- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
"All About Ants II" is posted on YouTube at https://youtu.be/d8eRNsD8dxo.
Ward, known for his expertise on ant systematics, offered an hour-long, introductory presentation on ants and answered scores of questions, drawing viewers from as far away as Virginia. He illustrated his talk with ant images taken his former doctoral student Alex Wild (PhD from UC Davis in 2005), curator of entomology at the University of Texas, Austin, and a noted macro photographer (http://www.alexanderwild.com) and blogger, http://www.myrmecos.net.
Ants, Ward said, live in long-lived colonies with (1) cooperative brood care (2) overlapping generations and (3) reproductive division of labor, the hall marks of eusocial behavior. He also pointed out:
- A typical ant colony contains a reproductive queen, numerous non-reproductive workers and brood (eggs, larvae, pupae)
- Colonies of ants can be thought of as superorganisms: tightly integrated and cooperative entities with complex systems of communication and division of labor (castes)
Ants originated about 120 million years ago (early Cretaceous), evolving from "wasp-like creatures," Ward said. They are members of the order Hymenoptera, and their closest relatives include honey bees, cockroach wasp and the mud daubers.
California has some 300 species of ants, Ward related, but thousands more are in the tropics, like Costa Rico. Globally, there may be as many as 40,000 to 50,000 species of ants, the professor estimated, but only about 14,000 are described.
"Ants have occupied almost all of the world's land surfaces, from deserts to rain forests," Ward said. "There's a few places they're absent. They're not in Antarctica, no surprise! They haven't colonized the Arctic and a few very high elevation tropical mountains, but apart from that, almost any place you go on land you'll see our friends, the ants. And they have assumed a quite a diverse array of ecological roles. Some of them are predators, others are scavengers, and some are seed collectors, and these habits vary tremendously among different species in different parts of the world."
Ants communicate largely by chemical (pheromones) and tactile means, Ward said. Their vision is "not particularly acute." He pointed out that that they lay a trail pheromones from the source of food back to the nest. They have alarm pheromones, causing other workers to act defensively. Chemicals also help ants distinguish their nest mates.
Some ants, like the Argentine ants, are pests. These invaders from South America "form super colonies, which means different colonies don't fight each other; they're all cooperating. And the other downside of Argentine ants is that they tend to eliminate native ants. So over the years I've lived in Davis, I have certainly noticed that native ants have declined as the Argentine ants have expanded. And they expand not just in, say, urban areas, but along certain natural habitats and one that they really like is the riparian habitat. So if you look along rivers and streams that are near urban areas, they're getting invaded by Argentine ants. And when they do, most native ants just disappear. This is a very tough aggressive ant and the mellow California ants can't handle an aggressive invader from South America. So they just disappear."
See the entire presentation here.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
To bee or not to bee?
That's a crucial question as the UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day/Month, Honey Bee Haven and the California Master Beekeeper Program scramble for funds between now and Sunday, Feb. 28.
That's when the UC Davis-authorized crowdfunding drive ends. If you'd like to donate--and they really would appreciate it!---here's how to do just that:
- Biodiversity Museum Day/Month: https://crowdfund.ucdavis.edu/project/24310
- Honey Bee Haven: http://crowdfund.ucdavis.edu/
project/24323 - Master Beekeepers: http://crowdfund.ucdavis.edu/
project/24314
As of Friday morning, only 30 donors have contributed $3,625 or 24 percent of the $15,000 goal of the UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day/Month. "The money raised will cover the cost of supplies and student interns who will help us continue science outreach both online and in-person," says Museum Biodiversity Day/Month coordinator Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator for the Bohart Museum of Entomology. Last year our in-person event occurred just before the global pandemic. Together 13 biological collections welcomed 4,000 people to campus. It involved nearly 300 students, staff and faculty committed to science communication and outreach. This February it had to take place virtually with live webinar talks and pre-recorded activities throughout the month, including some content in Spanish.”
"Our goal right now is to get 100 individual donations by Saturday when the crowd fund ends," Yang said.
Those participating in the 2020 Biodiversity Museum Day/Month:
- Anthropology Museum
- Arboretum and Public Garden
- Bohart Museum of Entomology
- Botanical Conservatory
- California Raptor Center
- Center for Plant Diversity
- Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven
- Nematode Collection
- Marine Invertebrate Collection
- Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology
- Paleontology Collection
- Phaff Yeast Culture Collection
About the California Master Beekeeper Program
The program is raising funds for an online, accessible, 'Beekeeper's Apprentice' course that is educational, engaging and entertaining for all ages.
From the website: "Your donation is a legacy to help ensure the health and longevity of our honey bees. Money raised for our "Beekeepers' Apprentice" course is an investment in science-based knowledge relative to our food security and the health of our environment now and for future generations - let's educate as many people as we can about the plight of our precious honey bees. Together we can bee the change!"
As of Friday at 10:30 a.m., the donations amounted to $16,823 or 67 percent of the $25,000 goal.
About the Honey Bee Haven
From the website: "Our goal is $5000 to purchase plants, irrigation supplies, and tools for the Haven to continue our vital mission of inspiration and education about bees and the plants that support them."
As of Friday at 10:30, the donations amounted to $2345 or 46 percent of the $5000 goal.
For more information, see their websites or the Feb. 1 news story on the Department of Entomology and Nematology website.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
That's when UC Davis will celebrate the "bio" (life) in both biodiversity and biochemistry with special events open to the public.
Biodiversity? Three presentations sponsored by the UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Month are slated for 11 a.m. (ants), 12:15 (bees), and 1 p.m. (plants).
The particulars:
- Professor Phil Ward of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, will present a program on ants from 11 a.m. to noon.
- Christine Casey, manager of the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, will talk about bees from 12:15 to 12:45.
- Ernest Sandoval, collections manager of the Botanical Conservatory, will discuss the conservatory's program in Spanish
To obtain the biodiversity Zoom links, access this page.
The 10th annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Month program is all virtual this year via live talks and demonstrations, and pre-recorded talks and activities. It's being celebrated throughout the month of February. The science-based event traditionally occurs on only one day--the Saturday of Presidents' Weekend, when families and friends gather on campus to learn first-hand about the UC Davis museums and collections. The 2020 event drew more than 4000 to the campus. To donate to the UC Davis Diversity Museum program in its crowdfunding efforts to continue offering free programs, click here by or before Feb. 28.
Biochemistry? Sixty UC Davis undergraduate students, divided into 12 teams, will compete in the first-ever Eric Conn Biochemistry Quizzes at 4 p.m., in a Zoom event memorializing the legendary UC Davis plant biochemist. The public can register to view the event by logging in at https://tinyurl.com/y33eyc4v. See more information about the event here.
- Twelve teams, five on each team, will answer quizzes while organizer/coordinator Walter Leal, UC Davis distinguished professor, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, will post videos and live messages dealing with the life of Conn; best student-loved places on campus; and public messages on COVID-19 and diabetes
- The first eight teams to register: Green Team, Amigo Acids, Proline Pros, Drop the Base, Krebs Cyclists, Gibbs Team, Attack on Titration, and Ironic Bonds.
- Due to overwhelming response, four other teams were added (A, B, C and D) and will play "off tube" or off camera, Leal said. "But they will play simultaneously with the other teams."
- Each team will be given three questions and will have one minute to confer.
- The spectators are encouraged to cheer for their favorite team.
The event promises to be both "fun and educational," Leal wrote in his Twitter account, @wsleal2014.
That prompted this response from UC Davis Professor Jonathan Eisen who directs the UC Davis Microbiome Special Research Program and holds joint faculty appointments with the Department of Evolution and Ecology, College of Biological Sciences; Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, UC Davis School of Medicine and Immunology; and the UC Davis Genome Center:
"And who ever said Biochemistry Quizzes weren't fun. Silly people. They are fun."
(Editor's Note, Feb. 21: The Eric Conn Biochemistry Quizzes may now be viewed on YouTube at https://youtu.be/Y9T9ayRXyYE)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Postdoctoral researcher Nick Saleh of the Santiago Ramirez lab, UC Davis Department of Evolution and Ecology, will present a live talk, coupled with a question-and-answer session, on "All About Social Behavior in Bees (Especially Orchid Bees)" from 2 to 3 p.m. on Zoom. Access the Zoom link here.
The event is free and geared for families, said spokesperson Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator for the Bohart Museum of Entomology.
- There are around 200 species of orchid bees.
