- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
UC Berkeley professor Nick Mills will head to UC Davis on Wednesday, Feb. 20 to speak on just that: "The Light Brown Apple Moth--Not a Typical Invader."
The seminar, hosted by the UC Davis Department of Entomology, is set from 12:10 to 1 p.m. in Room 1022 of the Life Sciences Addition, corner of Hutchison and Kleiber Hall drives.
Mills, with the UC Berkeley Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, says "exotic insect pests typically become invasive by building populations and spreading through a new geographic region in the absence of constraints from co-evolved natural enemies. While it is well known that environments can differ substantially in their resistance to invasions of alien species little is known of the factors responsible for this variation."
The light brown apple moth, aka LBAM, has caused quite a stir since its detection in California in 2006. That's when emeritus professor Jerry Powell of UC Berkeley discovered the invader in his back yard in Berkeley.
As a leafrolling caterpillar, LBAM loves just about everything from A to Z: apple, apricot, beans, caneberries (blackberry, blueberry, boysenberry, raspberry), cabbage, camellia, chrysanthemum, citrus, clover, cole crops, eucalyptus, jasmine, kiwifruit, peach, pear, persimmon, plantain, pumpkin, strawberry, tomato, rose and zea mays (corn).
Mills says that since its discovery in California, LBAM "has accumulated a rich set of resident parasitoid species comparable to that seen in its native Australia. However, in contrast to the low levels of parasitism that invasive hosts typically experience from resident parasitoids, parasitism levels for light brown apple moth are very high."
He will discuss, among other things, "the importance of resident parasitoids as barriers to the invasions of light brown apple moth in California."
Plans are to record the seminar for later posting on UCTV. Hosting the seminar is entomologist Mary Louise Flint of the Department of Entomology/UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
That's one of the topics when the Northern California Entomology Society meets on Thursday, Nov. 1 from 9:15 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Contra Costa Mosquito and Vector Control District, 155 Mason Circle, Concord.
The group, comprised of university faculty, researchers, pest abatement professionals, students and other interested persons, will gather at 9:15 a.m. for registration and coffee.
First on the agenda is Kipling “Kip” Will, associate professor in the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management (ESPM), UC Berkeley, who will discuss “The Transition from Classical Alpha Taxonomy to Beta Taxonomy of Insects” at 9:30 a.m.
Nick Mills, professor of insect population ecology at ESPM and curator of UC Berkeley’s Essig Museum of Entomology, will cover “Important Considerations When Contemplating Biological Control of Pests” at 10:15 a.m.
Speaking at 11 a.m. will be Carlos Argurto, Pestec Integrated Pest Management Provider, San Francisco, on “Contra Costa County IPM Program, Including New DPR (Department of Pesticide Regulation) Regulations for Surface Water Protection in Outdoor Non-Agricultural Settings.”
A luncheon catered by Kinder’s Custom Meats will be served at noon for a cost of $20 per person. (Advance reservations must be made with Nor Cal Entomology Society treasurer Eric Mussen, Extension apiculturist with the UC Davis Department of Entomology, at ecmussen@ucdavis.edu or by calling (530) 752-047.)
The afternoon session will include research entomologist Patrick Moran of USDA’s Agricultural Research Service, Albany, speaking at 1:15 on “Using Insects to Control Invasive Weeds in California.”
The last speaker of the day is Stephen Colbert of DuPont Crop Protection, Escalon. At 2 p.m., he will discuss “What’s Behind the Label?” Colbert is active in the California Weed Science Society, based in Salinas.
The society meets three times a year: the first Thursday of February at the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), Sacramento; the first Thursday of May in the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, UC Davis; and the first Thursday of November in the Contra Costa Mosquito and Vector Control District conference room, Concord.
Membership is open to the public; dues are $10 year, said society president Robert “Bob” Case of Concord, retired deputy agricultural commissioner from the Contra Costa County Department of Agriculture.
If you're interested in joining, contact Mussen at ecmussen@ucdavis.edu.
