees and butterflies. The European wool carder bee gets it name from the fact that females collect or "card" leaf fuzz for their nests. Today we watched the bees sip nectar from our catmint blossoms and mate. If you've never seen them in California, that's......
]]> Tue, 14 May 2013 22:25:59 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10389&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10389 (Editor's Note: This luncheon has been postponed until October 2013. Details forthcoming) The buzz around the UC Davis campus is a June luncheon. Not just any luncheon, but "A Luncheon in the Garden." The UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center, directed by Amina Harris, is gearing up for the event, to be held Saturday, June 2 from noon to 3 p.m. in the UC Davis Good Life Garden, by the Robert Mondavi Center for Institute for Wine and Food Science. Its purpose is to introduce and support the......
]]> Mon, 13 May 2013 21:42:57 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10379&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10379 It was definitely a hot spot. Honey bees foraging last week on a pomegranate tree on Hopkins Road, west of the UC Davis main campus, competed for food on hundreds of blossoms. We counted five honey bees on one blossom alone in what amounted to a pushing/shoving match. Most of the bees probably came from the nearby apiary at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road, off Hopkins Road. The pomegranate is an ancient fruit and the honey bee is an ancient insect.......
]]> Fri, 10 May 2013 22:08:48 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10372&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10372 Saturday, May 11 is "Moth-ers Day" at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, University of California, Davis. Moth-ers Day? Yes, moths have mothers, too! The open house, free and open to the public, will take place at the Bohart Museum, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. The focus is on moths, and moths of all sizes, shapes, colors and patterns will be displayed, said Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator. Most moths are......
]]> Thu, 09 May 2013 21:40:51 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10353&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10353 If you think that every insect on a flower is a honey bee, you should see what the UC Davis Department of Entomology is showcasing at the Dixon May Fair, May 9-12. You'll not only see honey bees in a bee observation hive, but specimens of bumble bees, cuckoo bees, carpenter bees, long-horned bees, squash bees, plasterer bees, mining bees, leafcutter bees, wool carder bees and sweat bees. The exhibit is in the Southard Floriculture Building on the May Fair grounds, located at 655 S. First......
]]> Wed, 08 May 2013 22:25:20 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10344&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10344 A day in the life of a single worker bee... A honey bee tumbles off the flowering catmint (Nepeta) and struggles to right herself. Her wings tattered, her body battered, she does not buzz away. Perhaps she is approaching the end of her six-week lifespan--three weeks working inside the hive and three weeks working outside the hive. Bee scientists say that worker bees literally work themselves to death. As a forager, she likely made about 40 trips a day gathering nectar and pollen. Forty......
]]> Tue, 07 May 2013 22:25:49 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10337&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10337 It's not "Rise and Shine!" any more. It's "Sparkle and Shine." "Sparkle and Shine," a yellow rose related to the Julia Child Rose, drew quite a bit of attention at the UC Davis event, "Roses: the "Eyeconic Weekend," sponsored May 4-5 by the California Center for Urban Horticulture (CCUH) at Foundation Plant Services, 455 Hopkins Road, west of the central campus. Participants loved it--and so did the honey bees. The bees--probably from the nearby Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research......
]]> Mon, 06 May 2013 23:18:00 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10331&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10331 We all take short cuts--short cuts around the campus, to the beach, to a favorite restaurant... Honey bees take short cuts, too. We've often watched assorted bumble bees and carpenter bees drill a hole in a long-tubed flower to rob the nectar. And we've watched honey bees benefitting from this behavior. Today we observed a carpenter bee, Xylocopa tabaniformis orpifex, engaging in nectar robbing in salvia at the UC Davis Arboretum. Nectar robbing occurs when a bee or other animal......
]]> Fri, 03 May 2013 21:58:44 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10321&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10321 The 40 mile-per-hour howling wind didn't seem to bother the syrphid fly, aka hover fly and flower fly. It clung to a blossom on the tower of jewels, Echium wildpretii, and proceeded to nectar. Its wings sparkled in the morning sun. This is a pollinator and one that's often mistaken for a honey bee. A honey bee it isn't. It's a fly. If you want to read more about them, be sure to check out entomologist Robert Bugg's UC ANR publication, Flower Flies (Syrphidae) and Other Biological......
]]> Thu, 02 May 2013 21:30:08 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10315&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10315 I beg your pardonI never promised you a rose gardenAlong with the sunshineThere's gotta be a little rain sometime... So began Joe South in his hit song, "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden," popularized by country singer Lynn Anderson in 1970. That was Joe South's rose garden. What UC Davis has is an eight-acre field of roses, and you're invited to celebrate "Roses: the "Eyeconic Weekend" on Saturday and Sunday, May 4-5. It's a free event, with free training/informational sessions. The best......
]]> Wed, 01 May 2013 21:55:34 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10305&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10305 Thursday, May 2 is a good day to learn about butterflies. That's when butterfly expert Art Shapiro, professor of evolution and ecology at UC Davis, will be speak at the Northern California Entomology Society meeting, to be held at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road, UC Davis. The meeting will begin at 9:15 a.m. with registration for club members and guests, and conclude at approximately 2:30 p.m. The group, which meets three times a year, is comprised of......
]]> Tue, 30 Apr 2013 21:02:22 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10292&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10292 It doesn't usually make the 6 o'clock news--or even the 10 o'clock news--but it's trouble. Trouble, indeed. The brown marmorated stink bug (Halyomorpha hales), a native of Asia, was first discovered in the United States in Allentown, Penn., in 2000. Since then, it's been making a big stink. Literally. It's a major agricultural threat that feeds on vegetables and fruit, says UC Davis associate entomologist/chemical entomologist Jeffrey Aldrich. USDA has estimated $21 billion worth of crops......
]]> Mon, 29 Apr 2013 19:43:04 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10277&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10277 When there's so much pain, grief and sorrow in the world, it's time to shut off the TV, log off the computer, exit the house, and photograph honey bees. Watching honey bees foraging in the tower of jewels, Echium wildpretii, is therapy enough. They are sisters, sisters with a job to do, and so little time to do it. Buzzing from one blossom to another, gathering nectar and pollen, they are a symphony of color, grace and sound, unlike the cacophony that savagely screams from the 10 o'clock news.......
