Want to see a bee observation hive, taste honey, and learn about honey bee health?

Those are some of the activities planned when the Bohart Museum of Entomology hosts an open house on managed bees and wild bees on Sunday, May 19.  

The open house, free and family friendly, takes place from 1 to 4 p.m. in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. 

It's perfect timing for "World Bee Day," observed annually on May 20.

At the Sunday open house, UC Davis graduate student Richard Martinez of the lab of apiculturist Elina Lastro Niño, associate professor of Cooperative Extension, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, will staff the honey bee booth.

Martinez, enrolled in the master's graduate studies entomology program, says that the  E.L, Niño Lab booth will display an observation hive and offer honey tasting from a variety of floral sources. He will be sharing recent projects aimed at improving honey bee health via dietary supplements.  He also plans to showcase beekeeping suits and hive tools.  

Among others scheduled to participate (as of 4 p.m. today) are:

• the laboratory of community ecologist Rachel Vannette, associate professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology. She will participate with lab members doctoral candidate Lexie Martin, doctoral student Dino Sbardellati, and junior specialist Leta Landucci. "At the Vannette Lab booth, you will be able to look into the life of a bee--both in terms of where they live and how they develop!" said Martin. "A live bumble bee nest and solitary bee nests will be available, so you can peer inside a bee's house! Additionally, there will be live bee larvae to observe under a microscope and interactive displays on the bee life cycle."  
• Bohart Museum bee scientists Thomas Zavortink and Sandy Shanks
• Doctoral student Sofía Meléndez Cartagena of the Stacey Combes lab, Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior. She will focus on local bee diversity.
• Chancellor's Fellow  Santiago Ramirez, associate professor, Department of Evolution and Ecology, who studies orchid bees
• Doctoral student Peter Coggan of the Ramirez lab. He studies the neurological and genetic basis of orchid bee courtship behavior and evolution.

The Bohart Museum houses a global collection of eight million insects, plus a live petting zoo,  and a gift shop.  Professor Jason Bond directs the museum as of Feb. 1, succeeding Kimsey, who served 34 years. Bond is the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair of the Department of Entomology and Nematology, and the associate dean, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. He also serves as president-elect of the American Arachnological Society. 

For more information, access the website at https://bohart.ucdavis.edu or contact bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.

From honey bees to bumble bees to mason bees to orchid bees--you'll see those and more--and you'll get the opportunity to talk to researchers at the Bohart Museum of Entomology open house on Sunday, May 19.

Free and family friendly, the open house takes place from 1 to 4 p.m. in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. 

"It should be a great event!” said Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator. “There is a lot of interest in bees this time of year. The format will be tabling with direct conversations with visitors.” The event is free and family friendly. Parking is also free.

Among those participating will be the laboratory of community ecologist Rachel Vannette, associate professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology.

"At the Vannette Lab booth, you will be able to look into the life of a bee--both in terms of where they live and how they develop!" said doctoral candidate and researcher Lexie Martin. "A live bumble bee nest and solitary bee nests will be available, so you can peer inside a bee's house! Additionally, there will be live bee larvae to observe under a microscope and interactive displays on the bee life cycle."  

Vannette describes her lab as "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. We rely on natural history observations, and use techniques from chemical ecology, microbial ecology and community ecology." 

Vannette's lab members participating at the open house will include:

Lexie Martin,  doctoral candidate in the Entomology Graduate Group. She is interested in the impact of microbes on bee health

Dino Sbardellati, doctoral student in the Microbiology Graduate Group. He is a microbiologist interested in understanding how microbial ecology shapes macroscale ecology

Leta Landucci, a junior specialist and biochemist. She is inspired by chemical ecology, and broadly interested in exploring chemically mediated plant-insect-microbe interactions

Others scheduled to participate are Bohart Museum scientists and bee specialists Thomas Zavortink and Sandy Shanks;  doctoral student Sofía Meléndez Cartagena of the Stacey Combes lab, Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior (she will focus on local bee diversity); Chancellor's Fellow  Santiago Ramirez, associate professor, Department of Evolution and Ecology, who studies orchid bees; doctoral student Peter Coggan of the Ramirez lab (Coggan studies the neurological and genetic basis of orchid bee courtship behavior and evolution); and Richard Martinez, entomology graduate student researcher in the lab of apiculturist Elina Niño,associate professor of Cooperative Extension, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. 

