So you want to become a Master Beekeeper.

You don't want to just keep bees, you want to devote your life to learning more about them and understanding them. And you want to engage in public service.

“Any universal and immutable scale with which to measure mastery of a human pursuit is at best elusive,” says Master Beekeeper Mea McNeil of San Anselmo, who doubles as a journalist, writing for beekeeping journals and other publications. “For those whose lives are devoted to understanding the wonders that are bees, every research answer begets a new question. So it is that an array of Master Beekeeper programs have been developed to bring dedicated beekeepers to a sophisticated level of knowledge that is defined by each course.”

McNeill, who is also an organic farmer, wrote those words for an article published 10 years ago in The American Bee Journal.  Roger Morris of Cornell University taught the first known Master Beekeeping course, she related, and the first Master Beekeeping certificate went to beekeeper Peter Bizzosa in 1972.

The good news is that the University of California, Davis, is now planning its first-ever Master Beekeeping course. There are no times and dates. Not yet. It's all in the beginning stages, says Extension apiculturist Elina Niño of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.

If you want to get on the Master Beekeeper list, send an email to sympa@ucdavis.edu from your email address or the address you want subscribed. In the subject line of your message, type in: subscribe camasterbee Firstname Lastname.

“I completed the Master Beekeeping Program at the University of Nebraska under Dr. Marion Ellis,” McNeil said, adding that it was quite comprehensive.  “I learned enough about bees and beekeeping to become humbled at the vastness of the subject. An important component of that program is service, so, as a working journalist, I began writing about the bee world as a result.”

In her journal article, McNeil described several programs, but pointed out that “No two programs may be alike, but they spring from a common philosophy: the bees are precious and necessary, and those who know them well will serve to help them thrive. Most intend to create ambassadors for the bees, a mission to bring the public into greater awareness of their importance.”

These are university-level courses--extensive, detailed and challenging--with written, lab, oral and field exams. You have to know the material and be comfortable in explaining it. You may have to, for example, identify “a blob of unidentifiable substance” and “describe the cause and how to prevent it,” as McNeil wrote. One blob turned out to be “chewed up bees from skunks sucking the juices from bees, then spitting out bee parts.”

Take the Master Beekeeping Program at the University of Florida. It's an ongoing program that spans a minimum of five years. Participants work toward “advancing to the next level by reading books, demonstrating public service credits, participating in research projects, or extension programs, etc.," the website says. "In order to enter the program, you must begin by taking the written and practical examination for the Apprentice Beekeeper level." Master Beekeepers serve as an arm of the Extension services.

Meanwhile, in addition to the pending Master Beekeeper course, UC Davis offers beekeeping and queen-rearing courses for novices, intermediates and advanced beekeepers.  If you're interested in joining the beekeeping course list,  send an email to sympa@ucdavis.edu from the address you want to subscribed to the list. In the subject line, type: subscribe elninobeelabclasses Firstname Lastname.

If you want to learn more about the UC Davis honey bee program, access the E. L. Niño lab website at http://elninobeelab.ucdavis.edu/ or the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/elninolab.

Nathaniel Haddon of the Vaca Valley 4-H Club, Vacaville, is only nine years old, but he already knows more about honey bees than many adults do.

He readily names the three castes: queen bee, worker bee and drone. He explains that the workers are all females, and that drones are males and they can't sting because they have no stingers. He knows how to tend a hive and he knows the importance of bee pollination.

His father, beekeeper Garry Haddon Jr., of GLH Honey Bees, Fairfield, has kept bees for four years. 

Nathaniel talked about bees at the recent Solano County 4-H Presentation Day, held at Willis Jepson Middle School, Vacaville. The annual event is an opportunity for 4-H'ers to share what they've learned in their projects, and to gain presentation experience.

Nathaniel illustrated his hand-crafted poster, “Honey Bees,” with drawings of the queen bee, worker bee and drone; a drawing of the life cycle of a bee; and photos of him working the hives and holding a frame.

Nathaniel's display table included his bee suit, a bottle of honey, and honey sticks, which he shared with the adult evaluators Cara Kent and Brenda Torres.

“Thank you for telling us about the bees,” one of the evaluators told him. “We learned a lot about bees. We didn't know that all the workers are female.”

Following the presentation,  we asked Nathaniel what he likes best about bees. “How drones can't sting,” he said.

