- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The seminar is set from 6 to 7 p.m. in Memorial Union II. A reception from 5 to 6 p.m. will precede the seminar.
Haynes' Leigh seminar is titled "Life Undercover: Behavioral Characteristics of a Stealthy Blood Feeder." Michael Parrella, professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, is the host.
"The recent world-wide resurgence of the bed bugs has prompted my laboratory group to investigate unique aspects of their behavior," Haynes said. "Bed bugs are well adapted to stealthy habits that often lead the host to be unaware of an expanding population. Their activity pattern is governed by a circadian clock that dictates that they primarily feed late at night. Carbon dioxide plays a role in stimulating movement, with heat and perhaps other semiochemicals playing a role in attraction. The early instars are not as effective in finding hosts as the later stages or adults. Signals produced by mature females facilitate host-finding by the first instars, suggesting a parental role. Re-aggregation in cracks and crevices around the bed following foraging bouts is in part mediated by pheromones. The nature of the behavioral responses to host and habitat cues provide leads to pest management."
Haynes, the Bobby C. Pass Professor of Entomology at the University of Kentucky, joined the faculty in 1986. He received his doctorate in entomology at UC Davis in 1982, working with Professor Martin C. Birch, now deceased. Haynes went on to conduct postdoctoral research at UC Riverside, working with Professor Thomas C. Baker.
Haynes has a broad interest in behavioral aspects of chemical ecology. "I have been excited to have the opportunity to study diverse taxa including moths, beetles, bed bugs and bolas spiders," he said. Haynes taught insect biology, insect behavior and graduate seminars in behavior and chemical ecology. He authored a book on “Insect Pheromones” with Martin C. Birch, edited two volumes on “Methods in Chemical Ecology” with Professor Jocelyn G. Millar, and has published more than 100 scientific papers and reviews.
Haynes is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He received the C. V. Riley Award from the North Central Branch of the Entomological Society of America, and research recognitions from the University of Kentucky.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The UC Davis team, captained by Matan Shelomi and coached by Extension research entomologist Larry Godfrey of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, won a very close game, 50 to 20.
Team members are four doctoral candidates Shelomi, Rei Scampavia, Jenny Carlson and Danica Maxwell. Shelomi studies with major professor Lynn Kimsey; Scampavia with major professors Edwin Lewis and Neal Williams; Carlson with major professors Anthony Cornel and Greg Lanzaro; and Maxwell with major professors Michael Parrella and Edwin Lewis.
“All 50 points were won by Rei, our MVP--most valuable player--for the day,” Shelomi said.
The rounds continue on Tuesday, Nov. 12. (See schedule)
The Linnaean Games are college bowl-style games based on entomological facts and insect trivia.
Shelomi and Carlson represented UC Davis last year at the nationals. Others on last year’s team were doctoral candidates Kelly Hamby, studying major professor Frank Zalom; and Kelly Liebman, studying with major professor Tom Scott.
Some of the sample questions the UC Davis team answered correctly Sunday:
Question:
“According to the recent American Entomologist, two popular insects whose numbers are decline are the boney bee and what?”
Answer:
Monarch butterfly.
Question:
“In a 2011 paper a new species of Halictidae, Lasioglossum gotham, was described. From what city was it discovered and what is its proposed common name?”
Answers:
New York City and the Gotham Bee
Question:
“What is the name of the society devoted solely to the conservation of endangered invertebrates?”
Answer:
The Xerces Society
Question:
“What are the two families of truly eusocial bees?”
Answers: Apidae and Halictidae
The UC Davis Linnaean Team won the right to compete in this year's ESA competition after winning second place at the Linnaean Games hosted by the Pacific Branch of ESA (PBESA). First-place honors went to UC Riverside team. The UC Davis team that placed in the PBESA included Shelomi and Scampavia; Mohammad-Amir Aghaee, who studies with Larry Godfrey; and Alexander Nguyen, an undergraduate entomology major student who volunteers at the Bohart Museum of Entomology.
The UC Davis team has won either first or second place in the PBESA Linnaean Games since 2010. They won the regional championship in 2012 and 2011, and second in 2010.
In last year’s national finals, held in Knoxville, Tenn., UC Davis lost to the University of Wisconsin, which went on to compete in the finals. The University of Georgia took home the trophy.
The Linnaean Games are named for Swedish-born Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778), a renowned taxonomist, ecologist and botanist.
Links:
Rules of Linnaean Games
Watch video of 2012 Championship Linnaean Games, Knoxville, Tenn.
You Tube Video Announcing 2013 competition
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Matan Shelomi, who is studying for his doctorate in entomology with major professor Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology, captains the 2013 UC Davis Linnaean Team. Others on the team are Mohammad-Amir Aghaee, doctoral student of research entomologist Larry Godfrey; Rei Scampavia, doctoral student who studies with major professors Edwin Lewis and Neal Williams; and Danica Maxwell, who is studying for her master's degree with major professors Michael Parrella, chair of the Department of Entomology, and Edwin Lewis, vice chair. Larry Godfrey serves as the coach.
Linnaean Games are college bowl-style games based on entomological facts and insect trivia. Team members respond to the moderator's questions by buzzing in with the answers. The preliminary rounds conclude with the finals, set for Tuesday, Nov. 12 from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
The UC Davis Debate team is captained by Aghaee and coached by Parrella. Team members are Shelomi, Danny Klittich, doctoral student of Parrella; and Irina Shapiro, a doctoral student of Lewis. The UC Davis debaters have been assigned the "con" side of the debate, "Using GMOs to Increase Food-Security in Regions Where the Technoogy is Not Universally Accpeted." They will be facing Auburn University, Alabama, which has been assigned the "pro" side. The event takes place at 3:49 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 12.
The UC Davis Linnaean Team won the right to compete in the ESA competition after winning second place at the Linnaean Games hosted by the Pacific Branch of ESA (PBESA). First-place honors went to UC Riverside team. The UC Davis team that placed in the PBESA included Shelomi, Aghaee, Scampavia, and Alexander Nguyen, an undergraduate entomology major student who volunteers at the Bohart Museum of Entomology. Shelomi and Aghaee are veteran competitors in the Linnaean Games.
The UC Davis team has won either first or second place in the PBESA Linnaean Games since 2010. They won the regional championship in 2012 and 2011, and second in 2010.
In last year’s national finals, held in Knoxville, Tenn., UC Davis lost to the University of Wisconsin, which went on to compete in the finals. The University of Georgia took home the trophy.
The Linnaean Games are named for Swedish-born Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778) a renowned taxonomist, ecologist and botanist.
Also at the ESA meeting, Shelomi will be honored as the recipient of the John Henry Comstock Award from the Pacific Branch of ESA.
Links:
Rules of Linnaean Games
Watch video of 2012 Championship Linnaean Games, Knoxville, Tenn.
You Tube Video Announcing 2013 competition
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The lecture, "Anthropogenic Forces Drive the Breakdown of Reproductive Isolation between Incipient Species of the African Malaria Mosquito," is from 12:10 to 1 p.m. in Room 122 of Briggs Hall. Plans are to record the lecture for later viewing on UCTV.
Lanzaro, who researches malaria vectors in Africa and Brazil says his area interest is in medical entomology with a focus on the genetics of vectors of human disease. He initiated his current work on the population genetics of malaria vectors in Africa in 1991 when he joined the Laboratory of Malaria Research at the National Institutes of Health and continues this work through today.
"A considerable part of our research program involves field work," he said. "Over the years we have worked in seven countries spanning sub-Saharan Africa." His Africa work is organized into three major research areas: (1) Genetics of complex behavioral phenotypes, host preference and adult resting behavior (2) Mutations in immune signaling pathway genes and mosquito susceptibility to malaria infection and (3) Speciation in anopheline mosquitoes.
"Just this year we have initiated a new research program focused on the genetics malaria vectors in Brazil," Lanzaro related. The Brazilian government supports the program, known as Brazil Science without Borders. The focus is on the population genetics and genomics of the mosquito Anoheles darlingi, the principal vector of malaria in Brazil.
