If there are youngsters in your life who love insects,  birds, and all things nature, tell them about the UC Davis Bio Boot Camps. The deadline to submit an application is 11 p.m., Monday, March 21.

To apply, students must write a letter about why they want to attend Bio Boot Camp. Letters of recommendations are required but can be "a tad later" as students may be on spring break, says Tabatha Yang, the Bohart Museum of Entomology's  education and outreach coordinator.

The camps are hosted by the Bohart Museum of Entomology in collaboration with the UC Davis Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, Campus Recreation and the UC Reserve System.

First, there's the Bio Boot Camp, Mountain Session, set July 25-29, for students entering grades 7-9 in the fall. The fee is $475. For those entering 10-12 grades in the fall, there's the Bio Boot Camp 2.0, set July 31-Aug. 6. The fee is $895. Need-based scholarships (partial) are available for both camps.

See website at https://bohart.ucdavis.edu/summer-camps.html. Note that COVID-19 regulations apply. They include proof of full vaccination.

Some Bio Boot Camp alumni, like Gwen Erdosh, go on to major in entomology at UC Davis, become president of the UC Davis Entomology Club and be accepted in the campuswide Research Scholars Program in Insect Biology. She draws 24,000 followers on her “Gwentomologist” Instagram account. She recently won a Provost's Undergraduate Research Fellowship, and the Dr. Stephen Garczynski Undergraduate Research Scholarship from the Pacific Branch, Entomological Society of America.  

 “Ever since I can remember, I have always loved caterpillars,” Gwen said. (See news story.) “As a little kid, I would collect any caterpillar I saw and raise it to adulthood.” Amazed that a caterpillar could "magically change” into a moth or butterfly, she decided “to make a book matching every caterpillar to its adult. I did my own research online and in books I had, and soon was quite knowledgeable about Lepidoptera. The summer before 9th grade, I attended Bio Boot camp, the summer camp for kids led by the Bohart Museum, and Tabatha Yang (education and outreach coordinator). “This was the experience that led me to choose entomology as a career. During this camp, I learned everything about entomology and had a chance to meet real entomologists at UC Davis, and do field work. I fell in love with it and kept coming back each summer for the camp.” 

Previous applications have drawn such expressions of interest as: 

• "Since kindergarten, I wanted to be an entomologist/paleontologist. I love to turn over a rock to see what is living underneath."|
  
  
• "I have been photographing butterflies and other bugs with my dad since 2018."
  
  
• "I love to study how animals behave in different environments and how it compares to humans."
  
  
• "I've never had the chance to see biology in a hands-on, outdoor environment for an extended period of time."

Some background information from the website:

Bio Boot Camp, Mountain Session
"Together with the UC Davis Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology  and  Campus Recreation, we launched Bio Boot Camp in 2011, a camp for junior high-aged students who are interested in the natural sciences," Yang says on the website. "There is limited enrollment and so we ask that the students themselves be part of the enrollment process. This is a full-day camp from 8:30 am-5:30 pm on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday based at UC Davis. Then on Thursday morning we travel to a UC Reserve for an overnight experience at the UC Berkeley Sagehen Creek Field Station, just outside of Truckee in the Sierras. We return to Davis on Friday afternoon. (Alternate years they  travel to the coast to Bodega Bay.)"

On Monday, they will get to know one another, play games, explore the UC Davis campus, and "go behind the scenes" at the two host museums: the Bohart Museum of Entomology and the Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology.

On Tuesday, they will visit local streams, catching insects, observing birds, and exploring nature with guest scientists. 

On Wednesday, "we deep into standard museum practices from collecting data to preparing specimens, including invertebrates and vertebrates," Yang says.

The Bio Camp ends with an overnight trip (van transportation) to a UC Reserve to learn about nature and the biodiversity of the Central Valley. 

Bio Boot Camp 2.0 
The Bohart Museum of Entomology,  UC Davis Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, and Campus Recreation launched Bio Boot Camp 2.0 in 2013 after "much enthusiasm from Bio Boot Campers who graduated out of the junior high program," according to the organizers. The camp spans 7 days and 6 nights.  On the first day,  vans will transport the students to UC Berkeley's Sagehen Creek Field Station outside of Truckee. There the campers will conduct a group project, engage in mini-individual projects,  explore the area, and discuss college and career paths. The camp also will include "wandering hikes, exploring Lake Tahoe, silly games, and a lot of fun throughout," Yang points out. "We will be stopping at the UC Davis campus on Friday for part of the day to tour the museums and the campus before traveling to UC Davis Quail Ridge Field Station outside of Winters, CA for the last night of camp. Campers will get to compare the Sierra to the Central Valley, prepare for their presentations and have their costumed dinner party."  This camp is limited to 10 students and has 3 instructors.

