- (Focus Area) Environment
- Author: Pamela S Kan-Rice
First Forester TREX to be held June 3-6
California's first-ever Forester Prescribed Fire Training Exchange event focused on bringing together professional foresters, forest managers and fire practitioners will occur June 3-6 near Watsonville. The four-day event is being hosted by the Central Coast Prescribed Burn Association, which empowers the public to build a culture of good fire and supports private landowners in conducting prescribed burns in Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz counties.
There will be one burn conducted during the event, likely on June 4 or 5, which will be open for the public to observe.
Prescribed Fire Training Exchanges (TREXs) first came to Northern California in 2013, and have made a positive cultural shift concerning prescribed fire, within both regional fire services and the general public. These “good fire” TREX events have drawn significant attention, especially in the context of more severe wildfire seasons.
After months of cross-organizational planning, the four-day long training will be focused on exploring the connections between sustainable forest management, wildfire resilience, timber harvesting, prescribed fire, and will include a burn within a commercially harvested redwood forest. The TREX will provide experiential training opportunities to forest managers and planners to advance statewide knowledge of how to conduct prescribed fire in merchantable timber stands.
Along with the prescribed burn, the program will include lectures, local tours, and open discussions on how to incorporate fire into timber management, burn planning and timber harvest planning, pre- and post-fire considerations, and permitting mechanisms for fire and timber harvesting. Presentations will be given by local forestry consultants, University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, CALFIRE and local fire practitioners.
The burn location will occur near Mount Madonna, on private land with access allowed for accompanied observation only. Be advised, while the ForesterTREX planning team works closely with theMonterey Bay Air Resources District to assure good smoke dispersal, smoke may be seen and be present in these areas during and after a burn. Please see the Central Coast Prescribed Burn Association webpage at calpba.org/centralcoastpba for updates close to the burn date.
Participants and partners include the Mount Madonna Center, members of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band and the Esselen Tribe of Monterey County, University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, Resource Conservation District of Monterey County, CALFIRE, local land trusts, scientists, ranchers, students, researchers, land managers and others. The Central Coast Prescribed Burn Association is currently funded via California Coastal Conservancy grants.
For more information or to join a group of observers, contact Barb Satink Wolfson, UC Cooperative Extension area fire advisor at bsatink@ucanr.edu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Rukowski, who studies with community ecologists Rachel Vannette, associate professor and vice chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and distinguished professor Rick Karban, will present her exit seminar on "Identity and Functions of Symbiotic Fungi Associated with Social Bees" on Monday, May 20.
Her hour-long seminar starts at 4:10 p.m. in Room 122 of Briggs Hall. It also will be on Zoom. The Zoom link:
https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/9 5882849672.
"Social bees interact with diverse microbial communities that reside in flowers, in their nests, and within their guts," Rutkowski says in her abstract. "Fungi are common inhabitants of these environments, but despite their prevalence, little is known about their interactions with bees and their impacts on bee health. In my thesis, I identified common fungal associates of social bees and investigated their effects on bumble bee health, specifically focusing on their roles in bee response to fungicide, bee nutrition, and protection from pathogens."
"I identified several yeast groups frequently associated with social bees, including the genera Starmerella and Zygosaccharomyces," she relates. "Addition of these yeasts to bee diets improved survival and reproduction, and for one species, helped bees recover from negative effects of fungicide exposure. However, a follow-up study determined that these benefits to bee health are inconsistent and unrelated to bee nutrition. Rather, benefits of these yeasts instead may be mediated through pathogen suppression, as Starmerella yeasts are able to inhibit the growth of multiple fungal pathogens of bees. These results highlight the important impacts of these currently understudied microbes on bumble bee health, with implications for conservation of these pollinators."
