- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The fifth edition will be published later this year. The expected date is prior to the Entomological Society of America's annual meeting, to be held Nov. 16-19 in Portland, Ore.
“The economics and contractual obligations placed upon textbook authors require major updates every four to five years, retired or not,” Cranston said. “Thus for the past year we have been reviewing the whole field of entomology and our retirements have been ‘on hold.'” They delivered the completed fifth edition to Wiley in July.
What's new? Most changes are associated with the results of human activities, including warming of the planet but also including global trade, they said. Thus, they added a new chapter entitled ‘Insects in a Changing World.'
“Insects clearly respond to changes in climate, and this is of immediate concern for the spread of insect-borne diseases affecting crops, domestic animals and people,” they wrote in an email. “However, at least of equal significance are the changes in insect ranges associated with global commerce (‘free trade') that brings many accidental passenger insects that impact agriculture, health and the natural environment. This situation is caricatured on the front cover of this new edition, in a tribute to Canadian insect illustrator Barry Flahey. Barry should be known to entomologists as the artist responsible for those wonderful whimsical posters (and Christmas cards) featuring medleys of anthropomorphised bugs. Karina McInnes, the artist for all previous editions of the textbook, went well outside her comfort zone to pay tribute to Barry's style in highlighting several pest insects known to hitch-hike via our transportation system."
“Also molecular genetic techniques have become increasingly sophisticated and have transformed so many areas of entomology. Molecular studies have particularly informed our ideas of evolutionary relationships at all levels, and all phylogenies have had to be modified between book editions. Knowledge of the relationships among orders has been strengthened in the past five years, and there is much less uncertainty. For example, the hexapods, to which the insects belong, clearly evolved from within the Crustacea, thus forming a group Pancrustacea. Closer to tips of insect phylogenetic trees, the true diversity at species level is being revealed, including with the use of ‘DNA barcoding'. Modelling techniques of increasing sophistication allow exploration of the rate of molecular evolution, which in conjunction with better-studied fossil insects, provide increasingly reliable estimates of the tempo of insect evolution over the past 400 million years.
“A constant feature of the design of the book has been the use of ‘boxes' for material tangential to the main text but of topical (although perhaps ephemeral) importance.” For example, in the opening chapter they give recognition to the dynamism provided to entomology by ‘non-mainstream' insect lovers, from recording schemes and citizen scientists to the managers of insect houses. Inevitably updating involved reporting in new boxes the effects of ever-more insects spreading and damaging plants of interest to humans, namely ornamental and environmental trees, including palms, and most worryingly, high quality Arabica coffee. Information from some boxes from previous editions has been downsized and merged with the text or discarded.
Now that their fifth edition is finished, Cranston and Gullan say they are returning to their "retirement activities," that is, research on the systematics and ecology of their favorite insects--scales and midges.
Cranston holds a Ph.D. in entomology from the University of London. His research interests systematics, ecology and biogeography of aquatic insects, particularly the Chironomidae (non-biting midges).
Gullan received her doctorate in entomology from Monash University, Australia. Her research interests are systematics (taxonomy and phylogeny) and biology of scale insects (Hemiptera: Coccoidea), especially soft scales, eriococcids, margarodids and mealybugs; ant-coccoid interactions; insect-plant interactions involving sap-sucking insects, especially gall-inducing taxa.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
So begins the introductory chapter in the newly published book, Bumble Bees of North America: an Identification Guide (Princeton University Press, 2014).
Described as a comprehensive guide to North American bumble bees, it's the first publication of its kind in more than a century.
Co-author Robbin Thorp, a native pollinator specialist and emeritus professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis, says bumble bees have been around for more than 100 million years but their distribution and diversity are not well known. Bumble bees are just one of the some 20,000 species of bees that populate the world. Of that number, however, only about 250 species are bumble bees, and they all belong to the genus Bombus.
Some 46 different species of bumble bees reside in North America, north of Mexico, Thorp said.
In their book, lead author Paul Williams and co-authors Thorp, Leif Richardson and Sheila Colla provide detailed information about bumble bees and their history, plant favorites, distribution maps, up-to-date taxonomy, and extensive keys to identify the many color patterns of the species.
The book is drawing accolades. “A better team of scientists couldn't have written this amazing new book on bumble bees,” said Stephen Buchmann of the University of Arizona. “Readers will want to get out and find bumble bees, observe them, and learn what they can do to conserve them.”
Like many pollinators, bumble bees are in trouble as their habitat decreases and their health issues increase, Thorp said.
Wrote the co-authors: “Bumble bees have specific habitat requirements for nesting and overwintering, and a third aspect of habitat, forage, is even more important."
- farms and gardens with a diversity of flowering crops and herbs
- hay fields
- roadside ditches
- windbreaks with good abundance and diversity of “weedy” flowering plants, such as clovers and vetches
- wetlands and wet meadows
- hardwood forests
- mountain meadows, and
- urban parks and gardens
UC Davis campus and the surrounding Yolo County are not a real hot bed for bumble bee diversity,” Thorp said. “There are six species that have been recorded from the county, and one that's rarely seen.”
The primary species found in Yolo County are:
- Yellow-faced bumble bee, now known as the Vosnesensky bumble bee, Bombus vosnesenskii
- Yellow bumble bee, Bombus californicus, now known as Bombus fervidus
- Black-tailed bumble bee, Bombus melanopygus, formerly known as Bombus edwardsii. This is the first to fly in the winter and spring.
- Crotch bumble bee, Bombus crotchii, a short-tongued species
- Van Dyke bumble bee, Bombus vandykei, a medium long-tongued species
A bumble bee that Thorp has been trying to find for nine years is also included in the book: Franklin bumble bee, Bombus franklini. Its known distribution is a small geographic range in southern Oregon and northern California. The species declined sharply in 1999 and is feared extinct. Thorp last saw it in 2006.
Thorp, who joined the UC Davis faculty in 1964, retired in 1994 but continues to maintain his bee research, based at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road. His research involves the role of native bees in crop pollination, the role of urban gardens as bee habitat, and declines in native bumble bee populations. He is also heavily involved with the Jepson Prairie Reserve, researching the specialist bees in the vernal pool ecosystems.
Thorp and Coville, along with bumble bee enthusiast Gary Zamzow of Davis and UC Davis communication specialist Kathy Keatley Garvey, were among the more than 60 photographers providing photos for the book.
“Bumble bees are gentle and charming creatures,” said Zamzow, who photographs bumble bees on travels throughout the country. “They're fun to watch and photograph. The best way to find bumble bees is to look for flowering plants. When photographing bumble bees, try to photograph as many views of the bumble bee as possible—front and back.”
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Internationally known for his mosquito research and publications spanning more than four decades, Bill Reisen officially retired in July from the University of California, Davis, but mosquitoes shouldn't breathe a collective sigh of relief and go about their blood-sucking business.
Reisen, now a professor emeritus with the Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology (PMI), School of Veterinary Medicine, vows to continue his mosquito research; manage the vector-borne disease surveillance diagnostics lab; advise graduate students in the School of Veterinary Medicine; mentor several new PMI faculty members; direct the Center for Vectorborne Diseases (CVEC) and edit the Journal of Medical Entomology. In between, he and his wife Norma will travel throughout the United States and Europe and to their mango farm in the Philippines.
And along the way, he'll probably encounter the 10 species mosquitoes that he developed a close and personal relationship with--“skeeters” that transmit diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, encephalitis and West Nile virus.
While other people count sheep to go to sleep, Reisen probably counts mosquitoes at his current or former research sites:
Pakistan? Culex tritaeniorhynchus, Anopheles stephensi and Anopheles culicifacies
Nepal? Anopheles fluviatilis and Anopheles maculatus
California? Culex tarsalis, Culex pipiens complex, Culex stigmatosoma, Aedes dorsalis and Aedes melanimon
Meanwhile, the accolades flow.
“And,” Scott added, “he is a genuinely good person. For those of us fortunate enough to have worked with him, Bill is recognized for the exceptional rigor of his science and uniquely high quality of his character."
Colleague Bruce Eldridge, emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis, described Reisen as “the hardest working and most dedicated entomologist I have ever had the pleasure of working with. Nearly everything he does has a definite purpose, and the results of his research have improved substantially our ability to protect people from vectorborne diseases both here in California and elsewhere in the world.”
“He has also instilled these principles of hard work and concentration on important subjects to study in a long list of graduate students, post-doctoral researchers, and other visiting scientists. People go to Bill all the time for advice and other kinds of help. He never says no. He is a remarkable individual, and I know he won't quit doing the things he does just because he is retiring.”
A native of New Jersey, Reisen holds a doctorate in zoology (1974) from the University of Oklahoma, Norman, with a focus on medical microbiology and ecology.
Young Bill began his academic career as an undergraduate in entomology at the University of Delaware in 1963 and as a research assistant with Clemson University in 1967, monitoring organochloride insecticide residues in fish and aquatic insects. As a teaching assistant at Clemson, he taught animal ecology in 1968 and continued his research on stream ecology and fish-feeding behavior.
Reisen served as a captain in the U.S. Air Force from 1969 to 1971. He was assigned to the 5th Epidemiological Flight, Manila and 1st Medical Service Wing, Clark Air Base, Republic of the Philippines. His duties included vector-borne disease surveillance and control programs on USAF Bases in Pacific Air Command, which took him on temporary duty to Japan, Taiwan, Korea, Okinawa, Thailand, Guam and Hawaii.
Reisen resumed his academic career from 1971 to 1974 when he taught entomology, zoology, ecology and parasitology courses as a teaching assistant at the University of Oklahoma. He then worked as a research associate from 1974 to 1975 at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, where he did research on a malaria mosquito, Anopheles stephensi, and assisted David Clyde during the first malaria vaccine trials in humans.
In 1975 Reisen was assigned to the University of Maryland School of Medicine's Pakistan Medical Research Center in Lahore, Pakistan, where he served as an assistant professor of international medicine from 1975 to 1980 and headed the Ecology Department. His research involved population ecology and the bionomics of Pakistani mosquitoes and their relation to pathogen transmission and field trials related to genetic control of mosquitoes.
Reisen moved to California in 1980 to become research entomologist and director of the Arbovirus Field Station of the UC Berkeley School of Public Health in Bakersfield. “I worked on population ecology, bionomics, genetics and vector competence of Culex tarsalis in relation to arbovirus ecology and control in California until 1995,” he said. The program later transferred to the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine in 1996 and CVEC was born.
“My career can be divided into three phases: (1) education/learning, (2) field research and (3) advising and mentoring,” Reisen said. “Graduate training at Clemson and Oklahoma and my U.S. Air Force assignments in southeast Asia and my position in Pakistan provided a great introduction to how to do field studies and work in remote areas with minimal equipment and support. This training was applied during the 25 years in Bakersfield where we did everything from genetic control trials to host and vector competence studies with several arboviruses.”
“This training and work experience managing integrated field research programs gave me insight on how to mentor graduate students and new faculty, the final phase of my career,” Reisen noted. “The latter experience expanded our research breadth and improved our program immeasurably as I got to know some very bright and engaging students. Throughout my career I was very fortunate to be supported by excellent laboratory and field staff which formed the cornerstone of our NIH-funded research programs.”
Highly honored by his peers, Reisen has received national and international honors that include:
- Lifetime Award for Achievement in Medical Entomology, Society for Vector Ecology, presented at the International Congress, 2001.
- Fellow, Entomological Society of America, 2003.
- Academic Federation Award for Excellence in Research, UC Davis, 2004.
- John N. Belkin Award for Excellence in Vector Ecology, American Mosquito Control Association, 2006
- Distinguished Service Award, Society for Vector Ecology, 2006
- Harry Hoogstraal Medal, American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 2012
Reisen's work includes 297 peer-reviewed research publications, plus book chapters.
Since 1984, Reisen has guided seven Ph.D. and postdoctoral students: Mark Eberle, UC Berkeley School of Public Health, and Carrie Nielsen, Christopher Barker, Jennifer Kwan, Gabriella Worwa, Tara Thiemann and Sarah Wheeler, UC Davis. He currently serves as the major professor for two graduate students in Comparative Pathology: Veronica Armijos[rev1] , also manager of the Thomas Scott lab in the Department of Entomology and Nematology, and Andra Hutton.
Chris Barker, now an assistant adjunct professor with PMI and CVEC, said that Reisen is “known to virtually everyone who has spent much time studying mosquitoes or the viruses they transmit.”
“Bill has had a very productive and well-documented career represented in his 297 peer-reviewed scientific papers,” Barker said. “His lasting enthusiasm for his work, good humor, and uncommon humility have been an inspiration to all of his colleagues, especially the students and staff who have had the good fortune to be a part of his research program. One unique aspect of Bill's career is that he spent over 30 years in the field and at the lab bench in contact with mosquitoes almost daily, which is increasingly rare in today's world of digital data collection. It is safe to say that Bill will not quit upon retirement, and his intellectual input and wealth of experience will continue to be valued for years to come.”
Sarah Wheeler participated in the “West Nile virus period” of Reisen's career-- first as a technician, then as a PhD student, and finally, as a post-doctoral scholar. “During the West Nile period Bill facilitated and conducted a body of work leading to the understanding of West Nile virus transmission and overwintering in California. Bill's dedication to the field of arbovirology and fierce work ethic inspired me to follow in his footsteps, and along the way he shaped my approach to science through his lead by example style. Bill has been a fabulous mentor and I am unendingly grateful I took his original job offer that sent me out into the middle of nowhere, but opened upon the world of arbovirology.”
Said Reisen: “Although we did spend a lot of time collecting mosquitoes, we also had a large bird program where we collected, bled and tested more than 85,000 wild bird sera for arbovirus infection and did a host of experimental infection studies with birds ranging from house finch nestlings to adult mallard ducks and black-crowned night herons.”
Robert Washino, emeritus professor and former chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and a former administrator with the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, lauded Reisen's career.
“Bill has had a very colorful career in medical entomology,” said Washino. He remembers visiting his laboratory at the School of Medicine, Lahore, Pakistan “in another lifetime.”
“Bill's work on several important malaria anopheline vectors in that country constituted important contributions and also included studies on Culex tritaeniorhynchus, the vector of Japanese Encephalitis virus, somewhat comparable to Culex tarsalis, the vector of several arboviruses in the western U.S.,” Washino said.
“Bill will forever be remembered as the continuing lead investigator of the important W. C. Reeves, UC Berkeley arbovirus program in California,” Washino said. He praised Reisen's collaborative work with the California Department of Public Health and local regulatory agencies of the Mosquito and Vector Control Association of California.
As for Bill Reisen, “the retiree,” he says he's looking forward to continuing his myriad of mosquito-related activities “to finish up my career and help protect the health of the citizens of California.”
“My final objective,” he said, in typical Reisen humor, “is to learn to play bogey golf.”
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The controversial antibacterial chemical is grabbing nationwide attention with the recent cover story of “Triclosan Under the Microsope” in Chemical Engineering News. The article quotes Bruce Hammock, a UC Davis distinguished professor who holds a joint appointment in the Department of Entomology and Nematology and the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center.
“I'm getting love notes and hate mail,” he said, adding "“My colleagues and I are continuing to look at the positive and negative aspects of triclosan. It clearly has some negative effects on mammalian biology, but it is a very potent microbial and quite inexpensive, and relatively safe.”
Triclosan, first used in healthcare settings in the 1960s, is now found in products throughout the home—in everything from hand sanitizers, toothpastes, mouthwashes, deodorants and cosmetics to beddings, clothes, toys, carpets and trash bags.
Last month Minnesota became the first state to ban the ingredient in soaps and cleaning products. Other states concerned about the chemical's effects on human and environmental health may follow.
Hammock said that he and UC Davis colleagues molecular biologist David Mills and chemist Bruce German are now looking at the effects on gut bacteria.
“And, with Bob Tukey at UC San Diego, we are looking at enzyme induction in mammals and possible health risks,” Hammock said. Tukey, professor of pharmacology and chemistry and biochemistry, directs the UCSD Superfund Basic Research Program, while Hammock directs the UC Davis Superfund Program.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1998 estimated that the U.S. produces more than 1 million pounds of triclosan annually, and that scientists can detect the chemical in waterways, aquatic organisms, and in human urine, blood and breast milk.
Concern over the controversial compound is swirling with the June 23rd publication of “Triclosan Under the Microscope.”
Hammock told author Jyllian Kemsley that when medical providers first started using triclosan as a surgical scrub, “it replaced some really scary compounds.”
He said that “Triclosan is much less toxic, more effective, and more biodegradable” than hexachlorophene and other common biocides of the time.
Wrote Kemsley: “But then triclosan made its way out of the operating room and into mass consumer products. In that context, its toxicity profile and environmental lifetime make the cost-benefit analysis murkier.”
“To me that doesn't say rush out and ban it,” Hammock told her, advocating careful consideration for mass use. He said washing hands with plain soap and water will likely fit most needs. Triclosan is a very effective anti-microbial but probably it is overused in many cases.
Kemsley wrote that some people may be more susceptible to harm, “such as those with genetic variations that reduce their ability to metabolize triclosan, leaving them with higher blood concentrations.” Some scientists worry if the toxicity level is worth it to reduce disease and also whether it promotes drug resistance.
Kemsley drew attention to the 2012 UC Davis study that shows that triclosan hinders cardiac and skeletal muscle contraction in mice and fish. The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and authored by a 13-member research team headed by Isaac Pessah and Nipavan Chiamvimonvat of the School of Veterinary Medicine and Hammock, found that triclosan hinders muscle contractions at a cellular level, slows swimming in fish and reduces muscular strength in mice.
“The effects of triclosan on cardiac function were really dramatic,” Chiamvimonvat, professor of cardiovascular medicine, related following the PNAS publication. “Although triclosan is not regulated as a drug, this compound acts like a potent cardiac depressant when administered at high doses in our models.”