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Check out the Life After People series airing on the History Channel. Next week the series will include the segment, "The Last Supper" and include an interview with entomologist Lynn Kimsey (right), director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and professor and vice chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology.

The segment is scheduled to air Thursday, Jan. 26. She's also scheduled to appear in another segment on Feb. 2. (Check the History Channel for local listings.)

A TV crew trucked to UC Davis last October to film Kimsey, a noted authority on insects. Indeed, she's virtually surrounded by insects; the Bohart Museum contains more than seven million insect specimens.

Globally, we have about a million DESCRIBED insect species, with millions more yet to be discovered. In fact, some entomologists estimate there may be as many as 30 million undiscovered species out there.

The Life After People series "begins in the moments after people disappear," the Web site indicates. "As each day, month and year passes, the fate of a particular environment, city or theme is disclosed. Special effects, combined with interviews from top experts in the field of engineering, botany, biology, geology, and archeology provide an unforgettable visual journey through the ultimately hypothetical."

"The Last Supper" segment takes a look at the world of food. "Destructive forces turn supermarkets into breeding grounds for insects and rodents. Some foods last forever. Da Vinci's The Last Supper suffers due to an unusual paint ingredient. Some of man's agricultural staples succumb, while a surprising plant thrives. Exquisite restaurants atop of Taipei 101, the second tallest building in the world, collapse."

Foods that last forever? No doubt honey is one of them. Jars of honey found in Egyptian tombs date back 3300 years.

And the quality of the honey? Still edible.

After all those years.

Next spring the Campus Buzzway at UC Davis will burst with buds, blooms and bees.

The Campus Buzzway, a quarter-acre field of wildflowers, took root the third week of November when a crew planted golden poppies, lupine and coreopsis (tickseed).

Or more precisely, Eschscholzia californica, Lupinus perennis and Coreopsis granidflora.

The garden is a gift from Häagen-Dazs, which also funded the design competition for the half-acre Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven. Both bee friendly gardens are located on Bee Biology Road, next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility.

Many other donors have stepped forward to make the gardens possible.

Think bees.

Think year-around food source for bees.

Think public awareness about the the plight of bees.

Think educational opportunities for visitors.

This is no ordinary garden. The  Campus Buzzway is unique in that it not only will sport the UC Davis official colors of blue and gold, but it will include three areas of concentrated plantings surrounded by random plantings of the poppies, lupine and coreopsis.

Lynn Kimsey, professor and vice chair of the Department of Entomology and director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology, suggested the design, which also includes narrow walkways.

The two gardens, she said, "will greatly benefit our colonies and make terrific teaching opportunities.”

Expect to see scores of local pollinator populations there, too, and folks gleaning ideas for their own bee friendly gardens. Yes!

This is the second year that Häagen-Dazs, known for its premier ice cream (about half of its flavors are pollinated by honey bees), has raised funds for honey bee research at UC Davis and Penn State University.  At UC Davis, Häagen-Dazs is funding postdoctoral fellow Michelle Flenniken, an insect virus researcher seeking to unlock the mysteries of the viruses that plague bees.

Meanwhile, mark your calendars. A public celebration of the two bee friendly gardens is set June 19.

Pollination Nation.

That's the title of a new display at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, University of California, Davis.

It's quite timely and appropriate because of the beleaguered bees.

Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum and professor and vice chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology, has a keen interest in bees, and not just because she's an entomologist and a former beekeeper. She's instrumental in the administrative aspects of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Reseach Facility, including the newly planted Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, a half-acre bee friendly garden. Plans call for a public open house June 19.

And if you ever want to check out the wide variety of bee specimens (from honey bees to carpenter bees to sweat bees to blue orchard bees, et al), be sure to visit the Bohart. Bees are among the seven million insect specimens housed there.

The Pollination Nation display emphasizes the importance of bees. "Approximately three quarters of all flowering plants rely on animals, mostly insects, for pollination," the display reads. "Wild insect pollinators include bumble bees, flies, solitary bees, butterflies, ants, beetles and wasps.”

“Farmers rely heavily upon the managed colonies of the European honey bee (Apis mellifera) to pollinate crops. Not only do honey bees help produce our food but they also provide us honey and wax. Recently honey bee colonies have been dying off and their numbers are declining. Disease and mites may be the root of the problem, but insecticides and habitat loss also pose serious threats.”

Researchers at UC Davis, Kimsey explained, are trying to "understand and solve the problems of declining pollinators, both native and domesticated, by studying their taxonomy, ecology, life history traits, diseases and behaviors."

The Bohart Museum, located in 1124 Academic Surge, was founded in 1946 by the late Richard M. Bohart, former chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology. Dedicated to teaching, research and service, the insect museum houses the seventh largest insect collection in North America.

The museum also includes live insects such as Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks and walking leaves. “That’s our petting zoo,” Kimsey quipped. (Yes, you can hold them.)

More information about the Bohart, visiting hours, and guided tours is available from public outreach coordinator Tabatha Yang at (530) 752-0493 or tabyang@ucdavis.edu.

Two newly moulted insects in the Bohart Museum of Entomology at the University  of California, Davis, look just like leaves. 

But these “leaves” are made for walking.

These are camouflaged insects (Phyllium giganteum), commonly known as "walking leaves." They're green, wide, and flat.

“They’re hard to detect among the leaves,” said senior museum scientist Steve Heydon.  “It’s surprising how long it takes visitors to find them.” 

The insects, natives of Malaysia, dine on bramble, oak, eucalyptus, raspberry, rose, and red/yellow salmon berry. 

They mimic leaves in the wind by swaying as they walk, Heydon said. Females can reach a length of 5 inches.

“We got them as nymphs,” Heydon said. “They grow very slowly, probably the slowest of all the insects we’ve ever had at the museum.  It took nine months for them to moult and become adults, and they each did it within a day of each other.”

The insects, splotched with red, look like green autumn leaves turning color. “With insect camouflage, there’s never a perfect leaf,” Heydon said. “You see simulated damage.” 

Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum and UC Davis entomology professor, said she’s always craved walking leaves for the museum. “They are so incredibly bizarre-looking,” she said. “It’s amazing how this insect develops new skin when its abdomen is as flat as paper.” 

The Bohart Museum of Entomology, founded in 1946 by the late Richard M. Bohart, former chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology, is dedicated to teaching, research and service. The insect museum houses more than seven million specimens, the seventh largest insect collection in North America. 

The museum also includes live insects such as Madagascar hissing cockroaches,  walking sticks, and black widow spiders.

But for now, the walking leaves are the big attraction.

At the Bohart, you can actually "turn over a new leaf"--and it will be an insect.