- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The Wildflower Center, the state's botanical garden and arboretum, showcases bluebonnets, lots of bluebonnets. You'll see scores of other floral species, too, and maybe....well, rattlesnakes. You're told that "Fire ants, poison ivy, cacti and snakes are probable in this natural environment."
You're in Texas, after all.
At the entrance to the courtyard, you may spot Athena, the Wildflower Center's resident great-horned owl (Bubo virginianus) nesting there, and you may see her mate.
There are rules (etiquette and policies). "The Eyes of Texas" are upon you. No pets (service animals only). No open-carry guns. No drones. No smoking. No outside alcohol. No bicycles, scooters, balloons, confetti or glitter.
What kind of wildlife will you see? Well, besides the rattlers and the owls, you may spot hummingbirds, bees, butterflies, roadrunners, rabbits, squirrels, turtles, scorpions, and more. "In every case, please be aware of your surroundings and respect these wild creatures' space."
You must follow photo and video policies as well. If you want to capture images of the butterflies, be sure to take a long macro lens (which I didn't do), as the butterflies always seem to be fluttering 20 feet away from you and your camera.
The rules enable ALL visitors to enjoy the wildflower center, and an opportunity to see the nearly 900 species of Texas native plants.
But ah, the bluebonnets...The butterflies...Nature at its finest.
Entomologist Mike Quinn, curatorial associate, University of Texas, relates on the Wildflower Center website that the butterfly species include:
- Little yellows (Pyrisitialisa)
- Sleepy orange (Abaeis nicippe)
- Southern dogface (Zerene cesonia)
- Cloudless sulphur (Phoebis sennae)
Also of entomological interest is a sign depicting insects and their habitat that asks: "Who's been here?" Images feature a chewed leaf, rolled leaf, leaf galls, a spittlebug and a leaf miner. The text includes:
- "This is a chewed leaf. There are different insects that like to eat leaves. Caterpillars and grasshoppers are just a couple that love eating leaves."
- "This is a rolled leaf. The insect has wrapped a leaf around itself for protection and also so it can eat the leaf without being seen by predators. A leaf-rolling weevil likes to eat oak leaves."
But ah, the bluebonnets...The butterflies...Nature at its finest.
As Lady Bird Johnson said at a speech at Yale University on Oct. 9, 1967: "The environment is where we all meet, where we all have a mutual interest; it is the one thing all of us share. It is not only a mirror of ourselves, but a focusing lens on what we can become."




- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
So said conservation and plant-pollinator biologist Shalene Jha of the University of Texas, Austin, when she discussed "The Secret Life of Tiny Bees" with Science Friday host Ira Flatow of National Public Radio on Nov. 10, 2017.
Most solitary bees live underground, she told him. "So they nest under the soil. We also have a lot of bees that nest in stems of trees or in rotting logs. So there's a lot of diversity in where these bees live, and also the kind of social versus solitary lifestyle they maintain."
Fast-forward to Wednesday, Feb. 3 when Jha will speak on "Plant-Insect Interactions and Ecosystem Services in the Context of Global Change" at the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology's virtual seminar. The hour-long seminar begins at 4:10 p.m. Access this Google form to connect to Zoom.
"I'll be presenting an overview of work that integrates community ecology, foraging biology, and populationgenomics to understand ecosystem function, with an emphasis on mutualistic interactions between plants and pollinators," said Jha, an associate professor in the UT's Department of Integrative Biology. "I'll also explore the impacts of human land use on these species interactions and their connection to a variety of ecosystem services."
Jha investigates "ecological and evolutionary processes from genes to landscapes, to quantify global change impacts on plant-animal interactions, movement ecology, and the provisioning of ecosystem services." Specializing in the fields of landscape genetics, population ecology, and foraging ecology, she examines how landscape composition influences gene flow processes, foraging patterns, and population viability for plants and animals. (See Jha lab)
"Our work," she writes on her website, "has provided insight into the environmental drivers of pollinator diversity, has revealed the complex and dynamic nature of wild pollinator foraging, and has exposed critical urbanization and elevation barriers to plant and pollinator gene flow across historic and contemporary time periods."
Jha joined the University of Texas faculty in 2011. She previously served at UC Berkeley as a UC President's Postdoctoral Fellow, Environmental Science, Policy and Management, from 2009 to 2011. Prior, she worked as a graduate research and teaching assistant in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Shalene Jha
Jha holds a bachelor of science degree in biology from Rice University, magna cum laude, 2004. She obtained her doctorate from the University of Michigan in 2009, where she focused on ecology and evolutionary biology. Postdoctoral work in ecology and population genetics followed at UC Berkeley.
Agricultural Extension specialist Ian Grettenberg, seminar host, coordinates the department's winter seminars. For technical information on the virtual seminar, contact him at imgrettenberger@ucdavis.edu.
What are some of the solitary bees, many of which go unnoticed? Here's a sampling.




- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Images of arthropods in the public domain that you can download.
Free. For. All.
Noted insect photographer/entomologist Alex Wild, curator of entomology for the Biodiversity Collections, University of Texas at Austin, has launched the "Insects Unlocked" Project, aiming for $8000 over a month-long campaign.
Wild, who received his doctorate in entomology in 2005 from the University of California, Davis, is a professional insect photographer extraordinaire. And, under his mentorship, a team of students in UT's Insect Image Lab "will learn the art and artistry of digital microphotography while capturing images of Texas's smallest wildlife," he explains. They will "create thousands of beautiful, unique, and informative visual works for release into the public domain. The resulting image collection will be open for anyone to use, free of the constraints of traditional copyright."
"Where can you use Insects Unlocked's images?" he asks. "Anywhere you'd like! Web pages, magazine covers, books, billboards, blogs, t-shirts, scientific papers, apps, social media, coffee mug designs, classroom presentations, Wikipedia, and more. Ours are public works and can be used for anything, including commercialization, without the need for advance permission or even credit."
Today he posted on his Facebook page: "I am pleased to report that the Insects Unlocked project to crowd-fund public domain arthropod images is more than 60% funded, not even a week into a month-long campaign. Your support has been generous and unexpected--thanks so much! To celebrate, over the weekend I created some new public domain images for the project, including this 60 image focus-stack of a Brachygastra mellifica Mexican honey wasp (see below). If you'd like to support more images like this, consider contributing at the link: https://hornraiser.utexas.edu/proj…/54e79bbc14bdf7205ddd5ab7
Basically, donations to the program will support several undergraduate students as they learn the UT imaging system and receive training in scientific imaging, entomology, and outreach. As Wild says, "Donations will also improve our processing computers, add cameras and lighting rigs for field use, and offset the costs of web hosting. Our team will start in the summer of 2015, using the 2015-16 academic cycle as a pilot while we evaluate the feasibility of a long term publicly-funded program."
How many images will be in the public domain? "The amount and type of images we produce is proportional to the level of support we receive," Wild says. "Our image lab is located inside the UT insect collection, and we begin with high-magnification captures of curated material, as well as live field photography at the adjoining Brackenridge Field Laboratory. Should we exceed our funding goal, the Insects Unlocked team may be able to mount expeditions to diverse parts of Texas to photograph and video more live insect behavior in the field.
Wild, who studied with major professor/ant specialist Phil Ward at UC Davis, captures amazing images of insects. His work has been published in scientific journals, books, magazines, and newspapers, including the New York Times, National Geographic and Scientific American. He returned to the UC Davis campus in October 2011 to deliver a presentation on "How to Take Better Insect Photographs." His presentation is the most popular of all the UCTV seminar videos posted by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. Watch it online.
Wild is enjoying his new position as curator. The collection contains about 500,000 pinned and 500,000 ethanol specimens. "We have one of the world's largest collections of cave arthropods," he said.
You can follow the project on Twitter at @InsectsUnlocked, and view and download the images on Flickr. Wild writes about the project on his Myremocs blog and in his Scientific American blog.
Alex Wild appreciates the generosity of the 75 donors (as of today). But he, too, is generous--exceedingly generous!--with his time and talents that will benefit us all.


