Jan. 23, 2013
The seminar will take place from 12:10 to 1 p.m. in Room 1022 of the Life Sciences Addition, corner of Hutchison and Kleiber Hall drives. De Barro will be covering the silverleaf whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) from biotype to species. His host is Michael Parrella, professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology.
De Barro, known for his expertise of pest insect ecology and systematics, is the theme leader of the Biosecurity and Invasive Species for CSIRO, or the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Australia’s national body for scientific research.
His abstract:
“The identity of Bemisia tabaci is a taxonomic question that goes back to 1889 and involves one of the world’s most important pests of agriculture, which despite its importance, has remained a taxonomic puzzle. Each year it destroys billions of dollars worth of crops in both developed and developing economies across Africa, Asia and the Americas. In developing economies, it reduces the ability for communities to be self-sufficient in terms of food production and reduces their capacity to generate the cash essential to alleviating poverty.
“Yet despite its global importance, its taxonomy remains confused. Is it a single species with varying populations that exhibit different biological characteristics (i.e. biotypes) or a complex of morphologically similar species with different biological characteristics? This may seem an esoteric argument, but the answer has a significant bearing on the applicability and transferability of management practices between regions where the pest occurs, as these usually depend on insect biology, behavior, natural enemies interactions and responses to agricultural chemicals; what works for certain populations may be ineffective for other populations. This presentation provides a summary of our understanding of the species complex and some the new learnings that are emerging as a result of the emerging new lens through which top view this pest.”
De Barro joined CSIRO in 1994 as a visiting scientist and went on to establish CSIRO’s research on the newly invading whitefly pest, silverleaf whitefly (Bemisia tabaci MEAM1). He has since built an internationally recognized reputation for his research on this pest, which he describes as “a cryptic species complex that includes two globally invasive whiteflies that have inflicted considerable damage on agriculture around the world.”
His research has developed insights into the pest’s biology and ecology. In addition, he has considerable experience in biological control of the silverleaf whitefly and was responsible for the Australian introduction of the parasitoid, Eretmocerus hayati, proven to be a highly effective control agent.
In addition to his research on whiteflies, de Barro has been closely involved in research on biosecurity threat identification and prioritization. As part of this research. he developed an interest in risk analysis and applied that to the assessment of risks posed by the release of Wolbachia-infected mosquito, Aedes aegypti. This has since seen a growing interest in the association between vector ecology and human health.
De Barro received his bachelor of agricultural science degree, with honors, in entomology and biochemistry, from the University of Adelaide, South Australia, in 1985. He received his doctorate from the University of Adelaide in 1992.
De Barro has published more than 70 papers in journals such as:
- Science
- Bioscience
- Nature Communications
- Annual Review of Entomology
- PLOS One
- Biological Invasions
- Journal of Animal Ecology
- Journal of Applied Ecology
- Ecological Applications
- Molecular Ecology and Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
- Annals of the Entomological Society of America
- Bulletin of Entomological Research.
Awarded the CSIRO medal for research achievement, de Barro is currently an adjunct professor in the Department of Biological Invasion, Institute of Plant Protection, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. He is also an editor of Bulletin of Entomological Research.
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
Jan. 22, 2013
And it all has to do with butterflies and beer.
Shapiro collected the first cabbage white butterfly of the New Year on both of Obama’s inauguration days, Jan. 20, 2009 and Jan. 21, 2013.
“The constitution mandates the swearing-in for Jan. 20, though it does not require Pieris rapae to emerge on that date,” he quipped.
“Thank you, Mr. President!”
Shapiro, a professor of evolution and ecology who has monitored the butterflies of Central California for more than three decades, sponsors his annual “Beer for a Butterfly” contest to draw attention to the first flight of the cabbage white butterfly (Pieris rapae). Since 1972, he has awarded a pitcher of beer or its equivalent to the first person collecting the first cabbage white of the New Year within the three-county area of Yolo, Sacramento and Solano.
Shapiro, who is in the field 200 days a year, has won the contest every year except for the three times his graduate students, “my fiercest competitors,” took the prize.
Will Shapiro share his beer with the President? “I'd be delighted to buy Obama a beer, but I suspect he has better things to do with his time!”
