- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
If Cinderella were a butterfly, she'd probably be a white cabbage butterfly, Pieris rapae.
The butterfly--in its larval stage it's a pest of cucurbits--is stunning as an adult. Just think of a flowing white gown, exquisite pirouettes, and a flutter like no other.
If you've ever tried to photograph a white cabbage butterfly, it's not all that easy. They are fast and fleeting. One minute they're on the lavender and the next minute they're not. One minute they're on the catmint and then...
Where did they go?
With a fast shutter speed, though, you can sometimes catch them in flight.
When Cinderella left the ballroom at the stroke of midnight (she should listened to her Fairy Godmother and kept better track of her time!) her carriage turned back into a pumpkin, the footmen into lizards, the coachman into a rat, and her dress turned back into rags.
Just as her Fairy Godmother warned.
But the finely, timely P. rapae just flutters away--white flowing gown intact...unless snagged by a predator.
![A cabbage white butterfly nectaring on lavender in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) A cabbage white butterfly nectaring on lavender in a Vacaville garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/107641.jpg)
![Caught in flight--a cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae, leaves a lavender blossom. Image taken with a Nikon Z8 and 105mm Nikon lens. Settings: shutter speed, 1/3200 of a second; f-stop, 3: and ISO, 800. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) Caught in flight--a cabbage white butterfly, Pieris rapae, leaves a lavender blossom. Image taken with a Nikon Z8 and 105mm Nikon lens. Settings: shutter speed, 1/3200 of a second; f-stop, 3: and ISO, 800. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](/blogs/blogcore/blogfiles/107642.jpg)
- Author: Angela Tipsey
The 2023-2024 4-H Youth Development Program year ended on June 30, 2024.
The ZSuite online enrollment system is currently unavailable in preparation for the 2024-2025 program year enrollments.
The projected date families can log in to ZSuite and enroll for the 2024-2025 program year is noon, July 18, 2024. Please note that this date is subject to change. The information will be updated if that happens.
The returning volunteer training, the new volunteer interest survey, and the new volunteer training are available now. The links are in the Adult Volunteer Enrollment page.
- Author: Peggy Smith
After ‘galumphing' around Central Park Gardens in Davis for some time trying to catch the perfect photo of this brilliant green scarab beetle Cotinus mutabilis (commonly called figeater beetle) it was clear it wouldn't settle and pose for me. Chasing from one end of the garden to the other I thought “aha, I've got you” as it flew into the compost bin. As I opened the bin it was clear that it wasn't me who had ‘got' this beautiful beetle. I watched in fascination as the black widow spun its webbing around the beetle and then ran out attachment lines to the twigs in the compost. Nature itself is quite discompassionate, but I felt attached to this beetle and the happy memories it evoked of a childhood in Australia catching similar beautiful iridescent gems and then releasing them. I decided to intervene and very carefully, using a twig, moved the black widow to one side and extracted the beetle. After carefully removing the sticky webbing from around the beetle it paused in my hand and then flew off across the garden. I was sure the black widow would find a replacement dinner.
For more information https://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/GARDEN/FRUIT/PESTS/grfruitbeetle.html
A YouTube video of the beetle versus black widow: https://youtu.be/U4_j9dby-i0
- Author: Saoimanu Sope
Ahmed El-Moghazy joined UC Agriculture and Natural Resources as a UC Cooperative Extension food safety specialist in February and is based at UC Riverside. Food safety, according to El-Moghazy, are measures that ensure food is free from harmful contaminants, prevent foodborne illnesses and is safe to eat. El-Moghazy is responsible for assisting California farmers and food processing facilities to enhance food safety practices by training appropriate personnel and addressing food-safety issues on their farms.
As the principal investigator for the 2-SAFE Lab at UC Riverside, El-Moghazy is investigating the accuracy and applicability of point-of-use biosensor technology. The small, lightweight and easy-to-use sensor can be used while out in the field or in a packing house to test contamination of liquids such as irrigation and washing water or solids like food samples.
Testing for foodborne pathogens traditionally takes two to three days and the process can be costly. The biosensor technology that El-Moghazy is using is inexpensive and can provide results within one work shift, which allows businesses that grow fresh produce to confirm the safety of their products before sending them to the market.
The alternative, selling contaminated food to consumers, is not only detrimental to human health, but can ruin the reputation of businesses, making way for unanticipated costs associated with recalling contaminated products and regulatory consequences including fines and sanctions.
El-Moghazy is also developing the next generation of antimicrobial surface coatings and materials that can rapidly control the foodborne pathogens and hinder the transfer of harmful bacteria from contaminated food to non-contaminated food.
El-Moghazy is optimistic that his research can safeguard public health, reduce the burden of foodborne illness and protect the integrity of businesses. Although El-Moghazy serves the entire state, he is dedicating a large part of his needs assessment and efforts in Southern California where high-value specialty crops such as avocados and citrus are grown.
"Did you know that one in every six Americans get sick from eating food contaminated with a foodborne pathogen?" asked El-Moghazy. Understanding the fatality of foodborne illnesses, El-Moghazy believes that increasing awareness through education is an essential aspect of his role. "It's true, but not many people realize this, or that 40% of foodborne illnesses stem from fresh produce."
To protect consumers, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires farms with a certain level of annual sales (adjusted for inflation) of fruits and vegetables typically consumed raw to have one employee who has completed an FDA-approved Produce Safety Rule Grower Training.
In addition to certified trainings, El-Moghazy offers technical assistance to ensure growers comply before and after inspections, as well as resources for several topics including produce safety, agriculture water, flooding, soil amendments, worker health, hygiene and training and postharvest handling and sanitation. He can also assist in developing food-safety plans and other general farm food-safety protocols. His technical expertise covers all aspects of food production and supply including irrigation water quality, hygiene of harvesting tools and transportation.
Before joining ANR, El-Moghazy completed two years as a visiting scholar in the UC Davis Biological and Agricultural Engineering department before continuing as a postdoctoral fellow in the UC Davis Food Science and Technology department for 5 years. Much of his work was rooted in the development of biosensors and antimicrobial materials for food safety. While in Davis, he collaborated with local farms and food processing companies on food safety research and extension.
El-Moghazy earned a Ph.D. studying developmental biosensors for food safety applications to detect pesticides residues from a joint program offered by University of Perpignan in France and Alexandria University in Egypt. He also earned a master's degree in developmental biobased fungicides and a bachelor's in agriculture science from Alexandria University. Finally, he completed a fellowship at the Institute of Plant Protection, Szent Istvan University in Hungary, where he studied how to extend shelf-life of fresh produce using biomaterials.
El-Moghazy is based at UC Riverside in the Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology. He can be reached at aelmogha@ucr.edu or (951) 827-0257.
- Author: Priyanka Vyas
- Editor: Andy Lyons
- Editor: Sean D Hogan
- Editor: Genoa Starrs
We bring you stories from DroneCamp 2024, now in its 8th year and wrapping up a successful week at CSU Monterey Bay.
![Barbara Satink Wolfson Barbara Satink Wolfson](http://ucanr.edu/blogs/igis/blogfiles/107610.jpg)
“The goals of a prescribed burn are to reduce fuel load as much as you can, improve habitat and work with private landowners. I am especially excited to learn about drones equipped with thermal cameras to study fuel moisture and study ignition pattern of fires”, she said. Barb is hoping to learn object detection methods that can be used to process the imagery collected from drones and facilitate prescribed burns.
Hosted at California State University Monterey Bay Campus, this year's DroneCamp, now in its eighth year, leveraged upon the combined expertise of several UCs, CSU, and community colleges. It pooled together 29 instructors from CSU Monterey Bay, UC ANR, UC Merced, UC Santa Cruz, UC Berkeley, UC Los Angeles, Lakeland Community College, and American River College. The instructors bring deep expertise in drone hardware, flying, and processing imagery collected through drones.
![DroneCamp 2024 Group Photo DroneCamp 2024 Group Photo](http://ucanr.edu/blogs/igis/blogfiles/107613.jpg)
80 participants , mostly from California , attend the in-person event in Montery, with another 43 participants who attended virtually. While the virtual participants get access to almost all the sessions that in-person participants get, they miss the most exciting part --- which is learning to fly drones.
“After attending the DroneCamp, I can help farmers collect and report their data better to the funders. I am excited to work with farmers to assess changes in biomass production over time to see how well the plants grew after the grant. We can also take pictures of the field to see whether all the plants are getting uniform water. Depending on where the plants are in relation to the pumps, some may get too much or too little water. We can use drones to see whether the irrigation system is uniform.”
Another application Ana is interested in is assessing the effectiveness of cover crops on farmland. Cover crops are crops planted between cash crops that provide various benefits and keep the land from being fallow. “We can use drones to compare different cover crops and how they perform to control weeds in fields”.
When asked how confident Ana feels about undertaking projects independently using drones in her work, she said, “DroneCamp gave me the connections I need to reach out to experts when I work on my own project”.
After attending DroneCamp, he feels he has attained basic skills and knowledge needed to fly a drone over an orchard, and ideas on how to use drone data to assess crop response to irrigation in a field.”
Tobias says, although satellite-based remote sensing is currently used to estimate how much water is by used by crops, there are still some questions regarding their accuracy. These are questions that researchers in the field are working on answering.
He notes: “Considering drones work on a field scale, it could help potentially refine the accuracy that we do not get from other remote sensing platforms.
DroneCamp also drew students from various universities who have taken some GIS training at their academic institutions, but not in mapping with drones. Manjot Singh, a student in plant science and agriculture from Fresno State University says, “I can get introductory and advanced GIS courses at my university, but there is no drone related course being offered”. May be this will help me if I pursue a PhD or make me marketable in future jobs”.