His father volunteers as the 4-H beekeeping project leader. “We have 12 in our group,” Garry Haddon Jr. said. “We've already built eight hives. We're getting our packages of bees from Koehnens (C.F. Koehnen & Sons of Glenn County) in March.”

Learning about bees is lifelong. “I pass on the information I've learned to the kids,” Haddon said. One of his mentors is beekeeper John Foster of John Foster Bz Bee Pollination Esparto. Garry hopes to take a course from the University of California, Davis soon. “The courses (taught by Extension apiculturist Elina Niño and her group) were already filled when I tried to sign up," he said. "I was on the waiting list. I'm looking forward to the next course offered."

Earlier this year Garry trucked some of his bees to Turlock to pollinate the almonds. He bottles his honey and also produces honey sticks.

He has not always been enamored with bees. “When I was in high school, I thought bees were pests,” Garry acknowledged.

Not any more. He considers bees a treasure.

Lately the 4-H beekeeping leader has been showing his project members how to build hives, and he encourages them to decorate their own hive, "to make it their own." Three 4-H'ers, Ashlyn Haddon, Adrianna Haddon and Hallee Winchell, displayed their decorated hives at the Solano County 4-H Presentation Day.

4-H Youth Development Program
The 4-H Youth Development Program is a non-profit youth educational program administered through the UC Cooperative Extension. In 4-H, youths from ages 5 to 19 learn skills through hands-on learning and have fun doing it, said Valerie Williams, Solano County 4-H program representative.  The international organization draws youth from all ethnic, racial, and socio-economic backgrounds who live in rural, suburban, and urban communities. The four H's in 4-H stand for head, heart, hands, and health. The motto: "To make the best better."

Age-appropriate projects within each club are the heart of 4-H's hands-on learning. Each project focuses on a topic, anything from A (art)  to Z (zoology). Among the many projects: animal sciences, bicycling, camping, computers, drama, entomology, leadership, music, photography, quilting, rocketry, textile arts, and woodworking. 

For information on the Solano County 4-H Program, access http://cesolano.ucanr.edu or contact Valerie Williams at vawilliams@ucanr.edu or (707) 784-1319.

UC Davis Beekeeping Courses

• Beekeeping Courses. To get on the list for UC Davis-offered beekeeping courses, send an email to sympa@ucdavis.edu from the address you want to subscribe to the list and in the subject line of your message, type in: subscribe elninobeelabclasses Firstname Lastname 
• Master Beekeeping Courses. To get on the list for the newly created UC Davis Master Beekeeper Program, send an email to sympa@ucdavis.edu from the address you want to subscribe to the list and in the subject line of your message, type in: subscribe camasterbee Firstname Lastname

For more information on UC Davis beekeeping courses, contact the E.L. Nino lab at 530-380-BUZZ (2899) or access the website at http://elninobeelab.ucdavis.edu/ and Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/elninolab.

We lost our Pollinator Partner today.

Xena the Warrior Princess, a 16-year-old tuxedo cat that we rescued from the pound, crossed the Rainbow Bridge today in a local veterinarian's office. We had her 16 years, or if cats have staff, we were her staff for 16 years. She allowed us to feed her, pet her, and love her.

A black outline of a butterfly adorned her left hind leg, the mark of a pollinator partner. She followed me from blossom to blossom as I captured images of bees, butterflies, dragonflies, sweat bees, spiders, praying mantids and every other little critter imaginable in our pollinator garden. She'd sit beneath my garden chair, just glad to be there, just glad to be alive.

Xena never hurt a pollinator, although we can't say the same for rats and mice in the neighborhood. She never chased or batted the pollinators, either, although we can't say the same for the dogs she encountered. She would look at a honey bee and let it be. She would look at a butterfly and watch it flutter away.  She stared at dragonflies staring at her.

That's what a Pollinator Partner does.

Xena the Warrior Princess was part warrior and part princess: a cunning predator and a purring princess. A predator that would delight in showing us her trophies, and a princess that loved to snuggle.

Then on Leap Year Day, Feb. 29, 2016, Xena the Warrior Princess suffered a debilitating stroke. Sixteen short years, and she's gone. She didn't want to go and we didn't want her to leave.

Rest in peace, Pollinator Partner.

Scientists throughout the world targeted the Zika virus, transmitted by the yellow fever mosquito, Aedes aegypti,  at a major symposium today in Recife, Brazil, epicenter of the Zika virus outbreak.

Native Brazilian Walter Leal, chemical ecologist and professor in the UC Davis Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, is there.

