Spring doesn't "spring" on the University of California, Davis campus. Sometimes it skitters, scampers and scoots. That's in between the cool and warm temperatures that deceive us--and the bees.

Actually, spring won't punch the clock until March 20, but if you stroll around the central campus, you'll see honey bees nectaring on almond, rosemary, and tidy tip blossoms.

And over at the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center, director Amina Harris is gearing up for the fourth annual UC Davis UC Davis Bee Symposium: Keeping Bees Healthy, set Saturday, March 3 in the UC Davis Conference Room on Alumni Drive.

The all-day event "is designed for beekeepers of all experience levels, including gardeners, farmers and anyone interested in the world of pollination and bees," Harris says. "In addition to our speakers, there will be lobby displays featuring graduate student research posters, the latest in beekeeping equipment, books, honey, plants, and much more."

The event is sponsored by the UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center (located in the Robert Mondavi Institute of Wine and Food Science), and the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.

Keynote speaker is noted bee scientist/professor/author Tom Seeley of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., who will speak on "Darwinian Beekeeping." Seeley is the Horace White Professor in Biology, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, where he teaches courses on animal behavior and researches the behavior and social life of honey bees. He's the author of Honeybee Ecology: A Study of Adaptation in Social Life (1985), The Wisdom of the Hive: the Social Physiology of Honey Bee Colonies (1995), and Honeybee Democracy (2010), all published by Princeton University Press. His books will be available for purchase and signing at the symposium.

A pending deadline: Graduate students throughout the country are invited to submit their research posters. The winners will share $1800 in cash prizes. Applications must be submitted to Liz Luu at luu@caes.ucdavis.edu, by Feb. 12. For the rules, see this web page.

The conference begins at 8:30 a.m. with registration and a continental breakfast. At 9 a.m., Amina Harris and Neal Williams, UC Davis professor of entomology and the center's faculty co-director will welcome the crowd and introduce Seeley, who speaks at 9:15 a.m.  Then a host of speakers will address and interact with the crowd throughout the day.  To check out the agenda and to register, access this page.  Or contact Harris at aharris@ucdavis.edu or Liz Luu at luu@caes.ucdavis.edu for more information. Registration is $85 (general) and $25 for students.

The symposium ends at 4:45, when the crowd heads to the reception in the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, a bee demonstration garden located next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road, west of the central campus.

It's all about the bees-our littlest agricultural workers--and keeping them healthy.