- (Focus Area) Environment
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Visitors received free posters of the colorful butterfly, the state insect; learned how to use an insect net to catch a paper butterfly; and posed for images behind the dogface butterfly face banner.
At the California dogface butterfly table, entomologist Fran Keller, a professor at Folsom Lake College who doubles as a Bohart Museum scientist and a UC Davis doctoral alumna, discussed her children's book, The Story of the Dogface Butterfly, published in 2013.
Popular in kindergarten through sixth-grade classrooms, and in private and public collections throughout the country, the 35-page book tells the untold story of the California dogface butterfly (Zerene eurydice), and how a classroom successfully mounted a campaign to convince the California State Legislature to name it the state insect in 1972.
The book depicts the life cycle of the butterfly and also discusses the larval host plant, false indigo (Amorpha californica). The photos, primarily taken in Auburn on Placer Land Trust private land, are by Bohart associate Greg Kareofelas and Keller. Laine Bauer, then a UC Davis undergraduate student, created the illustrations. The book is available at the Bohart Museum, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane.
The posters, also the work of Keller and Kareofelas, show a male and female dogface butterfly. The male is nicknamed "the flying pansy," and sports a doglike yellow silhouette on its wings. The female is mostly solid yellow except for a single black spot on its upper wings.
In the live petting zoo, visitors held thorny stick insects and tomato hornworm caterpillars. The caterpillars wlll become the five-spotted hawkmoth, Manduca quinquemaculata, family Sphingidae.
The Bohart Museum's Picnic Day display followed the theme, "Bonding with the Bohart," in reference to Professor Jason Bond, the newly announced director, as of Feb. 1. He succeeds UC Davis distinguished professor emerita Lynn Kimsey, who served 34 years as director. 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.
The next Bohart Museum open house will take place Sunday, May 19 from 1 to 4 p.m. The theme: "Bees, Both Wild and Managed," featuring the research of scientists from the Department of Entomology and Nematology. The event is free and family friendly. Parking is also free.
- Author: Christine Casey
The Haven was created in 2009: we celebrate our 15th anniversary this year. I joined the garden in 2012 and was tasked with creating an outreach and education program. Tours, social media pages, classes, and this blog soon followed. This will end in June, when my position at the Haven is being eliminated.
I've enjoyed introducing so many of you to bees, providing information about gardens and bees, and answering your questions. Working with our amazing volunteers and donors has been extraordinary.
This blog is a short reflection on what I've learned from this work. Look for additional posts throughout May that will provide more bee gardening information, including resources beyond the Haven.
Some random thoughts:
- Children often arrive at the Haven afraid of bees but leave excited to learn more. If you are an adult with children in your life, take advantage of their curiosity to teach them about the natural world. Events like the UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day are a great place to start.
- You're probably overwatering your garden. Irrigation information for California gardens is here.
- Go on as many garden tours as you can. There's always more to learn.
- There's a lot of bad gardening information on social media. Stick with reputable sources like universities, government agencies, and good independent garden centers.
- In shared public spaces, please don't litter or use a speakerphone.
- Small public gardens and museums are passionate about what we do but operate with minimal resources. Please give what you can and understand that we can't always meet every need or provide all the programs we'd like to.
- Support local nurseries and plant sales.
- Pick up after your dog and leash them in areas where it's required.
- Leave some bare soil for ground-nesting bees.
- There's always room for one more plant.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
“I got two phone calls almost simultaneously on my two cell phones, so I thought this could not be a prank, but I am still in disbelief,” said Leal, a UC Davis distinguished professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, and former professor and chair of the Department of Entomology (now Entomology and Nematology)
The caller: The National Academy of Sciences (NAS)
The message: You've been elected a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the highest honor a scientist can achieve.
"Members are elected to the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research,” a spokesperson related. “Membership is a widely accepted mark of excellence in science and is considered one of the highest honors that a scientist can receive. Current NAS membership totals approximately 2,400 members and 500 international members, of which approximately 190 have received Nobel prizes."
“As they say, many deserving and few lucky ones," Leal commented. "Bruce Hammock told me many years ago that when he was elected to NAS, he looked around and saw many deserving colleagues. Now I understand that feeling very well. It is a tremendous and humbling honor. I hope an imposter syndrome does not kick in.”
Hammock, a UC Davis distinguished professor who holds a joint appointment with the Department of Entomology and Nematology, was elected a NAS member in 1999.
They are the only UC Davis entomologists who are NAS members.
Leal: World Leader in His Field
Leal, a native of Brazil and educated in Brazil, Japan and the United States, joined the UC Davis Department of Entomology in 2000. In 2013, he accepted a position with the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology. "Walter is an internationally recognized entomologist and a world leader in his field for his groundbreaking and transformative research in insect olfaction and chemical ecology,” Hammock said. “He is truly a renaissance man. He chaired our entomology department from 2006 to 2008, and under his tenure, our department was ranked No. 1 in the country. I've long admired (1) his rigorous fundamental research programs supported by National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, and the U.S. Department of Food and Agriculture, and other agencies, (2) how he tackles and solves multiple challenging problems in insect olfaction and chemical ecology, (3) his grasp of how to organize and moderate highly successful worldwide research webinars (4) his generosity in helping other succeed and (4) his finely honed sense of humor."
Leal solves entomological problems spanning agriculture, human health, and welfare. He translates pheromone technology to agriculturists and serves as a principal investigator for the Pacific Southwest Regional Center of Excellence for Vector-Borne Diseases (affiliated with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). He holds more than 20 patents.
