- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
“Our newest fellows represent the very best of UC Davis and I congratulate them,” Chancellor Gary S. May said in announcing the new fellows in a UC Davis news release. “The knowledge, expertise and excellence these faculty demonstrate across a range of disciplines positively impacts our university's mission of research, teaching and public service.”
Eleven of the 13 are associate professors and two are professors. Vannette is the only Chancellor's Fellow selected in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Of the 13, five represent the College of Letters and Science.
"An international leader in microbial ecology, she studies interactions between plants, insects and microbes," according to the news release. "Her research projects focus on the chemical an microbial ecology of plant-pollinator interactions and how microbes influence plant defense and resistance against insect pests. For example her research found that microbial species on plants contribute to floral scent and influence the attractiveness of nectar to pollinators."
"It is no exaggeration to say that Dr. Vannette is a rising star in the biological and agricultural sciences at UC Davis," said Helene Dillard, dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
The 2022-23 Chancellor's Fellows:
Marcela Cuellar, associate professor, School of Education
Melanie Gareau, associate professor, Department of Anatomy, Physiology and Cell Biology, School of Veterinary Medicine
J. Sebastian Gomez-Diaz, associate professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering
Rana Jaleel, associate professor, Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women's Studies, College of Letters and Science
Wilsaan Joiner, professor, Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior, College of Biological Sciences
Xiaodong Li, associate professor, Department of Statistics, College of Letters and Science
David Olson, associate professor, Department of Chemistry, College of Letters and Science
Caitlin Patler, associate professor, Department of Sociology, College of Letters and Science
Jessica Bissett Perea, associate professor, Department of Native American Studies, College of Letters and Science
Zubair Shafiq, associate professor, Department of Computer Science, College of Engineering
Karen Shapiro, associate professor, Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, School of Veterinary Medicine
Aaron Tang, professor, School of Law
Rachel Vannette, associate professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
Vannette, who holds a doctorate in ecology and evolutionary biology (2011) from the University of Michigan, was selected a UC Davis Hellman Fellow in 2018.
"All plants are colonized by microorganisms that influence plant traits and interactions with other species, including insects that consume or pollinate plants," she says. "I am interested in the basic and applied aspects of microbial contributions to the interaction between plants and insects. I also use these systems to answer basic ecological questions, such as what mechanisms influence plant biodiversity and trait evolution."
The Vannette lab is a team of entomologists, microbiologists, chemical ecologists, and community ecologists trying to understand how microbial communities affect plants and insects.
“Much of the work in my lab focuses on how microorganisms affect plant defense against herbivores and plant attraction to pollinators,” Vannette related. “For example, we are interested in understanding the microbial drivers of soil health, which can influence plant attractiveness to herbivores and the plant's ability to tolerate or defend against damage by herbivores. In addition, we are working to examine how microorganisms modify flower attractiveness to pollinators. This may have relevance in agricultural systems to improve plant and pollinator health.”
Her recent research grants include two from the National Science Federation (NSF). One is a five-year Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program award, titled “Nectar Chemistry and Ecological and Evolutionary Tradeoffs in Plant Adaptation to Microbes and Pollinators.” The other is a three-year collaborative grant, “The Brood Cell Microbiome of Solitary Bees: Origin, Diversity, Function, and Vulnerability.”
"UC Davis has named 191 faculty members as Chancellor's Fellows over the program's 23-year history, with philanthropic support from the UC Davis Annual Fund, Davis Chancellor's Club and the UC Davis Parents Fund," according to the UC Davis news story.
The UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology earlier celebrated two Chancellor's Fellows:
2019: Molecular geneticist and physiologist Joanna Chiu, then associate professor and now professor and vice chair of the department
2015: Pollinator ecologist Neal Williams, then associate professor and now professor
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Tabuloc's topic is "Environmental and Anthropogenic Impact on Insect Gene Expression and Physiology." Her seminar also will be virtual. The Zoom link:
https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/95882849672.
Tabuloc will be introduced by Professor Chiu, her advisor. A pre-seminar coffee session is set from 3:30 to 4:10 p.m. in Briggs 158.
"Natural environmental factors and anthropogenic disturbances can modulate gene expression, resulting in alteration of organismal phenotype," Tabuloc says in her abstract. "In the first part of my thesis project, I used Drosophila melanogaster as an insect model to understand the mechanisms by which 24-hour light-dark cycles can regulate rhythmic changes in the chromatin to generate circadian rhythms of gene expression and orchestrate daily biological rhythms. I observed that two clock proteins, CLOCK and TIMELESS, regulate daily rhythmicity in the binding of BRAHMA, a chromatin remodeler, to DNA spanning clock-controlled genes to facilitate their rhythmic gene expression cycles. Moreover, because TIMELESS degrades in the presence of light, my results provide new insights into how light affects DNA structure and gene expression."
"In the second part of my thesis project, I investigated the impact of insecticide applications on the fruit pest Drosophila suzukii," Tabulocsaid. "Specifically, I performed RNA sequencing analysis on D. suzukii flies that are either susceptible or resistant to common insecticides to determine genetic mechanisms underlying insecticide resistance in this agricultural pest. My results revealed that enhanced metabolic detoxification confers pyrethroid resistance while spinosad resistance is the result of both metabolic and penetration resistance. Finally, we identified alternative splicing as an additional mechanism of resistance. These results will facilitate the development of efficient molecular diagnostics to identify insecticide resistance in the field and enable growers to adjust D. suzukii spray programs to control this devastating pest more effectively."
Christine received her bachelor of science degree in biochemistry and molecular biology from UC Davis in 2015. She joined the Chiu lab as an undergraduate research assistant in 2012. "Much of my work in the lab has involved different agricultural pests and investigating the molecular aspects contributing to the insect's ability to be an effective pest," she says on the Chiu lab website. "My current focus is to investigate the effects of climatic change on gene expression of an invasive pest and determine whether there is a correlation to resistance and survival. In addition to pest management research, I am also studying a kinase of a core clock protein in Drosophila melanogaster and hoping to dissect its functional contribution to the molecular oscillator."
The UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology's winter seminars are held on Wednesdays at 4:10 p.m. in 122 Briggs Hall. All are virtual. They are coordinated by urban landscape entomologist Emily Meineke, assistant professor. (See schedule.) She may be reached at ekmeineke@ucdavis.edu for technical issues.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
There's still time--and room--to register to attend virtually the New Emeriti Distinguished Lecture on Wednesday, Feb. 15 by UC Davis distinguished professor emeritus Geerat Vermeij, an evolutionary biologist and paleoecologist with the UC Davis Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences.
Vermeij will speak in-person at 3 p.m. to a capacity crowd in the Putah Creek Lodge on "The Evolution of Power."
Putah Creek Lodge reservations are closed, but folks can watch the seminar virtually on Zoom, announced coordinator Walter Leal, UC Davis distinguished professor of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, and former chair of the Department of Entomology and Nematology.
The lecture will be live-streamed on Zoom; registration is underway at https://bit.ly/3BXh0zA.
The program will include a poem by Andy Jones, continuing lecturer in the University Writing Program and a former poet laureate of the city of Davis. Leal also said that some "of our newest emeriti" will be honored.
In a pre-recorded video, Vermeij told Leal: "I'm going to talk about power. And I'm using power in the sense of physics and engineering, that is to say, energy per unit time. All kinds of biological phenomenon can be expressed in terms of power, so for example, productivity, even fitness, the use of force with respect to time and so on. And it turns out that if you think about various biological functions and interactions in terms of power, you rapidly come to see that the most powerful organisms have the greatest effect on their surroundings, in fact, they modify their own surroundings, often to their own benefit."
Vermeij is known for his work on coevolutionary telationships between predator and prey organisms, with a focus on marine mollusks. A native of The Netherlands, he lost his sight to glaucoma at age three, but did not let that deter him. Majoring in biology and geology, he graduated summa cum laudefrom Princeton University in 1968, and obtained his doctorate in biology and geology from Yale University in 1971. In 1992, Vermeij received a MacArthur Fellowship, the “genius” grant, and in 2000, was awarded the Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal from the National Academy of Sciences. (See The Shape of Life.)
The three-part New Emeriti Distinguished Lecture series "is a platform to celebrate the accomplishments of retiring colleagues,” Leal said last fall. “They have dedicated their lives to laying the foundation for UC Davis to grow into a premiere academic institution. We are very thankful for their contributions to the university's missions and for making UC Davis a better place for us to succeed."
First speaker in the series was UC Davis distinguished professor emeritus Harris Lewin, renowned for his research in comparative mammalian genomics and immunogenetics. He spoke Dec. 7 on “From Chickens to Cows to Everything: Perspectives from 40 Years in Science."
The last speaker in the series is Sharon Strauss, distinguished professor emerita, Department of Evolution and Ecology, College of Biological Sciences. She will speak at 3 p.m. Monday, April 17.
Leal released a “Tribute to Our New Emeriti" video last fall, spotlighting 24 faculty members who retired in 2021-22.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
He participates in his annual “Beer for a Butterfly” contest that he's sponsored since 1972 as part of his scientific research to determine the butterfly's “first” flight of the year — or the first to be witnessed in his contest — in Sacramento, Yolo or Solano counties. The rules: Net the butterfly and win a pitcher of beer or its equivalent. Suds for a bug.
