Bug Squad

A daily (M-F) blog launched Aug. 6, 2008 and about the wonderful world of insects and those who study them. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
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WORKER BEES keep the hive humming. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

The Calamity of CCD

June 4, 2009
Colony collapse disorder (CCD), the mysterious phenomonen characterized by honey bees abandoning their hives, is still with is, and the cause is still mysterious.
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CAUGHT IN FLIGHT, a male carpenter bee heads for the lavender. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

To Catch a Carpenter Bee

June 3, 2009
To catch a carpenter bee... The carpenter bees (Xylocopa tabaniformis) that nectar the sage, lavender, catmint and coral bells in our bee friendly garden move fast. How fast? As fast as a buzz. They buzz into a blur and then back into a buzz. Oh, but there are ways to capture their images.
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A CARPENTER BEE and a honey bee head for the same squash blossom. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

Victory in the Garden

June 2, 2009
If you like squash, you have a bee to thank. Without bees, no pollination. Without pollination, no squash. Honey bees in California pollinate some 100 agricultural crops, including fruits, nuts and vegetables. One of them is squash.
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'THE FACE OF DARWIN,' a ceramic mosaic created in a freshman seminar at UC Davis in commemoration of Darwin's 200th birthday anniversary, shows the organisms he studied and the secret notes he harbored. (Photo courtesy of Diane Ullman)
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The Face of Darwin

June 1, 2009
Look closely at Charles Darwin's ceramic face. You'll see selections from his secret notebooks and images of organisms that most influenced his scientific studies. His beard is peppered with moths. You'll also find barnacles, iguanas, finches, orchids and other creatures on his face.
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HONEY BEE nectaring on lavender. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

All Things Lavender

May 29, 2009
A field of dreams, for a honey bee, almost certainly would be a field of lavender. Call it what you want, but if a bee could talk, it would probably be "lovely lavender.
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