]]> Fri, 26 Apr 2013 21:46:28 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10264&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10264 Congrats to “The Bee Team” at the University of California, Davis. The one-of-a-kind team, comprised of five Department of Entomology faculty members, received the coveted team award from the Pacific Branch, Entomological Society of America (PBESA), for their collaborative work specializing in honey bees, wild bees and pollination issues through research, education and outreach. Their service to UC Davis spans 116 years. The “Bee Team” is comprised of Extension......
]]> Thu, 25 Apr 2013 21:19:55 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10255&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10255 The first thing you notice when you walk up to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road, UC Davis, are the natives. Native plants, that is. California golden poppies and phacelia are among the plants sharing the "Pollination Habitat" bed. The golden poppies literally light up the landscape. The phacelia, not so much. The next thing you notice are the bumble bees, carpenter bees, honey bees and syrphid flies foraging on the natives. An occasional butterfly......
]]> Wed, 24 Apr 2013 23:01:02 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10238&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10238 Decisions, decisions... Where's the best spot for the new residents of my garden? I acquired two ladybugs last Saturday during the 99th annual UC Davis Picnic Day. Background: as part of the campuswide celebration, the Department of Entomology annually hosts an all-out bugfest at the Bohart Museum of Entomology and at Briggs Hall. And keeping with the Briggs Hall tradition, the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program gifted picnickers with the treasured ladybugs. Now ladybugs aren't......
]]> Tue, 23 Apr 2013 22:36:41 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10231&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10231 “Bumble bees are major contributors to pollination of crops and wildflowers throughout the temperate northern hemisphere. Many species have declined, contributing to fears that we might face a 'pollination crisis.'" So says David Goulson, professor at the University of Stirling, U.K., who will speak on “The Ecology and Conservation of Bumble Bees” on Wednesday, April 24 at a UC Davis Department of Entomology seminar. His seminar, set from 12:05 to 1 p.m. in Room 1022 of the......
]]> Mon, 22 Apr 2013 21:28:41 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10224&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10224 Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen isn't the only person coordinating a honey tasting at the UC Davis Picnic Day on Saturday, April 20. Amina Harris of the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center will, too. She's offering honey tasting, along with arts and crafts for kids, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the south building of the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science (RMI). And both are free. Mussen will greet folks from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Briggs Hall courtyard as they sample......
]]> Fri, 19 Apr 2013 21:32:23 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9801&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9801 If you don't like lima beans, not to worry. You'll probably like lima bean honey. Lima beans are a honey production crop, and this varietal is one of the six honeys to be sampled at the UC Davis Department of Entomology's free honey-tasting event from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 20 at Briggs Hall. It's all part of the 99th annual UC Davis Picnic Day. Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen has been staffing the activitity at the UC Davis Picnic Day for more than three decades. Every......
]]> Thu, 18 Apr 2013 21:21:35 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9785&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9785 There's no doubt about it. Bugs will rule at the 99th annual UC Davis Picnic Day this Saturday, April 20. The UC Davis Department of Entomology is planning lots of "bug" activities as part of the campuswide celebration. Visitors to Briggs Hall and the Bohart Museum of Entomology will find much to do and see from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Forensic entomologist Robert Kimsey, coordinator of the department’s Picnic Day activities, says there will be cockroach races, termite trails, ant......
]]> Wed, 17 Apr 2013 21:41:23 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9778&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9778 If you're a research scientist studying the malaria mosquito, or interested in genomics, you'll want to attend a seminar on Wednesday, April 17 at the University of California, Davis. Bradley White, assistant professor at UC Riverside, will speak on “Ecological Genomics of Malaria Mosquitoes” at the UC Davis Department of Entomology seminar from 12:05 to 1 p.m. in Room 1022 of the Life Sciences Building, corner of Hutchison and Kleiber Hall drives. Professor Gregory Lanzaro of the......
]]> Tue, 16 Apr 2013 21:11:27 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9768&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9768 Some folks call them "mosquito hawks" or "skeeter eaters" or "blood suckers." They're not. None of the above. Crane flies, in the family Tipulidae, don't prey on mosquitoes and they don't suck blood. These slender, long-legged insects remind us of runway models. Thin. Demure. Fragile. Any similarity, though, ends when you see them fly. They fly rather clumsily, wobbly even. You've probably seen them around your home, garden or business office. If you do, they're easy to photograph!...
]]> Mon, 15 Apr 2013 22:23:50 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9758&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9758 What about those Africanized honey bees? Where are they located in California? Hollywood movie refer to them as "killer bees." Ditto, the news media. "The known natural distribution of Africanized honey bees (AHB) in California is along a line that runs diagonally from northeastern Tulare County to southwestern San Luis Obispo County, then south to Mexico," says Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen of the UC Davis Department of Entomology. "A colony of AHB was found in Madera County following......
]]> Fri, 12 Apr 2013 20:56:49 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9746&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9746 You can't always choose your tenants. Sometimes they choose you. Take the case of our two bee condos, which are blocks of wood drilled with holes for native bee occupancy. One, with the smaller holes, is for leafcutter bees (Megachile spp.) The other, with the larger holes, is for blue orchard bees (Osmia lignaria), fondly known as BOBs. The leafcutter bees were the first to occupy the bee housing. At one time we had 16 leafcutter bees and one earwig. The blue orchard bee condo now has......
]]> Thu, 11 Apr 2013 21:29:13 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9738&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9738 Mark your calenders! The Honey and Pollination Center at the University of California, Davis, is planning a "Luncheon in the Garden" on Sunday, June 2 from noon to 3 p.m. in the Good Life Garden at the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science on campus. It promises to be a delightful afternoon. Executive director Amina Harris says it will be a "dazzling five-course meal from appetizers to cheese and desserts. Each course features honeys from around the globe." The luncheon, open......
