Like to participate in an evening City Nature Challenge Bioblitz on the UC Davis campus and search for insects? And document other fauna and flora, as well?

Doctoral student Grace Horne of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology is coordinating a City Nature Challenge Bioblitz on Saturday, April 27 from 8 to 10 p.m. in the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden. The family-friendly event, funded by the UC Davis Center for Citizen and Community Science, is open to all interested persons. "All ages are welcome," Horne said.

The nature challengers will meet at the Wyatt Deck, located at the west end of the Redwood Grove, across Arboretum Drive from the Wyatt Pavilion Theater.  Registration is underway on this Eventbrite link:
https://iluvbugs2024.eventbrite.com. 

"It's perfect for nature enthusiasts of all ages and experience levels,” Horne said, adding that it promises to be “an exciting opportunity to connect with nature and appreciate the beauty of bugs.”

Dubbed the #iluvbugs City Nature Challenge Arboretum BioBlitz and billed as "illuminating biodiversity search," the event will be an extension of Horne's first-ever "glowing bugs" exhibit (showcasing plant-insect interactions under ultraviolet light) at Briggs Hall during the 110th annual campuswide UC Davis Picnic Day on Saturday, April 20.  

Bioblitz participants "will take photos of plants and animals--especially bugs!--and upload these observations to the community science platform, iNaturalist,” she said. “All you need to bring is a smartphone or a photo-taking device. We will have a table with small lenses, bug boxes, field guides, insect specimens, and more to help you make observations of wildlife. Local experts will also be available to assist in identifying the wildlife.”

The bioblitz is affiliated with the City Nature Challenge Sacramento. CNC is an annual worldwide competition among some 500 cities with the goal of documenting the most biodiversity within a four-day period. "Participants use the iNaturalist app and platform to photograph, catalog, identify, and organize observations of wildlife in their area," according to the CNC website. "From April 26-29, any iNaturalist photo uploaded within the Sacramento Region will count towards our goal of 10,000 observations."

"We are looking to make as many quality observations as we can during the UC Davis Bioblitz," said Horne, who is marking her second consecutive year hosting a bioblitz in the Arboretum.   

Participants are asked to bring a flashlight, comfortable walking shoes, insect repellent, a camera/cell phone, binoculars (if desired), a water bottle, and weather-appropriate clothing. 

Meineke Lab. Horne, who joined the UC Davis entomology graduate program in 2021 and studies with urban landscape entomologist and assistant professor Emily Meineke, is a 2021 graduate of Colby College, Waterville, ME, where she received her bachelor's degree in biology and environmental science, magna cum laude. Her thesis: "Reduced Performance of Ash-Specialist Caterpillars on Non-Native, Cultivated Oleaceous Plants.”

At UC Davis, Horne studies "plant-insect interactions using long-term data—primarily expert-collected observations and natural history collections. "Currently, I am investigating how moth populations in Davis and Stebbins Cold Canyon have changed over the past 30 or so years using data collected by John de Benedictis of the Bohart Museum of Entomology." 

She is an alumna of The Caterpillar Lab in Marlborough, NH.  "At The Caterpillar Lab, we brought together caterpillars and their host plants to teach about species interactions, conservation, and ecology," Horne said. "Our work brought us to museums, libraries, 4th grade classrooms, farmers' markets, etc." 

Horne co-chairs the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology's Picnic Day Committee with forensic entomologist Robert Kimsey. This year all of the department's exhibits and activities, including those hosted by the Bohart Museum of Entomology, will be at Briggs Hall.  

Her Picnic Day exhibit, “I IUV Bugs," is her brainchild. The project is primarily designed by the Meineke lab, "especially (doctoral student) Marielle Hansel Friedman," Horne said.  "We will have plants from the UC Davis Arboretum Teaching Nursery and local/pet-trade arthropods which glow under ultraviolet light. With this exhibit, we seek to highlight the interplay between light, color, and species interactions." 

Have you ever participated in a scavenger hunt? You know, as part of a team hunting for specified objects?

Were any of the objects ever "insects?" Like a lady beetle (aka ladybug), butterfly or bee? No?

Well, at the 109th annual campuswide UC Davis Picnic Day on Saturday, April 15, if you head over to Room 122 of Briggs Hall, located off Kleiber Hall Drive, you can participate in an insect scavenger hunt, sponsored by the Department of Entomology and Nematology and the Bohart Museum of Entomology. All entomological activities at Briggs Hall are from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

You'll look at a insect graphics card (see below) and then you'll be asked to locate each one in the Bohart Museum's specimen drawers, borrowed for the day for the Briggs Hall event.

