- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
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."

- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Seen any monarchs lately?
No, not the British royal family: the monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus.
Butterfly guru Art Shapiro, UC Davis distinguished professor of evolution and ecology who has monitored butterfly populations of dozens of species in the Central Valley since 1972, says it's a poor year for monarchs.
He saw one monarch on Sept. 26 in Davis, and one on Sept. 27 in West Sacramento, both Yolo County. "The coastward migration is apparently afoot...all 6 dozen of them..." he lamented.
Shapiro earlier described the monarch population as on life support. A look at this graphic on the inaturalist site helps tell the sad tale.
Maybe the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife will declare it an endangered species?
From its website: "On December 15, 2020, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that listing the monarch as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act is warranted, but precluded by higher priority listing actions. The decision is the result of an extensive status review of the monarch that compiled and assessed the monarch's current and future status. The monarch is now a candidate under the Endangered Species Act; we will review its status annually until a listing decision is made."
The first five paragraphs of their news release, issued Dec. 15, 2020: "After a thorough assessment of the monarch butterfly's status, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) has found that adding the monarch butterfly to the list of threatened and endangered species is warranted but precluded by work on higher-priority listing actions. With this decision, the monarch becomes a candidate for listing under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), and its status will be reviewed each year until it is no longer a candidate."
“We conducted an intensive, thorough review using a rigorous, transparent science-based process and found that the monarch meets listing criteria under the Endangered Species Act. However, before we can propose listing, we must focus resources on our higher-priority listing actions,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Aurelia Skipwith. “While this work goes on, we are committed to our ongoing efforts with partners to conserve the monarch and its habitat at the local, regional and national levels. Our conservation goal is to improve monarch populations, and we encourage everyone to join the effort.”
“The Monarch Joint Venture is committed to continuing its conservation efforts for monarchs. Each of our partners, and many other stakeholders, come to the monarch conservation table with different approaches, audiences, strengths and opportunities to make a difference. There is a role for everyone in monarch conservation,” stated Wendy Caldwell, Executive Director, Monarch Joint Venture.
"Over the past 20 years, scientists have noted declines in North American monarchs overwintering in Mexico and California, where these butterflies cluster. Numbers in the larger eastern population are measured by the size of the area they occupy. At a density of roughly 8.5 million monarchs per acre, it is estimated that the eastern population fell from about 384 million in 1996 to a low of 14 million in 2013. The population in 2019 was about 60 million. The western population, located in California, saw a more precipitous decline, from about 1.2 million in 1997 to fewer than 30,000 in 2019."
"In 2014, the Service received a petition to list the species and published a substantial 90-day finding in December 2014. In 2016, the agency began an in-depth status assessment, looking at the global population as well as focusing on monarchs in North America, where 90% of the world's population occurs."
Meanwhile, the tally of sightings in the Yolo-Solano area is troubling. Beyond troubling....