]]> Wed, 10 Apr 2013 20:32:06 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9731&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9731 His talk should draw a good crowd. Claudio Gratton, associate professor in the Department of Entomology, University of Wisconsin, will speak on “Sustainable Bioenergy Landscapes: Can We Balance Our Need for Production and Biodiversity?” at a UC Davis Department of Entomology seminar on Wednesday, April 10. His seminar will take place from 12:05 to 1 p.m. in Room 1022 of the Life Sciences Addition, corner of Hutchison and Kleiber Hall drives. Katharina Ullmann of the Neal Williams......
]]> Tue, 09 Apr 2013 21:30:33 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9726&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9726 Don't ever underestimate the threat of dengue. The mosquito-borne viral disease known as “breakbone fever,” is three times more prevalent than originally thought, according to a research paper published today in Nature and co-authored by dengue expert Thomas Scott of UC Davis. In their research paper, titled “The Global Distribution and Burden of Dengue,” Scott and the 17 other team members estimated that 350 million people are infected each year--more than triple the......
]]> Mon, 08 Apr 2013 21:38:26 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9724&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9724 Most people have never seen the walnut twig beetle, a tiny insect that spreads a fungal pathogen that kills walnut trees. No wonder. The insect, measuring about 1.5 millimeters long, is much smaller than a grain of rice. Now, however, they can see a teddy-bear-sized version, thanks to a University of California, Davis entomology major Kristina Tatiossian, a member of the Research Scholars Program in Insect Biology. Through the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program, Tatiossian, a junior,......
]]> Fri, 05 Apr 2013 21:18:14 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9720&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9720 It's exciting to see a promising career unfold. We first met UC Davis graduate student Alex Van Dam in 2010 when he received a $12,000 award from the University of California Institute for Mexico and the United States (UC MEXUS), an academic research institute dedicated to encouraging, securing, and contributing to binational and Latino research and collaborative academic programs and exchanges. Then later in 2010 he received a Robert and Peggy van den Bosch Memorial Scholarship for his......
]]> Thu, 04 Apr 2013 22:23:09 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9699&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9699 We applaud the groundbreaking news this week from the Bruce Hammock laboratory at the University of California, Davis. In research led by postdoctoral researcher Zuodong Zhang, a team of 16 scientists discovered a key mechanism by which dietary omega-3 fatty acids (fish oils) could reduce the tumor growth and spread of cancer, a disease that kills some 580,000 Americans a year. The research is published today (April 3) in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). They......
]]> Wed, 03 Apr 2013 21:41:06 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9684&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9684 The aphids know how to plan a family reunion. Grandma, grandpa, aunts, uncles, mom and pop, brothers and sisters, cousins and more cousins--they're all gathering to feed on the lush growth of the spring roses, the juicy shoots, the tender buds. And they multiply. You think rabbits multiply fast? Try aphids. A telltale sign of their presence: Crumpled white carcasses and leaves coated with sticky honeydew. A strong blast of water and the aphids are gone. Well, at least some of them. We......
]]> Tue, 02 Apr 2013 22:22:04 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9674&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9674 In February--the afternoon of Feb. 8 to be exact--Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen of the UC Davis Department of Entomology told us that California almond growers may not have enough honey bees to pollinate this year’s crop of 800,000 acres. He attributed the difficulty to winter losses and less populous hives. He sounded the alarm. “We need 1.6 million colonies, or two colonies per acre, and California has only about 500,000 colonies that can be used for that purpose,”......
]]> Mon, 01 Apr 2013 22:06:51 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9665&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9665 Insects outnumber us on this earth. And they always will. By the millions. Penny Gullan and and Peter Cranston, emeritus professors of entomology at the University of California, Davis, wrote in their textbook, The Insects (Wiley Blackwell) that "Although there are millions of kinds of insects, we do not know exactly (or even approximately) how many. This ignorance of how many organisms we share our planet with is remarkable considering that astronomers have listed, mapped and uniquely......
]]> Fri, 29 Mar 2013 22:17:08 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9652&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9652 Honey bees favor assorted plants, including lavenders, mints, salvias, asters, borage, wild roses, echiums, clover, fireweed, goldenrod and phacelia, but have you ever seen them on a Japanese maple? Our Japanese maple is flowering in our backyard, a fact that has not gone unnoticed by the honey bees. The colorful tree, (Acer palmatum), coveted for its colorful red leaves, stretches over our fish pond, providing a little shade for the goldfish. I took this photo in the late afternoon with a......
]]> Thu, 28 Mar 2013 22:29:40 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9650&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9650 It's apple blossom time. Whether you wait for it, or the bees wait for it, it's here. Albert Von Tilzer and Neville Fleeson wrote the popular song, "(I'll Be With You) in Apple Blossom Time" back in 1920 and then everyone from Artie Shaw to Harry James to the Andrews Sisters to Nat King Cole owned it. But if you take a look at the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven on Bee Biology Road, UC Davis, you know who owns the blossoms--the bees. Along the haven's Orchard Alley, the almonds and plums......
]]> Wed, 27 Mar 2013 21:59:11 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9635&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9635 It promises to be a lively discussion. UC Davis entomologist Bruce Hammock, distinguished professor of entomology, will speak on “From Butterflies to Blood Pressure and Beyond: Is It Possible to Get a Drug to the Clinic with a University’s Help?” at a Science Café session set Wednesday, April 3 at 5:30 p.m. in Crepeville, 330 3rd St., Davis. The session, open to the public and billed as “a conversation with Professor Bruce Hammock,” will be hosted by the......
]]> Tue, 26 Mar 2013 21:04:48 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9627&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9627 One of TV's popular programs is "Dancing with Stars." The reality show pairs celebrities with professional ballroom dancers in a competition to win the mirror-ball trophy. But have you ever seen honey bees working the Spanish lavender (Lavandula stoechas)? The bees seem to be dancing the Flamenco, partnering with the purple spiked blossoms. We took these photos last weekend at the Loch Lomond Marina in San Rafael. The flowers swayed in the gentle breeze as the bees went about their work.......
