DAVIS--The UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology is participating in the "Take Our Daughters to Work" Day (TODS) on Thursday, April 23.

The Bohart Museum of Entomology in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane will be open from 1 to 4 p.m. for guided tours. Children's author S. S. Dudley (this is Steve Stoddard, a recently retired scientist in medical entomologist Thomas Scott's lab),  is scheduled for a 15-minute chat at 1:30, 2:30 and 3:30. He is the author of "Butterfly Wish" and "Elf Hills."

The department's bee garden, the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, will have docents available from noon to 1:30 p.m. The garden is located on Bee Biology Road, next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, west of the central campus. It is open from dawn to dusk year around.

The open house activities include:

• Raptor Center, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m
• Tiny World of Microscopes, 10 a.m. to noon (online fun)
• Dining Hall, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. ($2)
• Bee Haven, noon to 1:30 (docents available)
• Botanical Conservatory 1 to 4 p.m. (docents available)
• Bohart Museum guided tours, 1 to 4 p.m. and children's author/retired sciencist Steve Stoddard at 1:30, 2:30 and 3:30

For more information and other event, see the website.

 

DAVIS--It's not an itsy bitsy spider. It's not climbing up the water spout. And it's unlikely that “rain”—what's that?--will wash the spider out, as per the nursery rhyme.

It's a 40-foot long black widow spider (Latrodectus hesperus), complete with the distinguishing red hourglass. And it's coming to life in the backyard of entomologists Robert and Lynn Kimsey of Davis.

The UC Davis Entomology Club, advised by forensic entomologist Robert Kimsey, is building it for the UC Davis Picnic Day Parade on Saturday, April 18.

It's reminiscent of the black widow spider that the UC Davis Entomology Club built for the parade nearly 20 years ago. It's been a long hiatus since the last parade entry, the entomologists agree.

The spider represents a month of planning and two weeks of building, said Entomology Club vice president Alex Nguyen.

What's it like having the humongous spider right outside your windows?

“Well, it is very weird!” Robert Kimsey said. “It is huge and currently in pieces as it is getting its skin and pedipalps and other minor body parts and whatnot.  It is anatomically correct in every way!  The students have been trained well in arachnology!”

“There are legs all over the place,” Kimsey said of the eight legs. Each is slightly less than 20 feet long. “So the overall span of the legs is somewhat less than 40 feet.  Again, it is huge.  I have to admit that there are some brilliant artists and engineers in this group! But looking out the windows into the backyard takes your breath away. Any non-biologist would completely go to pieces.”

In real life, the black widow is about 1.5 inches long.

During the parade, Entomology Club president Marko Marrero will be inside the spider, hoisting it up, and walking with it, along with two people at each leg.

“The spider idea collectively came from all members of the cabinet after hearing about past picnic days from Bob,” Nguyen said. “When we presented it to the club we received very positive feedback so we decided to commit to marching in the parade with a float this year.”

“It is really a chance for club members to get together and socialize with each other and frankly have fun,” Nguyen commented. Some 15 members are involved in building the float.

The opening ceremony of the parade begins at 9:25 a.m. in the grandstands on the North Quad Avenue across from Wickson Hall. The parade begins at 10, snakes downtown, and ends at noon. Announcement locations include the beginning of the parade; second and D Street in downtown Davis; F street in front of PDQ Fingerprinting; and third and C Street in downtown Davis.

Following the parade, the spider float will be showcased in front of Briggs Hall, off Kleiber Hall Drive, where scores of entomological events will take place.

Membership in the entomology club is open to all interested persons, including faculty, staff, college and high school students and community residents. Further information is available by emailing entomologyclub@gmail.com.

 

DAVIS--John Lane, an adjunct professor at California State University and a California-registered professional geologist, will speak on “The Hargy Caldera and Surrounding Watersheds Project: West New Britain, Papua New Guinea” at the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology seminar on Wednesday, April 22. 

The seminar will be in Room 122 of Briggs Hall from 12:10 to 1 p.m. He will be introduced by his host, Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and professor of entomology at UC Davis.

“The Hargy Caldera and Surrounding Watersheds Project was developed in 2007 to discover and describe the unique features of the Lake Hargy/Nakanai Mountains of West New Britain, Papua New Guinea and to help promote world heritage status to this region,” Lane said in his abstract. “The project's focus for this year, 2015, will be fivefold: continued mapping of the Hargy Caldera, including forest density and diversity studies, continued swabbing for the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, continued sampling of herpetofauna, collection of butterflies, and lastly, sampling of avifauna.”

“Although not a primary focus, mammal and invertebrate surveys are also anticipated," he said. "In the coming years, we hope to establish a long-term research station at Lake Hargy. The research station will allow us to continue our collaboration with California State University, Chico, potentially with University of California, Davis and the University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG). With our collaboration we hope to inspire, empower, environmental science students the opportunity to study abroad. Through this opportunity, students will gain both practical field experience and a more comprehensive international perspective, both environmentally and socially.”

Lane holds an master of science degree in geoscience and a bachelor's degree in physical science both from California State University, Chico. He is a Qualified Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan Developer. 

Lane has more than 23 years experience working as a geologist dealing with issues ranging from air sampling to water rights. He is the principal scientist for Chico Environmental Science and Planning, an environmental consulting firm based in downtown Chico. He also is the founder of the Subterranean Explorers, a group of scientists and explorers who have conducted research expeditions that have led to the creation of conservation areas in Malaysia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. John lives in Chico with his wife, daughter and son.

The seminar will be video-recorded for later posting on UCTV.

See remainder of the departmental seminars, which are coordinated by nematologist/professor Steve Nadler.

Related Link:
Feature story on John Lane, Sacramento News & Review

Link to PLOS ONE research article is at http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118785)

DAVIS--Crickets are not all that they're cracked up to be as an alternative, global source of protein in the human diet to supplement or replace livestock consumption, according to newly published research completed at the University of California, Davis.

Crickets, known to pack a protein punch, are often touted as “the sustainable food of the future,” but the issue is far more complex than that, say University of California Cooperative Extension agronomist Mark Lundy and horticultural entomologist Michael Parrella, professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, in research published April 15 in the Public Library of Science (PLOS ONE). The research is titled "Crickets Are Not a Free Lunch: Protein Capture from Scalable Organic Side-Streams via High-Density Populations of Acheta domesticus."

"While there is potential for insect cultivation to augment the global supply of dietary protein, some of the sustainability claims on this topic have been overstated,” said Lundy, who headed the research at UC Davis while seeking his doctorate in agronomy. “Our study demonstrates that the sustainability gains associated with cultivating crickets as an alternative source of protein will depend, in large part, on what the crickets are fed and which systems of livestock production they are compared to.”

“Insect cultivation is more likely to contribute to human nutrition at a scale of economic and ecological significance if it does not rely on a diet that competes with conventional livestock, but more innovation is needed for this to become a reality,” Lundy said. “Moving forward, the imperative will be to design cost-effective processes that enable large populations of insects to capture protein from underutilized organic waste and side streams."

Said Parrella: “Everyone assumes that crickets--and other insects--are the food of the future given their high feed conversion relative to livestock. However, there is very little data to support this and this article shows the story is far more complex.”

For the study, the researchers modified a UC Davis greenhouse into replicated cells. They measured the biomass output and feed conversion ratios of populations of crickets (Acheta domestics) reared on food that ranged from grain-based to highly cellulosic diets.They found that the biomass accumulation was “strongly influenced by the quality of the diet.”

“The measurements were made at a much greater population scale and density than any previously reported in the scientific literature,” they wrote. “The biomass accumulation was strongly influenced by the quality of the diet, with the nitrogen concentration, the ratio of N to acid detergent fiber content, and the crude fat explaining most of the variability between feed treatments. In addition, for populations of crickets that were able to survive to a harvestable size, the feed conversion ratios (FCR) measured were higher (less efficient) than those reported from studies conducted at smaller scales and lower population densities. Compared to the industrial-scale production of broiler chickens, crickets fed a poultry feed diet showed little improvement in protein conversion efficiency (PCE), a key metric in determining the ecological footprint of grain-based livestock protein.”

“Crickets fed solid filtrate from food waste processed at an industrial scale via enzymatic digestion were able to reach a harvestable size and achieve an FCR and PCE similar to that of broiler chickens,” they wrote. “However, cricket populations fed minimally-processed, municipal-scale food waste and diets composed largely of straw experienced more than a 99% mortality before reaching a harvestable size.”

The researchers concluded that the potential for “Acheta domesticus to sustainably supplement the global protein supply, beyond what is currently produced via grain-fed chickens, will depend on capturing regionally scalable organic side-streams of relatively high-quality that are not currently being used for livestock production.”

Worldwide, statistics show that crickets are the most widely cultivated insects for the human diet, and are considered the “gateway bug” to entomophagy. They are touted as highly nutritious, and much better for the planet—environmentally and financially--than livestock due to their comparatively efficient feed conversion.

Lundy, who received his doctorate in agronomy from UC Davis in 2013, and his master's degree in international agricultural development from UC Davis, in 2010, has engaged in entomophagy. Crickets? Yes. “I ate some of my experimental subjects, after weighing them for the research,” he said. He dusted them with cornmeal and Cajun seasoning and fried them in olive oil. He has also snacked on protein bars made with cricket flour.

“I'm all for exploring alternatives, and I am impressed by the amount of innovation that has sprung up around insect cultivation and cuisine in the last few years,” Lundy said. “However, I also think we need to be clear-eyed about what the sustainability gains are and aren't, and focus our innovative efforts and limited resources to where they will have the most lasting impact.”

Crickets are readily available in pet stores as food for turtles, frogs and other pets. Part of many human diets, they are considered delicacies or snacks in many countries. Cricket flour is now commonly found in protein bars, baked goods and protein powders.

Related Links:
PLOS ONE article
Insects: The Food of the Future (Beer and Bugs event at the Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, UC Davis)