Microbiologist Shawn Christensen, a fifth-year doctoral candidate in the Rachel Vannette laboratory, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and Vannette, his major professor, were among those collaborating with the producers of KQED Science's Deep Look for its wildlife video on bindweed turret bees. 

The newly released video, titled “This Fly Torpedoes a Bindweed Bee's Nest,” appears on YouTube at https://youtu.be/gJHCoP4WqMc.

“Shawn has done a lot of work on this bee and with Deep Look, and he also leads our lab's work on Anthophora bomboides, a bumble bee mimic, and studies microbial associates of pollen and solitary bees,” said community ecologist and associate professor Rachel Vannette, a Chancellor's Fellow and vice chair of the Department of Entomology and Nematology. 

The Deep Look crew filmed the bees, Diadasia bituberculata, in a nesting area outside the UC Davis Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve, near Winters. 

The bees, also known as digger bees or chimney bees, are specialists on bindweed, commonly known as morning glory.  “The females use pollen only from one plant species and are active through the late spring and early summer,” said Vannette, an international leader in microbial ecology who studies interactions between plants, insects and microbes. 

Native to California, the bindweed turret bees dig underground nests, many with structures called turrets at the nest entrance. They provision the nests with pollen for their future offspring, and then lay their eggs inside.  

The video shows a female bee fly (family Bombyliidae) hovering over a nest entrance and dropping her eggs inside. The fly eggs hatch into larvae, which eat the bee larvae. Horizontal turrets with sideways entrances (also shown in the video) prevent the flyover egg drop.

Gabriela Quirós, coordinating producer of Deep Look and producer of this video, consulted with the UC Davis scientists, obtaining information on the location of the bee nests, as well as information on the brood cells, pollen, and turrets. The Deep Look production includes UC Davis images taken inside a bee nest. 

Quirós also consulted with seven other scientists: Stephen Buchmann, University of Arizona; Andy Calderwood,Ventura County Deputy Agricultural Commissioner;  Neal Evenhuis, Bishop Museum of Honolulu, Hawaii; Paul Havemann, UC Davis Natural Reserve System; Keng-Lou James Hung,  University of Oklahoma; Doug Yanega, UC Riverside, and James Carey, a naturalist who researches and videos bindweed turret bees in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreational Area. 

Josh Cassidy, Deep Look lead producer and cinematographer, filmed all the footage except for the male bees fighting with each other (00;17;14- 00;25;22 in the video).  James Carey, who filmed that footage, “has been regularly monitoring and filming bindweed turret bees since 2016 in Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa, an open space in the Santa Monica Mountains,” Quirós said. “James also filmed the shot at 04;17-04;21 showing nests in the Santa Monica Mountains covered up at the end of the nesting season."

Evenhuis and Calderwood, both bee fly experts, identified the bee flies as Paravilla fulvicoma.  “Neal explained the life cycle of these bee flies and advised me on the animation,” Quirós said. Deep Look editor and motion graphics expert Kia Simon created the animation of the bee fly larva eating the bee larva. 

“How I got interested in producing an episode of Deep Look about bindweed turret bees was that Rachel Vannette told me about these bees in 2021,” Quirós related. “Rachel told me that Shawn Christensen, a doctoral student in her lab, was studying their pollen. Later, I saw on the Native Bees Facebook group, the videos that James Carey had recorded of bee flies dropping their eggs into the nests of bindweed turret bees in Rancho Sierra Vista/Satwiwa, in the Santa Monica Mountains. I hadn't known about bee flies until I saw his videos.” 

“I became interested in trying to film a video about the interactions between bee flies and bindweed turret bees. I contacted Shawn Christensen in January of this year, and Shawn and I started checking in regularly to figure out when the bindweed bees would emerge. When they finally did come out in large numbers--they were later this year than usual--we were, luckily, ready to jump into action and film an episode.” 

Quirós credited Paul Havemann, manager at the UC Davis Natural Reserve System, as instrumental in finding the filming location. “On a Sunday in early June, he clambered up the mountain at Stebbins to show me where the bees had emerged. On the way out, he told me he'd show me a parking lot where they also had emerged. The parking lot turned out to be a perfect filming location. It is very accessible and there were plenty of bees. We didn't need to haul our gear up the mountain.”

About 70 percent of the world's bee species are ground-nesting.  “Females tirelessly scoop earth with their mandibles, softening it by dousing it with nectar they collected earlier,” Deep Look related. “They work side by side, but each is /queen/ of her own castle.”

More than 4,000 species of bee flies comprise the family Bombyliidae. “How do you tell a bee fly from a bee?” Deep Look asked. “Even though bee flies have hairy bodies like bees, if you look closely, you can tell them apart. Bee flies have big eyes that cover a large area of their heads. And bee flies' antennae are short compared to bees' antennae.”

Viewers are raving about the video with such online comments as: 

• “The camera work is nothing short of amazing. Great job!” (Cassidy's photography equipment included a 100mm and 65mm macro lenses and a probe lens, a wide angle macro lens.)
• “Love the pollen pants, and I felt so bad for the bees whose hard work was spoiled by those pesky bee flies.”
• “This channel truly deserves much more recognition than it has, the amount of information and clear footage is marvelous.”
• "Thanks. It's not often I see a good short video on a native bee species or any native pollinator for that matter."

Christensen, a member of the UC Davis Microbiology Graduate Group and anticipating his doctorate in the spring of 2024, is an evolutionary biologist turned microbiologist. Christensen also researches other native bees,  including Melissodes and Colletes.

Vannette focuses her research on the chemical and microbial ecology of plant-pollinator interactions and how microbes influence plant defense and resistance against insect pests.  On its website, the Vannette lab is described 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.  In some cases, we study applied problems  with an immediate application including pathogen control or how to support pollinators.”

Molecular geneticist-physiologist Joanna Chiu, professor and vice chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, is the newly appointed chair of the department, serving a five-year term effective July 1, 2023. She succeeds Steve Nadler, the department chair since Jan. 1, 2016. 

"I am pleased Joanna Chiu has been appointed as the chair of the Department of Entomology and Nematology," said Helene Dillard, dean of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. "She is an outstanding scholar and teacher with demonstrated leadership skills.  I look forward to watching Professor Chiu thrive in her new role as chair and seeing the department continue to flourish.”

The new vice chair is community ecologist and associate professor Rachel Vannette, and the new Entomology Graduate Program chair, replacing Chiu, is community ecologist and professor Louie Yang. 

Other women scientists who have chaired the department:  Professor Diane Ullman, 2004-05, and interim chair, Lynn Kimsey, 2008-09.

Chiu joined the Department of Entomology and Nematology in 2010 as an assistant professor, and advanced to associate professor and vice chair in 2016, and to professor and vice chair in 2021. She was named one of 10 UC Davis Chancellor's Fellows in 2019, a five-year honor awarded to associate professors who excel in research and teaching. The UC Davis Academic Senate honored her with a Distinguished Teaching Award, Graduate/Professional category, in 2022. She most recently received the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Mentoring Undergraduate Research.

Chiu co-founded and co-directs (with professors Jay Rosenheim and Louie Yang) the campuswide Research Scholars Program in Insect Biology, launched in 2011 to provide undergraduates with a closely mentored research experience in biology. The program's goal is to provide academically strong and highly motivated undergraduates with a multi-year research experience that cultivates skills that will prepare them for a career in biological research.

A native of Hong Kong and a first-generation college student, Joanna received her bachelor's degree, magna cum laude, in biology and music from Mount Holyoke College, Mass., and her doctorate in molecular genetics in 2004 from New York University, New York. She trained as a postdoctoral fellow from 2004 to 2010 in molecular chronobiology at the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.  Her postdoctoral training was funded by an NIH F32 Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award postdoctoral fellowship and K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award.

"I grew up not knowing any scientists,” she related. “Both my parents work in the financial industry and neither went to college. However, my dad loves the outdoors and my childhood memories includes snorkeling with my dad and siblings, hiking in the very limited outdoors in my native Hong Kong, and watching a lot of National Geographic on TV. As a result, I have always been curious about biology, especially animal behavior.  I really hoped to study biology in college. My parents, on the other hand, wanted me to be a doctor."

“I certainly have never ever dreamed of being a professor when I was a college student. I just know I love biological research so I can learn more about the natural world, I love asking questions, and I love the joy of discovery."

Vannette joined the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology in 2015 after serving as a postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University's biology department. As a Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow from 2011 to 2015, she examined the role of nectar chemistry in community assembly of yeasts and plant-pollinator interactions.

A native of Hudsonville, Mich., Vannette received her doctorate in ecology and evolutionary biology from the University of Michigan, in 2011. She was selected a UC Davis Hellman Fellow in 2018 and a Chancellor's Fellow, a five-year honor, in 2023.

Yang, a native of Australia, but who grew up in West Virginia, received his bachelor's degree in biology from Cornell University, magna cum laude, in 1999, and a doctorate in population biology from UC Davis in 2006. He received the University of California President's Postdoctoral Fellowship to train with Professor Jonathan Levine (UCSB) and Professor Mary Power (UCB). He joined the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology as an assistant professor in 2008, advanced to associate professor in June 2015, and to professor in July 2021. Yang is highly regarded for his research and mentoring. He received the 2017 Eleanor and Harry Walker Academic Advising Award, the 2018 NACADA international Outstanding Faculty Academic Advising Award, and the 2023 Distinction in Student Mentoring Award from the Pacific Branch, Entomological Society of America.

The Department of Entomology at UC Davis began as an offshoot of the Department of Entomology and Parasitology at UC Berkeley and the two were closely entwined for more than 50 years before the UC Davis Department of Entomology became autonomous on July 1, 1963. The department now has 24 faculty, plus a lecturer. 

UC Davis offered a two-year non-degree program in entomology, beginning in 1913. The first degree in entomology provided at UC Davis was in 1923-24 at which time Stanley B. Freeborn (for whom Freeborn hall was named) was transferred from UC Berkeley to UC Davis to head the program. (See https://entomology.ucdavis.edu/entomology-history)

The UC Davis Department of Nematology officially joined the Department of Entomology on May 28, 2013.

UC Davis urban landscape entomologist Emily Meineke has been selected an Early Career Fellow of the Ecological Society of America (ESA). 

Meineke, an assistant professor who joined the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology faculty in 2020, is one of 10 faculty members to receive the honor from the ESA Governing Board. She will be recognized at ESA's Aug. 6-11 meeting in Portland, Ore. 

"This is one of the most prestigious awards an ecologist can receive," said nominator Rachel Vannette, community ecologist and associate professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. 

“Early Career Fellows are members within eight years of completing their doctoral training (or other terminal degree) who have advanced ecological knowledge and applications and show promise of continuing to make outstanding contributions to a wide range of fields served by ESA,” an ESA  spokesperson announced. “They are elected for five years.” 

Meineke received her bachelor of science degree in environmental science, with a minor in biology, in 2008 from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She obtained her doctorate in entomology in 2016 from North Carolina State University (NCU), studying with major professors Steven Frank and Robert Dunn. She wrote her dissertation on "Understanding the Consequences of Urban Warming for Street Trees and Their Insect Pests."

At NCU, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded her with the Science to Achieve Results (STAR) fellowship. As an EPA STAR Fellow, Meineke pioneered research characterizing the effects of urban heat islands on insect herbivores. And, as a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at the Harvard University Herbaria, Meineke studied how urbanization and climate change have affected global plant–insect relationships over the past 100-plus years.  

At UC Davis, the Meineke laboratory "leverages natural history collections, citywide experiments, and observations to characterize effects of recent anthropogenic change on plant–insect herbivore interactions," said Vannette. Meineke has received funding from the National Science Foundation's Faculty Early Career Development (NSF-CAREER) Program; USDA's Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI); and the UC Davis Hellman Fellows Program.

Hellman Award. In 2022, Meineke was named one of 12 recipients of the UC Davis Hellman Fellows program. Her project, “Assessing Preservation of Chemical Compounds in Pressed Plants," focuses on whether herbarium specimens collected over hundreds of years harbor chemical compounds that reveal mechanisms responsible for changing insect-plant interactions. 

"In particular, the project will reveal extent to which herbarium specimens that are dried and stored continue to harbor key chemicals—such as defensive chemicals against insects created by plants themselves and pesticides—in their leaves," Meineke related.  "This project will inform my lab's future investigations into effects of urbanization and climate change on insect herbivores." 

Meineke is also coordinating her department's seminars for the 2022-23 academic year.

ESA President Sharon Collinge noted that "This year's Fellows (7) and Early Career Fellows (10) have made tremendous scientific and societal impacts through their work and are highly regarded in their subdisciplines. Their accomplishments reflect the breadth and depth of our field, and its relevance to pressing societal concerns. I am glad that ESA is home to such a dedicated group.”  (See news release)

Holly Moeller of UC Santa Barbara, a theoretical ecologist who uses mathematical and empirical approaches to understand acquired metabolism, is among the 10 Early Career Fellows, all selected for advancing the science of ecology and showing promise for continuous contributions. Others are Karen Bailey, University of Colorado, Natalie Christian,  University of Louisville; Mary Donovan, Arizona State University; Meredith Holgerson,  Cornell University; Allison Louthan,  Kansas State University; Sparkle Malone,  Yale University; and Maria Natalia Umaña,  University of Michigan.

Rick Karban. UC Davis Distinguished Professor Richard "Rick" Karban of the Department of Entomology and Nematology was elected an ESA fellow in 2017 for "pivotal work in developing an ecological understanding of plant-herbivore interactions, with particularly notable contributions to the ecology of induced plant responses to herbivory and plant volatile signaling."

ESA, founded in 1915 aims to promote ecological science by improving communication among ecologists; raise the public's level of awareness of the importance of ecological science; increase the resources available for the conduct of ecological science; and ensure the appropriate use of ecological science in environmental decision making by enhancing communication between the ecological community and policy-makers.

Related Resource:
Emily Meineke Helped Spearhead Harvard Museum of Natural History's Thoreau Project (Department News, April 5, 2022)

Community ecologist Rachel Vannette, associate professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, is one of 13 faculty members selected as a Chancellor's Fellow, a five-year title. Each will receive $25,000 in unrestricted funds for research or other scholarly activities.

“Our newest fellows represent the very best of UC Davis and I congratulate them,” Chancellor Gary S. May said in announcing the new fellows in a UC Davis news release. “The knowledge, expertise and excellence these faculty demonstrate across a range of disciplines positively impacts our university's mission of research, teaching and public service.”

Eleven of the 13 are associate professors and two are professors. Vannette is the only Chancellor's Fellow selected in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Of the 13, five represent the College of Letters and Science. 

"An international leader in microbial ecology, she studies interactions between plants, insects and microbes," according to the news release. "Her research projects focus on the chemical an microbial ecology of plant-pollinator interactions and how microbes influence plant defense and resistance against insect pests. For example her research found that microbial species on plants contribute to floral scent and influence the attractiveness of nectar to pollinators."

"It is no exaggeration to say that Dr. Vannette is a rising star in the biological and agricultural sciences at UC Davis," said Helene Dillard, dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

The 2022-23 Chancellor's Fellows:

Marcela Cuellar, associate professor, School of Education

Melanie Gareau, associate professor, Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Cell Biology, School of Veterinary Medicine

J. Sebastian Gomez-Diaz, associate professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering

Rana Jaleel, associate professor, Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies, College of Letters and Science

Wilsaan Joiner, professor, Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, College of Biological Sciences 

Xiaodong Li, associate professor, Department of Statistics, College of Letters and Science

David Olson, associate professor, Department of Chemistry, College of Letters and Science

Caitlin Patler, associate professor, Department of Sociology, College of Letters and Science

Jessica Bissett Perea, associate professor, Department of Native American Studies, College of Letters and Science

Zubair Shafiq, associate professor, Department of Computer Science, College of Engineering

Karen Shapiro, associate professor, Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, School of Veterinary Medicine

Aaron Tang, professor, School of Law

Rachel Vannette, associate professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences

Vannette, who holds a doctorate in ecology and evolutionary biology (2011) from the University of Michigan, was selected a UC Davis Hellman Fellow in 2018. 

"All plants are colonized by microorganisms that influence plant traits and interactions with other species, including insects that consume or pollinate plants," she says. "I am interested in the basic and applied aspects of microbial contributions to the interaction between plants and insects. I also use these systems to answer basic ecological questions, such as what mechanisms influence plant biodiversity and trait evolution."

The Vannette lab is a team of entomologists, microbiologists, chemical ecologists, and community ecologists trying to understand how microbial communities affect plants and insects.

“Much of the work in my lab focuses on how microorganisms affect plant defense against herbivores and plant attraction to pollinators,” Vannette related. “For example, we are interested in understanding the microbial drivers of soil health, which can influence plant attractiveness to herbivores and the plant's ability to tolerate or defend against damage by herbivores. In addition, we are working to examine how microorganisms modify flower attractiveness to pollinators. This may have relevance in agricultural systems to improve plant and pollinator health.”

Her recent research grants include two from the National Science Federation (NSF). One is a five-year Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program award, titled “Nectar Chemistry and Ecological and Evolutionary Tradeoffs in Plant Adaptation to Microbes and Pollinators.” The other is a three-year collaborative grant, “The Brood Cell Microbiome of Solitary Bees: Origin, Diversity, Function, and Vulnerability.”

"UC Davis has named 191 faculty members as Chancellor's Fellows over the program's 23-year history, with philanthropic support from the UC Davis Annual Fund, Davis Chancellor's Club and the UC Davis Parents Fund," according to the UC Davis news story.

The UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology earlier celebrated two Chancellor's Fellows:

2019: Molecular geneticist and physiologist Joanna Chiu, then associate professor and now professor and vice chair of the department

2015: Pollinator ecologist Neal Williams, then associate professor and now professor