- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The two postdoctoral scholars, Jacob "Jake" Francis and Jacob "Jake" Cecala, have just received prestigious federal research fellowships. And well-deserved!
Francis, a member of the Vannette lab since 2020, received a National Science Foundation (NSF) Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology (PRFB) to study secondary metabolites in nectar and their consequences for microbes and pollinators. His project is titled “Genetic Signal and Ecological Consequences of Toxic Nectar in Plant-Pollinator Microbe Interactions.”
Cecala, who just received his doctorate from UC Riverside, will join the Vannette lab this fall to study the effects of water availability and pesticide use on bees and bee-microbe associations.
We wrote more about them on the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology website. These are two amazing young scholars and we expect great things from them.
Francis received his doctorate in 2020 from the University of Nevada, Reno, working with advisor Anne Leonard of the Department of Biology's Program in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of North Carolina Asheville (2011) in ecology and evolution, summa cum laude, with distinction as both a research scholar and an honors scholar.
Cecala, who holds a doctorate in entomology (2021) from UC Riverside, was advised by associate professor Erin Wilson-Rankin (formerly of the Louie Yang lab, UC Davis). His dissertation: “Commercial Plant Nurseries as Habitat for Wild Bees.” He holds a master's degree in biological sciences (2015) from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, where he completed his thesis, “Bee Visit Frequency and Time of Day Effects on Cumulative Pollen Deposition in Watermelon” with professor Joan Leong, who was a doctoral student of the late Robbin Thorp, UC Davis distinguished emeritus professor. Cecala was awarded his bachelor's degree in biology, summa cum laude, with a minor in French, also from Cal Poly Pomona.
Cecala is also a 2013 graduate of The Bee Course, sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History, held annually at the Southwestern Research Station, Portal, Ariz. Professor Thorp served as one of the longtime instructors; his legacy lives on in the next generation of dedicated bee scientists.
The Vannette lab projects are in full force. Vannette, a former postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University, explains on her website, "the Vannette lab is a team of entomologists, microbiologists, chemical ecologists, and community ecologists trying to understand how microbial communities affect plants and insects (sometimes other organisms. too). We often study microbial communities in flowers, on insects or in soil. We rely on natural history observations, and use techniques from chemical ecology, microbial ecology and community ecology. In some cases, we study applied problems with an immediate application including pathogen control or how to support pollinators. Other questions may not have an immediate application but are nonetheless grounded in theory and will contribute to basic knowledge and conservation (e.g. how can dispersal differences among organisms affect patterns of abundance or biodiversity?)."
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's Day 7--the last day--of National Pollinator Week. Meet a longhorned bee, Svastra obliqua expurgata, family Apidae. It's also known as a sunflower bee.
"It's a bee that prefers sunflower but will collect pollen from a variety of members of the Aster family," the late Robbin Thorp, UC Davis distinguished emeritus professor of entomology and a native pollinator specialist, told us several years ago.
He co-authored the book, California Bees and Blooms: A Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists (along with UC-affiliated colleagues Gordon Frankie, Rollin E. Coville and Barbara Ertter), a must for everyone who wants to learn about bees and blooms.
We remember seeing these native bees nesting underground by the U.S. Bank in Davis in 2015. See Bug Squad blog.
Katharina Ullmann circled the site with yellow caution tape and posted an educational sign. Ullmann, who received her doctorate in 2014 from UC Davis, worked as a national pollinator specialist for the Xerces Society of Invertebrate Conservation before accepting her current position as director of the UC Davis Student Farm in 2017.
"This is a sunflower bee nesting site," wrote Ullmann. "These gentle bees are native and ground nesting. The females of this species are solitary bees, but like to nest near each other and often use the same nest entrance. Their nesting tunnels lead to individual chambers below the ground. Each chamber is filled with pollen, a single egg, and then closed off. These eggs will hatch, develop underground, and emerge next summer to build their nests. This sunflower bee is one of 1600 species of native bees found in California."
The sign included a "name tag" with the common name, scientific name, favorite food (pollen and nectar), favorite place to be (3rd St., Davis), favorite colors (yellow, red and orange) and favorite saying (YOLO, You Only Live Once).
Ullmann added--and good advice then and now, especially during National Pollinator Week: "Three things you can do to help this bee: (1) protect nests, (2) plant flowers and (3) use fewer insecticides."
Or better yet, no pesticides.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
It's Day 6 of National Pollinator Week.
Meet the drone fly (Eristalis tenax), often mistaken for a honey bee.
The late Robbin Thorp, UC Davis distinguished emeritus professor of entomology, used to jokingly call it "The H Bee," pointing to the "H on its abdomen.
It's not a bee, though, it's a fly. It belongs to the family Syrphidae (which includes insects commonly known as syrphids, flower flies, and hover flies) in the order, Diptera.
The drone fly about the size of a honey bee. However, unlike a honey bee, the drone fly "hovers" over a flower before landing.
Drone fly larvae are known as rattailed maggots. They feed off bacteria in drainage ditches, manure or cess pools, sewers and the like.
But just think of the adult. It's a pollinator. Just like the honey bee.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Day 5 of National Pollinator Week: Meet the leafcutter bee, family Megachilidae.
It's a native pollinator, a solitary bee, and about the size of a honey bee.
Its coloration--the black-and-white banded abdomen--makes it easily recognizable.
As the name suggestions, they (the females) cut circular holes in leaves to line their nests for brood-rearing. Rosarians who enter their roses in competition aren't fond of them because of the "imperfections" in the leaves. A hole in one--or holes in many--aren't going to give them a whole lot of blue ribbons.
But having leafcutter bees in your garden is a joy. They're good pollinators and gentle bees. Leafcutter bees carry pollen on the underside of their abdomen, not on their hind legs like honey bees, do. Agriculturists manage the alfalfa leafcutter bee (Megachile rotundata) for crop pollination.
Leafcutter bees nest in natural cavities, mostly holes in soft wood or in hollow, pithy plant stems. You can also create bee condos or housing for them, drilling specific-sized holes in a block of wood.
We saw this little male Megachile foraging on Verbena. He paused for a few minutes and then took flight. Things to do and places to go...
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
And well you should: honey bees are the global workhorses of the pollination community and pollinate about one-third of the food we eat, including fruits and vegetables and some nuts, primarily almonds (California's almond acreage exceeds 1.6 million.)
But to continue the alliteration--butterflies, bats, birds and beetles are pollinators, too.
That includes "the good guys and gals," the lady beetles, aka ladybugs, which devour aphids.
However, this is National Pollinator Week and a good time to reiterate that insects can be both pollinators and pests. Take the blister beetles (family Meloidae, which contains about 2500 species) are one color or striped. Blister beetles are a pest of alfalfa and many species secrete a poisonous chemical called cantharidin, which protects them from their predators but is quite toxic to livestock, especially horses.
According to the Alfalfa Pest Management Guidelines published by the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program (UC IPM): “Blister beetles do not cause widespread feeding damage to alfalfa; however, they contain a chemical, cantharidin, which is toxic to livestock. Cantharidin is contained in the hemolymph (blood) of the beetles, and can contaminate forage directly, when beetles killed during harvest are incorporated into baled hay, or indirectly, by transfer of the hemolymph from crushed beetles onto forage. Horses are particularly susceptible to the toxic effects of cantharidin. Consuming as few as six beetles can kill a horse.”
A 2020 news story out of the Midwest related that beetle-infested hay purchased at an auction in South Dakota led to the deaths of 16 horses at a riding stable in Mauston, Wisconsin. Reporter Carleen Wild wrote that even a small amount of the bug itself or cantharidin "can be toxic enough to kill a horse within 72 hours." The horse owners reported what looked like "blisters and holes down their esophagus and throughout their insides."
The odorless, colorless chemical also blisters the human skin; physicians use it to remove warts.
That's one powerful chemical.