]]> Mon, 25 Mar 2013 22:19:08 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9610&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9610 From a trickle to a flood. But why? Professor James R. Carey of the UC Davis Department of Entomology will tell you why. He will discuss the invasion of tropical fruit flies in California at his seminar from 12:05 to 1 p.m., Wednesday, April 3 in Room 1022 of the Life Sciences Addition, corner of Hutchison and Kleiber Hall drives. Carey's seminar, titled "From Trickle to Flood: The Large-Scale, Cryptic Invasion of California by Tropical Fruit Flies," is the first in the department's......
]]> Fri, 22 Mar 2013 21:11:52 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9596&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9596 What's red and black with yellow all over? Ladybugs, aka lady beetles or ladybird beetles, laying their yellow eggs. It's a sure sign of spring when aphids emerge, and ladybugs feast on them. One ladybug can reportedly eat 5000 aphids in its lifetime. That's a lot of aphids! Meanwhile, the aphids in the fava beans at the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, a half-acre bee friendly garden on Bee Biology Road, University of California, Davis, are doing their part. The garden, located next to......
]]> Thu, 21 Mar 2013 22:27:03 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9588&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9588 From toe biters to flame skimmers... That's what visitors will see on "Aquatic Insect Day" on Sunday, March 24 at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, University of California, Davis. Toe biters (giant water bugs) and flame skimmers (dragonflies) are just some some of the aquatic insects to be featured at the open house from 1 to 4 p.m. in Room 1124 Academic Surge, Crocker Lane. The event is free and open to the public. The toe biters belong to the Belostomatidae family of insects in the order......
]]> Wed, 20 Mar 2013 22:03:55 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9572&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9572 That should be easy to do. There's so much to say. One hour. Entomologist/artist Diane Ullman, associate dean for undergraduate academic programs in the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences and professor of entomology, will be interviewed for an hour-long program on the Insect News Network, a Davis-based radio station, on Wednesday, March 20. Emmett Brady, founder of the Insect News Network, KDRT 95.7 FM, and host of the “Wednesday Science Doubleplay,”......
]]> Tue, 19 Mar 2013 21:20:46 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9562&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9562 It was a perfect St. Patrick's Day--not just for the wearing of the green, but for the wearing of the orange. The Gulf Fritillary butterfly (Agraulis vanillae) arrived in our yard Sunday afternoon, March 16 and deposited an egg, just like E. Bunny will do soon. The Gulf Frit's host plant is the Passiflora or passion flower vine. Last winter Jack Frost nipped at the leaves and nearly killed one of our two plants but they're both springing back. The butterfly first touched down on an Amaryllis......
]]> Mon, 18 Mar 2013 21:52:08 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9553&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9553 It's a sure sign of spring when we see "the teddy bear bee." Native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis, calls the male Valley carpenter bee (Xylocopa varipuncta) "the teddy bear bee." An apt description, to be sure. It's gold with green eyes and is often mistaken for "a golden bumble bee." It isn't. It's a carpenter bee. The female of the species is solid black. Yes, they're pollinators. Thorp netted one of the teddy......
]]> Fri, 15 Mar 2013 21:50:35 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9534&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9534 It's truly amazing how the study of insect biology can lead to research that may benefit humankind. Take entomologist Bruce Hammock, distinguished professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis. Forty years ago, while studying insect development, he discovered a group of anti-inflammatory compounds called sEH (soluble epoxide hydrolases) inhibitors. In 2005 he began collaborating with cardiologist and cell biologist Nipavan Chiamvimonvat of the School of Medicine’s......
]]> Thu, 14 Mar 2013 21:23:55 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9526&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9526 Ever watched an in-flight honey bee packing her load of pollen? A foraging bee carries her ball-like load of pollen on her hind legs and continually moistens it with a little nectar. The size and shape changes as she works. Sometimes you'll see BB-sized loads and at other times the pellets seem as large as beach balls. The color varies, depending on the color of the pollen she collects. In the UC Agricultural and Natural Resources (UC ANR) publication, Beekeeping in California, (now out of......
]]> Wed, 13 Mar 2013 22:14:31 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9514&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9514 It was a gorgeous day to be out in an almond orchard. Staff research associate Billy Synk of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, University of California, Davis was out tending the research bees earlier placed in two Dixon almond orchards. Volunteer Randall Cass, who is seeking his master’s degree in international agricultural development at UC Davis, accompanied Synk on his rounds. Cass has previous experience working with beekeepers in Chile. And the Laidlaw bees?......
]]> Tue, 12 Mar 2013 21:44:03 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9501&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9501 Eager to experience a one-on-one training and mentorship that you'd normally find only in a small liberal arts college? Want to develop skills that will make your application to graduate school, medical school or veterinary school really stand out from the crowd? The UC Davis Research Scholars Program in Insect Biology is recruiting undergraduate students who are eager to experience one-on-one research training and mentorship. This will be the third cohort of students. The program, now......
]]> Mon, 11 Mar 2013 21:27:08 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9483&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9483 Exciting research today out of the University of California, Davis. The PLOS ONE journal published “Effects of Fluctuating Daily Temperatures at Critical Thermal Extremes on Aedes aegypti Life-History Traits," written by lead author Lauren Carrington and four other scientists from Thomas Scott’s Mosquito Research Laboratory and the Center for Vectorborne Diseases (CVEC). Their work analyzed how natural temperature fluctuations affect the population growth rate of the dengue......
]]> Fri, 08 Mar 2013 21:49:39 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9471&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9471 The Spirit of the Hive: The Mechanisms of Social Evolution. That's the title of a newly published book written by Robert E. Page Jr., one of the world's foremost honey bee geneticists. In his 224-page book, published by Harvard University Press, Page sheds light on how 40,000 bees, "working in the dark, seemingly by instinct alone, could organize themselves to contstruct something as perfect a a honey comb." Page, former professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology, marvels......