- Orchid bee males make species-specific perfumes from fragrances collected from a variety of sources (including, but not limited to orchids).
- Orchid bees are hugely important pollinators in the neotropical region.
- Orchid bees are corbiculate bees, the group which also contains honey bees, bumblebees, and stingless bees.
- Orchid bees have typically been considered solitary bees, but we now know they can have a diversity of simple social behaviors.
"I am broadly interested in the mechanistic basis of behavioral evolution in animals, especially insects, in the context of social and sexual communication," Saleh says on his website. "Much of my research has investigated the evolution of social behavior in orchid bees, using them as a model system to examine transitions from solitary to social life-histories. I take an integrative approach to research, utilizing behavioral, transcriptomic, genomic, and chemical data to understand how socially sensitive physiology and communication systems evolve and function."
Orchid bees, distributed throughout South and Central America, are easily distinguished by their brilliant metallic coloration, primarily green, gold and blue.
“Euglossine--or orchid--bees constitute a diverse group of conspicuous insect pollinators from tropical America,” Santiago told the crowd at the 2018 UC Davis Bee Symposium in his talk, The Evolution and Chemical Ecology of Orchid Bees. "Male euglossine bees do not produce their own pheromones, but instead gather and accumulate perfume compounds from orchid flowers, fungi, and other resources, to subsequently present to females during courtship display.” Santiago was named a Chancellor's Fellow in January 2020, a five-year fellowship award.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 10th annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum program is all virtual this year via webinars and pre-recorded presentations, and takes place throughout the month of February. The science-based event traditionally occurs on only one day--the Saturday of Presidents' Weekend, when families and friends gather on campus to learn first-hand about the UC Davis museums and collections.
This year's biodiversity event is featuring 12 museums or collections:
- Anthropology Museum
- Arboretum and Public Garden
- Bohart Museum of Entomology
- Botanical Conservatory
- California Raptor Center
- Center for Plant Diversity
- Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven
- Nematode Collection
- Marine Invertebrate Collection
- Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology
- Paleontology Collection
- Phaff Yeast Culture Collection
For more information and the schedule, access these two formats on the UC Davis Biodiversity program website: (1) live talks and demonstrations and (2) pre-recorded talks and activities. Information on the biodiversity museum events also appear on social media, including Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, @BioDivDay.
To help support the Biodiversity Museum event, contributions are being accepted through a month-long crowdfunding campaign program at https://crowdfund.ucdavis.edu/project/24310.
Resource:
"Can Scents Create New Species? Sounds Like Orchid Bee Evolution" (Feature story on research of Santiago Ramirez on the College of Biological Sciences website, Jan. 13, 2020)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Remember last year? On Feb. 15, 2020, just before the pandemic hit, 4000 people drove, trooped or biked to the UC Davis campus to meet and talk to scientists representing 13 museums or collections. The science fascinated them and some of the students attending began to form ideas for their college studies and careers.
This year we're going virtual with live talks and demonstrations and pre-recorded talks and activities. The events are posted on the Biodiversity Museum Day/Month website.
The museums or collections participating this year are:
- Anthropology Museum
- Arboretum and Public Garden
- Bohart Museum of Entomology
- Botanical Conservatory
- California Raptor Center
- Center for Plant Diversity
- Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven
- Nematode Collection
- Marine Invertebrate Collection
- Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology
- Paleontology Collection
- Phaff Yeast Culture Collection
It's rather like Christmas in February, isn't it? And it's all free.
For the live talks, you can learn about heliconius butterflies, bees and gardens, orchid bees, plants in the Botanical Conservatory, Asian giant hornets (aka murder hornets), ants, yeasts, mammal specimen preparations and raptors. And much more.
Pre-recorded programs will encompass bee diversity, millipedes, herbariums and marine life, as well as how to make a bee condo and how to prepare insects (spread the wings of butterflies and moths) for display. And much more.
And if you'd like to donate to the UC Biodiversity Museum Day/Month program, you can do so through Crowdfund UC Davis "where alumni, students, parents and friends can make donations to support innovative projects that propel student engagement, new research discoveries, and efforts to expand UC Davis impact on California and the world." The funding program will continue through the end of February.
To donate, click here:
https://crowdfund.ucdavis.edu/project/24310