So is the mosquito.

At the symposium today, Constancia Ayres, research coordinator of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation  (Centro de Pesquisa Aggeu Magalhaes/FIOCRUZ, considered one of  the oldest and most prestigious scientific research institutes in South America),  reported that the common southern house mosquito, Culex quinquefasciatus, may be a potential vector of the Zika virus.

Studies in the Ayres lab confirmed that Culex quinquefasciatus infected with Zika (isolated from local patients) showed high transmission rate (as determined by virus replication in the salivary glands). 

That raises all kinds of questions and concerns.  "This is very important for us--California and both nations--because we have Culex mosquitoes (vectors of West Nile virus), and so does Brazil," said Leal, whose UC Davis lab collaborates with the Ayres lab.

Of course, these studies were done in the lab, not the field, and this is the beginning of the research.

We asked medical entomologist William Reisen, editor of the Journal of Medical Entomology, and professor emeritus, Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, about this.

"In California less than 3 percent of the Culex including Cx. quinquefasciatus have been found to feed on humans, even in cities like Los Angeles, where humans are the most numerous host," Reisen said in an email. "Therefore, even if they are susceptible to infection, the probability of a female feeding on humans to acquire and then refeed on humans to transmit would be 0.03 x 0.03 = 0.0009 or a rare event indeed.  That said, there are areas of the world where quinquefasciatus feeds predominantly on humans in domestic settings.  (See his research paper, Host Selection Patterns of Some Pakistan Mosquitoes (U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health).

In his research paper on Pakistan mosquitoes, Reisen mentions Culex pipiens fatigans, now known as Culex quinquefasciatus. Its feeding patterns "varied opportunistically with host availability," he wrote in the abstract.  Resting in cattle sheds during the winter, it "fed on birds and bovids, changing to man and bovids during the spring and then to man and birds during summer."

Medical entomologist Thomas Scott, distinguished professor of entomology (now emeritus) of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, is a global authority on Aedes aegypti, which transmits dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya and the Zika viruses.

"Vector competence studies in the lab is valuable information, but before we come to the conclusion that Culex quinquefasciatus is an important contributor to transmission of Zika virus, the lab results would need to be confirmed," Scott told us. "Other laboratories and appropriate field studies would need to be carried out in areas where Zika virus is being transmitted to confirm that this species is naturally infected and is regularly biting people. Although it is a potentially important discovery that would change they way we think about Zika virus transmission, it would be wise to carefully explore all of the details necessary to incriminate a mosquito vector before coming to a strong conclusion."

UC Davis medical entomologist Anthony Cornel of the  Kearney Agricultural  Research and Extension Center and UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, weighed in: "I have to examine the vector competence data carefully to determine its infectivity dose relative to Aedes aegypti. If Culex quinquefasciatus does play an additional role in transmission then it would be of even greater concern because the threat of autochthonous transmission will occur in areas other than where Aedes aegypti is found in California. Culex quinquefasciatus also feed on people but do so at dusk and at night." 

An article by Priscilla Moraes of Rio de Janeiro in the Jan. 27, 2016 edition of the Telegraph News, London, touched on whether Culex can transmit the Zika virus.

"Brazil could be facing a greater fight against the zika virus than previously feared as researchers investigate whether the common mosquito is transmitting the disease," Moraes wrote in the article, headlined "Brazilian Experts Investigate if 'Common Mosquito' is Transmitting Zika Virus."

"The Aedes aegypti species of mosquito was thought to be solely responsible for spreading the virus," Moraes pointed out. "But scientists are now studying whether the Culex mosquito--the variety (species) most commonly found in Brazil--could also be passing on the infection."

Constancia Ayres was quoted as saying:  "This may be the reason for the virus replicating faster. The interaction of the mosquito with the virus may explain the epidemiological profile of disease transmission.”

Meanwhile, the headlines continue as research proceeds.

The Outbreak News Today related that researchers in the Ayres lab "are now investigating the possibility that other, non-Aedes mosquito species, might carry and spread Zika and Chikungunya."

"The concern is that the Culex mosquito--which is 20 times more prevalent than the Aedes variety in Brazil-- might also play some role in the rapid spread of these viruses," Outbreak News Today noted. "Researchers hope to have some answers in a few weeks,"

Valor.com.br is hot on the story as well.  Reporter Marina Hawk emphasized that the work was done in the lab, but field collection is underway.