The abstract of his talk on Nov. 13: "The M and S forms of Anopheles gambiae have been the subject of intense study by both malaria researchers and evolutionary biologists.The focus has centered on evaluating models of the evolution and maintenance of genetic divergence between the two forms in relation to speciation. The two forms occur in sympatry throughout west and central Africa. Hybrids are rarely found in nature and studies of reproductive isolation confirmed strong assortative mating with inter-form matings estimated at a frequency of ~1%. Progeny of laboratory crosses and backcrosses show no signs of reduced fitness, however, it is widely held that, in nature, some degree of ecologically dependent postzygotic isolation, in addition to assortative mating, contributes to divergence between the two forms. Comparative genomics studies have revealed divergence occurs at three discrete islands in genomes that are otherwise nearly identical. Two opposing models aimed at describing the evolution of M and S have been formulated. An 'islands of speciation' model proposes that diverged regions contain “speciation genes” that are maintained by selection in the face of gene flow. An alternative 'incidental island' model maintains that gene flow between M and S is effectively zero and that divergence islands are unrelated to speciation. A 'Divergence Island SNP' (DIS) assay was developed and used to explore the spatial and temporal distributions of hybrid genotypes. Results revealed that hybrid individuals occur at frequencies ranging between 5-97% in every population examined. A temporal analysis of DIS genotype frequencies spanning 20 years was conducted at a single site. This study revealed that assortative mating is unstable and periodically breaks down resulting in extensive hybridization. Results suggest that hybrids suffer a fitness disadvantage, but at least some hybrid genotypes are viable. Stable introgression of the 2L speciation island occurred at this site following a hybridization event. We present data suggesting that strong selection on a single gene within the 2L island is driving M/S introgression and that man-made changes to the environment is the source of this selection."
Lanzaro joined PMI in July 2006. He served as the director of the Center for Vectorborne Diseaes, UC Davis, from January 2006 through June 2007, and directed the UC Mosquito Research Program, headquartered in the UC Davis Department of Entomology, from June 2002 to 2008.
Prior his appointment at UC Davis, Lanzaro served on the faculty of Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, from August 1995 through May 2002, advancing from assistant and associate to full professor.
Lanzaro received his bachelor of science degree in biology/secondary education from Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas in 1972; his master's degree in entomology in 1978 from the Univeristy of Arizona, Tucson, and his doctorate in engomology in 1986 from the University of Florida.
The medical entomologist did post-doctoral work at three universities: from 1986 to 1988 in the Department of Entomology, Mississippi State University; from 1986 to 1988 in the Department of Entomology, Missisippi State University; and from 1988 to 1991 in the UC Davis Department of Entomology. He was a MacArthur Fellow in the Laboratory of Malaria Research, National Institutes of Health.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Profile
Orchard Alley at the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven is getting a much-needed pruning.
Professional tree pruner Andrew "Andy" Ross, staff research associate for nematology and the safety coordinator for the Department of Plant Pathology and the nematology portion of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, began pruning the almond, plum and apple trees this morning (Nov. 1).
Ross joined the UC Davis workforce in January in 2005 after managing a citrus/avocado/olive ranch in Porterville for 20 years.
“I started pruning trees right out of high school, working in a private redwood grove in 1986,” he said.
Ross received his bachelor's degree in biological sciences from UC Davis in 2007, with a minor in chemistry.
As the lab manager for nematologist Ed Lewis, professor and vice chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, Ross guides the nematology lab members, including graduate and undergraduate students and technicians.
Before becoming manager of the Porterville ranch, Ross planted trees from December through May of 1987 in the Deep South for a private company, Evergreen Forestry Services, based in Sandpoint, Idaho.
He and his wife, Monica Ross, executive assistant to Jay Speck, Superintendent of Solano County Schools, are working on renovating their 1936 home in Dixon. They have two daughters, who both received college degrees in sociology. The Rosses are also grandparents: a three-year-old and a three-month-old.
The Department of Entomology and Nematology is planning a volunteer work day on Saturday, Nov. 2, organized by haven coordinator Christine Casey and chief administrative officer Janet Brown-Simmons. Sign up on Doodle at http://doodle.com/txnz3vg293vznvyh, or contact Casey at cacasey@ucdavis.edu or Simmons at jbs@ucdavis.edu for more information.
The haven is located on Bee Biology Road, next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility,west of the central campus.
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What to Bring
Thanks to everyone who has volunteered for tomorrow's work day at the Honey Bee Haven garden. A few last minute reminders….
- Please bring gloves, hats, and sunscreen. We have a few pairs of gloves to loan if you do not have your own. Also, please wear closed-toe shoes and avoid using heavily scented personal care products.
- We could use extra pruning shears, so again if you have your own please bring them.
- We will provide food and drinks. For the morning crew, I will have coffee at the garden by 7:30.
- If you've never been to the garden, we are located just east of the Laidlaw research facility on Bee Biology Road: http://campusmap.ucdavis.edu/?b=77
- Please plan on arriving five minutes prior to the start of your shift. We'll review your work assignments, do a brief training for those less-experienced gardeners and then pair you with someone with more experience if possible.
Chris Casey, cacasey@ucdavis.edu
Manager,
Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven
