- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Dingle, a UC Davis emeritus professor of entomology and author of two editions of “Migration: The Biology of Life on the Move,” said his previous studies reveal that migrant and resident monarchs exhibit different wing shapes.
Dingle is the recipient of the UC Davis Edward A. Dickson Professorship Award to research “Monarchs in the Pacific: Is Contemporary Evolution Occurring on Isolated Islands?”
Dingle will be working with community ecologist Louie Yang and molecular geneticist Joanna Chiu, assistant professors in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, to examine the ecology and physiology of monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) in three islands where contemporary evolution might be expected. The islands are Oahu (Hawaii), Guam (Marianas) and Weno (Chuuk or Truk).
“This is the necessary first step in a long-term analysis of the evolutionary ecology and physiology of monarch butterflies on remote Pacific islands,” said Dingle, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Animal Behavior Society.
Dingle said the monarch, widely distributed “for eons” in the New World, is fairly new to the Pacific islands and to Australia. “In addition to North America, the monarch occurs as a resident throughout the Caribbean and Central and northern South America—and probably as a migrant farther south. One of the more intriguing aspects of its distribution is that beginning in the early part of the 19th century, it spread throughout the Pacific all the way to Australia, where there are now well-established migratory and non-migratory populations.”
Dingle speculates that the monarchs arrived in the Pacific islands with their host plant, milkweed, which was valued at the time for its medicinal properties. Some of the islands are extremely isolated, he said.
An analysis of a monarch population in Hawaii shows that resident monarchs have shorter, broader wings than the long-distance migrants. The Hawaii butterfly wings were shorter than the eastern U.S. long-distance migrants, but “not so short-winged as the residents in the Caribbean or Costa Rica, which have been present in those locations for eons, rather than the 200 years for Hawaii.”
“If there are indeed wing shape changes associated with evolution in isolation, are there other changes that may have occurred under selection and local adaptation for residency?” Dingle wonders. “Are there other changes that may have occurred under selection and local adaptation for residency? Examples of such traits might be changes in flight muscle physiology, changes in photoperiodic diapause response, changes in the characteristics of orientation ability and its relation to antennal circadian rhythms, or changes in the reproductive capacity or tactics (re-colonization of ‘empty' habitats is no longer part of the life cycle).
“Diapause and fat storage, necessary to support migration, are triggered by short photoperiods,” Dingle said, “and the butterflies orient using a sun compass synchronized to a circadian rhythm in the antennae. Overwintering sites in North America include the Transvolcanics Mountains of central Mexico, and the California Coast, particularly Santa Cruz, Pismo Beach, and Pacific Grove.
The UC Davis team will study the monarchs on the three islands and compare them with California mainland monarchs. Using an image analyzer and camera equipment available in Yang lab, the team will photograph “chilled” butterflies in a fixed position with wings spread and then release them back into the wild. The image analyzer will measure different variables, including length, width and angles from the photographs and compute multivariate-shape parameters.
The Chiu lab will assess genetic differences using a transcriptomic approach with monarch caterpillars. “This assessment will be greatly facilitated by the fact that the monarch genome has now been sequenced,” Dingle noted. “A major focus of Dr. Chiu's research is circadian rhythm genes, and these will be especially relevant here because of the association of these genes with monarch capabilities. Because the monarch cell line is cycling and has a functional circadian clock, effects of mutations in specific clock genes can be examined with regard to clock function.”
Dingle expects the one-year research program not only to form the basis for “long-term research on the evolutionary genetics of behavior, ecology and physiology on Pacific island monarch butterflies” but on “the general aspects of island biogeography, a subject of great practical theoretical interest in evolutionary biology.”
Both Yang and Chui currently have grants involving research on monarch butterflies. Yang also studies island ecology.
Dingle, who received his bachelor's degree in zoology from Cornell University and his doctorate in zoology from the University of Michigan, served on the faculty of the UC Davis Department of Entomology (now the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology) from 1982 to 2002 and achieved emeritus status in 2003. He is a past president of the Animal Behavior Society and former secretary of the International Society for Behavioral Ecology.
Dingle published the second edition of “Migration: The Biology of Life on the Move” (Oxford University Press) in November 2014. It is the sequel to the widely acclaimed first edition, published in 1996. National Geographic featured Dingle in its cover story on “Great Migrations” in November 2010. LiveScience interviewed him for its November 2010 piece on “Why Do Animals Migrate?”
Dingle was interviewed recently by Italian journalist Giovanna Faggionato for a piece on migration in the Pirelli magazine.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
They were honored at a recent meeting of ASTMH in New Orleans for their sustained professional excellence in their field. Fellows are selected for their work in "any phase of tropical medicine, hygiene, global health and related disciplines," ASTMH officials said.
Scott, internationally known for his work with on the ecology and epidemiology of dengue, focuses his work on contributing to improved public health in the United States and in the developing world, where resources are inadequate and help is desperately needed. His expertise centers on mosquito-transmitted disease; the bulk of his work is on dengue.
Scott received his doctorate in ecology from Pennsylvania State University, and worked as an epidemiology post-doctoral scholar at the Yale School of Medicine.
ASTMH, founded in 1903, is a worldwide organization of scientists, clinicians and program professionals whose mission is to promote global health through the prevention and control of infectious and other diseases that disproportionately afflict the global poor. Research, health care and education are the central activities of ASTMH members, whose work bridges basic laboratory research to international field work and clinics to countrywide programs.
Specific ASTMH goals include:
- Improving the health of people worldwide
- Advancing research in tropical diseases
- Fostering international scientific collaboration
- Supporting career development in tropical medicine and global health
- Educating medical professionals, policymakers and the public about tropical medicine and global health
- Promoting science-based policy regarding tropical medicine and global health
- Recognizing exceptional achievement in tropical medicine and global health
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Ullman, elected to the Section on Agriculture, Food, and Renewable Resources, focuses her research on the interactions among insects, viruses and plants. She also studies the development of strategies for managing disease-causing microorganisms that are transmitted to plants by insects.
Earlier this month she received the 7000-member Entomological Society of America's distinguished achievement award in teaching at ESA's meeting in Portland, Ore.
AAAS will present each of the 401 new fellows in the Class of 2014 with a certificate and gold-and-blue rosette pin on Saturday, Feb. 14, during the association's annual meeting, to be held in San Jose. UC Davis now has a total of 152 AAAS fellows.
Ullman is the former associate dean for undergraduate academic programs, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and is the co-founder and co-director of the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program.
Highly honored for her work, Ullman was named a fellow of ESA in 2011. She received the UC Davis Chancellor's Achievement Award for Diversity and Community in 2008; the USDA Higher Education Western Regional Award for Excellence in College and University Teaching in 1993; and the Hawaiian Entomology Society Entomologist of the Year Award in 1992, among her many awards.
Ullman joined the UC Davis Department of Entomology (now Entomology and Nematology) in 1995. She served as the department's vice chair from 2001 to 2004, and as the 2004-05 chair. Ullman obtained her bachelor's degree in horticulture from the University of Arizona, Tucson, in 1997 and her doctorate in entomology from UC Davis in 1985.
Ullman is one of 11 fellows from the UC Davis Department of Entomology (now the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology) since 1976. Two have since joined other departments and one is deceased. They are:
- Distinguished Professor James Carey, elected in 2011
- Professor Hugh Dingle, elected in 1976
- Professor Rick Karban, elected in 2009
- Professor Walter Leal, (now with the UC Davis Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology), elected in 2005
- Professor and former department chair Donald McLean (1928-2014), elected in 1983
- Professor and former chair Robert Page Jr. (now provost of Arizona State University), elected in 2007
- Professor Jay Rosenheim, elected in 2009
- Distinguished Professor Thomas Scott, elected in 2007
- Distinguished Professor Art Shapiro (now with the UC Davis Department of Evolution and Ecology), elected in 1987
- Distinguished Professor Frank Zalom, elected in 2011
In addition, Maurice Tauber (1931-2014), an associate of the Department of Entomology and Nematology at the time of his death, achieved AAAS fellow status in 1981.
According to the website, election as a fellow of AAAS is an "honor bestowed upon a member whose efforts on behalf of the advancement of science or its applications are scientifically or socially distinguished and who has been a continuous member for the four year period leading up to the year of nomination."
Each fellow nomination packet must include a nomination form; a list of the nominee's top ten most significant publications; a comprehensive CV, which includes a complete list of publications; and four from each of the three sponsors.
Related Link
See UC Davis news story on the list of six fellows
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Spotlight on Danny Klittich
Klittich, who is starting his third year as a doctoral student in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, studies with major professor Michael Parrella, professor and chair of the department.
The T-shirt, publicly available for purchase, with proceeds benefitting EGSA, is golden yellow with a black illustration. Graduate student and T-shirt project coordinator Margaret “Rei” Scampavia is taking orders at m.rei.scampavia@gmail.com. Sizes range from youth small to adult double X.
Klittich says he's not an artist but has always had an interest in honey bees. He was a member of the UC Davis graduate student team that won the student debate championship, Nov. 18, at the Entomological Society of America's 62nd annual meeting in Portland, Ore. The team debated neonicotinoids, defeating Auburn (Alabama) University team. UC Davis successfully argued the con side of “Neonicotinoids Are Causing the Death of Bees Essential for Pollinating our Food Crops. The Use of Neonicotinoids Should End.” The team, captained by Mohammad-Amir Aghaee of the Larry Godfrey lab, also included Jenny Carlson, Anthony Cornel lab; Ralph Washington Jr., Steve Nadler lab; Margaret "Rei" Scampavia, Neal Williams/Edwin Lewis lab.
Klittich, from Fillmore, is a graduate of Fillmore High School and valedictorian of the Class of 2006. He grew up in the nursery business, working at his family's nursery, Otto and Sons Nursery, Inc., Fillmore. During his youth he was active in 4-H and Boy Scouts, achieving the rank of Eagle Scout.
Klittich plans to receive his doctorate in 2016. His career goal: to pursue a career in pesticide and IPM research either in the private sector or in the California University System as a farm advisor.
In addition to the honey bee t-shirt, EGSA is offering other T-shirts, most available for $15. Popular EGSA shirts depict a dung beetle, “They See Me Rollin'”; a “cuddling moth” for infants and toddlers; a weevil shirt, “See No Weevil, Hear No Weevil, Speak No Weevil”; and “The Beetles” shirt, of four beetles crossing Abbey Road, reminiscent of The Beatles pictured on their Abbey Road album. All can be ordered from Margaret “Rei” Scampavia at m.rei.scampavia@gmail.co.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Tucker, 90, a longtime apiculturist, passed at Serenity Hospice House, Santa Barbara, on Oct. 17.
Born Aug. 8, 1924, to John and Jessie Tucker in Santa Barbara, Ken was one of seven brothers and sisters who grew up enjoying the beach and adjacent mountains. He graduated from Santa Barbara High School, where a teacher sparked his interest in keeping honey bees. He began beekeeping as a teenager and it became a lifelong career.
A World War II veteran, he served as a radioman in the U.S. Navy on a landing ship tank for two years in the South Pacific. Upon returning, he enrolled at the Riviera campus of Santa Barbara College for a term, then transferred to UC Berkeley, where his brother John was a graduate student in botany.
Ken Tucker transferred to the UC Davis campus as a graduate student in the honey bee laboratory (now the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility) and worked with Laidlaw. While at Davis he met Shirley Cotter, a botany graduate student, and they married in 1953. She received her doctorate in botany from UC Davis in 1956.
After obtaining his Ph.D., Ken Tucker worked as an Extension entomologist at the University of Minnesota, taught biology at Lake Forest College in Illinois, and then worked for many years as an apicultural scientist at the federal Honey Bee Laboratory in Baton Rouge, LA.
Tucker worked on Africanized bees in Venezuela and other South American countries before returning to the U. S. His wife, Shirley, was a professor of botany at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.
He co-authored a manual on the instrumental insemination of queen bees, a subject he studied with Laidlaw (1907-2003), known as the father of honey bee genetics. He was Laidlaw's first graduate student.
The Tuckers enjoyed traveling to many parts of the world. They both retired in 1995, and moved to Santa Barbara. Ardent advocates for the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, they endowed a staff position for a plant systematist there.
Ken Tucker enjoyed classical music, the Humanists Society meetings, the Farmers' Market, as well as hiking, fishing and kayaking.
He is survived by his wife Shirley of 60 years, his brother Stanley (Marion), sister Mary Kraft, niece Linda Tucker, and many other nieces and nephews.
Memorials can be made to either the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden or Serenity Hospice House. A celebration of his life was scheduled for mid-November at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden.