- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Ever seen the wooly bear caterpillar, Arctia virginalis, formerly known as Platyprepia virginalis?
It's found in low elevations in western North America, from southern Monterey Bay, across Nevada and southern Utah to Colorado, and north to southern British Columbia.
We see it on spring and summer hikes on the trails of Bodega Head, Sonoma County, where it's often foraging on fiddleneck.
In its adult stages, it is commonly known as Ranchman's tiger moth, a diurnal or day-flying moth. French lepidopterist, botanist and physician, Jean Baptiste Alphonse Déchauffour de Boisduval (1799-1879) first described it in 1852.
This is the caterpillar that UC Davis distinguished professor Richard "Rick" Karban, a community ecologist, has studied for four decades. His research site is at the Bodega Marine Reserve, where he studies "the factors that control the abundance and spatial distribution of wooly bear caterpillars." Karban, who plans to retire this June, has published numerous papers on the wooly bear caterpillar. (Fred's Ecology and Environmental Tales commented on one paper dealing with climate change: "Karban and his students explored three hypotheses for why caterpillars increased following a year with numerous heavy rainfall events. First, perhaps more rain causes more plant growth and deeper litter, providing extra food for caterpillars. Second, heavy rains may reduce the number of predacious ground-nesting ants. Lastly, heavy rains may produce deeper denser litter providing refuge from predacious ants."
The Washington Post featured Karban's research in an article titled "These Fuzzy Little Caterpillars Are Better at Predicting Elections Than Most Pundits," published April 26, 2016.
Want to learn more about moths? Attend the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house on moths on Saturday night, July 20. Moth Night is from 7 to 11, with activities scheduled both inside and outside the museum. It's free and family friendly, Parking is also free on the weekends.
The Bohart Museum, part of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus.
Director of the Bohart is Professor Jason Bond, the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and associate dean, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. He is president-elect of the American Arachnological Society.
![A wooly bear caterpillar on ice plant at Bodega Head. This insect is Arctia virginalis, formerly known as Platyprepia virginalis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) A wooly bear caterpillar on ice plant at Bodega Head. This insect is Arctia virginalis, formerly known as Platyprepia virginalis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/bugsquad/blogfiles/107329.jpg)
![In its adult stage, the wooly bear caterpillar is commonly known as Ranchman's tiger moth, Arctia virginalis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) In its adult stage, the wooly bear caterpillar is commonly known as Ranchman's tiger moth, Arctia virginalis. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/bugsquad/blogfiles/107330.jpg)
![A Ranchman's tiger moth, Arctia virginalis, in a bed of Globe Candytuft, Iberis umbellata, in a Vacaville garden. The plant is a member of the mustard family. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) A Ranchman's tiger moth, Arctia virginalis, in a bed of Globe Candytuft, Iberis umbellata, in a Vacaville garden. The plant is a member of the mustard family. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/bugsquad/blogfiles/107331.jpg)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
They say good news comes in threes.
Sometimes it comes in fives!
Congrats to the five UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology faculty members for their outstanding academic achievements.
- Molecular geneticist and physiologist Joanna Chiu, vice chair of the department, was recently promoted from associate professor to full professor
- Community ecologist Louie Yang, promoted from associate professor to full professor
- Community ecologist Rachel Vannette, promoted from assistant professor to associate professor (with tenure)
- UC Cooperative Extension apiculturist Elina Lastro Niño, honey bee scientist and educator, promoted from assistant to associate specialist
- Ecologist Richard "Rick" Karban, professor, selected to the high campus honor of UC Davis distinguished professor.
Professor Chiu, who serves as the vice chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, joined the faculty in 2010. She centers her research on molecular genetics of biological timing and posttranslational regulation of proteins. She uses animal models including Drosophila melanogaster and mice to study the mechanisms that regulate circadian and seasonal physiology and behavior. Major grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation fund her biological rhythms research. In addition to her research in biological rhythms, Chiu also aims to leverage her expertise in genomics to address key issues in global food security.
In 2019, Chiu was named one of 10 UC Davis Chancellor's Fellows, an honor awarded to associate professors who excel in research and teaching.
Chiu and Yang co-founded and co-direct (with Professor Jay Rosenheim) the campuswide Research Scholars Program in Insect Biology, launched in 2011 to provide undergraduates with a closely mentored research experience in biology. The program crosses numerous biological fields, including population biology; behavior and ecology; biodiversity and evolutionary ecology; agroecology; genetics and molecular biology; biochemistry and physiology; entomology; and cell biology. The goal is to provide academically strong and highly motivated undergraduates with a multi-year research experience that cultivates skills that will prepare them for a career in biological research. (See more on UC Davis Department of Entomology website.)
Professor Yang, who joined the UC Davis entomology faculty in 2009, was named a UC Davis Hellman Fellow in 2012. The Hellman Family Foundation contributes funds to support and encourage the research of promising assistant professors who exhibit potential for great distinction in their research. In 2013, he received a prestigious National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Award of $600,000.
Yang won the 2018 Outstanding Faculty Academic Advising Award from NACADA, also known as the Global Community for Academic Advising; and the 2017 Faculty Advisor Award of Excellence in NACADA's Pacific Region 9, comprised of California, Nevada and Hawaii.
Yang says of the research underway in his lab: “We study how species interactions change over time. We apply a diversity of approaches and perspectives to a diversity of systems and questions. We do experimental community ecology. We also use observational methods,meta-analysis, conceptual synthesis, ecosystem perspectives, and theoretical models. We like data, and we like learning new things.” (See more on UC Davis Department of Entomology website.)
Associate professor Vannette, a member of the UC Davis entomology faculty since 2015, received a Hellman Fellowship grant in 2018 and a National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development Award in 2019 to study microbial communities in flowers and a National Science Foundation grant to support work on solitary bee microbiomes.
Of her research, Vannette says: “All plants are colonized by microorganisms that influence plant traits and interactions with other species, including insects that consume or pollinate plants. I am interested in the basic and applied aspects of microbial contributions to the interaction between plants and insects. I also use these systems to answer basic ecological questions, such as what mechanisms influence plant biodiversity and trait evolution.”
“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),” she says. “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?)” (See more on UC Davis Department of Entomology website.)
Extension Apiculturist Niño, who joined the faculty in 2014, is known internationally for her expertise on honey bee queen biology, chemical ecology, and genomics. She maintains laboratories and offices in Briggs Hall and at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility.
Niño serves as the UCCE Extension specialist for honey bees for all of California. She is the director of the California Master Beekeeper Program (CAMBP), which she launched in 2016. The California Master Beekeeper Program is a continuous train-the-trainer effort. CAMBP's vision is to train beekeepers to effectively communicate the importance of honey bees and other pollinators within their communities, serve as mentors for other beekeepers, and become the informational conduit between the beekeeping communities throughout the state and UCCE staff.
Niño is also the faculty director of the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, the department's half-acre educational bee garden located next to the Laidlaw facility, which serves as the outdoor classroom for the Pollinator Education Program, lovingly known as PEP. (See more on the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology website.)
Professor Karban, an international authority on plant communication and a 39-year member of the UC Davis entomology faculty, is now a distinguished professor, the highest campus-level faculty title.
The honor is awarded to those scholars “whose work has been internationally recognized and acclaimed and whose teaching performance is excellent.”
Karban, whose research interests include the population regulation of animal species and the interactions between herbivores and their host plants, currently focuses his research on two main projects: volatile communication between sagebrush plants that affects resistance to herbivory and factors that control the abundance and spatial distribution of wooly bear caterpillars.
Karban is the author of landmark book, Plant Sensing and Communication. He is a fellow of the Ecological Society of America (ESA) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the recipient of the 1990 George Mercer Award from ESA for outstanding research.
The UC Davis ecologist is featured in the Dec. 23-30, 2013 edition of The New Yorker in Michael Pollan's piece, The Intelligent Plant: Scientists Debate a New Way of Understanding Plants. Zoe Schlanger featured him in a Nov. 21, 2020 Bloomberg Quint article titled The Botanist Daring to Ask: Do Plants Have Personalities? (See more on the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology website.)
Nine UC Davis Distinguished Professors
The UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology now has a total of nine distinguished professors: six current faculty--Bruce Hammock, Frank Zalom, Lynn Kimsey, James R. Carey, Jay Rosenheim, and Richard Karban--and three emeriti faculty--Harry Kaya, Howard Ferris and Thomas Scott.
In addition, emeritus professor/chair Robert E. Page Jr. is a UC Davis distinguished emeritus professor, as was the late Robbin Thorp (1933-2019). The campus presents one distinguished emeritus professor award annually.
The department, chaired by nematologist and professor Steve Nadler, is ranked as one of the top entomology/nematology departments in the nation. Part of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, it is headquartered in Briggs Hall.
"Our scientists investigate a very broad range of fundamental questions involving insects, nematodes, and spiders -- and the plants, microbes, and various animals they interact with," Nadler writes on the home page. "Our department also disseminates practical knowledge resulting from these investigations, such as methods of integrated pest management, with the goal of improving agriculture and the environment for California and beyond. As you explore our website, you will be introduced to this exciting and comprehensive research-- and the teaching and outreach programs of our department."
![UC Davis distinguished professor Richard UC Davis distinguished professor Richard](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/bugsquad/blogfiles/83998.jpg)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
UC Davis is among nine universities singled out for their work in this category. The others are Cornell University, Rutgers University, Virginia Tech, Pennsylvania State University,University of Massachusetts, Louisiana State University, University of Delaware, and North Carolina State University.
Under the category, “Researchers studied chemical cues that mediate interactions among plants, pests, and predators,” UC Davis (Karban) is credited with identifying “the sagebrush cues that trigger resistance against chewing herbivores” and also finding that “plant cue effectiveness is affected by the geographic proximity of the source of the cue.”
Under the category, “Researchers used chemical ecology to protect pollinators from pesticides and disease,” UC Davis (Vannette) is credited with identifying “floral chemistry traits and microbial communities that affect the patterns or preferences of hummingbirds, honey bees, and carpenter bees.”
The Multistate Research Fund supports agricultural innovation and sustainability by providing federal funds to collaborative research projects led by State Agricultural Experiment Stations and land-grant universities. These projects bring together scientists, Extension educators, and other university, federal, and industry partners to tackle high-priority regional or national issues in agriculture, a spokesman said.
Professor Karban, an international authority on plant communication, is the author of the landmark book, Plant Sensing and Communication (University of Chicago Press).
Karban has researched plant communication in sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) on the east side of the Sierra since 1995. His groundbreaking research on plant communication among kin, published in February 2013 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, drew international attention. In that study, Karban and his co-researchers found that kin have distinct advantages when it comes to plant communication, just as “the ability of many animals to recognize kin has allowed them to evolve diverse cooperative behaviors.”
“Plants responded more effectively to volatile cues from close relatives than from distant relatives in all four experiments and communication reduced levels of leaf damage experienced over the three growing seasons,” they wrote.
Karban is a fellow of Ecological Society of America and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Michael Pollan featured him in the Dec. 23-30, 2013 edition of The New Yorker: “The Intelligent Plant: Scientists Debate a New Way of Understanding Plants."
Vannette, an assistant professor who joined the UC Davis Department of Entomology andNematology in 2015 and a UC Davis Hellman Fellow in 2018, seeks to unlock the mysteries of flower microbes: how do plants protect against them, and can bees benefit from them?
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,” according to her website. “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?).
All plants are colonized by microorganisms that influence plant traits and interactions with other species, including insects that consume or pollinate plants, Vannette explains. “I am interested in the basic and applied aspects of microbial contributions to the interaction between plants and insects. I also use these systems to answer basic ecological questions, such as what mechanisms influence plant biodiversity and trait evolution.”
“Much of the work in my lab focuses on how microorganisms affect plant defense against herbivores and plant attraction to pollinators. For example, we are interested in understanding the microbial drivers of soil health, which can influence plant attractiveness to herbivores and the plant's ability to tolerate or defend against damage by herbivores. In addition, we are working to examine how microorganisms modify flower attractiveness to pollinators. This may have relevance in agricultural systems to improve plant and pollinator health.”
Vannette, a former postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University's biology department, holds a doctorate in ecology and evolutionary biology (2011) from the University of Michigan. Her recent research grants include two from the National Science Federation (NSF). One is a five-year Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program award, titled “Nectar Chemistry and Ecological and Evolutionary Tradeoffs in Plant Adaptation to Microbes and Pollinators.” The other is a three-year collaborative grant, “The Brood Cell Microbiome of Solitary Bees: Origin, Diversity, Function, and Vulnerability.”
![Research highlights in the impact statement include the work of UC Davis Entomology and Nematology faculty members Rick Karban and Rachel Vannette. Research highlights in the impact statement include the work of UC Davis Entomology and Nematology faculty members Rick Karban and Rachel Vannette.](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/bugsquad/blogfiles/79687.png)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Chemical ecologist Andre Kessler, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Cornell University, will discuss "Chemical Information Driving Plant Interactions and Community Dynamics" at the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology's virtual seminar, set from 4:10 to 5 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 9.
"Andre is one of the most exciting and innovative researchers working on plant defenses against herbivores," said ecologist and seminar host Richard 'Rick' Karban, professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. "There are a limited number of people whose work is so exciting that I make certain to read anything they write, as soon as it comes out. Andre is one of those people who has truly pushed our field forward."
To attend, access this form for the direct link.
"As sessile organisms, plants have to adjust their metabolism to ever-changing environmental conditions in order to stay in place and successfully reproduce," Kessler says in his abstract. "Thereby plants orchestrate interactions with other organisms (e.g. other plants, herbivores, pathogens, predators etc.) by providing cues or signals to whoever can read them. The seemingly universal language used to manipulate those interactions is chemical. This presentation reviews some of the Kessler Lab research on the ecological functionality and environmental context-dependency of chemical information transfer in the charismatic Northeastern goldenrod plants, Solidago altissima."
As a chemical ecologist, his research focuses on the mechanisms, ecological consequences and the evolution of plant induced responses to herbivore damage.
"Conceptually, I study plant secondary metabolism as a vehicle of information transfer," he writes on his website. "Chemical information can mediate complex interactions from the molecular and cell to the whole plant and community level. As a consequence, my research includes studying chemical elicitation of plant responses, plant chemistry-mediated alterations in insect population and community dynamics, plant-plant communication, plant-pollinator interactions and plant defense mechanisms against herbivores. In my lab we use chemical and molecular tools in manipulative field and laboratory experiments to understand the mechanism of elicitation, signal transduction and information-mediating secondary metabolite production in plants responding to biotic and abiotic environmental stresses."
"Moreover, we put a particular emphasis on studying the ecological functions and evolution of plant metabolic responses and chemical information transfer in the plants' native habitats. With more recent projects my group tries to apply some of the chemical ecology principles found in native systems to control insect pests in agricultural systems. My research includes a number of different study systems in New York, Utah, Peru, Costa Rica, Colombia and Kenya."
Professor Kessler received his master's degree from the University of Würzbug, Germany, where he studied ecology, genetics and geobotany. He earned his doctorate from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology and University of Jena, Germany.
Professor Karban, who will introduce his colleague and monitor the questions-and-answer session, is the author of the landmark book, Plant Sensing and Communication (University of Chicago Press), described as “the first comprehensive overview of what is known about how plants perceive their environments, communicate those perceptions, and learn" (Graeme Ruxton of the University of St. Andrews, UK, co-author of Experimental Design for the Life Sciences and Plant-Animal Communication.)
Cooperative Extension specialist Ian Grettenberg, assistant professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, is coordinating the seminars. For any technical issues, contact Grettenberger at imgrettenberger@ucdavis.edu.
Resources:
- Generations of Insect Attacks Drive Plants to 'Talk' Publicly (The Scientist, March 1, 2020)
- Plants Use a Common 'Language' for Emergency Alerts (Cornell Chronicle, Oct. 2, 2019)
![An adult goldenrod beetle. (Photo courtesy of Andre Kessler) An adult goldenrod beetle. (Photo courtesy of Andre Kessler)](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/bugsquad/blogfiles/75758.jpg)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
That's the gist of what ecologist Richard Karban, professor of entomology in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, told us back in July 22, 2015 on the publication of his landmark book, Plant Sensing and Communication (University of Chicago Press).
Our news article, on the department website, covered his research and his 240-page book.
Karban's book is “the first comprehensive overview of what is known about how plants perceive their environments, communicate those perceptions, and learn," said Graeme Ruxton of the University of St. Andrews, UK, co-author of Experimental Design for the Life Sciences and Plant-Animal Communication. "Facing many of the same challenges as animals, plants have developed many similar capabilities: they sense light, chemicals, mechanical stimulation, temperature, electricity, and sound. Moreover, prior experiences have lasting impacts on sensitivity and response to cues; plants, in essence, have memory."
Karban has researched plant communication in sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) on the east side of the Sierra since 1995. His groundbreaking research on plant communication among kin, published in February 2013 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, drew international attention. In that study, Karban and his co-researchers found that kin have distinct advantages when it comes to plant communication, just as “the ability of many animals to recognize kin has allowed them to evolve diverse cooperative behaviors.”
A lot has happened since then. Karban continues his 40-year research, and it's continuing to draw widespread interest.
This week writer Zoe Schlanger featured him in a Bloomberg Quint article titled The Botanist Daring to Ask: Do Plants Have Personalities?
Schlanger followed him to his field study area in Mammoth Lakes, Calif. It's part of a 156-acre reserve owned by UC Santa Barbara. She described him as "a lithe beanpole of a man with arrow-straight posture and a tuft of white hair."
"In the past 15 years or so, thanks to advances in plant genetics and a new openness toward plant research once considered fringe, botanists such as Karban have found that plants produce and respond to complex chemical signals," Schlanger wrote. "They can detect the slightest touch. They know when they're shaded by a cloud or a fellow plant, and whether that plant is related to them. Several species can recognize can recognize their genetic kin and rearrange their bodies to avoid competing with siblings. They can manipulate predators to do their bidding and transmit electrical signals among their roots."
Read more of Schlanger's article at https://www.bloombergquint.com/onweb/do-plants-have-personalities-this-botanist-is-looking-to-prove-they-do.
Karban, a fellow of the Ecological Society of America, is the go-to person regarding plant sensing and communication.
We remember asking Karban: "What are 10 things to know about plant sensing and communication?" He answered:
- Plants sense their environments and respond.
- Although they lack central nervous systems, they process information and appear to "behave intelligently."
- They sense the position of competitors and "forage" for light.
- They sense the availability of water and nutrients in the soil and "forage" for these resources.
- Their decisions are influenced by past experiences, akin to memory.
- The respond to reliable cues that predict future events, allowing them to "anticipate."
- Plants respond differently to cues that they themselves produce, allowing them to distinguish self from non-self.
- They respond differently to close relatives and strangers.
- Plants that are prevented from sensing or responding experience reduced fitness.
- By understanding the "language" of plant responses, we can grow healthier and more productive plants.
So the next time you see monarch caterpillars chowing down on narrow-leafed milkweed (Asclepias fascicularis), or Gulf Fritillary caterpillars skeletonizing their host plant, the passionflower vine (Passiflora), think about that. And ponder: Do plants have personalities?
![Professor Rick Karban has researched communication in sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) on the east side of the Sierra since 1995. Professor Rick Karban has researched communication in sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) on the east side of the Sierra since 1995.](https://ucanr.edu/blogs/bugsquad/blogfiles/75457.jpg)