- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
"For me, at least a lot of my interest developed when my parents gave me a net and a butterfly picture book and then gave me enough independence to explore on my own," recalls UC Davis distinguished professor emerita Lynn Kimsey, who served 34 years as director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology before stepping down on Feb. 1.
"Today parents seem to schedule every minute of their kid's day with scheduled activities," Kimsey said, "and this simply doesn't allow kids to explore, and use their imaginations."
So true. Kids are naturally curious. When they see lady beetles, aka ladybugs, they check out what they're doing, what they're eating (a menu of aphids and other soft-bodied insects), and how they take flight.
You can ask them questions: What do you think that is? What is it doing? Can you describe it? Do you want it to be your friend? Why or why not? Do you want to write a poem about it? Do you want to photograph it?
They quickly learn that everything eats in the garden. They can watch a honey bee foraging for nectar and pollen, and then get nailed by a praying mantis. Ditto the butterfly. One minute a butterfly is sipping nectar, and the next minute, it's snared in a spider web.
And they never forget metamorphosis: how a butterfly egg magically transforms into a caterpillar, the caterpillar into a chrysalis, and then an adult butterfly ecloses from that chrysalis. "Magic" and "miracles" occur right before their eyes!
A great example of the natural curiosity of children occurs every year on the UC Davis campus during the "Take Your Daughters and Sons to Work." Mom and Dad show youngsters where they work, and also visit other workplaces. One of the highlights is the Bohart Museum of Entomology
For the Bohart Museum staff and volunteers, it's a good opportunity to engage in science communication or sci-com. Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator organizes the open houses and leads the team. At the recent event, the science communicators included doctoral student Em Jochim of the Jason Bond lab, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology; Oliver Smith, a UC Davis entomology student; psychology major Naomi Lila of the UC Davis Entomology Club; Syd Benson, a high school intern from Met Sacramento; and animal biology major Jakob Lopez wearing a quite appropriate "Have a Nice Day" shirt.
Everly Puckett, 3, was there with her father, Ryan Puckett with Facilities Management. She wasn't sure she wanted to hold any insects (Madagascar hissing cockroaches and stick insects) from the petting zoo but her dad encouraged her to touch a stick insect, aka walking stick.
Ten-year-old Mark Blankenship eagerly held a thorny stick insect. His dad, Mark Blankenship, works for Supply Chain Management.
Eight-year-old Hunter Baker was super interested in the insects and wanted to know more about them. His mother, Kate Schaul, works in security at the UC Davis Library.
Sebastian Carrasco, 3, whose mother Nadia works in UC Davis Health, attended with his father, Lizandro. When asked if he wanted to hold an insect, Sebastian hid behind his father. Then he shook his head and said "Bye, Bye!" to the insect. Clever and creative!
Daphne Shuman, 7, whose mother Amy Shuman, works for Students Affairs, loved the Bohart Museum. In fact she loved it so much she attended the event twice, in the morning and in the afternoon.
Mark Blankenship, 10, peered closely at a stick insect crawling on a hand. His father, Mark, works for Supply Chain Management.
Atlas Scott, 4, attended with his mother Danielle Hoskey who works for UC Davis Health. He decided he'd rather not become acquainted with the stick insects, but he did hold a tomato hornworm.
Bottom line: they will all remember that day at the Bohart Museum, a day when they were encouraged to look, touch and hold an insect.
And, quite likely, many may enroll in college entomology courses and some may seek entomology as a career.
The Bohart Museum, home of a global collection of eight million insect specimens (plus a gift shop and petting zoo), is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane. Summer walk-in hours are Tuesdays, June 17-Aug, 27, 9 a.m. to noon, and 1 to 4:30 p.m. The museum will be closed to the general public from Sept. 1-Sept. 22.
Director is Professor Jason Bond, the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair in the Department of Entomology and Nematology. He's also associate dean of agricultural sciences for the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
The next open houses are:
Saturday, July 20: Moth Night at the Museum (inside and outside activities) 7 to 11 p.m.
Saturday, Sept. 28: Museum ABC's: Arthropods, Bohart and Collecting, 1 to 4 p.m.
All open houses are free and family friendly. Parking is also free. For more information, contact the Bohart Museum at bmuseum@ucdavis.edu. or call (530) 752-0493.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
In the sweltering heat of Solano County (100 degrees) during National Pollinator Month, how about an image of a sweat bee, genus Halictus, a tiny bee that's often overlooked in the world of pollinators.
It's a social bee that nests in the soil. "These nests consist of a complex of tunnels with individual brood chambers," according to California Bees and Blooms: A Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists (Heyday), the work of UC-affiliated scientists,
My camera caught this Halictus flying over Coreopsis in our Vacaville pollinator garden on June 5.
Camera: Nikon Z8 with a 50mm lens
Settings: Shutter speed, 1/4000 of a second; f-stop, 5; ISO 500.
UC Davis distinguished professor emerita Lynn Kimsey, emeritus director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology, and Bohart Museum scientist Sandy Shanks said the species appears to be Halictus ligatus.
Most Halictus species are generalist foragers, according to the Great Sunflower Project. "They use all sorts of genera of plants from the Asteraceae to Scrophulariaceae. They are very common on composites (daisy-like disc and ray flowers) in summer and fall."
We've seen them on everything from mustard to milkweeds to catmint to rock purslane, from spring to fall. They also appear regularly on the tower of jewels (Echium wildpretii).
Not to mention the Coreopsis.
/span>- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Give them a 21-insect net salute.
That's what occurred at a recent retirement celebration honoring the legacy of UC Davis distinguished professor emerita Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology for 34 years.
Kimsey, who joined the UC Davis Department of Entomology (now the Department of Entomology and Nematology) in 1989, became the director of the Bohart Museum in 1990.
Noted entomologist Richard "Doc" Bohart (1913-2007) founded the insect museum in 1946. UC Davis Chancellor James Meyer (1922-2002) dedicated the facility in 1986 as "the Bohart Museum of Entomology" at a ceremony in Briggs Hall. A highlight: Faculty, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and others saluted him with a 21-insect net salute. They lined up, formed an archway with their nets, and Professor Bohart walked under the archway.
Kimsey, who was Bohart's last graduate student, recalled that event "as one of the funniest memories" of her career when she delivered a speech last November at the Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (CA&ES) event honoring recipients of its excellence awards. Kimsey received the Exceptional Faculty Award.
Kimsey retired on Feb. 1, 2024 (but she's still doing research and continues to be the executive director of the Bohart Museum Society and the writer-editor-publisher of the quarterly Bohart newsletter.)
Then came the retirement celebration on April 6. Her colleagues, collaborators, faculty, staff and students gathered in a Mathematics Building classroom on Crocker Lane for speeches, and then headed over to the nearby Bohart Museum for the 21-insect net salute, a buffet and more tributes.
As Kimsey walked beneath the archway of the 21-insect net salute leading into the Bohart Museum, a chorus of cheers and applause greeted her.
She always remember that.
Just as she remembers the first insect net she received at age 5.
“I've always been interested in insects," Kimsey said. "I got my first insect net at age 5.” A portrait of her holding that net graces the Bohart Museum.
Under Kimsey's direction, the Bohart Museum that "Doc" Bohart founded 78 years ago expanded from 400 specimens to some eight million insect specimens today. It is the seventh largest insect collection in North America.
A recognized authority on biodiversity, systematics and biogeography of parasitic wasps, urban entomology, civil forensic entomology, and arthropod-related industrial hygiene, Kimsey holds two entomology degrees from UC Davis: a bachelor's degree (1976) and a doctorate (1979). "I got to pursue my bug interests," she said. "I know it was kind of weird, but even as a little kid it was fun."
It still is, Kimsey told the crowd at her retirement celebration.
The new Bohart Museum director is arachnologist and Professor Jason Bond, the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair in the Department of Entomology and Nematology and associate dean, College of Environmental Sciences (CA&ES).
Resources:
- Access the UC Davis Entomology and Nematology website for the retirement celebration story.
- Listen to Kimsey's speech recorded by Walter Leal, UC Davis distinguished professor of molecular and cell biology and former chair of the Department of Entomology. It is posted on X (formerly Twitter) at https://x.com/wsleal2014/status/1776732932901863666)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
No, wait. Catch...examine...and then release.
That's what attendees will do at the UC Davis Bee Haven's 15th anniversary celebration, set from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, April 6 on Bee Biology Road, west of the central campus.
They'll be using a bee vacuum device to scoop up a honey bee, carpenter bee, bumble bee or other pollinator for close observation.
The half-acre garden is located next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Research Facility. Both are part of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
The open house, free and family friendly, will include a tour of the garden at 11 a.m.; catch-and-release bee activity to observe bees up close; information about low-water plants; and presentations on University of California pollinator research.
The haven is open daily from dawn to dusk (no admission). It is described as "a unique outdoor museum that provides resources for local bee pollinators, inspires and educates visitors to create pollinator habitat gardens, and provides a site for the observation and study of bees and the plants that support them."
Director of the garden is Elina Lastro Niño, associate professor of Cooperative Extension - Apiculture, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. Christine Casey is the manager, the academic program management officer.
Workers installed the garden in the fall of 2009, under the tenure of interim department chair Lynn Kimsey, now UC Davis distinguished professor emerita, and with primary funds from the Häagen-Dazs ice cream brand. Featuring a series of interconnected gardens with names like “Honeycomb Hideout,” “Nectar Nook” and “Pollinator Patch,” it was designed to provide the Laidlaw honey bees with a year-around food source, raise public awareness about the plight of honey bees, encourage visitors to plant bee-friendly gardens of their own, and serve as a research site.
A six-foot worker bee sculpture of ceramic and mosaic anchors the garden. It's the work of self-described "rock artist" Donna Billick of Davis. UC Davis distinguished professor Diane Ullman and Billick co-founded and directed the UC Davis Art-Science Fusion Program, and their art and that of Ullman's entomology students, as well as members of the community and other volunteers, are showcased throughout the garden.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
That's when the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology will celebrate the 15th anniversary of its bee garden with an open house from 10 a.m. to noon. It's free and family friendly.
The half-acre garden is located next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Research Facility on Bee Biology Road, west of the central campus.
The open house will include a tour of the garden at 11 a.m.; catch-and-release bee activity to observe bees up close; information about low-water plants; and presentations on University of California pollinator research.
Open from dawn to dusk (free admission), the Bee Haven is described as "a unique outdoor museum that provides resources for local bee pollinators, inspires and educates visitors to create pollinator habitat gardens, and provides a site for the observation and study of bees and the plants that support them."
Director of the garden is Elina Lastro Niño, associate professor of Cooperative Extension - Apiculture, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. Christine Casey is the manager, the academic program management officer.
The garden was installed in the fall of 2009, under the tenure of interim department chair Lynn Kimsey, now UC Davis distinguished professor emerita, and with primary funds from the Häagen-Dazs ice cream brand. Featuring a series of interconnected gardens with names like “Honeycomb Hideout,” “Nectar Nook” and “Pollinator Patch,” it was designed to provide the Laidlaw honey bees with a year-around food source, raise public awareness about the plight of honey bees, encourage visitors to plant bee-friendly gardens of their own, and serve as a research site.
“This garden is a living laboratory to educate, inspire and engage people of all ages in the serious work of helping to save honey bees,” said Dori Bailey, then director of Haagen-Dazs Consumer Communications.
Art graces the garden, thanks to the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program, founded and directed by entomologist-artist Diane Ullman, UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology; and Davis-based artist Donna Billick. Billick, a self-described "rock artist," sculpted the six-foot-long worker bee that anchors the haven. Students and area residents crafted the bee-motif ceramic tiles that line a bench, which also includes the names of major donors.
A mural featuring native bees graces the shed in the garden. It was a project of the Entomology 1 class, "Art, Science and the World of Insects," taught by Ullman and Billick. Then doctoral student Sarah Dalrymple of the Rick Karban lab, served as the graphics project coordinator and teaching assistant, guiding the students on design, creation and installation of the panels. She went on to be named the 2011 recipient of the UC Davis Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award and praised for fusing the boundaries of biology, art and culture.
The Bee Haven came to "bee" after officials at the Haagen-Dazs read a research news story on honey bees, written by communication specialist Kathy Keatley Garvey and telephoned her. The article, on "building a better bee," chronicled the plight of honey bees and the work of bee breeder-geneticist Susan Cobey, then manager of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility and now with Washington State University. Haagen-Dazs served as the primary donor of the garden and also funded the Häagen-Dazs Postdoctoral Fellowship at UC Davis. It went to Michelle Flenniken, an insect virus researcher based at UC San Francisco. She is now a professor at Montana State University.
Links:
Sausalito Team Wins Design Competition
http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=15240
Grand Opening Celebration of Honey Bee Garden
http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=15249
Eagle Scout Project: Fence Around the Bee Garden
http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10166
Campus Buzzway: Wildflowers
http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=15242
Haagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven: Sacramento Bee Award
(With photo of founding volunteers)
http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=10205
Shedding Light on Native Bees
https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=27570
For more information on the UC Davis Bee Haven, access the website at https://beegarden.ucdavis.edu.