]]> Thu, 07 Mar 2013 22:33:53 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9457&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9457 If you haven't made it over to the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven on Bee Biology Road, UC Davis, yet this year, you should. The trees that form "Orchard Alley" are blooming. You'll see almonds and plums flowering, and soon, apples. Really spectacular are the delicate plum blossoms. Look closely and you'll see the honey bees with heavy pollen loads weaving in and out of the branches. The haven is a half-acre bee friendly garden located next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research......
]]> Wed, 06 Mar 2013 21:20:56 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9448&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9448 People aren't the only ones favoring fava beans. Fava beans growing in a raised bed in the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven on Bee Biology Road, UC Davis, are attracting honey bees, European paper wasps, lacewings, ladybugs, aphids and carpenter bees. We saw all six insects on a trip to the haven last Friday. While the honey bees and carpenter bees gathered nectar, the European paper wasps, lacewings and the ladybugs searched for prey. The ladybugs were also searching for mates. The......
]]> Tue, 05 Mar 2013 21:38:50 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9438&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9438 There's a good reason why jumping spiders are named "jumping spiders." They jump. A jumping spider, according to National Geographic, can jump 50 times its body length. We saw this jumping spider (family, Salticidae and probably genus Phidippus) in our flower bed last weekend. Perched on a pink petunia, it waited for dinner, its four pairs of eyes surveying the floral menu; its rear legs poised to jump; its front legs ready to grasp unsuspecting prey. Meanwhile, its iridescent chelicerae......
]]> Mon, 04 Mar 2013 21:53:14 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9425&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9425 It's a good cause. The seventh annual Bee Symposium, a fundraiser for Partners for Sustainable Pollination, will take place on Saturday, March 9 in Sebastopol. That's when five speakers will talk about pollinator habitat--what's good to plant and why. The theme is "Pollinator Habitat and Forage." The event takes place from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Sebastopol Center for the Arts, located in the Veterans' Building at 282 South High St., Sebastopol. Pollination ecologist Neal Williams,......
]]> Fri, 01 Mar 2013 20:17:07 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9405&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9405 If you love to watch pollinators at work in your garden--especially the honey bees and the bumble bees--first you have to provide the plants. Promise yourself to plant pollinator plants periodically. But which ones? The UC Davis Arboretum staff gets asked that question a lot. As part of its 75th anniversary celebration, the Arboretum has scheduled a Member Appreciation Sale from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, March 9 at its plant sales nursery on Garrod Drive. Folks can become members on......
]]> Thu, 28 Feb 2013 20:11:49 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9398&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9398 It's a fantastic project. The UC Davis Entomology Graduate Student Association (EGSA) has decided to provide travel funds to entomology undergraduates who want to present their research at entomological associations. So EGSA has established the Jude Plummer Travel Grant, so named because Plummer, a pest control manager in Florida, donated $50 “to be used for such a cause,” said EGSA president Jenny Carlson, a Ph.D. candidate in the Vector Genetics Lab. This week EGSA announced......
]]> Wed, 27 Feb 2013 22:43:28 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9391&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9391 It will be like "old home week" when professor Kelli Hoover of Pennsylvania State University presents a seminar on Tuesday, March 5 on the UC Davis campus. Hoover, who received her doctorate in entomology from UC Davis in 1997, will discuss “Co-Evolution in a Host Baculovirus System” from noon to 1 p.m. in 366 Briggs Hall. She will be in California in conjunction with her trip to Ventura to participate in the Gordon Research Conference, an international forum for the presentation......
]]> Tue, 26 Feb 2013 20:26:57 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9387&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9387 Honey bees can't get enough of the New Zealand tea tree, which, as its name implies, is a native of New Zealand. Our favorite New Zealand tea tree is Leptospermum scoparium keatleyi. It's the tallest and rangiest variety of the Leptospermum scopariums--that's one of the reasons we like it. The other reason, the main reason, is that it bears our family name. New Zealand sea skipper/horticulturist Capt. Edward John "Ted" Keatley (1875-1962) discovered it and named the variety......
]]> Mon, 25 Feb 2013 19:19:59 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9382&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9382 Symphony in the almond blossoms... There's a wild almond tree planted in a field off Bee Biology Road at the University of California, Davis, that's incredibly beautiful. Honey bees from the nearby apiary at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility reunite on the blossoms, each bee seemingly vying for the best pollen to take back to her hive. The tree is not quite in full bloom, but don't tell that to the bees. We captured a few images of them in flight, a moving symphony......
]]> Fri, 22 Feb 2013 20:43:08 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9358&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9358 If you want to know about the molecular neurobiology of feeding behavior in insects, then the University of California, Davis campus is the place to be on Wednesday, Feb. 27. Molecular neurobiologist Anupama Dahanukar, assistant professor at UC Riverside, will speak on "Taste Receptors and Feeding Preferences in Insects" at the UC Davis Department of Entomology seminar from 12:10 to 1 p.m. in Room 1022 of the Life Sciences Addition, corner of Hutchison and Kleiber Hall drives. UC Davis......
]]> Thu, 21 Feb 2013 19:44:06 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9353&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9353 'Tis the season for the return of the insects. Many a honey bee foraged in the flowering quince (Chaenomeles speciosa) last weekend. But wait, what's that? A spotted cucumber beetle (Diabrotica undecimpunctata) tucked inside a blossom. Spotted cucumber beetles, which overwinter as adults, are major agricultural pests. The beetle is so named because of its preference for cucumbers (cucurbits), but just about anything will do before, during and after the cucumber crop. True, it gravitates......
]]> Wed, 20 Feb 2013 21:06:31 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9351&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9351 It's good to see that the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation and noted bumble bee expert Robbin Thorp of UC Davis have filed a petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for Endangered Species Act protection for the beleagured rusty-patched bumble bee. They previously filed a petition to save Franklin's bumble bee, a bumble bee known to inhabit a small area of southern Oregon and northern California. Thorp has been monitoring Franklin's bumble bee (Bombus franklini) since 1998......