Martinez says that the  E.L Niño Lab booth will display an observation hive and offer honey tasting from a variety of floral sources. He will be sharing recent projects aimed at improving honey bee health via dietary supplements.  He also plans to showcase beekeeping suits and hive tools. 

UC Davis distinguished professor emerita Lynn Kimsey, who directed the Bohart Museum for 34 years, is also scheduled to participate. She is known as "wasp woman," but she did her dissertation on orchid bees in Panama.

The Bohart Museum houses a global collection of eight million insects, plus a live petting zoo,  and a gift shop.  Professor Jason Bond directs the museum as of Feb. 1, succeeding UC Davis distinguished professor emerita Lynn Kimsey, who served 34 years. Bond is the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair of the Department of Entomology and Nematology, and the associate dean, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. He also serves as president-elect of the American Arachnological Society. 

For more information, access the website at https://bohart.ucdavis.edu or contact bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.

Meet Sol Wantz, who serves as president of the UC Davis Entomology Club, a curator intern at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, and an undergraduate student researcher in the laboratory of pollination ecologist Neal Williams, a UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology professor.

Ask her why people should be interested in insects, and she'll tell you. There's no "yecch" factor here: just the "ahh!" and "wow" factors.

Which is as it should be!

"First of all, bugs are just really cool!" says Sol, in her third year as an entomology major. "Second, they are extremely important in just about every aspect of life, even if most people don't like to think about that. Just as an example, almost all the food we eat was either directly or indirectly insect-pollinated. Fruits are obvious, but even all the meat we eat comes from animals that ate plants that were pollinated by insects. My field of study, wild bees, is especially important in this exact context because they cannot pollinate every crop. For example, alfalfa and tomatoes are two of our most common crops that cannot be pollinated by honey bees."

Sol, who grew up in the Bay Area community of Belmont, is the first entomologist in her family. "My parents and brother all love insects, but I am the only one hoping to make a career out of entomology. My dad is a forensic economist, my mom is a photographer, and my brother works as a distributor in the car wash industry."

What sparked her interest in entomology? 

"My parents were extremely interested in all kinds of 'creepy crawlies.' Growing up, we had 13 snakes, 3 tarantulas, lizards, giant millipedes…if you name it, we probably had it! Since insects were such an important presence in my childhood, I've always found them both interesting and comforting. When I was only 6 years old I learned that entomology could be job, and that's when I decided I wanted to be a professional entomologist when I grew up."

The UC Davis Entomology Club draws about 25 people to its weekly meetings, held on Thursdays at 6 p.m. in 122 Briggs Hall. (See Instagram account). "But this quarter a few of our meetings have had 40-plus," Sol said. "Every week, I lead a bug-themed activity, which ranges from professional pinning demos, guest speakers, and arboretum field trips, to movie nights, bug-themed trivia, and show-and-tell nights. At least once or twice a quarter, we do an overnight camping trip in Pope Valley to look for bugs. This fall, our camping trip had 25 insect-enthusiasts, which was a ton of fun but definitely a hassle for me to plan!"

Sol is passionate about her research. In the Williams lab, she is working on a project led by graduate student Elizabeth Reyes-Gallegos that is focused on comparing the functional traits of wild bees to floral functional traits. "Early this quarter, we finished our first field season sampling at plots at the Bee Biology Facility (Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road), so we are still in the early stages of the project," Sol said. "Since spring quarter, I have been working very closely with just about every bee we have collected because I have been dissecting their proboscises as well as pinning and labeling them. Because I have worked so closely with the bees' 'tongues,' I will be branching off slightly from Elizabeth's main focus to look for intraspecific variation in tongue lengths and body size. Currently, I am working closely with Elizabeth and Neal to fully flesh out this project."

"As for how I began working on this project, I joined the Williams Lab because I was interested in ecology and conservation since there are very few arthropod conservation efforts," Sol said. "I was initially drawn to Elizabeth's project because it was pretty field-intensive, which I have always enjoyed. As the project has progressed, I have found that I also enjoy microscope work, especially microdissection. Although we are still quite far away from an overall project outcome, I am excited to take the next steps, which in the immediate future will be identifying and photographing each specimen."

At the Bohart Museum, Sol is involved in general curation: pinning, labeling and integrating specimens into the collections. She is currently organizing the Orthoptera collection, which includes grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets. And she's beginning species identification of katydids (Tettigoniidae).

Sol is a fixture at the Bohart Museum open houses. "I started volunteering with the Bohart in winter of 2022 at the Biodiversity Museum Day," she related. "In the months following that, I became a regular volunteer at their outreach events. This was also before I became president of the Entomology Club, but during that time I was helping out as much as I could with various club outreach opportunities, like birthday parties or campus festivals. In July of 2022, the Bohart hired me as an undergraduate intern and I have been working there ever since!"

Another project: Sol is spearheading the Bohart Museum's open house on "Grasshoppers, Crickets and Katydids," from 1 to 4 p.m., Sunday, March 3 in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. (See Bohart Museum schedule)

How would she describe herself to a stranger? "I am an ambitious, hard-working, and outgoing future career entomologist with a special interest in wild bees and katydids. I love to explore the outside looking for bugs, and have dreams of traveling the world for that very purpose. When I don't have insects on my mind, I like to spend my time playing violin, drawing, and surrounding myself with my friends and family."

She's played the violin for about 11 years; in high school she volunteered to teach fourth and fifth graders how to play the instrument.

Sol is glad she chose UC Davis to study entomology. "Overall, I really like how UC Davis is inclusive and welcoming. I also love that we have the arboretum, which has some really great places to find bugs. And of course, I'm especially glad that entomology is a major here and I absolutely love the little entomologist community we've built."

From a childhood loving insects to a senior majoring in entomology at UC Davis, to a researcher studying wild bees to a curator working in the Orthoptera collection at the Bohart Museum, what's next? 

"After I graduate from UC Davis, I would like to go to graduate school and study systematics," Sol related. "Although I am also extremely interested in ecology, I have developed an interest in systematics and museum work over the last year. Ultimately, I think I would like to become a professor of entomology and maybe someday run my own lab."

Professor Sol Wantz...That has a nice ring to it! 

Clara Stuligross is passionate about wild bees, and you should be, too.

Stuligross, who received her doctorate in ecology on Sept. 9 from UC Davis, will present her exit seminar, "Individual and Combined Effects of Resource and Pesticide Stressors on Wild Bees and a Potential Strategy to Mitigate Impacts" at 10 a.m., Tuesday, Oct. 18 in Room 1022 of Green Hall. 

The seminar, open to all interested persons, also will be virtual. The Zoom link is https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/3661107142.

Stuligross researches nutrition and pesticide exposure and their comparative effects on the blue orchard bee, Osmia lignaria, and the yellow-faced bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii. Pollination ecologist Neal Williams, professor in the Department of Entomology and Nematology, served as her major professor.

"I am doing a short postdoc with Neal Williams this fall, and in January I will start a postdoctoral research position with Nicole Rafferty at UC Riverside," Stuligross said.

"Anthropogenic environmental changes present multiple stressors that together impact biodiversity and ecosystem function," Stuligross writes in her abstract. "Among these, pesticide exposure and the loss of flowering plants are ubiquitous across contemporary landscapes and threaten the persistence of bee populations. In this dissertation, I explored the individual and combined effects of pesticide and floral resource stressors on bee behavior, reproduction, and population persistence, as well as a potential strategy for mitigating these impacts. I used a combination of manipulative field cage experiments and landscape studies to examine these stressors and their impacts at different scales.

"Because bees often experience pesticide and resource stressors simultaneously, I first examined the potential for interactive effects of these stressors, as well as their individual impacts on wild bees. I established a fully crossed design in field cages; nesting female Osmia lignaria, the solitary blue orchard bee, accessed wildflowers at high or low densities, treated with or without the common insecticide, imidacloprid. In Chapter 1, I showed that pesticide exposure and floral resource scarcity combined additively to dramatically alter multiple vital rates, including reduced reproduction and a male-biased offspring sex ratio. In Chapter 2, I quantified behavioral responses in the same experiment, revealing that the resource and pesticide stressors had differential impacts with consequences for bee populations and potentially for pollination services through individual behavioral changes. Limited floral resources required bees to make fewer, longer foraging trips as well as misidentify their nests more often upon return from these trips. Bees exposed to pesticides made shorter foraging trips and did not compensate for this by taking more trips, reducing their overall foraging activity. Pesticide exposure also interacted with age to affect antagonistic behavior."

"In Chapter 3, I examined the carryover effects of past pesticide exposure on wild bees. Using the offspring from the previous cage experiment with known pesticide exposure backgrounds, I re-established the field cages and released bees in a crossed design with pesticide exposure or no exposure in each year. Thus, some bees experienced pesticides over two generations and others not at all. Regardless of the past exposure history, pesticides in the second year reduced reproduction. For bees that were also exposed in the past, the exposure over two years additively impaired individual performance, leading to a nearly fourfold estimated reduction in bee population growth. Furthermore, even past exposure by itself, regardless of exposure in the second year, led to a decline in offspring production."

"In Chapter 4, I collaborated with Maj Rundlöf to investigate the potential for wildflower plantings to mitigate the negative effects of pesticide exposure in agricultural landscapes. We assessed the nesting and reproduction of O. lignaria and the bumble bee Bombus vosnesenskii in replicate agricultural landscapes, half of which contained a wildflower planting next to the nest or colony. We collected pollen from foraging bees to determine resource use and pesticide residues. The wildflower plantings were a source of pesticide exposure, especially for O. lignaria, but also supported O. lignaria nesting. The landscape-level floral resources better predicted B. vosnesenskii colony success, but the local flower resources mitigated the negative effects of pesticides on their reproduction."

"These chapters together show that two common environmental stressors combine to negativel impact bees. They also reveal potential mechanisms underlying impacts of the stressors on reproduction and population growth. My dissertation highlights the importance of mitigating the negative effects of pesticides and floral resource limitation, especially in agricultural landscapes where the two stressors often co-occur. Finally, this work offers insight into how the stressors could be mitigated through an emerging strategy to diversity agricultural landscapes."

Stuligross received her bachelor of arts degree in environmental studies in 2014 in Indiana from Earlham College, Richmond, where she minored in biology and outdoor education. At UC Davis, she was awarded a 2017-22 National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship, and a 2016-18 UC Davis Graduate Group in Ecology Fellowship.

Recognized nationally for her research, Stuligross scored second place in the Entomological Society of America's 2020 President's Prize competition. Her research posters also won the top award at the UC Davis Graduate Student Symposium in Ecology in both 2019 and 2021.  

Stuligross and her colleague, Maj Rundlöf, are the co-first authors of "Flower Plantings Support Wild Bee Reproduction and May Also Mitigate Pesticide Exposure Effects," published in May 2022 in the Journal of Applied Ecology. She was the lead author of "Past Insecticide Exposure Reduces Bee Reproduction and Population Growth Rate," published in November 2021 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and also the lead author of "Pesticide and Resource Stressors Sdditively Impair Wild Bee Reproduction," published in September 2020 in The Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 

Stuligross has also co-authored a number of other research publications, most recently:

• "A Meta-Analysis of Single Visit Pollination Effectiveness Comparing Honeybees and Other Floral Visitors," American Journal of Botany
• "Impact of 'Nonlethal' Tarsal Clipping on Bumble Bees (Bombus vosnesenskii) May Depend on Queen Stage and Worker Size," Journal of Insect Conservation

Want to learn more about wild bees, also known as undomesticated bees? Be sure to read the UC-authored book, California Bees and Blooms: A Guide for Gardeners and Naturalists. It's the work of Gordon Frankie of UC Berkeley, the late Robbin Thorp of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology; Barbara Ertter of UC Berkeley; and photographer Rollin Coville, alumnus of UC Berkeley. California is home to more than 1600 species of undomesticated or wild bees.