“Walter has been exceptionally conscientious, active, and generous in professional service at UC Davis,” Hammock pointed out. "In August of 2021, he achieved a ‘first' for international science communication when he organized and led the extraordinary virtual conference ‘Insect Olfaction and Taste in 24 Hours Around the Globe.' I especially applaud him for elucidating the mode of action of the insect repellent DEET, developed in 1946 and known as ‘the gold standard of repellents.' Its mode of action remained an enigma for six decades until Walter's discovery. In researching the neurons in mosquito antennae sensitive to DEET, he isolated the first DEET-sensitive odorant receptor, paving the way for the development of better repellents.”
May Berenbaum, professor and head, Department of Entomology, University of Illinois-Urbana-Champaign, National Medical of Science Laureate, NAS member, and editor of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, earlier wrote that “Dr. Leal is indisputably a world leader in the field of insect chemical ecology whose work over the course of his long and distinguished career has transformed basic knowledge of insect olfactory mechanisms and inspired innovative practical applications for sustainable management of insects of importance in agriculture and human health. He has contributed significantly to the current understanding of the structure and function of every component of olfaction, including receptors, binding proteins, and degrading enzymes, revising classic paradigms along the way. No textbook and no course on insect chemical communication could be considered complete without mentioning his landmark research achievements.”
'Just Like in a Honey Bee Colony'
Leal recently was named the 2024 recipient of the UC Davis Academic Senate's Distinguished Research Award, and will present a lecture on “Just Like in a Honey Bee Colony--It Takes a Team in the UC Davis Hive to Win an Award” at the Academic Senate's Faculty Distinguished Research Award Lecture Lunch on Tuesday, May 7 from noon to 1 p.m. in the UC Davis Conference Center.
Leal is the first UC Davis faculty member to receive the Academic Senate's trifecta of awards: outstanding teaching, public service, and research. Leal received the Academic Senate's 2020 Distinguished Teaching Award for Undergraduate Teaching, and the 2022 Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Award.
Among Leal's many honors: Fellow of the Entomological Society of America (2009), American Association for the Advancement of Science (2005), and the National Academy of Inventors (2019). He was elected a trustee of the Royal Entomological Society in February 2024.
Leal holds a Ph.D. in applied biochemistry from the University of Tsukuba, Japan, with subsequent postdoctoral training in entomology and chemical ecology at the National Institute of Sericultural and Entomological Science (NISES) and Cornell University, respectively. He was the first non-Japanese person to earn tenure at Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries.
- Author: Christine Casey
I've written previously about the Haven's research on bees and gardens. This work included a look at bee preferences for common California landscape plants and work to help growers and landscapers provide the healthiest plants for bees.
Studies on bee plant preferences were described in this blog post, and the first year's results (2022) of our current project developing bee sampling methods for growers and landscapers was described in this post.
The current project is an evaluation of a common insect sampling method, timed counts, with a novel method called snapshot counts. As the name suggests, the snapshot methods uses several quick counts rather than one longer timed count to assess the number of bees choosing a plant. Our goal was to see if the faster snapshot method could provide bee counts with accuracy similar to the widely used timed count method.
The speed of the snapshot method could allow it to be included with other routine insect sampling done by growers and landscapers. This would provide a way to assess the relative attractiveness of a nursery or landscape plant mix to bees, allowing for both accurate plant recommendations and targeting of bee-compatible pest management.
Trials took place at locations in San Diego County, the center of California's nursery industry.
While the average number of bees observed per plant differs between the two methods, the pattern of preference is the same for both (Fig. 2). This is confirmed by regression analysis (Fig. 3), which found a strong correlation between the two methods
Our goal was not to determine the absolute number of bees expected on a plant, as that will vary with location, season, and weather. Rather, we wanted to understand which plants are more likely to be chosen within a plant mix. Growers can then compare new plant varieties to those with known attractiveness to determine how they'll fit into a bee garden.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Of course!
Marielle Simone Hansel Friedman, a second-year doctoral student in the lab of urban landscape entomologist Emily Meineke, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, got swept in the Barbie movie craze last year--like so many others--so this year she decided to do something special for the Entomology Graduate Student Association (EGSA) T-shirt booth at the 110th annual UC Davis Picnic Day.
She designed a pink Barbie "Bugbie" t-shirt illustrated with a rosy maple moth, Dryocampa rubicunda.
EGSA not only sold them in its booth, but the students staffing the various insect, nematode and arachnid booths at Briggs Hall wore them as they greeted visitors and talked about their projects.
They also wore them at the popular cockroach races ("Run, roach, run!) and at the maggot art tables.
Briggs Hall got pinked! Indeed, it was like seeing a flock of flamingos.
And the crowd learned that moths can be pink. Rosy pink.
"I love moths," Marielle said, "and had seen photos of rosy maple moths before, and thought it would be the perfect bug to put in the Bugbie promo because of its bright pink and yellow markings and adorable face.”
ESGA sold a total of 482 shirts that day, with 60 of them Bugbie shirts, "putting it in our top three best sellers of the day!” Marielle commented.
She also designed the monarch butterfly, swallowtail butterfly, milkweed bug, and Bugbie stickers sold at Picnic Day.
Her doctoral work at UC Davis involves "exploring the role of urbanization in herbivory of non-native plants within the context of our changing climate."
Marielle recently co-authored a research article, "Biology of Immature Stages and Host Range Characteristics of Sudauleutes bosqi (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), a Candidate Biological Control Agent of Exotic Ludwigia spp. in the USA," published in October 2022 in the Florida Entomologist. (See https://tinyurl.com/8csactwb)
Meanwhile, “Bugbie” is being sold on the EGSA website for $25 each at https://ucdavisentgrad.square.site/.
One of EGSA's all-time best sellers is The Beetles, mimicking the Beatles' Abbey Road image. The inventory also includes bees, cicadas, nematodes, a whip scorpion and a praying mantis.
They all pale in comparison to the hot pink Barbie "Bugbie" T-shirt.