]]> Tue, 19 Feb 2013 19:46:22 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9342&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9342 "Where'd that yellow pollen come from?" Beekeepers who watch their bees return to their hives with pollen loads like to guess the origin of the pollen. Red, yellow, blue, white... It's not unlike "What Color Is Your Parachute?" the job-hunting guide by Richard N. Bolles. Sunday the bees foraging in flowering quince collected yellow pollen--heavy loads of pollen. They struggled with the weight and then headed home to help feed their colonies. Blue skies, pink flowers, yellow pollen...life......
]]> Mon, 18 Feb 2013 20:37:21 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9335&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9335 The light brown apple moth (Epiphyas postvittana)--it's not your typical invader. UC Berkeley professor Nick Mills will head to UC Davis on Wednesday, Feb. 20 to speak on just that: "The Light Brown Apple Moth--Not a Typical Invader." The seminar, hosted by the UC Davis Department of Entomology, is set from 12:10 to 1 p.m. in Room 1022 of the Life Sciences Addition, corner of Hutchison and Kleiber Hall drives. Mills, with the UC Berkeley Department of Environmental Science, Policy and......
]]> Fri, 15 Feb 2013 21:25:30 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9328&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9328 It's nice to remember the honey bee on Valentine's Day. You'll see many Valentine cards inscribed with "Bee My Valentine" and featuring a photo of a bee. Many of those photos depict a queen bee, the mother of all bees in the hive. To be a queen, she'll need to be fed royal jelly as a larva. The nurses bees feed the otther larvae a regular worker diet that includes pollen. "Queen larvae are fed royal jelly throughout larval development, providing a nutritional stimulus that causes them to......
]]> Thu, 14 Feb 2013 20:33:40 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9316&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9316 Plants communicate. They do. Ecologist Richard Karban, a professor in the UC Davis Department of Entomology, points out that one of the simplest forms of communication involves shade. When a plant is shaded, it grows away from the plant or other object that's shading it. Today he published research in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences that is truly amazing readers. It involves kinship, communication and defenses. Basically, if you’re a sagebrush and your......
]]> Wed, 13 Feb 2013 20:43:58 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9296&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9296 Thrips, those tiny little critters about a millimeter long or less that wreak economic havoc to U.S. agricultural crops--not to mention crops worldwide--may have met their match. They're under attack by entomologist Diane Ullman of UC Davis and her team of eight other investigators. Ullman just received a five-year, $3.75 million grant from the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative, United States Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture, to develop and......
]]> Tue, 12 Feb 2013 22:10:48 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9285&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9285 Everyone recognizes the mighty monarch butterfly. But how many people know about its migration? Steve Reppert, chair and professor of the Department of Neurobiology at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, will speak on "Monarch Butterfly Migration: Behavior to Genes" at the Department of Entomology seminar on Wednesday, Feb. 13 from 12:10 to 1 p.m. in Room 1022 of the Life Sciences Addition, corner of Hutchison and Kleiber Hall drives. "Studies of the iconic migration of the......
]]> Mon, 11 Feb 2013 20:27:17 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9276&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9276 California almond growers are worried--and rightfully so--about the honey bee shortage. Honey bee guru Eric Mussen, Extension apiculturist with the UC Davis Department of Entomology, said today that almond growers may not have enough bees to pollinate this year's crop of 800,000 acres. “We need 1.6 million colonies, or two colonies per acre, and California has only about 500,000 colonies that can be used for that purpose,” he said. “We need to bring in a million more......
]]> Fri, 08 Feb 2013 21:28:04 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9260&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9260 Ah, what an intoxicating scent! If you've ever been around the winter daphne, Daphne odora, cultivar "Aureomarginata," you know that its aroma precedes it. You'll ask "What's that fragrance?" before you even see the showy pink-and-white blossoms and its green leaves edged in gold. The winter daphne, an evergreen, is now blooming in the Ruth Risdon Storer Garden on Garrod Drive, UC Davis Arboretum. The Storer Garden is aptly named. Ruth Storer, Yolo County’s first pediatrician, loved......
]]> Thu, 07 Feb 2013 20:24:59 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9246&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9246 “Of the one millions insects so far described, 120,000 are butterflies or moths, 150,000 are flies, 400,000 are beetles, and only 3000 are walking sticks. Which are my speciality. Not too much is known about walking sticks because not many people have studied them. They don’t carry diseases, they’re not particularly serious pests, and they aren’t very showy. So for the most part they’ve been ignored which is a pity because they’re pretty special." So begins......
]]> Wed, 06 Feb 2013 21:20:09 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9236&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9236 When the honey bee meets the flowering quince, the bee is "the belle of the ball." The winter ball. Suddenly the flowering quince (genus Chaenomele) transforms the bleak wintery landscape into a spring ballroom of sorts. The giddy bee is a joy to see. Around here, the ornamental flowering quince, a member of the rose family (Rosaceae), usually blooms around late January or early February. The tightly woven pink buds unfold amid the tangled, dreary limbs that still denote winter but promise......
]]> Tue, 05 Feb 2013 19:28:32 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9229&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9229 About those non-social bees... A good place to learn about them is at the UC Davis Department of Entomology seminar on Wednesday, Feb. 6. James “Jim” Cane, a research entomologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service’s Biology and Systematics Lab, Utah State University, will speak on “The Spectrum of Managed Nesting for Pollination by Non-Social Bees” from 12:10 to 1 p.m. in Room 1022 of the Life Sciences Addition, corner......
]]> Mon, 04 Feb 2013 20:28:50 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9214&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9214 Not many people know that the state insect of California is the California dogface butterfly (Zerene eurydice) or the role that schoolchildren played to attain that honor. Now there's an opportunity for classrooms all across the nation--and butterfly fans--to learn about it in "The Story of the Dogface Butterfly," written by UC Davis doctoral candidate Fran Keller and illustrated (watercolor and ink) by Laine Bauer, a 2012 graduate of UC Davis. Net proceeds from the sale of the 35-page book......