Of his 2013 find, Shapiro said; “I knew at 9 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 21 that this would be the day--the air just felt different; the sun already felt warm, although the morning low at my place (Davis) had been 32 Fahrenheit at 6:50 a.m. “That was the first time in 12 mornings that it hadn't gone below freezing.”
Shapiro arrived at his West Sacramento field site at 11:30 a.m., as the temperature hovered at 59 degrees. By 1:45, the temperature would top out at 66.
Shapiro prowled around the butterfly’s host plants, including wild radish and wild mustard. “Most of the annual Brassicaceae (mustard family), and milk thistle showed frost burn.”
At 1:01 p.m. a male rapae showed up. “It was flying from east to west along the north side of the railroad tracks, just east of the I-80 overpass,” said Shapiro, who was walking along the south tracks. “Unfortunately, at the exact same moment, a fast freight was approaching from the east and I was not about to race it across the tracks! As the train roared by, the butterfly rose straight up and flew over the overpass.”
“I've known all along that the day would come when I would see the first rapae but be unable to catch it,” Shapiro said. “The protocol for such an eventuality is: I count the sight record, but keep the contest open until someone actually catches one and turns it in. I figured this would be the year I'd have to do that. But after the train passed, I milled around looking to see if it would return.”
It did. “At 1:15 it appeared out of nowhere--I think it descended vertically from above--and went directly to where it had been when I first saw it.” He caught it immediately. “It's a male of proper (post-diapause) January phenotype. I waited around until 2 p.m. but saw no more rapae -- just one Red Admiral. So, two species, two individuals for the day.”
Shapiro’s first catch of 2013 was actually on Jan. 1 at the same site, but “it was a slopover from the fall brood.” He declared the contest still under way.
Shapiro, who shares his butterfly monitoring information on his Art's Butterfly World website, holds a doctorate in entomology from Cornell University, and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Royal Entomological Society and the California Academy of Sciences. He is also the recipient of UC Davis outstanding teacher and advisor awards.
As for his graduate students, the first to defeat him in his “Beer for a Butterfly” contest was Adam Porter in 1983. Sherri Graves and Rick Van Buskirk followed in the late 1990s.
This year’s competition, however, proved especially satisfying, given that 12 days of freezing temperatures preceded the catch and it occurred again on President Obama’s Inauguration Day.
“Pieris rapae is out, and I can ‘stand down,’ said Shapiro, declaring “It’s now officially spring.”
And as for sharing a beer with President Obama, that still stands, too.
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
Jan. 18, 2013
The group, comprised of university faculty, researchers, pest abatement professionals, students and other interested persons, will meet from 9:15 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Newly elected president Robert Dowell, a staff environmental scientist at CDFA, said the date is a change from the regular schedule; the group usually meets in February on the first Thursday.
The event begins at 9:15 a.m. with registration and coffee.
The agenda:
9:30 a.m.: “Gall Insects in California” – Kathy Schick, a specialist/curator at the Essig Museum of Entomology, UC Berkeley
10:15 a.m.: “Update on Biological Control of Klamath Weed in California” – Mike Pitcairn, CDFA senior environmental research scientist.
11 a.m.: “Federal and California Regulations for Importing Living Plant Pests” – Stephen Brown, Plant Health and Pest Prevention Services CDFA, and Anthony Jackson, USDA APHIS, Plant Protection and Quarantine.
12:00 Lunch – The menu will be chicken, whole beans, rice, tortillas, chips, salsa and guacamole from Pollo Loco - @15.00.
1:15 p.m. “Fruit Fly Quarantines: Regulations and Quarantine Development” – Casey Estep, CDFA senior environmental scientist.
2 p.m.: “Something New for Invasive Species Reporting” – Susan Sawyer, CDFA staff environmental scientist.
Those planning to participate in the luncheon should contact treasurer Eric Mussen, Extension apiculturist, UC Davis Department of Entomology, at ecmussen@ucdavis.edu or (530) 752-0472 for reservations by Jan. 31.
The society meets three times a year: the first Thursday of February at the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA), Sacramento; the first Thursday of May in the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, UC Davis; and the first Thursday of November in the Contra Costa Mosquito and Vector Control District conference room, Concord.
Membership is open to the public; dues are $10 year. Those interested in joining may contact Mussen.