Wednesday (Feb. 8) proved to be a “bingo” day.
He participates in his annual “Beer for a Butterfly” contest that he's sponsored since 1972 as part of his scientific research to determine the butterfly's “first” flight of the year — or the first to be witnessed in his contest — in Sacramento, Yolo or Solano counties. The rules: Net the butterfly and win a pitcher of beer or its equivalent. Suds for a bug.
Wednesday (Feb. 8) proved to be a “bingo” day.
“I knew when I left the house at 10:10 this morning that today would be rapae day,” he announced in an email with the subject line, “Bingo!”
“It was.”
He spotted his first rapae of the year, a female, at 11:22 a.m. in West Sacramento, Yolo County. At 11:38, he saw a male. “Both were typical late winter phenotypes, quite different from what was flying in December,” he noted. “My last in West Sac was Christmas Eve. So the rapae-less hiatus was 45 days, i.e. just over six weeks.”
It was 64 degrees, clear, no wind.
“I did not get a specimen,” Shapiro related. “Both of them were flying up near the railroad track at the top of the railroad embankment, where the ground is strewn with coarse gravel. That makes for a warm layer of air in full sun, but terrible footing. I am no longer so nimble or so self-confident as I used to be, and I never got a clean shot at either bug even though I got within about 6 feet of both.”
“I could have stayed in that area and probably eventually would have caught one or both of them,” Shapiro added. “I had to weigh that against covering the rest of the upland half of my site and possibly finding something else out. Remember that the butterfly-friendly window of time each day is still very short. I opted to keep moving, ultimately observing two atalanta (Vanessa atalanta, the red admiral) but nothing else. Malvella (mallow family) has not broken ground yet. Plenty of Erodium (family Geraniaceae) in bloom now, though.
“So for the day, two species, four bugs.”
The find is now in his records. “Today is the 11th latest first rapae day since 1972,” he said, detailing the 10 later finds, starting with the latest: Feb. 26, 1972 (“which is probably too late, since I hadn't yet learned where to look for them first!”); Feb. 22, 1992 (“I fully believe that one”); Feb. 18, 1978 and 1986; Feb. 17, 1979; Feb. 16, 1975; Feb. 14, 1981; Feb. 13, 1983 and 1985; and Feb. 10, 1980. “Note that most of these are from the '80s,” he said. “There has indeed been a trend to earlier emergence, though this year is an outlier!”
Beer for a Butterfly
“Given how late it is, even though I did not catch a rapae myself, I will offer beer to anyone who does get one and bring it in alive by 5 p.m. this Friday (Feb. 10), and after that declare the contest closed.”
The rules state that the butterfly must be brought in alive to the Department of Evolution and Ecology office, 2320 Storer Hall, during work hours, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, with the full data (exact time, date and location of the capture) and the contact information of the collector (address, phone number and/or e-mail.)
P. rapae is emerging earlier and earlier as the regional climate has warmed, said Shapiro, who has monitored the butterfly populations of central California since 1972 and maintains a research website, Art's Butterfly World. It's all part of his long-term studies of butterfly life cycles and climate change. Since 1972, he said, the first flight of the cabbage white butterfly has varied from Jan. 1 to Feb. 26, averaging about Jan. 20.
P. rapae inhabits vacant lots, fields and gardens where its host plants, weedy mustards, grow. In its caterpillar stage, it is a pest commonly called cabbageworm that chews on cole crops.
Shapiro, who is in the field 200 days of the year, has been defeated only four times — and those were by UC Davis graduate students. Adam Porter won in 1983; Sherri Graves and Rick VanBuskirk each won in the late 1990s; and Jacob Montgomery in 2016. The first three were his own graduate students.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Robert Washino, emeritus professor of entomology, emeritus chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology, and emeritus associate dean of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, praised him for his research and friendship.
"I first met Mir who was on the UC Riverside campus in the early 1960s for the first organizational meeting of the UC Systemwide Mosquito Research Program with biologists representing UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UCLA and UC Riverside," Washino recalled. "From that day forward, all of us in mosquito research competed for research funding and became either friends and/or competitors and sometimes both. I could have written a book on all that took place and it would have been a best seller if it were ever published but it was fun while it lasted!"
That was when the names of Barr, Work, Shaefer, Garcia, Reeves, Belkin, Bohart, Mulla and Washino--and more--populated the mosquito research news, or names "from the good ol days," said Washino, now 91.
"Mir was a great help to me getting started at UC Riverside, particularly in my mosquito days," said UC Davis distinguished professor Bruce Hammock, who holds a joint appointment with the Department of Entomology and Nematology and the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Major Dhillon, retired district manager of the Northwest Mosquito Abatement District, headquartered in Corona, Riverside County, and executive director emeritus of Society for Vector Ecology (SOVE), based in Ontario, Calif., was a 49-year friend and colleague.