]]> Fri, 01 Feb 2013 20:08:30 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9199&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9199 Bed Bugs at the Bohart? Indeed. Those attending the Bohart Museum of Entomology's open house on Saturday, Feb. 2, will see them--and see them feeding. The Bohart Museum of Entomology is one of six museums or educational centers on the UC Davis campus holding an open house from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday. This is the second annual campuswide Biodiversity Museum Day, aka "Super Science Saturday," as it's the day before the Super Bowl. The other five are the Botanical Conservatory, Center for Plant......
]]> Thu, 31 Jan 2013 20:30:53 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9192&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9192 The yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii, is back. We spotted some overwintering queen bumble bees gathering nectar on a hebe bush last Sunday at the Berkeley marina. Distinguished by their yellow faces, yellow head pile, black wings, and a bold yellow stripe on their lower abdomen, they bumbled around the hebe as if they were newbie pilots. The warm weather invited them out of their underground nests. RSVP accepted. The hebe proved to be a good host, enticing them with the sweet......
]]> Wed, 30 Jan 2013 22:27:21 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9181&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9181 It's a catchy title: "Unraveling the Complex: Who's Who in the Bemisia Zoo?" Paul de Barro, a senior principal research scientist at CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, Australia, will speak on "Unraveling the Complex: Who’s Who in the Bemisia Zoo?” at the UC Davis Department of Entomology seminar from 12:10 to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 30 in Room 1022 of the Life Sciences Addition. De Barro, who joined CSRO in 1994 (the acronym stands for Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research......
]]> Tue, 29 Jan 2013 21:40:07 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9161&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9161 It's a sure sign of spring when the Japanese apricot tree north of Wickson Hall at the University of California, Davis, blooms. Butterfly expert Art Shapiro, professor of evolution and ecology at UC Davis, noticed it flowering on Jan. 21. "First fruit tree of 2013 blooming!" he said. This tree, Prunus mume Dawn, is quite special. It was planted on March 7, 1963 to honor the work of internationally known pomologist Warren Porter Tufts (1890-1968), emeritus professor and former chair of the UC......
]]> Mon, 28 Jan 2013 22:25:11 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9154&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9154 "Stop and smell the roses." How many times have you heard that? It's usually from someone urging us to slow down, to savor life, and to pay attention to the pleasures. Like fragrant roses. Honey bees seem to be particularly fond of the butterfly rose, also known as the China rose (Rosa mutabilis), a deciduous shrub that can grow up to six feet high and spread five feet across. It's a long flowering plant, especially important to bees when they emerge from their hives after a long cold winter......
]]> Fri, 25 Jan 2013 22:01:19 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9139&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9139 What are you doing the day BEFORE the Super Bowl? Thinking about that battle in New Orleans? Getting ready to settle in for the Harbowl? Wondering who's going to win the Vince Lombardi trophy? How about heading over to the University of California, Davis, campus for "Super Science Saturday"? UC Davis will celebrate its second annual “Biodiversity Museum Day” from 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 2 when six museums or centers that engage in education and research involving insects,......
]]> Thu, 24 Jan 2013 21:27:36 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9131&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9131 It's not often that "beer, butterfly and Obama" land in the same sentence. But such was the case Monday, Jan. 21 for butterfly expert Art Shapiro, professor of evolution and ecology at the University of California, Davis. See, Shapiro sponsors the annual "Beer for a Butterfly" contest to see who can collect the first white cabbage butterfly of the year in the three-county area of Yolo, Solano and Sacramento. A noted butterfly expert, he's been monitoring the butterflies of Central California......
]]> Wed, 23 Jan 2013 20:44:23 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9125&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9125 When it comes to honey bee health, beekeepers know that the Varroa mite (Varroa destructor) ranks as "Beekeeping Enemy No. 1." These are terrible blood-sucking parasites that attack bees and raise havoc in the hive. They transmit a variety of diseases and can destroy a hive. In one of his many talks last year, Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen of the UC Davis Department of Entomology pointed out that honey bee mites include the (internal) tracheal mite (Acarapis woodi), first detected in the......
]]> Tue, 22 Jan 2013 21:30:55 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9115&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9115 The bush germander (Teucrium fruticans) is definitely a great fall-winter plant that's a magnet for bees. Just look at the bees that frequent the germander in the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven on Bee Biology Road at UC Davis. As soon as the temperature rises to a sunny 50 or 55 (good bee-flying weather), the honey bees head over to the haven from the nearby Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility. Last Saturday's visit to the haven yielded an "out-to-lunch" bunch that included a......
]]> Mon, 21 Jan 2013 21:11:17 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9104&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9104 They'll be zeroing in on pests at the next meeting of the Northern California Entomology Society. Scientists from the Essig Museum of Entomology, UC Berkeley, and the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), Sacramento, will speak at the meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 6 in the CDFA Plant Diagnostic Lab, 3288 Meadowview Road, Sacramento. The group, comprised of university faculty, researchers, pest abatement professionals, students and other interested persons, will meet from 9:15......
]]> Fri, 18 Jan 2013 20:17:03 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9097&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9097 "Landscape Conservation for Rare Insects!" That's the title of a seminar to be hosted by the UC Davis Department of Entomology on Wednesday, Jan. 23. Nick Haddad, the William Neal Reynolds Professor of Biology at North Carolina State University (NCSU), Raleigh, N.C., will speak from 12:10 to 1 p.m., in Room 1022 of the Life Sciences Addition, corner of Hutchison and Kleiber Hall drives. Pollination ecologist Neal Williams, assistant professor of entomology, will introduce him. The seminar......
]]> Thu, 17 Jan 2013 20:26:11 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9090&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9090 We can expect some exciting research to emerge from the U. S. Department of Agriculture's Specialty Crop Research Initiative (SCRI). And UC Davis pollination ecologist Neal Williams, an assistant professor in the Department of Entomology, is a part it. Williams and postdoctoral fellow Claire Brittain of the Williams lab will be participating in the SCRI's annual team and advisory committee meeting, to be held Jan. 17-19 in Gainesville, Fla. Williams is a co-project director of Aspire......