In her 2021 ESA presentation, she drew attention to fungicide applications that are linked to declining bumble bee populations. She wrote in her abstract: "Native bees including bumble bees are important pollinators but face threats from multiple sources, including agrochemical application. Declining bumble bee populations have been linked to fungicide application, which could directly affect the fungi often found in the stored food and GI tract of healthy bumble bees. Here, we test the hypothesis that fungicides impact bee health by disrupting bumble bee -fungi interactions. Using two species, Bombus vosnesenskii and B. impatiens, we test the interactive effect of the fungicide propiconazole and fungal supplementation on the survival, reproduction, and microbiome composition of microcolonies (queenless colonies). We found that both bee species benefitted from fungi, but were differentially affected by fungicides. In B. vosnesenskii, fungicide exposure decreased survival while fungal supplementation mitigated fungicide effects. For B. impatiens, fungicide application had no effect, but fungal supplementation improved survival and offspring production. Fungicides altered fungal microbiome composition in both species, and reduced fungal abundance in B. vosnesenskii microcolonies, but not in B. impatiens, where instead fungal addition actually decreased fungal abundance. Our results highlight species-specific differences in both response to fungicides and the nature of fungal associations with bees, and caution the use of results obtained using one species to predict the responses of other species. These results suggest that fungicides can alter bee- fungi interactions with consequences for bee survival and reproduction, and suggest that exploring the mechanisms of such interactions, including interactions within bee-associated fungal communities, may offer insights into bumble bee biology and bumble bee conservation strategies."
Her many activities include:
- A 2023 graduate of The Bee Course, a 10-day workshop on bee collection and identification at the Southwestern Research Station in Portal, AZ.
- Co-chair of the department's entomological activities, 2022 UC Davis Picnic Day, with forensic entomologist Robert Kimsey.
- As a member of the UC Davis graduate student group, Equity in Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, and Entrepreneurship (ESTEME), she helped plan activities and lessons for middle school students in the Davis area.
- Former secretary and vice president of the UC Davis Entomology Graduate Student Association.
- Mentored prospective graduate students from groups underrepresented in STEM through a month-long program, and provided application advice and feedback on application materials.
Rutkowski holds a bachelor of science degree from Cornell University in entomology and biological sciences, with a concentration in ecology and evolutionary biology. She graduated in May 2018 summa cum laude with distinction in research.
At Cornell, Rutkowski did independent research with Professor Jennifer Thaler, carrying out an independent honor's thesis research project on ecological interactions between insect herbivores, plants, and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Rutkowski also worked with Thaler on numerous other projects, studying interactions between potato plants, Colorado potato beetles, and their predators, as well as projects studying the interactions between arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, tomato plants, and insect herbivores. She also worked with Professor Richard Lindroth at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, investigating how genotype and environmental conditions interact to affect the growth, defense and insect community of aspen trees.
Rutkowsk is the lead author or co-author in a number of publications:
- Rutkowski, D., Weston, M., Vannette, R.L. (2023) Bees just wanna have fungi: A review of bee associations with non-pathogenic fungi. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 99(8) https://doi.org/10.1093/femsec/fiad077
- Karban, R., Rutkowski, D., Murray, N. (2023) Flowers that self?shade reduce heat stress and pollen limitation. American Journal of Botany 110(2) https://doi.org/10.1002/ajb2.16109
- Pepi, A., Pan, V., Rutkowski, D., Mase, V., Karban, R. (2022) Influence of delayed density and ultraviolet radiation on caterpillar baculovirus infection and mortality. Journal of Animal Ecology 91(11):2192-2202 https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13803
- Rutkowski, D., Litsey, E., Maalouf, I, Vannette, R.L. (2022) Bee-associated fungi mediate effects of fungicides on bumble bees. Ecological Entomology 47(3):411-422 https://doi.org/10.1111/een.13126
- Mola, J.M., Stuligross, C., Page, M.L., Rutkowski, D., Williams, N.M. Impact of “non-lethal” tarsal clipping on bumble bees (Bombus vosnesenskii) may depend on queen stage and worker size. Journal of Insect Conservation 25, 195–201 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-021-00297-9
The UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology seminars are coordinated Brian Johnson, associate professor. For any technical issues with Zoom, contact him at brnjohnson@ucdavis.edu. The full list of spring seminars is here.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Free and family friendly, the open house takes place from 1 to 4 p.m. in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus.
"It should be a great event!” said Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator. “There is a lot of interest in bees this time of year. The format will be tabling with direct conversations with visitors.” The event is free and family friendly. Parking is also free.
Among those participating will be the laboratory of community ecologist Rachel Vannette, associate professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology.
"At the Vannette Lab booth, you will be able to look into the life of a bee--both in terms of where they live and how they develop!" said doctoral candidate and researcher Lexie Martin. "A live bumble bee nest and solitary bee nests will be available, so you can peer inside a bee's house! Additionally, there will be live bee larvae to observe under a microscope and interactive displays on the bee life cycle."
Vannette describes her lab as "a team of entomologists, microbiologists, chemical ecologists, and community ecologists trying to understand how microbial communities affect plants and insects (sometimes other organisms too). We often study microbial communities in flowers, on insects or in soil. We rely on natural history observations, and use techniques from chemical ecology, microbial ecology and community ecology."
Vannette's lab members participating at the open house will include:
Lexie Martin, doctoral candidate in the Entomology Graduate Group. She is interested in the impact of microbes on bee health
Dino Sbardellati, doctoral student in the Microbiology Graduate Group. He is a microbiologist interested in understanding how microbial ecology shapes macroscale ecology
Leta Landucci, a junior specialist and biochemist. She is inspired by chemical ecology, and broadly interested in exploring chemically mediated plant-insect-microbe interactions
The Bohart Museum houses a global collection of eight million insects, plus a live petting zoo, and a gift shop. Professor Jason Bond directs the museum as of Feb. 1, succeeding UC Davis distinguished professor emerita Lynn Kimsey, who served 34 years. Bond is the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair of the Department of Entomology and Nematology, and the associate dean, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. He also serves as president-elect of the American Arachnological Society.
For more information, access the website at https://bohart.ucdavis.edu or contact bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Pamela S Kan-Rice
Wildfire, cultural and prescribed burns, plant flammability among topics covered
Interested in learning about some of the latest research in fire science and stewardship? Join the UC ANR Fire Network for a series of free lunchtime webinars to explore fire science topics with colleagues from across the globe.
This four-part webinar series will address fire in land management, plant flammability, fire history and management and forestry and fuel profiles.
Everyone is welcome to watch the Hot Topics in Fire Science and Stewardship Webinar Series.
Restoring Fire to Meadows and Other Cultural Landscapes
Presenters: Alice Lincoln-Cook, California Indian Basketweavers Association; Brian Peterson, Fire Forward
- May 29, noon–12:45 p.m. Pacific Time
- Register by May 29: https://bit.ly/3Qksc0J
How Can We Assess Plant Flammability?
Presenters: Jane Cawson, University of Melbourne; Max Moritz, UC Santa Barbara and UC ANR
- June 5, 3–3:45 p.m. Pacific Time
- Register by June 4: https://bit.ly/3WetrlA
Nuances in Fire History and Management: Lessons from Oregon Presenters: Andrew Merschel, U.S. Forest Service Pacific Northwest; Chris Dunn, Oregon State University
- June 12, noon–12:45 p.m. Pacific Time
- Register by June 11: https://bit.ly/44fMU7u
Forestry and Fuel Profiles
Presenters: Don Radcliffe, University of Washington; Eric Knapp, U.S. Forest Service Pacific Southwest
- July 17, noon–12:45 p.m. Pacific Time
- Register by July 16: https://bit.ly/4aTqI5Q
For more information, visit https://ucanr.edu/sites/fire/Home_430/Events.
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- Author: Anne Schellman
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Anne Schellman has been the coordinator for the program since 2018.
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