How do arthropods see?

Professor and ophthalmologist Ivan Schwab, UC Davis Health System, will explore that topic when he discusses “Vision from Trilobites to Trichogammatids: How the Arthropods See” at the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology seminar on Wednesday, Oct. 23 in 122 Briggs Hall, UC Davis campus. 

Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and professor of entomology, will be the host.

“The first eye is known from a trilobite of approximately 540 million years ago at the beginning of the Cambrian explosion,” Schwab said. “Trilobites are long extinct arthropods but the phylum Arthropoda includes four other branches that are alive and well. All branches have at least some animals with eyes, and these eyes are sensory masterpieces for their respective niche requirements. From the trilobites to the fairy wasps, we can tell the story of how fantastic evolutionary development has forged the sensory visual elements necessary for survival.”

Schwab directs the Cornea and External Disease Service and serves as the medical advisor of the eye bank, as well as professor of ophthalmology in the Department of Ophthalmology and Vision Science.  

A former director on the American Board of Ophthalmology, he now serves on several editorial boards for ophthalmology journals, Cornea (associate editor), Ophthalmology,  British Journal of Ophthalmology, and the PanAmerican Journal of Ophthalmology.

Schwab is active in the American Academy of Ophthalmology, chairing committees on education and alternative medications.  His publications of more than 240 peer-reviewed papers, 35 chapters, many white papers, and abstracts include work on bioengineered tissues and ocular surface rehabilitation as well as infectious ocular diseases. 

Schwab has authored five books. including one on diseases of the eye and skin, and Evolution’s Witness: How Eyes Evolved, a highly acclaimed text published in November 2011. He describes the eye as "evolution's greatest gift and its greatest triumph."

The UC Davis ophalmologist writes a blog, Evolution’s Eyewitness. “Life first emerged approximately 3.75 billion years ago from the swirling broth of the prebiotic soup,” he wrote, in prefacing and explaining his blog. “The process leading to its appearance is only partially understood, but has several possibilities. The harsh conditions on earth at the time would have permitted only an organism capable of withstanding such bleak surroundings.  It would have been very different from any alive today. Survival of any life form in that environment would have required analysis and interaction with its birthplace habitat, skills that would require sensory abilities.  Such sensory understanding would have been essential for, and crucial to, life’s evolution.”

“Sight is but one member of a family of sensory abilities, yet for most creatures it is a dominant and pivotal one,” Schwab wrote on his blog. “But sight is probably not the first sense acquired by those early cells, nor were the necessary components of vision secured for the purpose of sight.  As often occurs, evolution co-opted various molecules that were assembled for other purposes. These changes and biochemical redirection leave traces suggesting the path of early photoreception."

Schwab, in his blog about jumping spiders and their "magnificent eyes,"  described them as "positively charming creatures, and you will know that to be true if you have ever watched one closely.  These are common spiders and range from approximately 3 to 17 mm in length and will watch you closely as you approach them.  They have four pairs of eyes, with the large anterior median (AM) set the most obvious/ These circular eyes provide an ‘attentive child’ appearance because they are fixed and are relatively large based on body size, but are tiny on an absolute scale.  These placid eyes belie the organized complexity and evolutionary genius that lies beneath the carapace.”

Schwab received his medical degree from West Virginia University School of Medicine, Morgantown, in 1973. He completed his internship at Santa Clara Valley Medical Center, San Jose, in 1974 and his residency at the California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco, in 1980.

(Editor's Note; See list of upcoming seminars hosted by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. All are held Wednesday noon in 122 Briggs Hall.)

UC Davis entomologist Fran Keller thinks everyone ought to appreciate beetles.

Now, students who enroll in UC Davis biological sciences classes can come face to face with one of them every day.

Keller’s photo of a darkling beetle, Stenomorpha lecontei, graces the cover of the UC Davis edition of Life: The Science of Biology, by David Sadava, David Hillis, H. Craig Heller and May Berenbaum.

Keller captured the image of the beetle laying eggs in a vernal pool at the Carizzo Plain National Monument, San Luis Obispo County, Calif., while it was also eating pygmy weed, Crassula aquatic.  

The book, published by Freeman Custom Publishing, New York City, and Sinauer Associates, Inc., Sunderland, Mass. is customized for use by UC Davis instructors.

"Beetles are awe inspiring because they are so different,” said Keller,  who is completing her requirements this year for a doctorate in entomology this year. She studies with major professor Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and professor of entomology.

“As a human, I and the 7 billion people on the planet are only one species, Homo sapiens," Keller said. "But the insect Order Coleoptera, or beetles, has more than 360,000 species. “Beetles have the greatest diversity of all the insects. Butterflies are big and showy, but beetles can be. too. On a ladybug, which is really a beetle and not a bug, those red and black spotted front wings are called elytra. Beetle elytra are not used for flying so beetles actually fly with one pair of wings. But those elytra help protect them because they can be very tough and sometimes incredibly flashy to warn off predators.”

Keller  said that “If you can think of an ecological  niche there is probably a beetle there taking advantage of the resources. Believe it or not, there is a beetle that is a parasite and lives in the butt of a beaver. Beetles are truly amazing and although I am partial to the flightless, black tenebrionids, I do collect and appreciate the beauty of all beetles. Okay, maybe I don't collect the beaver butt parasite beetle but wow, who would have thought beetles would be there!”

Keller, who noted that Darwin was an avid beetle collector and enthusiast, acknowledged that she has many "favorite groups of beetles," but "one of my favorites has to be the jewel beetles. Most of them are pests but they are very stunning, hence the name jewel beetle. There are so many different types of beetles that we know of or that have been described but there are still so many that await discovery."

Keller is a researcher, college instructor, mentor, artist, photographer, and author. She recently authored a 35-page children’s book, “The Story of the Dogface Butterfly,” available in the the Bohart Museum gift shop and online at http://www.bohartmuseum.com/the-story-of-the-dogface-butterfly.html

The book, being used in kindergarten through sixth-grade classrooms, and in private and public collections throughout the country, tells the untold story of the California dogface butterfly (Zerene eurydice), and how a classroom successfully mounted a campaign to name it the California state insect. Illustrations by artist Laine Bauer, a UC Davis graduate, and photographs by naturalist Greg Kareofelas, a Bohart Museum volunteer, depict the life cycle of this butterfly and show the host plant, false indigo (Amorpha californica).

Net proceeds from the sale of this book are earmarked for the education, outreach and research programs at the Bohart Museum, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge building, Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus.

Barbara Allen-Diaz, a top administrator in the University of California, has vowed to create a big buzz — a big buzz with bees — if she can raise $2500 by Oct. 31 for UC’s “Promise for Education” campaign, aimed at providing scholarships for UC students in need of financial help.

Allen-Diaz, vice president for UC Agriculture and Natural Resources (UC ANR), has agreed to participate in a stunt with thousands of buzzing honey bees clustered on either a UC ANR T-shirt or on a UC ANR banner in a project coordinated by the world-renowned bee wrangler Norm Gary, UC Davis emeritus professor of entomology.

Allen-Diaz holds several other titles: director of the Agricultural Experiment Station, director of Cooperative Extension, and professor and Russell Rustici Chair in Rangeland Management at UC Berkeley. But next spring, she will become “The Bee Lady” or “The Bee-liever,” surrounded by thousands of buzzing honey bees.

And, if the UC ANR administrator raises $5,000, she’s promised to eat insect larvae to promote awareness of alternative protein sources. (To donate, see http://promises.promiseforeducation.org/fundraise?fcid=269819)

Allen-Diaz has never intentionally been near a cluster of bees. “I have to say that most of the bee interactions that I’ve had in the past have been stepping on them barefoot on the lawn as a child in Edmonds, Wash.; jumping off a rock wall into a bee hive as a child – 11 stings on my neck and face; and trying to control meat-eating wasps (protecting her families’ hands, faces and legs) at our Oregon home,” she said.

“That said, I am a true believer in the importance of honey bees and the importance of bees as pollinators in our agricultural and wild ecosystems,” she said. “The health of agriculture and the health of the planet depend on the health and survival of our honey bees. I am very much looking forward to meeting Norm Gary and will participate with fascination as he ‘wrangles’ these bees. I hope they like me as much as Norm! And I hope that I am able to raise some dollars to support undergraduate education at UC.

Norm Gary said he will set up the project sometime in the spring, when the weather warms and the bees begin their annual population build-up.

Gary, who turns 80 in November, retired in 1994 from UC Davis after a 32-year academic career. He also retired this year as a bee wrangler and as a 66-year beekeeper, but “I’m coming out of retirement to help with this cause,” he said.

“Bees are not inclined to sting if they are well-fed, happy and content and are ‘under the influence’ of powerful synthetic queen bee odors — pheromones — which tend to pacify them,” Gary said.

While at UC Davis, he formulated a pheromone solution that is very effective in controlling bee behavior. Bees, attracted to pheromones, cluster on the drops of pheromones, whether it be a sign, a t-shirt or a plastic flower.

“Bees wrangled by this procedure have no inclination to sting,” he said. “Stinging behavior occurs naturally near the hive in defense of the entire colony not for the defense of the individual bee, because bees that sting die within hours.  Using this approach I have had as many as a million bees clustered on six people simultaneously.”

“Most people fear bees,” Gary acknowledged. “They think bees ‘want’ to sting them. Wrong!  They sting only when the nest or colony is attacked or disturbed or when they are trapped in a physical situation where they are crushed.”

Over the last four decades, Gary has trained bees to perform action scenes in movies, television shows and commercials. Among his credits are 18 films, including “Fried Green Tomatoes.” “My Girl,” “The X Files,” “Terror Out of the Sky,” “Invasion of the Bee Girls” and “Candyman” and the sequels. He appeared on more than 70 television shows, including the Johnny Carson and Jay Leno late night shows. He starred as the first guest on the TV show “That’s Incredible” and returned for four additional shows.