]]> Wed, 16 Jan 2013 23:17:25 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9082&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9082 So you want to learn about native bees... Be sure to attend Robbin Thorp's presentation on "Buzzed for Bees" on Saturday afternoon, Jan. 19 at the Rush Ranch Nature Center, Suisun. Thorp, a native pollinator specialist and an emeritus professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis, will share his knowledge about bees in a two-hour presentation from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. The event, free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Rush Ranch Educational Council and the Solano Land......
]]> Wed, 16 Jan 2013 15:29:15 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9080&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9080 Michael Branstetter, who will present a UC Davis Department of Entomology seminar on Wednesday, Jan. 16, is passionate about ants. "Ants are the most successful group of social insects on the Earth," says Branstetter, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. and a UC DAvis alumnus. "They occur in almost all terrestrial habitats and are often numerically dominant and ecologically important. Furthermore, ants are diverse. There are likely to be more than 20,000......
]]> Mon, 14 Jan 2013 20:30:25 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9069&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9069 At first glance, we thought "Strawberry blossoms!" Not strawberries, though. The white-floral ground cover at the Benicia Capitol State Historic Park is Sutera cordata or bacopa, as identified by Missy Gable, program manager of the California Center for Urban Horticulture at the University of California, Davis. As historians know, the Benicia Capitol State Historic Park was the site of the state capital back in 1853-1854. Then Sacramento claimed the title. And bacopa? "I’ve used......
]]> Fri, 11 Jan 2013 21:37:35 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9057&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9057 They're on to something. Definitely. An international research team has been researching honey bee pollination of almonds in the three-county area of Yolo, Colusa and Stanislaus since 2008, and what these scientists have discovered is astounding. The bottom line: Honey bees are more effective at pollinating almonds when other species of bees are present. The research, “Synergistic Effects of Non-Apis Bees and Honey Bees for Pollination Services,”published in the Jan. 9th......
]]> Thu, 10 Jan 2013 21:07:59 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9048&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9048 Talk about an early bloomer! At least one almond tree was blooming in California on the first day of the year. In the Benicia State Recreation Area, to be exact. We spotted the almond tree flowering on Jan. 1 near the entrance to the state park. The delicate white blossoms poked through a rusty fence as they were dignitaries at a meet-and-greet reception. From the looks of the blossoms, the buds had probably opened in late December, maybe shortly after Christmas. We're accustomed to seeing......
]]> Wed, 09 Jan 2013 21:30:05 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9036&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9036 Sometimes we divide insects into "the biggest and the baddest." Such will be the case Sunday, Jan. 13 when the Bohart Museum of Entomology, University of California, Davis, hosts an open house from 1 to 4 p.m., in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge building. The theme: "Extreme Insects!" That's with an exclamation point because these insects are indeed extreme, meaning quite out of the ordinary. The event is free and open to the public. Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum and a UC......
]]> Tue, 08 Jan 2013 18:20:11 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9029&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9029 It's a case of a sticky situation benefitting a plant. Or more precisely, dead fruit flies or carrion on a tarweed plant can benefit the plant in more ways that most people would ever think about, say researchers in the UC Davis Department of Entomology. Just as human tourists can be good for the economy, ‘insect tourists” can be good for a plant. When the hairs of a “sticky plant” trap small insects or “insect tourists,” the “tourist trap”......
]]> Mon, 07 Jan 2013 19:44:57 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9020&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9020 The dengue research news coming out of medical entomologist Thomas Scott's lab at the University of California, Davis, is certainly exciting. And compelling. In an article published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the UC Davis medical entomologists and their colleagues found that human movement—people going from house-to-house to visit their friends and relatives—is a key component to driving the virus transmission. (Read PNAS paper) The......
]]> Fri, 04 Jan 2013 21:27:11 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9004&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=9004 It's a brief appearance but the message is important. Pollination ecologist Neal Williams, assistant professor of entomology at UC Davis, appears briefly in a segment on native pollinators produced by America's Heartland. The show is now airing throughout the country. (Watch video) Reporter Sarah Gardner of America’s Heartland touches on the declining population of honey bees--which European colonists brought here in 1622--and native pollinators, which are also......
]]> Thu, 03 Jan 2013 20:19:05 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=8992&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=8992 What an unexpected find! It was the first day of 2013 and what did we see: a queen bumble bee, Bombus melanopygus, aka black-tailed bumble bee. Like scores of others, we decided to take a walk on Jan. 1 in the Benicia State Recreation Area. Located in Solano County, just outside the city of Benicia, the 447-acre park on State Park Road offers a view of the Carquinez Strait amid lush grasslands, rocky beaches and a marsh filled with cattails about to lose their charm as they go to seed. It's......
]]> Wed, 02 Jan 2013 22:54:26 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=8990&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=8990 Art Shapiro knows where to find the cabbage white butterflies (Pieris rapae). No sooner had he announced his annual "Beer-for-a-Butterfly" Contest, then he found one. Actually, two. Shapiro, distinguished professor of evolution and ecology at UC Davis, has sponsored the annual contest since 1972 to draw attention to the butterfly and its first flight. He's been monitoring butterflies for more than three decades. He awards a pitcher of beer (or its cash equivalent) to the first person who......
]]> Tue, 01 Jan 2013 22:58:40 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=8983&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=8983 The last honey bee of 2012. Despite the cold weather at Bodega Bay last Friday, we managed to see a few honey bees nectaring a New Zealand tea tree, aka Leptospermum scoparium. The temperature registered 53 degrees and there they were, foraging among the dainty pink and white blossoms, as if it were spring. As the year draws to a close, we've been inundated with words like "fiscal cliff," "spoiler alert," "bucket list" and "YOLO." (No, Yolo doesn't mean Yolo County but "You Only Live......
]]> Mon, 31 Dec 2012 18:56:03 PST http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=8982&utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=RSS%2BFeed kegarvey@ucdavis.edu(Kathy Garvey) http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=8982