We're delighted that microbial ecologist Danielle Rutkowski, a UC Davis doctoral alumna and now a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow at Iowa State University, has just received a Royal Entomological Society Early Career Entomology Award, “Highly Commended,” for her research piece, “Bee-Associated Fungi Mediate Effects of Fungicides on Bumble Bees,” published in Ecological Entomology in February 2022.  

Danielle received her doctorate in 2024, working with major professors Rachel Vannette and Richard “Rick” Karban, now a UC Davis distinguished professor emeritus.

Vannette, associate professor and vice chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, is a co-author of the paper, along with then UC Davis students Eliza Litsey and Isabelle Maalouf. Eliza went on to receive her master's degree in entomology in 2024. Isabelle received her bachelor's degree in 2019.

The article announcing winners is posted on this site,  RES Journal Early Career Entomologist Awards 2021-2023 - Royal Entomological Society. Rutkowski's paper is in a Virtual Issue.

The abstract: 

1. Bumble bees are important pollinators that face threats from multiple sources, including agrochemical application. Declining bumble bee populations have been linked to fungicide application, which could directly affect the fungi often found in the stored food and gastrointestinal (GI) tract of healthy bumble bees.
   
   
2. We test the hypothesis that fungicides impact bee health by disrupting bee–fungi interactions. We examined the interactive effects of the fungicide propiconazole and fungal supplementation on the survival, reproduction and microbiome composition of microcolonies (queenless colonies) using two species, Bombus vosnesenskii and B. impatiens.
   
   
3. We found that in B. vosnesenskii, fungicide exposure decreased survival, while fungal supplementation mitigated fungicide effects. For B. impatiens, fungicide application had no effect, but fungal supplementation improved survival and offspring production.
   
   
4. Fungicides reduced fungal abundance in B. vosnesenskii microcolonies, but not in B. impatiens, where instead fungal addition decreased fungal abundance (ITS copy number). Fungal composition varied between treatments but differently between bee species. In B. impatiens, fungal addition increased microbiome diversity. In B. vosnesenskii, the abundance of the pathogen Ascosphaera was negatively associated with survival, while the yeast Zygosaccharomyces was positively associated with survival.
   
   
5. Our results highlight that bumble bee species differ in response to fungicides and in the nature of bee-fungi associations. Fungicides can alter bee–fungi interactions with consequences for bee survival and reproduction, and exploring the mechanisms of such interactions, including interactions among fungi in the bee GI tract, may offer insights into bumble bee biology and conservation strategies.

"Through Danielle's rigorous initial dissertation chapter and presentations at national meetings, her work has changed the dialogue in the field, emphasizing the potential effects of fungi on bee ecology and evolution," Vannette said. "Whereas previously the insect microbiome was primarily characterized by describing bacteria, Danielle's work--along with others--shows that fungi can be important mutualists to important groups of insects and may mediate effects of agrochemicals on pollinators. I have already seen this new perspective being reflected in recently published papers and projects of new graduate students studying bee microbiomes."

While at UC Davis, Danielle mentored five undergraduate students, all of whom are co-authors on at least one paper, Vannette said, and nearly all have pursued graduate work in entomology or a related field.  Danielle is also an artist and includes her graphics of bumble bees on her website, https://beefungi.wordpress.com/.

Bees Just Wanna Have Fungi. In 2023, Danielle's paper,  “Bees Just Wanna Have Fungi: A Review of Bee Associations with Non-Pathogenic Fungi,”  won an Editor's Choice Award from the Federation of European Microbiological Societies (FEMS). The paper, co-authored by Vannette and then undergraduate student Makena Weston in the Vannette lab, appeared in the August 2023 issue of FEMS Microbiology Ecology.  (Access the link)

Great title! "Bees Just Wanna Have Fungi!"

Danielle,  a member of the Amber Crowley-Gall lab at Iowa State University, writes on her website that  she is "interested in the interactions between social bees and their nest microbiomes, especially symbiotic yeasts. I am currently studying the chemical ecology bee-yeast interactions, and how these microbes can influence bee behavior and bee health through suppression of bee antagonists and alteration of nest microbial communities."

Her career is off to a great start!

Resources:

• Danielle Rutkowski: Symbiotic Fungi Associated with Social Bees, Bug Squad blog, May 16, 2024
  
  
• Behind the Scenes: Danielle Rutkowski Coordinating Picnic Day Activities at Briggs Hall, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, April 20, 2022  

"When the Gorman Museum of Native American Art relocated to a new space, campus partners and students worked to make the grounds nearby home to the types of plants traditionally used by Indigenous cultures, such as white sage, a food also used in religious ceremonies, and yarrow, a medicinal herb."

So begins a newly published "In Focus" feature in UC Davis Dateline. And it continues: "Veronica Passalacqua, the museum's executive director, brought the idea to Arboretum leaders. They suggested involving the Learning by Leading program — student interns who gain hands-on skills related to garden design and general horticulture maintenance."

"Soon 15 students in the yearlong internship went to work. They planted herbs historically used by Native Americans: white sage, a food also used in religious ceremonies; yarrow, a medicinal herb; and western redbud, which adds color to Native American basketry, among others. On a recent fall day maintaining the garden, Ryan Deering, GATEways horticulturist, who leads the student team, urged the students to work — and experience."

You'll want to read the rest of the piece.

