- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Another book, pending publication in December, also will contain their work: the second edition of Pheromones and Animal Behaviour (Cambridge University) by Tristram Wyatt.
Saul-Gershenz, a PhD candidate in the Neal Williams lab, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and UC Riverside professor Jocelyn Millar and staff research associate Steven McElfresh study a group of solitary ground-nesting bees, in the genus Habropoda and its nest parasite, a blister beetle, Meloe franciscanus.
They are examining the host range of Meloe blister beetles and how these nest parasites cooperate to mimic the sex pheromone bees. The larvae of the parasitic blister beetle produce a chemical signal or a pheromone similar to that of the female solitary bee to lure males to the larval aggregation, said Saul-Gershenz. The larvae attach to the male bee and then transfer to the female during mating. The end result: the larvae wind up in the nest of a female bee, where they eat the nest provisions and likely the host egg.
- Keeping the Bees: Why All Bees Are at Risk and What We Can Do to Save Them by Laurence Packer and published in 2011 by HarperCollins Publishers, Ltd.
- Cuticular Hydrocarbons: Biology, Biochemistry and Chemical Ecology by editors A. Bagnères-Urbany and G. Bloomquist and published in 2010 by Cambridge University Press.
- The Other Insect Societies by James T. Costa, and published in 2006 by the Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Saul-Gershenz is the lead author of “Blister Beetle Nest Parasites Cooperate to Mimic the Sex Pheromone of the Solitary Bee Habropoda pallida (Hymenoptera: Apidae)," peer-reviewed research co-authored by Millar and McElfresh and published in the April 2012 edition of the Mojave National Preserve Science News.
The solitary bee is the first native bee to emerge in the spring on the Kelso Dunes in the Mojave National Preserve, she said. The adult beetles emerge on the dunes in the winter months at Kelso Dunes and feed exclusively on the leaves of Astragalus lentiginosus, which leafs out in January.
The bee's emergence is synchronized with the onset of blooms of the Borrego milkvetch, which is the sole host plant of adults of the blister beetle at Kelso Dunes.
“The Mojave Desert ecosystem supports 689 species of bees, which is the highest bee diversity in North America,” the UC Davis scientist said. The wide variety of insects endemic, or known only to that area, include a fly, scarabs, crickets, weevils, a bee, aphid wasp and scores yet to be described.
Saul-Gershenz, Williams and Millar received several grants including one from the Desert Legacy Fund, California Desert Research Program at The Community Foundation to study digger bee ecology and conservation. They're working with SaveNature.Org, which Saul-Gershenz co-founded. The relationship between the bee and the blister beetle is part of the research.
Related links:
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
DAVIS--The UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences will present seven Awards of Distinction at its 25th annual College Celebration on Friday night, Oct. 11 in Freeborn Hall. The event begins at 5:30 with the Award of Distinction ceremony, followed by a reception and farmers’ market from 6:30 to 8.
Among those honored will be Janet Brown-Simmons, chief administrative officer for five departments, including the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology; and UC Davis entomology alumnus Will Crites.
The event is held each year at harvest time to celebrate the advancement and accomplishments of our college and its impact on agriculture and the environment, according to the CA&ES website. “The Award of Distinction is the highest recognition presented by the college to individuals whose contributions and achievements enrich the image and reputation of the college and enhance its ability to provide public service.”
Recipients:
- Alumni awardees: Will Crites and Glenda Humiston
- Friend: Robert Curtis
- Staff: Janet Brown-Simmons
- Faculty: Kathryn Dewey
College Leaders awardees: Neal Van Alfen and James MacDonald
The deadline to make reservations is Friday, Oct. 4. See online registration. Checks are payble to the UC Regents. For more information, please contact Carrie Cloud at (530) 204-7500 or crcloud@ucdavis.edu.
From the CA&ES Website:
Will Crites
Crites earned two degrees in entomology at UC Davis—a bachelor’s in 1958 and a master’s in 1961. After graduation and a five-month tour of Europe on a motorcycle, he went to work with Shell Chemical Company’s agricultural chemical group. His career took him to New Jersey, San Francisco, Portland, Fresno, and eventually to Walnut Creek. He cites his work with the careful introduction of Shell-marketed pyrethroid insecticides as a major accomplishment. He remains active today as an industry consultant.
Crites stays close to campus colleagues through ongoing reunions with UC Davis entomologists and the CALPHA Fraternity (Agricultural Fraternity California), which became Phi Delta Theta. He has twice helped bring entomology graduates from the 1950s through the 1970s back to UC Davis for reunions. He has been instrumental in a CALPHA fraternity reunion and is working on another reunion for the fraternity in 2014.