The reward: stickers! (And a claim to fame!)

"The scavenger hunt gives the visitors a chance to explore theBohart's outreach collection," said UC Davis doctoral student Grace Horne, co-chair of the entomological activities with forensic entomologist Robert Kimsey. "There will be several drawers of insects in Briggs 122 that people can look through to see if they can spot the insects on the check list." Horne is a member of the lab of urban landscape entomologist Emily Meineke, and a fellow of the National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF-GRFP).

What a great way to learn about insects!

Meanwhile, be sure to head over to the Bohart Museum, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, to check out the specimens. The Bohart Museum will be open on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The theme is "Bugs, Boom, Bang!"

The Bohart Museum, directed by UC Davis distinguished professor Lynn Kimsey, houses a global collection of nearly eight million specimens; a live "petting zoo"; and an insect-themed gift shop stocked with t-shirts, hoodies, jewelry, books and posters. 

It is the home of the seventh largest insect collection in North America, and the California Insect Survey, a storehouse of the insect biodiversity. Noted entomologist Richard M. Bohart (1913-2007) founded the museum in 1946. One of the popular attractions is the Lepidoptera collection curated by entomologist Jeff Smith. The collection includes some 500,000 butterflies and moths. Another special attraction is the petting zoo, featuring Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks and tarantulas. Visitors are invited to hold the insects some of the tenants.

Bohart Museum research associate Brittany Kohler, "The Zookeeper," lists the current residents:

Walking Sticks (5 species):

• Great thin stick insects (Ramulus nematodes), native to Malaysia, dimorphic (blue males)
• Borneo thorny stick insect (Aretaon asperrimus), native to Borneo
• Vietnamese stick insect (Medauroidea extradentata), native to Vietnam 
• Golden-eyed stick insect (Peruphasma schultei) native to Peru/Ecuador
• Australian Leaf insect (Extatosoma tiaratum), native to Northern forests of Australia 

• Princess Herbert, the Brazilian salmon-pink bird-eating tarantula (Lasiodora parahybana). She is estimated to be around 20 years old, the oldest current resident of the Bohart Museum
• Peaches, the Chilean rose hair tarantula (Grammostola rosea)
• Cha-Cha, the Mexican fire-leg tarantula (Brachypelma boehmei)
• Coco McFluffin, the Chaco golden knee tarantula (Grammostola pulchripes), native to Paraguay and Argentina 
• Two black widows (Latrodectus hesperus)
• One brown widow (Latrodectus geometricus) 

• Beatrice the Vietnamese centipede (Scolopendra subspinipes), the newest resident

• Ironclad beetles 
• Bark scorpion 

The Bohart Museum's regular hours are from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. The museum is closed to the public on Fridays and on major holidays. Admission is free.  More information is available by contacting (530) 752-0493 or Tabatha Yang, education and public outreach coordinator at tabyang@ucdavis.edu  

Resource:
What's a picnic without bugs? See list of Picnic Day entomological activities on Bug Squad blog.

Do you like to blend science with art, or is there a budding young artist in your family?

Then you may want to create Maggot Art, a hands-on activity offered by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology during the 109th annual UC Davis Picnic Day celebration on Saturday, April 15.

Just call it "Me and My Maggot."

Maggot Art will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Briggs Hall courtyard. You dip a maggot into water-based, non-toxic paint (your choice of colors), watch it crawl on a piece of white paper, and voila! Maggot Art! It's suitable for framing--or at least a spot on your refrigerator door. 

Like all Picnic Day activities, it's free and open to the public. Forensic entomologist Robert Kimsey of the Department of Entomology and Nematology faculty, and doctoral student Grace Horne, a fellow of the National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF-GRFP) and a member of the lab of urban landscape entomologist Emily Meineke, are coordinating the entomological activities.

Maggot Art has been a traditional part of the UC Davis Picnic Day since the early 2000s.

Rebecca O'Flaherty, a former graduate student of Bob Kimsey's, coined the educational teaching curriculum,  "Maggot Art," back in 2001 when she was studying at the University of Hawaii. She was rearing blowflies for her forensic research and wanted an activity to draw the interest of elementary school students.  She also wanted to generate interest and respect for forensic entomology.  

Her Maggot Art quickly drew national interest. The CSI television show featured one of her works, “Ancient Offering,”  which hung on the permanent set in Gil Grissom's office. O'Flaherty also exhibited her work at art shows, including a two-month exhibition at the Capital Athletic Club, Sacramento, in 2007.