"He was my major professor under whom I got my doctorate," Dhillon said. "I met him when he was 49 years old and I lost him after 49 years. He was a great mentor and TRULY an exemplary scientist of international fame.”
Dhillon said that Mulla donated $50,000 to SOVE last year at a memorial lecture. Mulla is credited with helping establish the UC Riverside's medical entomology department. He was named a fellow of the Entomological Society of America in 1995 and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1998. The World Health Organization honored him with its Distinguished Service Award in 2010, and SOVE singled him out for a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009.
Mulla's Formula. Mulla was a close associate of William "Bill" Reisen, professor emeritus, Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. Reisen wrote about Mulla's Formula to Estimate Control in a book, Vector Biology, Ecology and Control, pages 127-137, published in 2010:
"In California, the endemic mosquito borne encephalitides, including West Nile virus, are contained by special districts using integrated vector management programs. These agencies combine public education, source reduction and proactive larval control to suppress mosquito abundance to the point where tangential transmission of virus to humans is rare or unlikely. However, when these methods in concert fail to prevent enzootic amplification and the risk of human infection becomes eminent or is on-going, emergency adulticide applications of pyrethrin compounds are used to interrupt transmission. The efficacy of these applications has become controversial and some cities have opted to not apply adul-ticides. The current paper describes how a formula developed Dr. Mir Mulla some 40 years ago is still useful in solving contemporary problems of estimating percent control, a statistic useful in evaluating intervention efficacy. This simple but effective equation accounts for changes in both control and treated populations and thereby can be applied in dynamic situations where abundance is not stable. Examples are presented from ground and aerial experimental applications in Riverside County and from emergency interventions in Sacramento County in 2005 and Yolo County in 2006."
According to a 2008 UC Riverside newsletter, Mir served as a major professor for 27 doctoral students and three master's students; mentored more than 30 visiting scientists from overseas; and trained 20 postdoctoral scientists. "Dr. Mulla has made noteworthy contributions to, and has served in, numerous national and international organizations. These include the World Health Organization, with over 40 years of service in capacities such as science advisor, member of the Expert Advisory Panel, member or chair of steering committees or scientific working groups, as well as temporary advisor on numerous international projects. His publications (over 400) are well known around the world and are sought after by many scientists and specialists."
Native of Afghanistan. Born in Zangawat, Afghanistan to a family of 12 brothers and 4 sisters, Mir received a scholarship in 1948 to Cornell University where he obtained his undergraduate degree in entomology and parasitology in 3.5 years. He received his doctorate at UC Berkeley. In 1956, joined the UC Riverside faculty to help establish a medical entomology department, and launched his research on the control of eye gnats and mosquitoes.
From the Riverside Press-Enterprise obituary: "In his 50-year career as a medical entomologist, Dr. Mulla pioneered insect control methods throughout Southern California and the world. Mir's techniques for eye gnat and mosquito control improved people's health worldwide. He was a prolific scientist who authored more than 500 scientific publications. He loved field work and was a demanding editor, guiding over 30 graduate students. Mir led World Health Organization efforts to help developing countries control vector-borne diseases, including malaria. He traveled to many countries in this endeavor."
His wife of 64 years, Leila "Lee" Patterson Mulla, died Aug. 9, 2019 at age 88. They met at the International House at UC Berkeley during his graduate studies and married in August 1954. They raised four children, David, Shireen, Dean and Janet.
"Mir served as a leader in the Riverside Muslim community," according to the obituary. "He and Lelia founded the Islamic Society of Riverside and Orange Counties and played a key role in building the Islamic Center of Riverside, the first mosque in the Inland Empire. His philanthropic work included supporting the local Muslim community, donating land to Riverside County Parks to preserve public access to Sugarloaf Mountain for generations and establishing scholarships with the University of California Riverside in the College of Agriculture and Natural Sciences."
A Muslim funeral prayer (Janazah) will be held Friday, Feb. 3 after the 1 p.m. Jum'a prayer at Islamic Center of Riverside, 1038 W Linden St., Riverside. A public memorial service will be held Saturday, Feb. 4 at 11 a.m. at the Norco Family Funeral Home, 2645 Hammer Ave, Norco, followed by burial at 1:20 p.m. Saturday at Pierce Brothers Crestlawn Mortuary, 11500 Arlington Ave, Riverside.
Donations in his memory can be made to the Dr. Mir S. Mulla and Lelia L. Mulla Endowed Scholarship Fund, UC Riverside Foundation (access https://myadv.ucr.edu/ and search for "Mulla") or the Islamic Center of Riverside, https://www.islamiccenterofriverside.net/donate).