Gary holds a Guinness Book of World Records for most bees (109) in his mouth; he trained the bees to fly into his mouth to collect food from a small sponge saturated with his patented artificial nectar.  He kept the bees inside his closed mouth for 10 seconds.

The retired bee scientist is the author of the popular book, “Honey Bee Hobbyist: The Care and Keeping of Bees,” now in its second printing. During his academic career, he published more 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers and four book chapters.

Gary, who received his doctorate in apiculture from Cornell University in 1959, is known internationally for his bee research. He was the first to document reproductive behavior of honey bees on film and the first to discover queen bee sex attractant pheromones. He invented a magnetic retrieval capture/recapture system for studying the foraging activities of bees, documenting the distribution and flight range in the field. His other studies revolved around honey bee pollination of agricultural crops, stinging and defensive behavior, and the effects of pesticides on foraging activities, among dozens of others.

A professional jazz and Dixieland musician, Gary is also known for playing the “B-Flat clarinet” while covered from head to toe with bees. He continues to play professionally in the Sacramento area—minus the bees.

“I’m looking forward to the big buzz next spring,” he said. “I promise it will be un-bee-lievable.”

Related links:

Norman Gary website

Barbara Allen-Diaz' Promise

Biography of Barbara Allen Diaz

UC Promise for Education: What It's About

 

Ecologist Sandra Gillespie, a postdoctoral researcher in the Neal Williams lab, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, will speak on “Parasites and Pesticides: Indirect Effects on Pollination Service” at the next departmental-sponsored seminar, to be held from 12:10 to 1 p.m.,Wednesday, Oct. 16 in 122 Briggs Hall.

It will be recorded for later posting on UCTV.

“Whether in natural or agro-ecosystems, researchers are increasingly viewing positive interactions such as pollination in a broader context rather than as isolated pair-wise interactions,” Gillespie says. “In natural ecosystems, my research has explored how incidence of parasites and diseases of native bumble bees may affect pollination of plants in old-field meadows in Massachusetts. High incidence of certain parasites reduced pollination of bumble bee-dependent wild plants, suggesting that parasitism may impact pollination service to native plants and crops.”

“In a more applied context, I examined the effects of field management decisions, including pesticide use and irrigation practices, on pollination service in onion seed production in California. High insecticide use, even pre-bloom, as well as reduced irrigation negatively impact pollinator visitation in this crop, highlighting the importance of considering the indirect effects of management on the pollination process in agro-ecosystems.”

Gillespie, a postdoctoral researcher at UC Davis since 2011, received her bachelor’s degree in biology from Simon Fraser University, Canada. Her doctorate, from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, was a joint degree in organismic and evolutionary biology, and entomology.  Her doctoral dissertation, with major professor Lynn Adler, “sought to understand whether mutualisms can mediate trophic cascades, and whether the occurrence and strength of such cascades is affected by the interdependence between mutualists. I examined the context and mechanisms by which parasitoids and parasites of bumble bees can have indirect effects on pollination service to plants using a range of approaches, including field surveys, laboratory manipulations and theoretical modeling.”

As a postdoc in the Williams lab, she is applying these techniques to examine the mechanisms behind yield declines in hybrid onion seed production in California, with the goal of developing sustainable recommendations for producers.

Gillespie and Adler co-authored “Mutualisms in Trophic Cascades: Parasitism of Bumble Bees and Pollination Service to Plants,” pending publication in Ecology.

Her research on “Factors Affecting Parasite Prevalence among Wild Bumble Bees,” was published in Ecology Entomology, 2010.  She has also published her work in the American Journal of Botany  (“Variation in the Timing of Autonomous Selfing among Populations that Differ in Flower Size, Time to Reproductive Maturity, and Climate,” 2010) and Annals of the Entomological Society of America (“Laboratory Rearing of North American Tiger Beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae: Cicindelinae,” 2011).

Pending publication in the Journal of Economic Entomology: “Insecticide Use in Hybrid Onion Seed Production Affects Pre- and Post-Pollination Processes,” by Gillespie, Neal Williams, Rachael Long and Nicola Seitz.

A recipient of several nationally competitive and specialty grants, Gillespie received a National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grant in 2008, and a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Post-Graduate Award in 2007. The California Garlic and Onion Growers’ Association awarded her a research grant in 2011.

Gillespie presented a seminar on “Indirect Effects of Insecticides on Pollination in Hybrid Onion Seed Production” at the 2012 meeting of the Pacific Branch of the Entomological Society of America. In 2009, her graduate student presentation on “Factors Affecting Parasitism in Bumble Bees” at the annual meeting of the Entomological Society of Canada and the Entomological Society of Manitoba won her the President’s Prize award for the best student talk.