Honey bee scientists,  beekeepers and other bee enthusiasts are especially looking forward to this UC Davis seminar.

UC Davis environmental toxicologist/biochemist Sascha Nicklisch will discuss how to disarm the defenses of the varroa mite, a major pest of honey bees, at his UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology seminar on Monday, Oct. 23.

His seminar, "Disarming the Defenses of Resistant Pests: Rational Design of Inhibitors for ABC Transporter Proteins in the Varroa Mite," is set for 4:10 p.m. in Room 122 of Briggs Hall. 

The seminar also will be on Zoom. The link:
 https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/95882 849672

The varroa mite, Varroa destructor, is known as Public Enemy No. 1 to beekeepers.

"Varroa mites pose a significant global menace to honey bee colonies, causing colony losses, ecological imbalances, and food scarcity," says Nicklish, an assistant professor, UC Davis Department of Environmental Toxicology, in his abstract. "Escalating pesticide resistance in these mites necessitates innovative strategies to bolster acaricide effectiveness. "Small molecule synergists that heighten mite susceptibility to acaricides offer a promising solution by amplifying chemical treatment efficacy, thus reducing overall pesticide demand."

"Present synergist development strategies primarily target metabolic enzyme inhibition to restore insect sensitivity to pesticides," he related. "Our research focuses on ABC efflux transporters, pivotal in cellular xenobiotic handling, as a new approach. We aim to establish a toxicokinetic pipeline to uncover novel synergists and validate their ability to increase Varroa mite vulnerability to existing miticides. By capitalizing on synergistic interactions between sensitizing agents and acaricides, we aim to equip beekeepers and regulators with a sustainable toolbox to combat Varroa resistance, ultimately fostering long-term honey bee well-being."

A first-generation college graduate, Nicklisch received his master's degree in biological sciences in 2005 from the University of Cologne, Germany, and his doctorate in protein biochemistry at the University of Cologne in 2008. He postdotoral fellowships at the University o Osnabruek, Germany, and at UC Santa Barbara.

Nicklisch joined the UC Davis faculty in July 2018 after serving as a staff scientist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and as a part-time lecturer at UC Dan Diego. His resume also includes senior scientist in analytical biochemistry for Phenex Inc. and consultant for August Therapeutics, Inc., both in the greater San Diego area.

Nicklisch said he "was drawn to teach at UC Davis because of its reputation for research in environmental and human toxicology. I feel like this area of science has barely had its surface scratched and I am excited to pioneer further developments in the field. My research interests focus on understanding why industrial chemicals and other toxicants enter and accumulate in humans and other animals and plants."

"Our main research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying chemical uptake and distribution in humans and other organisms," he writes on his website. "The Nicklisch Lab is interested in determining levels of drugs and environmental chemicals in different types of foods and to biochemically characterize their interactions with protective drug transporters, including P-glycoprotein, MRP1 and BCRP. Current efforts in the lab focus on investigating possible drug-pollutant and pollutant-pollutant interactions with P-glycoprotein other drug transporters on a molecular and organismal level."

"The Nicklisch Lab," he relates, "has demonstrated expertise in a broad range of traditional lab techniques to determine structure and conformation of proteins, including NMR and EPR spectroscopy and Circular Dichroism spectrometry. In addition, we have a proven track record of developing and optimizing new biochemical assays and analytical tools to determine enzyme and transporter function and kinetics. Our lab has pioneered the field of toxicokinetic interactions of environmental chemicals with drug transporters as novel targets for understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying chemical bioaccumulation."

Seminar coordinator is Brian Johnson, associate professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. For Zoom technical issues, he may be reached at brnjohnson@ucdavis.edu. The list of seminars is posted here. 

You'll want to hear Ireland scientist Éanna Ní Lamhna's RTÉ podcast featuring Washington State University entomologist David James, co-author of a newly published book, The Lives of Butterflies: A Natural History of Our Planet's Butterfly Life (Princeton University) with colleague David Lohman of the City College of New York.

The book was released in the UK on Oct. 3, 2023, and it will be released in the United States on Jan. 9, 2024.

RTÉ, or Raidió Teilifís Éireann, is an Irish public service broadcaster that produces and broadcasts programs on television, radio and online. Launched in January 1926 and headquartered in Donnybrook, Dublin, it is known as one of the world's oldest continuously operating public service broadcasters. 

At the onset of the 11-minute interview, an RTÉ announcer noted that The Lives of Butterflies "showcases extraordinary diversity of world's butterflies, while exploring their life histories, behavior, conservation and other aspects of these most fascinating and beguiling insects."

Listen to the butterfly podcast here: https://www.rte.ie/radio/radio1/clips/22294525/

Who Are the Scientists? 

Éanna Ní Lamhna is a biologist, environmental consultant, radio and television presenter, author an educator. "She is one of the best-known public figures in Ireland in the area of nature and the environment, and was listed as one of Ireland's 'Influential 100' in 2012," according to Wikipedia. She is a mainstay on RTÉ's "Mooney Goes Wild." Lamhna holds a doctorate in botany from UCD--no, not the University of California, Davis, but University College Dublin.

David James, an associate professor atWSU, is well known in the monarch world for his work on migratory monarchs and his research publications. He studies the migration of Pacific Northwest monarchs to their overwintering sites along coastal California. James holds a doctorate in entomology from Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. 

WSU biosketch: "David James developed a passion for entomology at the age of 8 in England by rearing caterpillars in his bedroom. He studied zoology at the University of Salford near Manchester, then migrated to Australia to work for the New South Wales Department of Agriculture on ways of controlling agricultural pests like locusts and mites. A PhD on the winter biology of monarch butterflies in Sydney followed and a career as a biocontrol scientist in horticulture blossomed." (See more here). He studies the migration of Pacific Northwest monarchs to the overwintering sites along coastal California.

What Did They Discuss?

• What exactly is a butterfly and how is it different from a moth?
• Are there more moths in the world than butterflies?
• How do butterflies hear?
• What's the largest butterfly in the world?
• What sets butterflies apart from other insects?
• What kind of digestive system do butterflies have?
• Why do some butterflies land on your arm and drink your sweat?
• Why do male butterflies feed on crocodile tears?
• Why did British scientist Miriam Rothschild call male monarchs "male chauvinist pigs?"
• How do you tag monarchs and what have we learned?

It's an excellent podcast--and you'll love listening to the lilting Irish accent of Éanna Ní Lamhna, coupled with the distinguishable English/Australian accent of David James.

And the answers to the above questions...

Question: What's better than seeing a monarch butterfly?

Answer: Seeing two monarch butterflies sharing the same blossom on a butterfly bush!

Scenario: Monarchs (Danaus plexippus) from the Pacific Northwest are fluttering through Vacaville, Calif. and stopping in our pollinator garden for some flight fuel before heading off to their overwintering sites along coastal California.

Background: I am watching for tagged butterflies from the migratory monarch project of Washington State University entomologist David James. (After all, one tagged by his citizen scientist Steven Johnson of Ashland, Ore., on Aug. 28, 2016, fluttered into our yard seven days later. James said it flew 285 miles in 7 days or about 40.7 miles per day.)

Menu: In our pollinator garden, the flight fuel includes nectar from the Mexican sunflower (Tithonia rotundifola), tropical milkweed (Asclepias curassavica), butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii),  and Zinnias, a genus of plants of the tribe Heliantheae within the family Asteraceae. 

Action: On Sept. 27, a male monarch touches down on our butterfly bush and begins sipping nectar. Soon, another joins him.

The two monarchs engage in what appears to be a territorial battle. It's a kaleidoscope of orange and black wings, tumbling, wobbling,  recovering.

And then, wings up! The monarchs take flight. 

You won't want to miss this.

Pollinator ecologist Anthony Vaudo, a research entomologist with the U. S. Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Moscow, Idaho, will discuss "Pollen Nutritional Ecology of Bee-Flower Interactions" at a seminar hosted by the UC Department of Entomology and Nematology at 4:10 p.m., Monday, Oct. 16 in 122 Briggs Hall. 

The seminar also will be on Zoom. The link:
 https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/95882 849672

"Pollen provides bees their primary source of protein and lipid macronutrients, essential for development, fitness, and resistance to stress," Vaudo writes in his abstract. "Yet, pollen macronutrient quality differs substantially among host-plant species. And thus, bees may be sensitive to their nutritional needs and differentially forage among host plants to obtain appropriate nutrition. In this presentation, I will highlight my research that has linked bumble bee host plant foraging preferences to pollen nutritional quality and individual and colony health. Using this as a theoretical framework, I will present recent research where I show that floral pollen nutritional quality can help explain the structure and patterns of bee-wildflower community interactions among diverse populations; and how this research can inform conservation practices. Finally, I will discuss how the quality of pollen that bees collect may differ between and remain consistent within species populations and help explain their history of floral preferences."

Said host and pollination ecologist Neal Williams, professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology: "His work examines nutritional ecology and diet choice in bumble bees. Anthony has been a pioneer in translating macronutrient composition of pollen to foraging choices by bumblebees in controlled experiments to whole landscape contexts."

Vaudo, who specializes in pollinator ecology and habitat restoration, joined the U.S. Forest Service in January 2023 after serving as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Nevada, Reno for four years. 

He holds a bachelor of science degree in psychology (2003) from the University of Florida but then switched to entomology. He obtained his master of science degree in entomology from the University of Florida in 2010 and his doctorate in entomology from Pennsylvania State University in 2016. At Penn State, he was advised by Professors Christina Grozinger and John Tooke. Vaudo then served as a postdoctoral scholar at Penn State.

Vaudo was awarded a Fulbright postdoctoral scholarship in January 2018, researching "bee-flower interaction networks across different biomes in South Africa."

Seminar coordinator is Brian Johnson, associate professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. For Zoom technical issues, he may be reached at brnjohnson@ucdavis.edu. The list of seminars is posted here.