The 100-acre UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden devotes one section to Native American plants, the Native American Contemplative Garden. which was dedicated in November 2011. "This project began several years ago after the discovery of Patwin remains during the construction of the Mondavi Center catalyzed the desire to educate the UC Davis community about the first inhabitants of this land," according to the website. "A committee of UC Davis faculty, staff and students, including members of the campus Native American community, consulted with Patwin elder Bill Wright and engaged Far Western Anthropological Research Group to develop concepts for a series of honoring sites across campus." 

Admission to the Arboretum is free, but parking on campus is not. 

What's not to like about a bug?

And there are more of them to like than you think!

About a million described species of insects inhabit our planet.  That's about 80 percent of the world's species, scientists say.

"Most authorities agree that there are more insect species that have not been described (named by science) than there are insect species that have been previously named," according to the Smithsonian.  "Conservative estimates suggest that this figure is 2 million, but estimates extend to 30 million. In the last decade, much attention has been given to the entomofauna that exists in the canopies of tropical forests of the world. From studies conducted by Terry Erwin of the Smithsonian Institution's Department of Entomology in Latin American forest canopies, the number of living species of insects has been estimated to be 30 million. Insects also probably have the largest biomass of the terrestrial animals. At any time, it is estimated that there are some 10 quintillion (10,000,000,000,000,000,000) individual insects alive."

Which brings us to this news: The Bohart Museum of Entomology gift shop at the University of California, Davis, just received a shipment of new bug pins. Bug enthusiasts can not only TALK about bugs but WEAR them. And having a bug pin on your clothing is a definite conversation starter. (Not an ender)

Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator of the Bohart, said the pins include:

• White-lined sphinx moth
• Autumn darter
• Emerald ash borer
• Fly
• Yellow Garden Argiope Spider
• Zombie ant

Open on Wednesday, Dec. 18. The Bohart Museum gift shop is open Wednesday, Dec. 18 from 1 to 4:30 p.m., and then the museum will be closed for the winter holidays, through Jan. 4. "Otherwise, people can start thinking about which of their loved ones would want a rainbow fly with glow-in-the-dark wings or a "zombie ant. pin for Valentine's Day," Yang commented.

Holiday Greetings Card. A special item for sale in the gift shop is a winter greetings card, the work of entomologist-artist Allen Chew, a UC Davis alumnus. It was commissioned by UC Davis retired professors Lynn Kimsey (former director of the Bohart Museum who continues as director of the Bohart Museum Society) and Bob Kimsey (forensic entomologist). The card features assorted insects racing across an ice skating pond, with a German yellowjacket on the sidelines saying "They're never gonna beat Jerry."  Who is Jerry? That's an inside joke from the UC Davis Bug Boot Camp that refers to a water strider in the family Gerridae---"Jerry," for short.

The back of the card identifies each species. Among them: an ant, cockroach, leafhopper, domestic silk moth, a thick-legged hoverfly, and a twisted-wing parasite. Inside are holiday greetings in eight languages. The card is also perfect as a coloring page. The cards are $4 each or $5 for 15 in the gift shop.

"I got the idea to have a winter-themed card not tied to any specific holiday and since 'Jerry' refers to a pond skater (Gerridae), I thought the idea of an ice skating pond race was fun, filled with long-legged bugs plus an ice crawler (Grylloblattiae)," Chew said.  

The Bohart Museum, home of eight million insect specimens, is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. Director is Professor Jason Bond, the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair in the Department of Entomology and Nematology and associate dean, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. The museum also includes a live petting zoo. 

The next open house, free and family friendly, takes place Saturday, Jan. 11, from 1 to 4 p.m. More information is available from the website at https://bohart.ucdavis.edu/pr  by contacting bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.

If you collect insect specimens, can you spare a leg?

It's for science.

UC Berkeley doctoral alumnus Brad Balukjian, CEO and Intern, Islephile LLC, Concord, and research associate, California Academy of Sciences, recently posted this on the Pacific Coast Entomological Society (PCES) server:

"The non-profit California Institute for Biodiversity  (CIB) is working on a project to create a DNA reference library of all the known insect species of California, part of its All-Taxa Biodiversity Inventories program. The project entails sequencing both freshly collected material and historical specimens preserved in museums and collections. If you have a private collection or know of someone who does and are willing to have a leg or two sampled from certain specimens to go to the project, please contact coordinator Brad Balukjian at bbalukjian@gmail.com."

New Officers of PCES. UC Davis doctoral alumna Fran Keller was recently elected president of PCES.  Keller, a professor at Folsom Lake College, a lecturer with the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and a Bohart research associate,  received her doctorate in entomology from UC Davis, studying with UC Davis distinguished professor Lynn Kimsey,  then director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and now emeritus. 

Keller is serving her presidential term with three affiliates of the Essig Museum of Entomology, UC Berkeley: UC Davis doctoral alumna Kathy Schick, managing secretary; UC Davis doctoral alumna Elizabeth Arias, recording secretary; and Bob Zuparko.

Schick, a research associate at Essig, received both her master's degree and doctorate in entomology from UC Davis.  Arias, an associate curator (widow of Richard Bohart, for whom the Bohart Museum of Entomology at UC Davis is named) also received both her master's degree and doctorate from UC Davis.  Zuparko, an Essig associate curator and a curatorial assistant at the California Academy of Sciences, obtained his doctorate in entomology from UC Berkeley.