And the maggots at UC Davis Picnic Day? "The maggots are Calliphora vacinia, the blue bottle fly," Kimsey said. "Realize that there are likely close to 100 species that can be called blue bottle flies. This particular one is very large as an adult and has huge larvae that are perfect for Maggot Art."

"Although at certain times of the year, it is active in California, particularly around cities, it is not as common as others and I do not have a colony," he added. "There has been a lot of very famous research in entomology done on this species, particularly at University of Massachusetts and Harvard under Vincent Dethier, whose research has provided profound insights into human biology." 

The maggots are on order from Knutson's Sporting Goods, an Internet purveyor based in Brooklyn, Mich., which sells them as live fish bait and as research tools. "Maggots are one of the most popular bait used by ice fisherman in the United States," the company says on its website.

The Department of Entomology and Nematology's "bug" exhibits will be at two sites:

• Briggs Hall, home of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, Kleiber Hall Drive, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and
• Bohart Museum of Entomology, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The theme is "Bugs, Boom, Bang!" The insect museum, directed by UC Davis distinguished professor Lynn Kimsey, houses a global collection of eight million insect specimens, a live "petting zoo" (including Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insects and tarantulas).

The line-up of entomological events at Briggs Hall includes:

Cockroach Races
Briggs Hall entrance
11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Cheer the roaches (American cockroaches) as they race in a specially made race track, encouraged by an air pump.

Bug Doctor
Briggs Hall Entryway 
9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 
Meet an entomologist and talk about insects! Bring an insect to identify.  

Dr. Death
Room 122 of Briggs Hall
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Forensic entomologist Robert Kimsey will display and discuss his work. 

Entomology at UC Davis 
Room 122 of Briggs Hall
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Displays of insects, including bees, ants and more
Graduate students, faculty and emeriti will staff the tables

Scavenger Hunt
Room 122 of Briggs Hall
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
There will be several drawers of insects that people can look through to see if they can spot the insects on the check list

Fly-tying
Briggs Hall courtyard
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Fly Fishers of Davis will show you how to tie a fly.

Insect-Themed T-shirt Sales
Briggs hall entryway
9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Members of the Entomology Graduate Student Association (EGSA) will be selling popular insect-themed t-shirts, including "The Beetles" 

Mosquito Control
Briggs Hall entrance
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control District will be providing information on mosquitoes and how to protect yourself

Other Creepy Crawlies
122 Briggs Hall
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
UC Davis doctoral candidate Emma Jochim of the Jason Bond lab and others will display live arachnids, myriapods, tarantulas, scorpions, millipedes and more 

UC  Statewide Integrated Pest Management (UC IPM) 
Briggs Hall Courtyard
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Learn about pests and how to control them from UC IPM scientists. The staff will be giving away lady beetles, aka ladybugs.

The UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center, headed by director Amina Harris and affiliated with the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, will host a honey tasting from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the courtyard of Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, 392 Old Davis Road. "Come taste and learn about UC Davis honey and honey varietals from North America," she said. "Honey available for purchase."

The UC Davis Picnic Day, a campuswide open house, is billed as "one of UC Davis' most revered traditions and serves as the university's annual open house for prospective and current students, families, alumni, staff, faculty and the greater Davis and regional communities."

Congratulations to the four student entomologists in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology who won National Science Foundation's Graduate Research Fellowship Program (NSF-GRFP) grants, a record high achievement for the department.

A tip of the insect veil to:

• Doctoral student Grace Horne, who studies with urban landscape entomologist Emily Meineke, assistant professor
• Doctoral student Alexia “Lexie" Martin, who studies with community ecologist Rachel Vannette, associate professor
• Doctoral student Marshall Nakatani, who studies with bee scientist Brian Johnson, associate professor
• Undergraduate student Mingxuan “Gary” Ge, entomology major and research scholar in the Research Scholars Program in Insect Biology. He is advised by community ecologist and professor Louie Yang of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and UC Davis distinguished professor and lepidopterist Art Shapiro of the Department of Evolution and Ecology.

Each recipient will receive a five-year fellowship providing three years of financial support, inclusive of an annual stipend of $37,000.  The NSF-GRFP is the most prestigious award of its type and highly competitive. The annual acceptance rates are about 16 percent from among more than 12,000 annual applicants. The awards are given to outstanding graduate students who have demonstrated “the potential to be high-achieving scientists and engineers early in their careers.”

Grace Horne, Emily Meineke Lab
Grace Horne, who grew up in Marlborough, N.H., is a 2021 graduate of Colby College, Waterville, Maine, where she double-majored in biology (evolution and ecology), and environmental science (conservation biology), receiving magna cum laude (with distinction) in both majors. Horne, who joined the Meineke lab in 2021, studies plant-insect interactions, urban ecology, global change biology, natural history and community science.

