DAVIS--John Jaenike, professor and chair of the Department of Biology, University of Rochester, N.Y., will speak on “A Seismic Shift in the Ecology Host-Parasite Interactions” at the April 16th noonhour seminar hosted by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.

His seminar is from 12:10 to 1 p.m. in 122 Briggs Hall.

“Insects and other arthropods are infected with maternally transmitted endosymbionts,” Jaenike says in his abstract. “ Some of these symbionts spread and persist by manipulating host reproduction in various ways.  However, many have no such effects, and the means by which they are retained within species is unknown.  We recently found that Drosophila neotestacea carries endosymbiotic Spiroplasma bacteria, which render female flies resistant to the sterilizing effects of nematode parasitism."

"The prevalence of Spiroplasma infection in D. neotestacea increased rapidly in eastern North America in recent decades, and it is now spreading rapidly from east to west across North American.  Coincident with the increase in Spiroplasma infection has been a dramatic decline in the prevalence of nematode parasitism, due, we believe, to the much lower reproductive output of nematodes that parasitize Spiroplasma-infected flies.  We microinjected Spiroplasma into several other Drosophila species; the infections quickly stabilized with high levels of maternal transmission. In one species, D. putrida, Spiroplasma rendered flies resistant to the sterilizing effects of nematode parasitism.  Finally, we microinjected various strains Spiroplasma obtained from other Drosophila species into D. neotestacea and found that only the strain native to D. neotestacea confers any resistance to nematode parasites. 

Jaenike, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAA), focuses his research on host-parasite interactions, heritable endosymbionts, and ecology of Drosophila.

He received his bachelor of arts degree in biology from Amherst College in 1971 and his doctorate in biology from Princeton University in 1975. His faculty positions include State University of New York (SUNY), 1979-1983; University of Rochester, 1983-1999; University of Arizona, 1999-2001; and  University of Rochester, 2001-present.

A few of his publications:

Early career

Jaenike, J. 1978. On optimal oviposition behavior in phytophagous insects.  Theoretical Population Biology 14:350-356.

Jaenike, J. 1978. An hypothesis to account for the maintenance of sex within populations. Evolutionary Theory  3:191-194.

Mid-career

Jaenike, J. 1986. Genetic complexity of host selection behavior in Drosophila.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. USA 83:2148-2151.

Jaenike, J.  1990.  Host specialization in phytophagous insects.  Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics,  21:243-273.

Jaenike, J.  1992.  Mycophagous Drosophila and their nematode parasites.  American Naturalist 139: 893-906.

Later in career

Dyer, K. A. and J. Jaenike. 2004. Evolutionarily stable infection by a male-killing endosymbiont in Drosophila innubila: molecular evidence from the host and parasite genomes. Genetics 168: 1443-1455.

Jaenike, J., K. A. Dyer, C. Cornish, and M. S. Minhas. 2006. Asymmetrical reinforcement and Wolbachia infection in Drosophila. PLoS Biology 4: 1852-1862.

Jaenike, J., R. L. Unckless, S. N. Cockburn, L. M. Boelio, and S. J. Perlman. 2010. Adaptation via symbiosis: recent spread of a defensive symbiont in Drosophila.  Science 329: 212-215. 

Plans call for video-recording the seminar for later posting on UCTV.

NEWS BRIEF: April 8, 2014

The UC Davis Linnaean Team defeated Utah State in the preliminary competition and then lost to UC Riverside in the semifinals Monda, April 7  at the Pacific Branch of the Entomological Society of America (PBESA) meeting, being held in Tucson, Ariz.

UC Riverside went on to win the championship, defeating Washington State University, Pullman, Wash. Both the winning team and the runner-up team will represent the Pacific Branch at the ESA meeting, Nov. 16-19 in Portland, Ore. The winning ream receives $500 to offset travel expenses. President of the ESA is integrated pest management specialist Frank Zalom, professor of entomology at UC Davis.

 At the 2013 PBESA meeting, UC Riverside took first, and UC Davis, second.

The 2014 UC Davis team members, advised by Extension specialist Larry Godfrey of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, who participated in the semi-finals were:

• Matan Shelomi, doctoral student who studies with major professor Lynn Kimsey
• Mohammad-Amir Aghaee,  doctoral student who studies with major professor Larry Godfrey
• Rei Scampavia, doctoral candidate in the Edwin Lewis and Neal Williams lab
• Alexander Nguyen, an undergraduate student majoring in entomology who is an undergraduate researcher in the Bruce Hammock lab
• Alternate: Danny Klittich, doctoral student who studies with  Michael Parrella (Klittich is also president of the Entomologiy Graduate Student Association (EGSA)

In the preliminary competition, Klittich served as a team member with Shelomi, Aghaee, and Nguyen.

The Linnaean Games is a lively question-and-answer, college bowl-style competition on entomology-based facts  with four-member teams. Each must be in a degree program (bachelor's, master's or doctorate) or have completed a degree within one year of the contest. 

Each team scores points by correctly answering a question posed by the moderator. There are two types of questions: toss-ups and bonuses, with each question worth 10 points.

One of the questions in the preliminary games: "Edward Knipling developed a new insect control technique.  What was the insect he worked?"
Answer: "Primarily the screwworm fly with the sterile insect technique (SIT)."

Among the other questions asked of the various teams:

Question: What three hexapod orders comprise the "entognatha?"
Answer: Protura, Collembola and Diplura.

Question: Who is the current ESA President?
Answer: Frank Zalom

Question: What is the Arizona state Insect?
Answer: The two-tailed swallowtail butterfly, Papilio multicaudata

Question: Who wrote the poem "To A Louse," which opens with this stanza:
"Ha! whaur ye gaun, ye crowlin ferlie?
Your impudence protects you sairly;
I canna say but ye strunt rarely,
Owre gauze and lace;
Tho', faith! I fear ye dine but sparely
On sic a place."       
Answer: Robert Burns. 

UC Riverside correctly answered the Arizona state insect question in the UCR-WSU championship match.  UCR also answered the entognatha question, although UC Davis knew the answer, too.

The Zalom question was asked during another two teams' match.

The Burns question was a bonus for UC Davis, but the team did not know the answer.

Related Links:
Results of 2013 PBESA Linnaean Games
2013 ESA Competition
2013 ESA Videos

DAVIS--Edwin Lewis, professor and vice chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, will present a seminar on "Saved from the Dumpster: Sustainable Nutrient Management Starts in the Produce Aisle" from 12:10 to 1 p.m., Wednesday, April 9 in 122 Briggs Hall.

"The average grocery store must dispose of more than 600 pounds of meats and produce every day when the products pass their sell-by date," Lewis says. "Where does it go?  Currently, most waste food from groceries ends up in landfills.  This costs grocery stores significantly, and wastes food and energy."

"A start-up company in this area, California Safe Soils LLC, is developing a novel solution to this problem by turning this wasted food into an agricultural product for soil nutrition.  Nutrient management is a serious challenge to agriculture in California.  Coupled with the need for providing the necessary nutrients to grow crops is the increasing concern of nitrate contamination of ground and surface water that comes from agricultural uses.  A new product, called Harvest to Harvest, is in the testing phase as a soil amendment that aids in nutrient management."

"In this seminar, I'll describe the manufacturing of the material, the business plan of the company and the role of agricultural and ecological research in the research and development of this new product."

Of his research, Lewis says on his website: "My research program is wide-ranging in the scope of the questions asked and in the taxa that are studied. There is, however, a common thread to the work that takes place in my laboratory; we seek to understand why and how organisms find, recognize, assess and exploit resources. We ask questions about how insects and nematodes make decisions about resource utilization and what the fitness outcomes of the decisions are. To answer these kinds of questions, we engage in studies of behavior, population ecology, community ecology and evolutionary biology with several groups of insects, nematodes and bacteria. There are also intentional links to more practical pursuits including biological control of crop pests, predicting the impact of crop management on pest and beneficial organisms and restoration ecology. I see no difference between what is traditionally called 'basic' and 'applied' research, thus the links of nearly all of the work in the laboratory to agricultural or environmental concerns is explicit."

Lewis, who joined the UC Davis faculty in 2004, received his doctorate in entomology from Auburn University, Auburn, Ala.; his master's degree in entomology from the University of Missouri, Columbia; and his bachelor's degree in natural resources from Cornell University, Ithaca, NY.

He served as a post-doctoral research associate for the UC Davis Department of Entomology, Rutgers University, from 1991 to 1994; assistant research professor at Rutgers from 1994 to 1995. He joined the Department of Entomology, University of Maryland, in 1995 as a research associate and then served as an assistant professor in the Department of Entomology, Virginia Tech, from 1998 to 2004 before joining the UC Davis faculty. 

A past president of the former UC Davis Department of Nematology, Lewis is active in the Entomological Society of America, Ecological Society of America, Society of Invertebrate Pathology and the Society of Nematologists. His professional service includes editor-in-chief of Biological Control; North American editor of Biopesticides International; and trustee of the Society of Invertebrate Pathology.

Lewis' seminar is the second in a series of spring-quarter seminars hosted by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. All seminars are held on Wednesdays from 12:10 to 1 p.m. in 122 Briggs and are coordinated by assistant professor Brian Johnson.  The seminars are video-recorded for later viewing on UCTV.

See list of spring-quarter seminars.

DAVIS--It's a honey of a gift.

The honey bee garden owned and maintained by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology has received a $15,000 donation from the California State Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

State Regent Debra Jamison of Fresno, as part of her two-year fundraising project to support the troubled bee population, donated the funds to enhance the bee environment in the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, a half-acre bee friendly garden located next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road.

Jamison, the 2012-2014 state regent, presented the check March 28 at a “lunch-with-the-bees” celebration organized by the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Some 125 DAR members, some from as far away as Chico and San Diego, dined beneath a canopy of olive trees bordering the road.

“We appreciate this more than we can say,” said Ed Lewis, professor and vice chair of the department--and whose mother belongs to DAR.

This was DAR's second check presentation in two years  to the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.  In 2013, Jamison presented a check for $30,000 for bee research to assistant professor Brian Johnson.

On behalf of the department, haven manager Christine Casey accepted the $15,000 check from Jamison and Karen Montgomery of Modesto, the state regent's project chair. Casey announced that some of the funds have already been used to purchase two benches, and other projects will include a shade structure in the Growers Grove section and more bee habitat.

Jamison, whose first name means “bee” in Hebrew, says she has had a lifelong “love and respect for bees,” so it was natural when it came time for her, as the state regent, to select a fundraising project, that it would have to do with honey bees.

Jamison adopted the motto, “Bees are at the heart of our existence” and vowed to support honey bee research and enhance honey bee environments to help the beleaguered bees.

Honey bees prefaced the American Revolutionary War (1765-1783) by 143 years. European colonists brought the honey bee to Jamestown colony, Virginia, in 1622. Descendants of the American Revolutionary War formed DAR in  1890. 

“When the state regent's project was conceived, I never imagined that honey bees would be in the serious state they are in,” Jamison told the luncheon crowd. “I could not have imagined that this amazing insect would make the cover of Time magazine, or that the California DAR would be involved in trying to do something to help the most vital insect in the animal kingdom.”

“Our 114 chapters and 15 districts have worked diligently to educate members, children, and the public about the plight of bees,” Jamison said. “This outreach has been truly outstanding. Add to that the phenomenal fundraising efforts. I truly thought that when I brought this project before the members that they might think, ‘Eeeeeuuuu, creepy insect, and weird state regent.'

Jamison singled out several DAR members for special recognition. She praised Karen Montgomery, state chair of the project and member of the Major Hugh Moss Chapter, Modesto, and committee members Susan Montgomery of the Major Hugh Moss Chapter; and Diane Groome, Carol Vercellino and Sharon Paukkert, all  of the José Maria Amador Chapter, Pleasanton. “Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart, for all of your work to raise funds for this project,” Jamison said

Jamison presented certificates of appreciation to Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen and communication specialist Kathy Keatley Garvey of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology for their work in helping DAR with the two-year project.

“Kathy is the first live body I talked to about a possible project at UC Davis,” Jamison said. “She was immediately excited and hooked me up with the resident researcher here at the time. Our members know that Kathy is an accomplished micro-photographer, and they have seen many of Kathy's photos because she has been so open to sharing them with our organization. We also thank her for publicizing the first phase of this project. Our members were so excited to read all about it on the internet!”

Next, she paid tribute to Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen, a member of the faculty since 1976. “Dr. Mussen, there is no way we could have put this project together without you and all of the information you provided,” she told him. “Your willingness to meet with me, and to give a tour of the lab and Honey Bee Haven was so appreciated and so kind of you. Thank you for answering all of my questions and emails over the last two years.”

“A little bee at the Central Valley Beekeepers Association--of which I am now a member-- told me you would be retiring this summer. My best wishes for a happy retirement and more personal time to spend with your bees!”

Jamison thanked Martha Ozonoff and her staff from the UC Davis development office; professor and chair Michael Parrella and his staff from the Department of Entomology and Nematology; and Carrie Cloud and Chris Akins of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences—and “everything all of you have done to ensure that this very meaningful project was a success.”

"Bee Patriotic” rally towels decorated each table. Last year Jamison's rally towels were lettered with “Bee-lieve in the Power of DAR."

All those attending the March 28th luncheon received a “I Beelong to DAR” recyclable grocery bag.

The crowd toured the haven, which was installed in the fall of 2009, and ended the day with bee presentations in the Laidlaw facility conference room.

Mussen talked about the life cycle of bees and the issues bees face: malnutrition, pesticides, pests, parasites, diseases and stress. Malnutrition, Mussen said, is a bigger problem now than colony collapse disorder (CCD), a mysterious malady characterized by adult bees abandoning the hive.  An active colony of honey bees requires an acre-equivalent of mixed blooms, daily, to meet their nutritional needs.

Mussen urged the DAR members to plant for bees, especially plants that normally bloom in late summer and fall, or delay plantings so that they result in late summer/fall blossoms.  Good plant lists, he said, can be found on the UC Davis Entomology and Nematology's bee biology website, http://beebiology.ucdavis.edu/, or on the Xerces website, http://www.xerces.org/, under “Pollinator Conservation Resource Center.”

Mussen also warned that simply because certain pesticides are labeled for use in organic gardening does not mean that they are less dangerous for non-target insects, particularly pollinators.  Also, insecticides that are watered into the soil and move from the roots, systemically throughout the plants, are secreted in the nectar and pollens when the treated plants bloom. 

“We are just studying certain mixes of fungicides, insect growth regulators, and newer adjuvants that can cause serious damage to honey bee brood, even though that information is not on the labels,” Mussen said.

Johnson thanked DAR for the generous donation of $30,000 that he received last year. He said the financial support will cover a two-year period of graduate student research. His graduate student, Gerard Smith, researches the effect of pesticide exposure in the field on honey bee foraging behavior, and graduate student Cameron Jasper studies the genetic basis of division of labor in honey bees.