- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
"Americans spend millions of dollars on sprays and pest control devices or services to kill insects. Yet much of this is unnecessary. Education about insects, spiders and their relatives is critical to reduce fear of these fascinating creatures and increase appreciation of the services they provide and their beauty. This is our goal."
So wrote Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis, in her annual letter to supporters.
"The Bohart Museum provides unique educational services to the UC Davis campus and the Northern California region," she continued. "We provide tours for everyone from preschoolers to retirees. We even designed and conducted a tour for a class of blind students this year! The Beth Spiva Timmons Foundation continues to support our outreach programs with another generous grant this year. Thanks to their donation, last year we developed a high tech program to take to schools to show students details of insects and spiders that they've never seen before. We'll be able to show them scales on butterfly wings, the gorgeous colors and textures of the insect exoskeleton, how crickets make sound, and so much more."
The Bohart Museum, home of nearly eight million insect specimens collected from around the world, also continues its national and international presence. Requests for information this year came in from National Geographic, the Discovery Channel and Myth Busters, to name a few.
Now longtime supporters Marius and Joanne Wasbauer have given the Bohart a challenge grant of $5000. "They hope that their gift will inspire others to give and they will match your gift one-for-one up to the $5000 program maximum," Kimsey related.
Funds will be deposited in the musuem endowment, which, Kimsey says will provide "invaluable oprating support to the museum, its collections, programs, and staff."
The challenge grant will extend until Dec. 31, 2012. Folks can donate online at http://www.bohartmuseum.com or mail a check to the Bohart Museum of Entomology, University of California, Davis, One Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616.
And those who offer a sponsorship of $2500 will be eligible to participate in the Bohart's biolegacy program; they can name a new species. "This could also go toward matching the Wasbauers' challenge grant, doubling the impact of your donation," Kimsey noted.
It's good to see all the services that the Bohart Museum offers, and the generosity of its supporters.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Chris saw it first.
This morning Chris Mussen of Davis contacted his father, Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen of the UC Davis Department of Entomology, and told him that the photo of him being stung by a honey bee made the Sacramento Bee's list of top 15 2012 stories.
Well, a son should recognize his father's wrist anywhere, right?
Right.
The story behind the photo: Eric Mussen and I were walking in the apiary of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility when he noticed that a bee was about to sting him.
He told me to get my camera ready. My Nikon D700, equipped with a 105 macro lens and a motor drive), was strapped around my neck, where a camera ought to be.
I caught the image (actually four of them as my camera shoots eight frames a second) and the rest is history. The photo initially won the first-place (gold) award in a feature photo contest sponsored by the international Association for Communication Excellence in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Life and Human Sciences.
The Sacramento Bee featured it, and later it was selected one of the Huffington Post's most amazing photos of 2012 and "Picture of the Day" on a number of websites.
It depicts a Carniolan bee reared by bee breeder-geneticist Susan Cobey. At the time the image was taken, the bee was defending its hive.
Which is what bees do.
Usually a bee sting results in a clean break, Mussen said. This one shows the bee trailing its abdominal tissue, aka guts.
I earlier wrote about "The Sting" in a Bug Squad blog.
The thing is, people are still saying that I must have spent the day torturing bees to get that shot.
Not true. (Fact is, I've never killed a bee in my life except for the one I stepped on in Hawaii.)
Now folks are jokingly telling me I was torturing Eric Mussen.
Not true, either. He's been stung countless times, and each time, he simply scrapes off the sting with his fingernail.
Which is what beekeepers do.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Make that several years.
Zalom, who just completed a year as the vice president-elect of the 6000-member Entomological Society of America (ESA), was installed as vice president of the organization at its meeting last month in Knoxville, Tenn. and is in line for the presidency.
So, his ESA commitment totals four years: first as vice president-elect, then as the vice president, then as president, and finally, past president. Each is a one-year term.
ESA, founded in 1889 and now headquartered in Lanham, Md., a suburb of Washington, D.C., draws members from all over the world. They're primarily in educational institutions, health agencies, private industry and government.
Zalom will be the second UC Davis entomologist to serve as ESA president. The first was Donald McLean, who held the top ESA office in 1986. Now an emeritus professor, McLean chaired the UC Davis Department of Entomology from 1974 to 1979 and served as dean of the Division of Biological Sciences from 1979 to 1986.
As ESA's new VP, Frank Zalom is already assuming a myriad of duties. He participated in the 2012 Council of Scientific Society Presidents (CSSP) conference held Dec. 8-10 in Washington, D.C.
ESA president Robert Wiedenmann, professor and head of the University of Arkansas Department of Entomology, and Zalom represented ESA at the meeting. The Council membership is comprised of presidents, presidents-elect and recent past presidents representing some 60 scientific federations and societies. The combined membership totals more than 1.4 million scientists and science educators.
Among the many speakers were Paula Apsell, senior executive producer of NOVA-TV, who led a discussion on “Building Pubic Appreciation for Science”; Ian Shipsey, physics professor at Purdue University, who spoke on “Higgs Boson: How It Imparts Mass”; Lori Garver of NASA, “Mars and Beyond—Exploring the Endless Frontiers”; and Millie Dresselhaus, professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, “Nanoscale Carbon Electron-Phonon Interaction.” Charles Vest, president of the National Academy of Engineering, keynoted the awards banquet on Dec. 9.
The CSSP contingent also met for a breakfast on Capitol Hill, interacting with congressional leaders, including chiefs of staff and senators.
According to a CSSP brochure, “The Council regularly develops national policy coordination recommended by its committees on issues of importance to the scientific community.”
Among those issues are science and mathematics education; university-based research; federal research and education budget; responsible conduct of science; merit review of federally supported science; unimpeded exchange of scientific information; magnifying public science literary; research on teaching and learning; and directions for 21st century science.
Now the ESA governing board is gearing up for its 61st annual meeting, set Nov. 10-13, 2013 (initially set for Nov. 17-20) in Austin, Texas. Also on the governing board from UC Davis is Michael Parrella, professor and chair of the Department of Entomology, who represents the ESA's Pacific Branch.
Theme of the 61st annual meeting? “Science Impacting a Connected World.”
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The artists would work on the installation daily, then stop and cover the art, resuming only when weather permitted.
The site: the half-acre Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, designed as a year-around food resource for bees, to raise public awareness about the plight of bees, and to show visitors what they can plant in their own gardens. Part of the UC Davis Department of Entomology, it's located just a few yards east of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road, west of the central campus.
For awhile, rain pelted the tarp-covered art. Then the fog rolled in. Not to be outdone, wind tugged at the protective covers, hinting at the beauty beneath.
Finally, the artists finished the installation.
This afternoon, entomologist/artist Diane Ullman, co-director of the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program and professor of entomology at UC Davis, unwrapped the two pillars at the front entrance. She also removed the tarps covering the ceramic mosaic-tiled cement planters inside the haven.
Ullman, associate dean in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, co-founded the Art/Science Fusion Program with noted artist Donna Billick of Davis, a self-described "rock artist." Together they direct the program and teach an Entomology 1 class that does just that--fuses art with science.
Last quarter the students studied bees and then developed the art. For many, it was their first attempt at a major art project. They are not art majors. Their majors include managerial economics, genetics, biological sciences, environmental toxicology and chemistry, and wildlife management.
At the end of the quarter, they stood in front of their classmates and discussed what they learned about bees and the obstacles and rewards. (See photos.) They did a fantastic job!
Andrea Wagner, a graduate student in entomology, served as the teaching assistant for the course and also created some of the art. Lending a welcoming hand in the installation was Mark Rivera of Davis, a professional ceramic mosaic artist, whose work includes the carrot sculpture by the Davis Co-Op.
"We couldn't have done the installation without Mark," Ullman said.
Several years ago, Ent 1 students painted the two towers of bee boxes at the entrance. One tower of seven boxes depicted bees inside the hive, and the other tower, bees outside the hive. Unfortunately, the paint began peeling. Subsequently, Ullman and Billick opted for a more permanent art: mosaic ceramic tiles to cover the 14 boxes. As before, one tower depicts activity inside the hive, and the second tower, activity outside the hive.
UC Davis students also created mosaic ceramic panels for two of the three cement planters inside the garden. (The UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program had only enough money for two.)
Meanwhile, the garden has never looked better. The state-of-the-art fence that surrounds the garden is the work of Derek Tully, 17, of Davis, who last summer completed the fence as his Eagle Scout project.
The garden, planted in the fall of 2009, is open to the public from dawn to dusk, year around, for self-guided tours.
Beginning next March 1, Christine Casey (cacasey@ucdavis.edu) will begin offering guided tours for $4 per person.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
If you like bugs and live in Northern California, you're in luck.
The newly formed California Bug Club has scheduled its first meeting for 6 p.m., Satuday, Jan. 12 in the Elk Grove Library's meeting room, 8900 Elk Grove Blvd.
First speaker is entomologist Jeff Smith, an associate at the Bohart Museum of Entomology on the University of California, Davis, campus. He'll speak on "Amazing Insect Lives," focusing on "the Many great mechanisms insects have for survival," says club spokesperson/founder Edgar Ortega.
Ortega is also inviting folks to bring and display their collections.
The club is open to "all bug lovers of Northern California--insect hobbyists, collectors, tarantula enthusiasts and invertebrate keepers," says Ortego, who is also founder/president of the Central Valley Herpetological Society.
Plans call for the California Bug Club to meet every other month with informative presentations from professionals in their fields. These will include entomologists, arachnologists, expert hobbyist, breeders and others.
This promises to be a very active club. As Ortega says on the Bug Club's website:
"Want to join us for a night of blacklighting for insects? Care to participate in our exploration hikes, surveys, and tarantula hunts? Want to learn how to properly preserve and mount specimens? Do you have questions for the experts? Want to identify a bug, start an insect collection, learn to care for certain species, or just want to explore your curiosity about the natural world? California Bug Club offers each of these things and more."
You can also "like" the club's Facebook page.
And we love the little praying mantis perched atop the club logo, the work of graphic artist Rachel Edler.
Bug lovers, unite!