Horne submitted this successful proposal:

Title: "Natural History Collections for Backcasting Plant-Insect Interactions in a Changing World."

Description: "Herbivory by caterpillars can have negative impacts on plant survival, growth, and reproduction. Interactions between plants and caterpillars, which are both metabolically tied to temperature, are particularly consequential for ecosystems. However, investigations of how species have and will interact under a changing climate are lacking. In particular, insects are in decline in many areas, but the downstream effects of insect herbivore losses and simultaneous climate change on plants are unclear. Thus, I propose to combine modern observations, a controlled experiment, and data cached in natural history collections to investigate effects of climate change on plant-insect interactions in a biodiversity hotspot."

Lexie Martin, Rachel Vannette Lab 
Lexie Martin, a native of Cypress, Texas, is a 2021 graduate  of the University of Texas, Austin, where she received her  bachelor of science degree in biology, with a concentration in ecology, evolution and behavior, and a bachelor of science and arts in chemistry. She graduated with research distinction and as a dean's honored graduate. Martin's research interests include bees, mutualism, bee-microbe interactions, bee diversity, plant-pollination interactions, conservation and bee health. Her career plans are to pursue a professor position at a university, to continue researching bee-microbe interactions and other factors affecting bee health. Martin submitted this successful proposal 

Title: "Effects of Intraspecifically Transmitted Versus Environmentally Acquired Microbes on Bees."  

Description: "Although most social organisms can obtain microbes through intraspecific and environmental acquisition routes, few studies have directly compared how microbial acquisition route affects host health. In this project, I am investigating how microbes in the bee core gut microbiota vs. microbes obtained from flowers establish within the gut and affect the overall health of bumblebees (Bombus impatiens) and blue orchard bees (Osmia lignaria). I selectively introduced microbes obtained through each route to bees and will be measuring establishment within the gut, survivorship, fitness, and lipid stores. The results of this project will be applicable to other social organisms, as well as relevant to the management of commercial bees and crops."

Marshall Nakatani, Brian Johnson Lab 
Marshall Nakatani, from Lansdale, Pa., is a 2021 graduate of George Washington Univeristy, where he received his bachelor of science degree in biology, with a concentration in cell and molecular biology. He is in his second year as a UC Davis doctoral student. Nakatani's general interests include eusociality, the division of labor in social insects, and how genetics and the environment interact to determine phenotype. His career plans: to continue working in academia.  

Nakatani submitted this winning proposal:  

Title: "Social Influence on Molecular Mechanisms of Phenotypic Plasticity in Honeybee Circadian Rhythm." 

Description:  "The goal of my research is to uncover the social cues that entrain the clock and how the ontogeny of circadian rhythm is controlled in honeybees.  These efforts will involve examining clock function in all four worker castes, along with the queens, drones, accelerated foragers, and reverted nurses through the use of western blots, immunocytostaining, and single cell RNAseq. The project will also examine how social cues, specifically brood pheromones, influence the rhythmicity of worker activity.  This project will attempt to advance the understanding of the ontogeny of the honeybee circadian clock, specifically untangling the relationship between phenotype and the molecular state of the clock." 

Gary Ge, Labs of Louie Yang and Art Shapiro
Gary Ge, who anticipates receiving his bachelor of science degree in entomology from UC Davis in 2023, was born in Beijing China, and schooled in New York City, Singapore and Hawaii.

In his project, he uses the American Apollo butterfly (Parnassius clodius) as a model to study how microclimatic conditions affect cold-adapted insects. P. clodius, a white butterfly, is found at high elevations in western United States (Washington, Oregon, Nevada and Canada) and in British Columbia, Canada.  

“The genus Parnassius is prone to global warming due to its affinity for alpine and arctic habitats, and several species are considered to be threatened,” Ge wrote in his winning proposal. “The American Apollo has habitats ranging from coastal forests to above the tree line. Thus, they experience very different combinations of microclimatic variations depending on time and location. Unlike most other butterflies, their larvae develop under cold macroclimatic temperatures and demonstrate active behavioral thermoregulation. This makes them highly dependent and consequently sensitive to microclimatic temperatures. In addition, the adults are poor dispersers, limiting gene flow between spatially close populations. Their larvae are also likely the sole insect herbivore of the host plant species, thus microhabitat identification is easy in the field.” 

Ge's project also factored in his winning the 2023 Dr. Stephen Garczynski Undergraduate Research Scholarship from the Pacific Branch, Entomological Society of America (PBESA), which encompasses 11 Western states, plus Canada, Mexico and U.S. territories.