If the folks at the Bohart Museum of Entomology at UC Davis are smiling even more than usual, that's because their UC Davis CrowdFund project resulted in 120 percent funded! In a month-long campaign, they were seeking $5000 by Oct. 31 and donors generously provided them with a total of $6000.

The funds will be used for the student educational projects: creating traveling specimen display boxes to be shown in school classrooms, fairs, festivals, museums, hospitals, libraries, special events and the like, such as 4-H programs. 

As they say on their website: "The Bohart Museum of Entomology is a research collection and public museum dedicated to understanding, documenting and communicating terrestrial arthropod diversity. In our 75th year, the Bohart has maintained a robust outreach program that typically connects with over 10,000 people each year. Portable educational boxes have been a great way for us to share the museum experience with others. Housed in the same specimen boxes that we use for the research collection, these displays travel all over Northern California to festivals, events, museums, hospitals and classrooms. UC Davis students, staff, teachers and scout leaders routinely borrow these materials to enrich their programs."

The museum, directed by Lynn Kimsey, UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology, originated in 1946 with two Schmitt boxes of insect specimens collected by noted entomologist Richard M. Bohart (1913-2007), UC Davis professor of entomology and museum founder. Named the Bohart Museum in 1982, it is now the home of nearly eight million insect specimens, collected worldwide.

The Bohart Museum, currently closed to the public due to COVID-19 precautions, is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. In addition to its insect collection, the seventh largest in North America, it houses a live “petting zoo,” comprised of Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insects and tarantulas, and a gift shop (now online), stocked with insect-themed t-shirts, hoodies, jewelry, books, posters and other items. Further information is on the website at https://bohart.ucdavis.edu.

The donors (those who donated anonymously are not listed) in the UC Davis CrowdFund drive:

• Attardo Family
• Dustin Blakey
• In Honor of Lynn Kimsey from Jason and Kristen Bond
• In Honor of Lynn Kimsey from Bonnie Bradt
• Bjorn Bush
• Joanna Chiu
• Molly Ferrell
• Glen Forister
• In Honor of Tabatha Yang from Elaine Gibson
• In Honor of Lynn Kimsey from Jessica Gillung
• In Memory of Robbin W. Thorp from James Matthew Gonzales-Harris
• Tiki Harlow
• Timotheus Itoi
• In Memory of Nick Booster from Hanna Kahl
• In Memory of Robbin Thorp, (1933-2019) UC Davis distinguished emeritus professor of  entomology from Kathy Keatley Garvey
• In Memory of Richard M. Bohart from Lynn Kimsey
• Stephanie Kurniawan
• In Memory of Michel MJ Lavoipierre from his children Frédérique, Xavier, and Philippe Lavoipierre
• Pam Marrone and Mick Rogers
• Gwyneth Morris
• Eric Mussen
• Michelle Posey
• Oliver Ramsey
• Linda Rosenfield and Arnold Menke
• Nancie Ryan
• Heather Sabin
• Luana Staiger
• James Starrett
• In Honor of Tabatha Yang from Ralph Washington Jr.
• Nancy Williams
• Valerie Williamson
• Karey Windbiel-Rojas
• In Honor of Kathy Keatley Garvey and her Bug Squad Blog from an Anonymous Donor
• In Honor of Earth's Flora and Fauna from an Anonymous Donor
• In Honor of Tabatha Yang from an Anonymous Donor
• And all other Anonymous Donors

 

The public will benefit from the Bohart Museum of Entomology's UC Davis Crowd Fund, a $5000 fundraising drive that ends at 11:59 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 31.

With the funds, UC Davis students will create portable insect-specimen traveling boxes that make their way throughout Northern California to help folks learn about the exciting world of insect science, including bees, butterflies and beetles. The glass-topped boxes travel to school classrooms, youth group meetings (such as 4-H, Boy Scouts and Grange), festivals, libraries, fairs, special events, museums, hospitals--and more.

The Bohart Museum, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year, originated in 1946 when noted entomologist Richard M. Bohart (1913-2007), UC Davis professor of entomology, filled two Schmitt boxes with insect specimens. That was the beginning of the UC Davis insect museum. Named the Bohart Museum in 1982, it is now the home of nearly eight million insect specimens, collected worldwide

Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart and a UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology, drew praise last Saturday at the museum's 75h anniversary party, hosted by the Bohart Museum Society.

Emcee Jason Bond, the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair and professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and the newly named Associate Dean for Research and Outreach for Agricultural Sciences, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, urged the crowd to help support the outreach mission of the museum. 

 “Collections have a tremendous educational value,” Bond said, “and they also have amazing research value as well. Discoveries of new species don't actually happen in the field, they happen in the museum collections. New species on the average spend about 25 years on the shelf before a graduate student, undergraduate student or a researcher pulls them off shelf and describes or discovers them.” 

He offered a toast to Kimsey, who in turn praised the thousands of collectors “who have their names” on the specimens. “We've been doing this for a long time. Eventually we'll be able to serve the public again like we should. Otherwise it would just be a dead collection in a building somewhere.” 

Kimsey interviewed “Doc” Bohart, then 82, in 1996 as part of the Aggie Videos collection. (See https://bit.ly/2Zv8rvO.) Bohart, who began his UC Davis career in 1946, chaired the Department of Entomology from 1963 to 1967.

Unparalleled Research. “His scientific research on insect taxonomy and systematics is unparalleled,” Kimsey wrote on the Bohart website. “His publications include three of the most important books on the systematics of the Hymenoptera, including the well-used volume  Sphecid Wasps of the World. His journal publications total over 200 articles. He revised many groups of insects, discovered new host-associations or geographic ranges, and described many new species." 

Kimsey, an alumnus of UC Davis, received her undergraduate degree in 1975 and doctorate in 1979. She joined the UC Davis faculty in 1989. A two-term president of the International Hymenopterists, and a recognized global authority on the systematics, biogeography and biology of the wasp families, Tiphiidae and Chrysididae, she won the 2020 C. W. Woodworth Award, the highest award given by the Pacific Branch of the Entomological Society of America, for "her 31 years of outstanding accomplishments in research, teaching, education, outreach and public service."

The need to update and expand the Bohart Museum's traveling display is urgent, the scientists said. 

“We have all these bright, students on campus with fresh and diverse perspectives," commented Tabatha Yang, the Bohart Museum's education and outreach coordinator. "We want to support their talent, so the funds we are raising will go to students for the creation of new traveling displays. This fleet of new educational drawers will expand and update what we can offer. Some of our current displays were created 15 years ago! One can only imagine all the places these drawers have been and all the people who have been inspired." 

Donors can do so in memory of someone, a place, or a favorite insect. Bond donated $500 in honor of Lynn Kimsey, and Lynn Kimsey donated $500 in memory of the founder, Richard M. Bohart.  The donation page, which includes a U.S. map of where the donors reside, is at https://bit.ly/3v4MoaJ  

The Bohart Museum, currently closed to the public due to COVID-19 precautions, is located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. In addition to its insect collection, which is the seventh largest in North America, the museum houses a live “petting zoo,” comprised of Madagascar hissing cockroaches, stick insects and tarantulas, and a gift shop (now online), stocked with insect-themed t-shirts, hoodies, jewelry, books, posters and other items. Further information is on the website at https://bohart.ucdavis.edu.

Hey there, pumpkin! Prey tell, is that a praying mantis stalking a bee?

Well, if your name is Allan Jones of Davis, Calif., and you capture images of insects throughout the year--especially at the 100-acre UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden and the half-acre Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven on Bee Biology Road--and you like to carve pumpkins as an art form, you know that insects and pumpkins go together. They go together very well. 

Almost every year Jones carves fanciful pumpkins showcased in the Common Grounds coffee house at 2171 Cowell Blvd., Suite F.  "So amazing!" said Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator for the Bohart Museum of Entomology at UC Davis, who recently stopped by the coffee house and admired Jones' creations. 

"They generally are based on some coffee-related theme," Jones related. "This year I drew on a photo that lingered in my mind of a praying mantis leaning around a sunflower to go shopping for bees. It's a trick or treat, or maybe a bad-things-brewing situation."

"So I've gone back and found the source photo and it is nothing like the pumpkin image I've conjured from memory. But the story is still pretty much on point with artistic liberties taken with insect and flower anatomy."

How he does it: "I 'surface carve' each pumpkin like a wood carving with a v-gouge, then color them. This way they last a month or more as coffee house decorations. Most are coffee-joke pumpkins but I also like to carve natural subjects for fun, too." 

An alumnus of UC Davis, Allan became an Aggie in 1961, receiving degrees in English and German in 1966, and his master's in English in 1972. He joined the doctoral program in 1973 "but I quit in 1974, making my summer job of inspecting tomatoes my career for 43 seasons (with California Department of Food and Agriculture for half of my career and then working with CDFA on an independent advisory board). I did some workmanlike macro photography of tomato defects and wider shots of the inspection process for training.“

Allan spent the ‘70s in Dixon, and the ‘80s and ‘90s in Sacramento “before moving back to Davis after 2000.” 

The UC Davis alumnus also created art with the UC Davis Art and Science Fusion Program, launched and directed by the duo of entomology professor Diane Ullman of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and self-described "rock artist" Donna Billick of Davis. Their campus and community projects are permanent displayed over much of the UC Davis campus, including the Arboretum and the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology's bee garden, the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven.