"The Beetles."

When you hear those two words, you think of four Liverpool musicians named John, Paul, George and Ringo.

Not so at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.

Say "beetles" and that  means insects. Lots of insects.

When Michael Caterino, the museum's curator of entomology,  speaks  Wednesday, Feb. 18 at UC Davis, he'll be talking about patterns of diversity in Southern California beetles.

And their names are not John, Paul, George and Ringo.

Caterino's talk, sponsored by the UC Davis Department of Entomology,  begins at noon in 122 Briggs Hall. UC Davis entomology doctoral candidate Fran Keller, who specialies in beetles (Coleoptera), will introduce him.

"I first met Mike on the top of the Caliente Range in the Carizzo Plain National Monument down south," Keller said. "I was taking Entomology 107 and we were on a field trip. It was hot and nobody was around, but Mike and another gentleman were up on the ridge collecting butterflies. We chatted and he helped catch some butterflies for my collection, willing to share."

"However, I think that as a Coleopterist, had I been collecting beetles, he might not have been so willing to give up his recently collected beetles," Keller quipped.

You can see many of her beetle photos on her  Web site).

Caterino, trained at UC Berkeley and the Natural History Museum in London, joined the museum staff in 2001. His primary research specialty is the taxonomy and evolution of an obscure, but diverse family of beetles called Histeridae.

He recently initiated the California Beetle Project; he is surveying  some 10,000 species of beetles in the state. 

Oh, and those butterflies Caterino was collecting on the Caliente Range? Probably swallowtail butterflies. His research interests include not only beetles and Jerusalem crickets (potato bugs), but the swallowtails.

There are so many caring, kindhearted and generous people out there concerned about the plight of the honey bee.

From little girls who share their monthly allowance and birthday gifts, to all the schools, organizations and businesses  who donate to the honey bee research fund at the Department of Entomology at the University of California, Davis, the cry to "Save the Honey Bees" is resounding throughout the world.

In particular, the response to the Häagen-Dazs'  educational Web site, www.helpthehoneybees.com has been overwhelming.

Häagen-Dazs stepped forward in February of 2008 to help save the honey bees. They launched a national campaign, established a scientific advisory group, created the Web site and a new Vanilla Honey Bee flavor, and donated a total of $250,000 toward honey bee research at UC Davis and Pennsylvania State. They're also working to help fund a honey bee haven at UC Davis.

Approximately 50 percent of the Häagen-Dazs flavors are directly attributed to honey bee pollination. In fact, one-third of all we eat (fruits, vegetables and nuts) is pollinated by bees.

The declining bee population worries us all.

Enter California poet Michele Krueger. While enjoying a pint of Häagen-Dazs ice cream and accessing the Häagen-Dazs Web site, she was inspired to write a poem about honey bees. She donated the poem to the UC Davis Department of Entomology.

In her email, Krueger wrote:  "I am a poet from Northern California (Lake County) and concerned about the bee crisis, too."

We thank her for her concern and her donation. Here is her poem:

Appreciation

Be the best you can be,

Honeybee.

For me.

Please pollinate

my berries,

sip nectar from

my flowers,

so you will have

the strength to fly

back and forth

for hours.

You have work to do,

Worker Bee,

for fruit tree

and for me.

Servant of Queen,

Feeder of Drone,

Soldier of Hive,

Miner of Gold,

I award you

Employee of the Season.

Honey is my reason.
 (Copyright, Michelle Krueger, Lake County, Calif.)
 

Which reminds us: last spring we watched scores of honey bees pollinate the nectarine blossoms in our back yard. Their work ethic dominates the insect world, and indeed, the entire world.  They are definitely  "employees of the season."

And "employees of the year."
 

Every year.
 

Kids love bugs. 
 

And they love books on bugs. 

One of the bug books we bought our son during his childhood was “Insect World: A Child’s First Library of Learning,” published by Time-Life Books. 

It includes such chapters as:
Why Do Butterflies Love Flowers?
Why Are a Dragon Fly’s Eyes So Big?
Why Do Ladybugs Spit Yellow Liquid When They’re Caught?
Why Do Bees Sting?
How Do Grasshoppers Jump? 

An illustration in the back of the book depicts insects doing the wrong things. Titled “What’s Going On?,” the drawing shows a butterfly eating an insect (Not! It drinks nectar); a praying mantis eating grass (Not! It eats other insects), a grasshopper drinking sap (Not! It does eat grass, though), a honey bee spinning a web (Not! But it does make a wax hive) and a cicada drinking nectar (Not! But it does drink sap). 

The diversity of insects continues to amaze us--from the huge Madagascar hissing cockroach to the tiny walnut twig beetle. Check out the Bohart Museum of Entomology's seven million specimens on the UC Davis campus or take a look (below) of this partial collection of UC Davis evolutionary ecologist Andrew Forbes, a post-doctoral scholar in professor Jay Rosenheim's lab. 

On Thursday, Feb. 12, the eyes of the world will be focused on biodiversity. That's the 200th anniversary of the birth of naturalist Charles Darwin. The New York Times just published an article on him, "Darwinism Must Die So Evolution May Live." The San Francisco Chronicle explored "Eric Simons: Frolicking in Darwin's Footsteps."  The BBC says "Scotland 'Inspired' Darwin's Work." 

And at the 2008 meeting of the Entomological Society of America, scientists devoted an entire seminar to Darwin's fascinating life and his contributions to science. 

Fortunately, Darwin (1809-1882) neglected the medical studies his parents so desperately wanted him to pursue and instead explored his passion.

UC Davis Cooperative Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen, a member of the UC Davis Department of Entomology faculty for 32 years, says this looks like a challenging  year for almond growers.

There's this water problem. Think "drought."

There's this honey bee crisis. Think "bee health" and "declining bee population."

Then there's these increased production costs. Think "tanked economy."

Christine Souza, assistant editor of Ag Alert, published by the California Farm Bureau Federation, wrote an excellent article in the Jan. 28th edition about the problems almond growers and beekeepers alike are facing.

Headlined "Challenges Face Almond Growers and Beekeepers," the article began:

A reduction in almond prices, limited water availability, increased production costs and the declining health of bees may all influence what happens during this year's almond bloom, impacting both almond growers and beekeepers.

Speaking at the Almond Board of California annual meeting last month, board member Dan Cummings warned his audience that this spring could be "dicey" for almond growers and beekeepers alike.

"Bees are competing for almond growers' money the same as water, fertilizer, fuel and all of our other inputs, at a time when the price of almonds has dropped. So we will be rationalizing where we go with our bees," said Cummings, who farms almonds in Chico and is co-owner of a full-service beekeeping operation. "We will be fallowing some other crops to direct water to almonds and perhaps abandoning almond orchards."

As a result, he said he believes many growers may reduce the amount of honeybee colonies that they place into the orchards for pollination during bloom, to save money.

And all this is happening right now. We saw the first almond blossoms this week in Yolo and Solano counties, a sure sign that spring can't be far behind.

Mussen told Souza that beekeepers are most concerned about the health of their bees, "whether they operate one colony in the backyard or thousands of colonies throughout the country." 

"Money is important," Mussen told her, "because it costs nearly $150 to keep a commercial colony alive and productive over a year. Without that income the bees would be lost and the beekeeper would be out of business." 

Get ready for the bumpy ride. Take a deep breath. And, as the bumpersticker says: Get in,  sit down, and hold on tight.

This may be like Disneyland's Big Thunder rollercoaster  that twists through mine shafts, bat caves and caverns.

And watch for the falling rocks.