He is a charter member of the UC Davis Chancellor’s Club and has pledged support for an endowed chair in economic entomology. He also contributes to Doctors Without Borders, Meals on Wheels, the Salvation Army, the Boy Scouts of America, and several organizations searching for a cure for leukemia.
Crites says his major professor was one of the greatest influences in his life. “I attribute much of the success I’ve had in industry to the education I received at the university and especially as the result of mentoring by my dear friend and major professor, the late Dr. W. Harry ‘Doc’ Lange.”
“Will Crites has been an ambassador of goodwill for our department for many years. His passion and commitment is extraordinary. Reunions do not take place by themselves—you need a dedicated alumnus as the primary organizer and Will has been that for us.”
— Professor Michael Parrella, chair, Department of Entomology and Nematology
Janet Brown-Simmons
She joined CA&ES in 2000 as the management services officer in the Department of Entomology (now the Department of Entomology and Nematology). Her skill at bringing effective change to departmental operations helped resolve issues within the shared administrative units for the departments of Plant Pathology and Nematology—all while continuing to serve as the management services officer for the entomology department. The spirit of cooperation and the resulting administrative efficiencies enabled the department chairs and their faculty to focus on strategic planning, programmatic issues, and other academic initiatives.
Brown-Simmons also has taken on the additional role of chief administrative officer for the “Metro” cluster, which provides staff support for the departments of Environmental Toxicology; Land, Air and Water Resources; and Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology. Faculty colleagues describe her as energetic and creative in her efforts to foster team spirit and a shared commitment to the academic mission.
She holds high performance standards for employees, encourages the acquisition of new skills for career development, and is sensitive to work-life balance issues. A strong advocate for the staff, Brown-Simmons has a reputation for using humor to diffuse tensions when conflicts arise.
She served as interim management services officer for the Food Stamp Nutrition Education Program, assumed management responsibilities for Foundation Plant Services, and conducted administrative reviews of many other CA&ES departments. “I wanted to give back to the CA&ES staff, faculty, and chairs partnering with me through the years,” Brown-Simmons said. “The results of this synergy have been incredibly rewarding to me personally—knowing I have made a difference in some small way.”
“Janet has succeeded in creating a positive environment for our staff. This enhances their sense of job satisfaction and their performance. As a consequence, the full department enjoys the benefits of a capable and enthusiastic support team.”
— Professor Thomas Gordon and Professor Richard Bostock, current and past chair, Department of Plant Pathology
Check out some photos from last year's College Celebration! (CA&ES)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Newmark, a colonel in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, will be hosted by researcher Bora Inceoglu of the Bruce Hammock lab, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. The lecture is part of the UC Davis CounterACT Center Seminars for Excellence, Pharmacology Training Grant and Department of Pharmacology (website and list of speakers pending).
According to an entry in Wikipedia:
"Sarin, or GB, is an organophosphorus compound with the formula [(CH3)2CHO]CH3P(O)F. It is a colorless, odorless liquid, used as a chemical weapon owing to its extreme potency as a nerve agent. It has been classified as a weapon of mass destruction in UN Resolution 687. Production and stockpiling of sarin was outlawed by the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993, and it is classified as a Schedule 1 substance."
"Sarin can be lethal even at very low concentrations, with death following within one minute after direct ingestion due to suffocation from lung muscle paralysis, unless some antidotes, typically atropine or Biperiden and pralidoxime, are quickly administered to a person.People who absorb a non-lethal dose, but do not receive immediate medical treatment, may suffer permanent neurological damage."
Newmark’s credentials include:
- Colonel, Medical Corps, U.S. Army
- Deputy Joint Program Executive Officer, Medical Systems
- Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical/Biological Defense, U.S. Department of Defense
- Consultant to the U.S. Army Surgeon General for Chemical Casualty Care
- Adjunct full professor of neurology, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
- Staff neurologist at Fort Belvoir (Va.) Community Hospital
Newmark received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard College and his medical degree from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University. He completed a residency in neurology at the Boston City Hospital and fellowships in neurochemistry at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke; in occupational neurology at the Massachusetts General Hospital; and in neuromuscular disease at the University of Pennsylvania.
More information is available from host Bora Inceoglu at abinceoglu@ucdavis.edu or by telephoning (530) 591-0697.
Contact:
Tracey Pirrung
Program Grant Analyst
VM: Molecular Biosciences
University of California, Davis
(530) 754-8157 phone
tapirrung@ucdavis.edu
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
They are coordinated by assistant professors Brian Johnson and Joanna Chiu.
Wednesday, Oct. 2 (cancelled, due to government shutdown)
Jay Evans
Research entomologist, USDA-ARS Bee Research Laboratory, Beltsville, MD
Title of talk: "Bee Disease Resistance and Colony Health"
Wednesday, Oct. 9
Rob DeSalle
Curator of entomology, American Museum of Natural History (AMNH)
Affiliated with AMNH Division of Invertebrate Zoology and leads a group of researchers at the Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics,
Title of talk: “The Tree of Life is Dead, Long Live the Tree of Life”
Host: Joanna Chiu, assistant professor
Wednesday, Oct. 16
Sandra Gillespie
Postdoctoral researcher
Neal Williams lab
Department of Entomology and Nematology, UC Davis
Title of talk: "Parasites and Pesticides: Indirect Effects on Pollination Service"
Wednesday, Oct. 23
Ivan Schwab
Director of Cornea and External Disease Service
Professor of Ophthalmology
Department of Ophthalmology and Vision Science
UC Davis Health System, Sacramento
Title of talk: "Vision from Trilobites to Trichogammatids: How the Arthropods See"
Wednesday, Oct. 30
Robert Reiner
Post-doctoral research fellow
Thomas Scott lab and Fogarty International Center
UC Davis
Title of talk: “A Quantitative Method for Estimating Spatio-Temporal Mosquito Abundance”
Host: Thomas Scott
Wednesday, Nov. 6
Patrick Abbot
Associate professor
Department of Biological Sciences Vanderbilt University, Nashville Tenn.
Title of talk: “Cooperation and Conflict at the Plant/Insect Interface”
Host: Brian Johnson, assistant professor
Wednesday, Nov. 13
Gregory Lanzaro
Professor
Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine
Title of talk: "Anthropogenic Forces Drive the Breakdown of Reproductive Isolation between Incipient Species of the African Malaria Mosquito."
Wednesday, Nov. 20
Thomas and Nina Leigh Distinguished Alumni Lecture
6 to 7 p.m. in Memorial Union II. A reception from 5 to 6 p.m. will precede the seminar.
All About Thomas Leigh
Kenneth Haynes
Professor
Department of Entomology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Ky.
Title of talk: "Life Undercover: Behavioral Characteristics of a Stealthy Blood Feeder"
Host: Michael Parrella, professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, Nov. 27
No speaker (Thanksgiving Week)
Wednesday, Dec. 4 (Due to midwest storms and a flight delay, his seminar will be from 4:10 to 5 p.m. instead of at 12:10)
George Heimpel
Professor and director of Graduate Studies
Department of Entomology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul
Title of talk: "Specificity and the Process of Biological Control Using Aphid Parasitoids"
Host: Jay Rosenheim, professor
Wednesday, Dec. 11
Gerben Messelink
Entomologist at Wageningen UR Greenhouse Horticulture, Rotterdam Area, Netherlands
Title of talk: "Generalist Predators and Biological Pest Control in Greenhouse Crops"
Host: Michael Parrella, professor and chair, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
The seminars are scheduled to be video-recorded and posted on a later date on UCTV in a project coordinated by professor James R. Carey.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The event is free and open to the public, said Anna Davidson, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Plant Sciences who is organizing and chairing the LASER speaker series. This is the first of five LASER events, made possible by Leonardo International Society of the Arts Sciences and Technology and the UC Davis Art Science Fusion Program.
Among the speakers on Oct. 3 will be Diane Ullman and Donna Billick, co-founders and co-directors of the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program. Founded 12 years ago, the program includes design and science faculty, museum educators, professional artists and UC Davis students, using a novel experientially based paradigm for learning.
The mission of the LASERs is to provide the general public with a snapshot of the cultural environment of the Davis/Bay area and to foster interdisciplinary networking with an emphasis on art and science through a series of lectures and presentations, according to the Leonardo website. LASER events have already taken place at the University of San Francisco, Stanford University, UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC Santa Cruz, a New York studio “and now we’re coming to UC Davis,” she said.
The schedule for the Oct. 3 program:
6:30-6:50 Socializing/networking
6:50-7:00 Welcome, opening remarks on the Davis inaugural LASER by Anna Davidson
7:00-7:25: Diane Ullman and Donna Billick, co-founders and co-directors of the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program, speaking on “Fusion and Perception”
7:25-7:50 Bob Ostertag, professor of technocultural studies at UC Davis (title of his talk to be announced)
7:50-8:10 Break. (During the break anyone in the audience currently working within the intersections of art and science will have 30 seconds to share their work (a teaser/commercial)
8:10-8:35 Meredith Tromble, San Francisco Art Institute School of Interdisciplinary Studies, and Jordan Van Aalsburg, research programmer for the UC Davis Complexity Sciences Center, Department of Physics, speaking on “The Vortex Touches Down”
8:35-9 James Crutchfield, UC Davis physics professor and director of the Complexity Sciences Center, speaking on “Hidden Fragility and the Data Deluge”
9-9:30 Discussion/Networking
Billick is an eight-year member of the board of directors of the Tile Heritage Foundation, and is involved in many other regional and national organizations. She founded Todos Artes in Baja Mexico and the Heaven On Earth educational series. As the co-founder and co-director of the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program, Billick partners with Ullman in teaching the undergraduate course: “Entomology 1: The Art, Science and the World of Insects,” as well as a series of freshmen seminars covering widespread topics.
Of her talk, Billick says: “I would like to map how fusion or the unity of knowledge, includes cross-discipline, cross culture, cross generational exploration and discovery. An experiential, hands-on approach to education, as with Art/Science Fusion, is to access perception and grow new associations and build life force or fusion energy.”
Bob Ostertag, a professor of technocultural studies at UC Davis, is a musician, author and movie producer. He has published 25 music CDS, two movies, two DVDs, four books and dozens of articles and essays. His writings on the Central American revolutions of the 1980s have been published on every continent and in many languages. Ostertag has performed at music, film and multi-media festivals around the globe, and many of his instruments he designed himself. His diverse collaborators include the Kronos Quartet, avant garder John Zorn, heavy metal star Mike Patton, jazz great Anthony Braxton, transgender chanteuse Justin Bond, Quebecois film maker Pierre Hébert, and the media guerrilla group, The Yes Men.
Meredith Tromble is an artist, faculty member of the San Francisco Art Institute School of Interdisciplinary Studies, and serial collaborator. Under the auspices of James Crutchfield, she and colleagues Dawn Sumner and Jordan Van Aalsburg are creating an immersive, interactive 3D vortex of dream elements called Take Me to Your Dream (Dream Vortex).
Jordan Van Aalsburg, who describes himself as “a recovering physicist,” is a research programmer for the UC Davis Complexity Sciences Center. He co-founded the Davis Makerspace, builder tools and resources for the local community.
James Crutchfield, a UC Davis professor of physics, teaches nonlinear physics, directs its Complexity Sciences Center, and promotes science interventions in nonscientific settings. He says he is mostly concerned with what patterns are, how they are created, and how intelligent beings discover them (see http://csc.ucdavis.edu/~chaos/).
Anna Davidson is studying the ecophysiology of fruit trees for her doctorate. She also makes bioart using fungus and other living materials as a medium. As a teacher for the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program, she leads the found object and sculpture studio section of the class, “Entomology 1, Art, Science, and the World of Insects.”
“I am very interested curriculum development and teaching at the intersection of biology and the arts,” Davidson said.
Upcoming LASER events at UC Davis:
Dec. 2, 2013
Amy Franceschini, artist and designer, Bay Area
Art Shapiro, professor of evolution and ecology, UC Davis
Mary Anne Kluth, artist, Bay Area
Justin Schuetz, biologist and artist, San Francisco Art Institute
Thursday, Feb. 6, 2014
Phillip Benn, artist and digital artist, Oakland
Terry Nathan, UC Davis Department of Atmospheric Sciences and the Art/Science Fusion Program
Genevieve Quick, artist, Bay Area
Maciej Zwieniecki, UC Davis professor of plant sciences
Monday, April 7, 2014
Christina Cogdell, UC Davis professor of design and art history
Jesse Drew, UC Davis professor of technoculutural studies
Michael Neff, UC Davis professor of computer science and program of cinema and technocultural studies
Wendy Silk, professor in the UC Davis Department of Land, Air and Water Resources and the Art/Science Fusion Program
June 2, 2014
Joe Dumit, UC Davis director of Sciences and Technology Studies and professor of anthropology
Evan Clayburg, performance/visual artist, Davis
Danielle Svehla Christianson, ecologist, fiber artist, Bay Area
Leonardo community members interested in presenting work at an upcoming LASER should contact LASER chair Piero Scaruffi p@scaruffi.com com for details. To RSVP to attend an upcoming LASER event, email p@scaruffi.com or adavidson@ucdavis.edu for the Davis LASERS.