- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Theme of annual ESA meeting, taking place Nov. 5-8 at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Md. is "Insects and Influence: Advancing Entomology's Impact on People and Policy."
Among those participating is UC Davis distinguished emeritus professor Frank Zalom. A highly celebrated entomologist, Zalom is an ESA Fellow (2008), past ESA president (2014), and he holds ESA's highest honor, Honorary Member (2021), an honor achieved by only four other UC Davis entomologists: Harry Lange, 1990; Don MacLean, 1993; Bruce Eldridge, 1996; and John Edman, 2001. He continues his research as a recall professor.
Evolutionary biologist Scott Carroll and his wife, entomologist Jenella Loye, both research associates of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and owners of Carroll-Loye Biological Research (CLBR) are also among the participants.
Carroll is the co-author of the newly published “Spatial Sorting Promotes Rapid (mal) Adaptation in the Red-Shouldered Soapberry Bug after Hurricane-Driven Local Extinctions” in the journal, Nature Ecology and Evolution that is drawing worldwide attention.
Officers of ESA, all women scientists, are:
- President: Marianne Alleyne, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- Vice President: Jennifer Henke, Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District
- Vice President-Elect: Lina Bernaola, Texas A&M University
- Past President: Jessica Ware, American Museum of Natural History
Founded in 1889, ESA is the largest entomological organization in the world. Its more than 7,000 members are affiliated with educational institutions, health agencies, private industry, and government.
"The premier event of the Society is its annual meeting. Each year approximately 3,500 entomologists and other scientists gather to exchange scientific information. A program of symposia, conferences, submitted papers, and continuing education seminars provides attendees the opportunity to hear and present research results. The meeting also provides a chance to interact informally with peers and prospective employers."--ESA website.
(Editor's Note: Access the ESA program and the list of UC Davis attendees (go to the online program at https://entomology2023.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The committee recently settled on the date. The inaugural event took place during the Presidents' Day weekend.
The museums and collections will participate at their various sites on campus. They will include Phaff Yeast Culture Collection, Bohart Museum of Entomology, Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, Arboretum and Public Garden, California Raptor Center, Earth and Planetary Sciences Paleontology Collections, Botanical Conservatory, Center for Plant Diversity, Nematode Collections, Marine Invertebrate Teaching Collection. and Department of Anthropology Museum.
"Each year more than 200 volunteers--students, staff and faculty--from across campus help more 4,000 visitors--including other UC Davis students, staff and faculty--learn about biodiversity through our amazing biological collections," said UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day chair Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator for the Bohart Museum of Entomology.
Yang, with Brennen Dyer, collections manager for the Bohart Museum and Melissa Cruz Hernandez, outreach and leadership program manager for the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden, recently coordinated a Crowdfunding project raising funds for the event.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
His seminar begins at 4:10 p.m. Monday, Nov. 6 in Room 122, Briggs Hall, and also will be on Zoom. The Zoom link:
https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/95882849672
"Growers consider soilborne disease management one of their main production issues," Hong writes in his abstract. "It is estimated that members of the soilborne pest complex (SPC), weeds, nematodes, fungi, oomycetes, bacteria, viruses, and protozoans, account for 10-20 percent crop loss annually worldwide. Methyl bromide was used to manage the SPC, however, it was discovered that it contributed to ozone depletion, thus was banned worldwide. Currently, no registered alternative chemical fumigant is as effective as methyl bromide for SPC management. Anaerobic soil disinfestation (ASD) is biologically based alternative to soil fumigation. ASD consists of amending the soil with a labile carbon source, tarping the soil with a plastic film, and watering the soil under the film to field capacity. During the ASD process the soil microbiome undergoes populations shifts and various anti-microbial compounds are produced. ASD has shown to be as effective as methyl bromide SPC management. This presentation will discuss the history of ASD and current research."
Hong holds a bachelor's degree in microbiology from The Ohio State University and received both his master's and doctorate in plant pathology from the University of Florida. He then served as a post doctoral fellow at West Virginia University, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at USDA.
See his 2020 YouTube video in which he "discusses his path into the field of plant pathology, and the research that he currently conducts that is improving agricultural output in key food crops. Dr. Hong also highlights the key role that the USDA plays in modern society as the holder of more US patents than any other organization. Dr. Hong focuses his research presentation on techniques that he and his team are developing to increase food production by improving soil microbial health."
Seminar coordinator is Brian Johnson, associate professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. For Zoom technical issues, he may be reached at brnjohnson@ucdavis.edu. The list of seminars is posted here.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
They all socialized and enjoyed a buffet dinner, followed by a cake. No predation! The occasion: the Bohart Museum's annual pre-Halloween party, hosted by the Bohart Museum Society.
- The queen bee: UC Davis distinguished professor Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum
- The praying mantis: Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator of the Bohart Museum
- The green darner dragonfly: Christofer Brothers, a UC Davis doctoral candidate researching dragonflies
- The monarch: Barbara Heinsch, a Bohart Museum volunteer, who arrived with her entomologist-husband, Mike Pitcairn, retired senior environmental scientist, supervisor, California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA). He wore his CDFA lab coat and swung an insect net.
UC Davis entomology alumna Ivana Li, a biology lab manager at UC Davis, catered the event and arrived with her dog, Juniper, dressed as a taco. Lynn Kimsey cut a carrot cake, decorated with tiny carrots and large googly eyes. Forensic entomologist Robert "Bob" Kimsey, dressed in his ghillie suit, served beverages.
Some attendees, including Joanna Chiu, professor and chair of the Department of Entomology and Nematology; UC Davis doctoral alumna Fran Keller, professor at Folsom Lake College; Bohart Museum associate Greg Karofelas; UC Davis doctoral alumnus Dick Meyer (who studied with the late Richard Bohart); and entomology student Kaitai Liu, arrived as themselves, sans Halloween costumes.
Background. The Bohart Museum, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, houses a global collection of eight million insect specimens, plus a live insect petting zoo and a gift shop. Founded in 1946 by the late UC Davis professor Richard Bohart, it has been directed by Kimsey, his former doctoral student, since 1990.
A recognized authority on insect biodiversity, systematics and biogeography of parasitic wasps, urban entomology, civil forensic entomology, and arthropod-related industrial hygiene, Kimsey is a 34-year member of the UC Davis entomology faculty and a UC Davis alumna, holding bachelor and doctoral degrees in entomology.
When former department chair Richard Bohart (for whom the museum is named), founded the museum in 1946, it was a “hole in the wall” in Briggs Hall that included only 400 insect specimens. Under Kimsey's tenure, it has grown to a global collection of eight million insect specimens and is the seventh largest insect collection in North America.
The Bohart draws an average of 15,000 visitors a year, adds an average of 30,000 new specimens annually, and loans an average 7000 specimens yearly to scientists worldwide. It supports campus classes with specimens, live insects and exhibits in keeping with its mission: “Understanding, documenting and communicating terrestrial arthropod diversity.”
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The Deep Look crew filmed the footage of the varroa mites with the assistance of Niño and Joseph Tauzer, manager of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, Bee Biology Road. Other segments of the production were filmed elsewhere.
The video was publicly released Oct. 24.
"They really did a great job, just like with the one on bee bread also done in my lab a few years back (2019)," said Niño, who also is the founder and director of the California Master Beekeeper Program. (See "Honey Bees Make Honey...and Bread?")
Varroa mites (Varroa destructor), natives of Asia, are external parasitic mites that feed on and weaken honey bees. They can spread such viruses as the deformed wing virus.
Beekeepers typically describe varroa mites as "Public Enemy No. 1" or as "A Beekeeper's Worst Enemy." In the Deep Look video, host Laura Klivans comments: "Every year, up to half the managed honeybee hives in the United States die from hazards like pesticide exposure, lack of flowers to forage on year-round, and varroa mites...varroa mites are great at sneaking into hives, hiding, and reproducing like mad."
Varroa mites reproduce only in a bee colony. The mites are small--measuring about 1–1.8 mm long and 1.5–2 mm wide--but they are huge to a bee. "It's as if you were carrying around a tick the size of a dinner plate," Klivans says.
Scientists first detected varroa mites in the United States in the 1980s. "They evolved on eastern honeybees, in Asia," Klivans notes. "That's why the western honeybees in the Americas and Europe aren't yet good at defending against them."
Research is underway to breed bees that will better target the mites. "The U.S. Department of Agriculture and private companies are breeding bees that can sniff out varroa mites," according to Deep Look. "When the bees find some, they uncap the cells and interrupt reproduction."
The video also focuses on "the sugar shake," a procedure used to monitor and estimate the number of varroa mites in a bee colony. It involves adding a half of a cup of bees (about 300) from the brood comb to a jar with a mesh lid, dropping in two tablespoons of confectioners' sugar, shaking the jar for 30 seconds to dislodge the mites, and emptying the contents on a tray. The beekeepers then count the number of varroa mites, estimate the severity of infestation, and decide what needs to be done.
Deep Look humorously describes the sugar-coated mites as "frosted varroa mites."
"The U.S. Department of Agriculture and private companies are breeding bees that can sniff out varroa mites," Klivans tells viewers. "When the bees find some, they uncap the cells and interrupt reproduction." Through queen bee insemination, scientists at Purdue and Central State universities are breeding honeybees known as “mite-biters." (See news story)
In addition to Niño and Tauzer, researchers consulted included Adam Finkelstein, VP Queen Bees; Krispn Given, Purdue Universities; Cameron Jack, University of Florida; Jeff Harris, Mississippi State University; Hongmei Li-Byarlay, Central State University; Samuel Ramsey, University of Colorado, Boulder; and Frank Rinkevich, USDA.
Credits include Deep Look producer/writer Gabriela Quirós; cinematographer Josh Cassidy; narrator/writer Laura Klivans; original music Seth Samuel; and editors/motion graphics Gabriela Quirós and Kia Simon.
In 2007, Deep Look filmed bee breeder-geneticist Susan Cobey (now of Washington State University) inseminating bee queens in the Laidlaw lab. At the time, Cobey managed the Laidlaw facility. Also in the video, the late Eric Mussen (1944-2022), Extension apiculturist and member of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology faculty, discusses colony collapse disorder.