- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
DAVIS--Michael Parrella, professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, will present a seminar on "To Antarctica and Back: The Search for Belgica antarctica Jacobs, 1900 (Diptera; Chironomidae)" from 12:10 to 1 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 28 in 122 Briggs.
Parrella spent the first three weeks in January at the Julio Escudero Research Station operated by the Chilean Antarctic Institute on King George Island – part of the South Shetland Islands in the Antarctic Peninsula. This area is known for some of the greatest biological diversity in Antarctica.
The purpose of the trip was bio-prospecting for microbes and secondary plant metabolites that may have agricultural and medical utility. This is related to ongoing research in his laboratory with Pseudomonas antarctica (n. sp) – a bacteria purported to increase overall plant health. A second objective of this trip was to document the presence of arthropods in the vicinity of the research station. Both will be covered in this seminar.
Parrella will also convey his overall Antarctica experience via slides and a short video presentation.
King George Island (named for King George) is the largest of the South Shetland Islands, lying 75 miles off the coast of Antarctica in the Southern Ocean.
Parrella received his bachelor of science degree in animal science from Rutgers-State University of Cook College, New Brunswick, N. J., and his master's degree and doctorate in entomology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA.
He joined the faculty of UC Riverside's Department of Entomology in 1980, and then the UC Davis Departments of Entomology and Environmental Horticulture in 1988. A professor in the Departments of Entomology (now the Department of Entomology and Nematology) and Plant Sciences since 1991, he served as associate dean, Division of Agricultural Sciences, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences from 1999 to 2009.
The list of seminars for the winter quarter, all held on Wednesday noon in 122 Briggs Hall, is on this web page.
Link:
Watch seminar