Backyard Orchard News
Girl Scouts enjoy being crop science investigators at the GIRL Expo.
Girl scouts, parents and scout leaders investigated pest management and agricultural careers at the GIRL Expo organized by Girl Scouts of Central California South on January 24, 2015. The annual scouting event attracts more than 1,200 visitors from Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera and Tulare counties for a day of “learning by doing” and inspiring girls to take action for their planet and their communities.
Roberta Barton and Julie Sievert represented UC ANR Kearney Agricultural, West Side and Lindcove Research and Extension Centers at an interactive information booth in the “CSI” area. In keeping with the crime scene investigation theme, different “crop science investigation” dioramas were presented containing clues to common pests and pest management methods. Girls and adults had fun using their powers of observation and child-sized magnifying glasses to identify the usual “suspect” for each scene from among a gallery of “wanted” mug shot posters for aphid, rodent, weed, Asian citrus psyllid, snail, and slug pests. Curious visitors were drawn to the REC booth to participate in the engaging hands-on learning activity, get seed packets, and have a chance to win a California Naturalist bug observation kit.
Roberta Barton helps girl scouts and adults identify pest damage, pests, and management strategies.
Did Anyone Say "Insect-Vectored Pathogens?"
We're still in the throes of January but already UC Davis entomologist Diane Ullman and her...
UC Davis entomologist Diane Ullman is a key organizer of the two conferences focusing on insect-vectored pathogens. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Great UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day: Super Science!
Sunday, Feb. 8 is a Super Science Day! Visitors to the University of California, Davis campus can...
A Madagascar hissing cockroach crawls on the arm of a visitor at the Bohart Museum of Entomology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Olivia Dally, a UC Davis grad who received her degree in wildlife fish and conservation biology in 2012, preparing specimens at the third annual Biodiversity Day. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The skull of an Asian elephant, displayed last year by the Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Visitors enjoying the UC Davis Botanical Conservatory. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
It's Over
The Beer-for-a-Butterfly contest is over. And we have a winner! Drum roll...Art...
Art Shapiro, distinguished professor of evolution and ecology at UC Davis, holds the first cabbage white butterfly of 2015. He collected it Jan. 26 in West Sacramento, Yolo County. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
It's a Butterfly Week!
When the week is about butterflies instead of guerrilla attacks, murderous rampages, measles...
Ulysses butterfly (Papilio ulysses) collection in the Bohart Museum of Entomology. These are all males. The females have barely any blue on their wings. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
This is a Paris peacock butterfly (Papilio paris), part of the Bohart Museum of Entomology collection. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Bohart Museum of Entomology houses nearly eight million specimens from all over the world. Here are some of the butterfly specimens. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)