Dowell, the newly elected president, worked as a research scientist at the University of Florida's Agricultural Research and Education Center, Davie, Fla. from 1977 to 1980 before joining the CDFA in December 1980.
Dowell, who grew up in Stockton, obtained his bachelor's degree in biology from UC Irvine; his master’s degree in insect ecology from California State University, Hayward, now CSU East Bay and his doctorate in entomology from The Ohio State University. He is a fellow of the California Academy of Sciences. His professional experience also includes editor of the Pac-Pacific Entomologist.
His current research: attraction of male fruit fly lures for native California insects and evolution of host plant range in swallowtail butterflies: the Western tiger swallowtail (Papilio rutulus),the pale tiger swallowtail (P. eurymedon) and the two-tailed swallowtail (P. multicaudata).
Dowell succeeds Robert “Bob” Case of Concord, retired deputy agricultural commissioner from the Contra Costa County Department of Agriculture, as the Nor Cal Entomology Society president. UC Davis mosquito researcher Debbie Dritz is a recent past president of the society.
Directions:
From I-5 southbound, take Meadowview/Pocket Road Exit and go east; from I-5 northbound, take the Pocket/Freeport Road exit and go east; from 99, take Mack Exit and go west on Mack. (Mack becomes Meadowview close to the railroad track crossing). The Plant Diagnostic Lab is the large yellow and green building at the back end of the property. It is at the south end of the driveway and left of the relatively small parking area. There is more parking behind the lab and behind the other buildings, along the east edge of the property. Parking also is available on the west side of the Warehouse just before you reach the lab. Regardless of where you park, you must enter the lab through the “front” door.
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
Jan. 16, 2013
The seminar will take place from 12:10 to 1 p.m., in Room 1022 of the Life Sciences Addition, corner of Hutchison and Kleiber Hall drives. He will be hosted by pollination ecologist Neal Williams, assistant professor of entomology.
"I will discuss studies of landscape approaches and how they may be used to conserve rare insects, focusing on rare butterflies," Haddad said. "In one experiment, we are studying how landscape corridors may be used to increase insect dispersal and population viability. In a second experiment, we are asking whether habitat restoration creates population sources, or instead creates unintended population sinks for rare butterflies. These experimental approaches that consider mechanisms of dispersal and demography can be used to inform large scale conservation and restoration in a changing world."
On his lab website, Haddad says:
"We study the application of ecological principles to the conservation of biodiversity, from individual rare animals to all species living within a community. We are particularly focused on strategies like use of habitat corridors that are intended to overcome the negative effects of habitat loss and fragmentation."
He recently launched a new website, Conservation Corridor.
Haddad received his doctorate in ecology from the University of Georgia in 1997, and his bachelor's degree in biology, with honors, from Stanford University in 1991.
He served as a researcher in the Guatemala Program, Center for Conservation Biology, Stanford University, from 1990 to 1997, and as a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Minnesota from 1997-1999 before joining the the North Carolina State University faculty in 1999.
Haddad, an assistant professor of zoology at NCSU from 1999 to 2005, then became an associate professor of biology (2005 to 2011). He was a UC Davis sabbatical scholar, hosted by Marcel Holyoak, from 2006-2007.
Among his awards:
Aldo Leopold Leadership Fellow (2008); George J. and Rhoda W. Kriz Faculty Study Leave Award (2007); Outstanding Teacher Award, NC State University (2004); Outstanding Adviser Award, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, NCSU (2004).
Haddad has published his work in Conservation Biology, Journal of Insect Conservation, Ecology, Ecology Letters,Conservation Genetics, PLoS ONE, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Population Ecology, Science, and Ecography, among others. (See his curriculum vitae.)
Assistant professors Brian Johnson and Joanna Chiu are coordinating the Department of Entomology's winter seminars. All the seminars are being video-recorded under the direction of James R. Carey and will be posted at a later date on UCTV.
The remainder of the winter seminar series:
Wednesday, Jan. 30
Paul de Barro
Senior Principal Research Scientist, CSIRO ecosystem sciences
Title: Unravelling the Complex Bemisia tabaci (Silverleaf Whitefly): From Biotype to Species
Host: Michael Parrella
Wednesday, Feb. 6
Jim Cane
Entomologist, USDA-ARS Bee Biology Lab
Title: Dietary Needs of Adult Solitary Bees: Consequences for Reproduction and Pollination
Host: Leslie Saul-Gershanz
Wednesday, Feb. 13
Steven Reppert
Higgins Family Professor of Neuroscience, University of Massachusetts Medical School
Title: Monarch Butterfly Migration: Behavior to Genes
Hosts: Joanna Chiu and Hugh Dingle
Wednesday, Feb. 20
Nick Mills
Professor, UC Berkeley
Title: Light Brown Apple Moth – Not a Typical Invader
Host: Mary Louise Flint
Wednesday, Feb. 27
Anupama Dahankar
Assistant Professor, UC Riverside
Title: Taste Receptors and Feeding Preferences in Insects
Host: Joanna Chiu
Wednesday, March 6
Sergio Rasmann
Assistant Professor, University of Lausanne
Title: Ecological, Evolutionary and Genetic Drivers of Plant Defenses against Herbivores
Host: Rick Karban
Wednesday, March 13
Anna Whitfield
Associate Professor, Kansas State University
Title: Dissecting the Molecular Interplay Between Plant Viruses and their Arthropod Vectors
Host: Diane Ullman
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
Jan. 16, 2013
Williams, assistant professor of entomology, is the co-project director of Aspire Project: Augmenting Specialty Crop Pollination Through Integrated Research and Education for Bees, a coordinated agricultural project funded by SCRI. Williams serves as the project leader for habitat enhancement for bees and as a co-leader of a project seeking alternative managed bees for almonds.
The meeting will be the first “all-hands-on-deck” meeting to discuss plans for the first field season; to coordinate collection and curation techniques; and to obtain feedback from the Advisory Committee Tentative Plan.
Rufus Isaacs, Extension specialist for berry crops, entomology, at Michigan State University, Lansing, Mich., directs the Aspire Project for Bees and is the principal investigator of the $1.6 million grant. (See news release.)
In addition to Williams, the co-project directors are
- Theresa Pitts-Singer, research entomologist, USDA-ARS Pollinating Insects Research Unit, Department of Biology, Logan, Utah;
- Mace Vaughan, pollinator program director, Xerces Society, Portland, Ore; and
- Mark Lubell, Sociology of Sustainability, UC Davis Department of Environmental Science and Policy.
“Our long-term goal is to develop and deliver context-specific Integrated Crop Pollination (ICP) recommendations on how to most effectively harness the potential of native bees for crop pollination,” says Isaacs on the Aspire website. “We define ICP as: the combined use of different pollinator species, habitat augmentation, and crop management practices to provide reliable and economical pollination of crops. This approach is analogous to Integrated Pest Management in that we aim to provide decision-support tools to reduce risk and improve returns through the use of multiple tactics tailored to specific crops and situations. By developing context-specific ICP programs, this project will improve sustainability of U.S. specialty crops and thereby help ensure the continued ability of growers to reap profitable returns from their investments in land, plants, and other production inputs.”
The project objectives are five-fold:
1. to identify economically valuable pollinators and the factors affecting their abundance.
2. to develop habitat management practices to improve crop pollination.
3. to determine performance of alternative managed bees as specialty crop pollinators.
4. to demonstrate and deliver ICP practices for specialty crops.
5. to determine optimal methods for ICP information delivery and measure ICP adoption
Key Personnel
Key personnel for the Aspire program are
Jamie Ellis, honey bee research and Extension. Department of Entomology and Nematology, University of Florida. Gainesville, Fla.
Karen Klonsky, Cooperative Extension specialist, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, UC Davis
Shelby Fleischer, vegetable entomology Extension specialist for vegetable entomology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Penn.
Claire Kremen, pollination ecologist, UC Berkeley
Taylor Ricketts, Mapping Pollination Services, Gund Institute for Ecological Economics. University of Vermont. Burlington, Vermont.
Eric Lonsdorf, Mapping Pollination Services, Chicago Botanic Garden, Glenco, Ill.
David Biddinger, biocontrol and pollination specialist, Penn State University. Fruit Research and Extension Center, Biglerville, Penn.
Julianna Tuell, tree fruit integrator, Michigan State University Department of Entomology, East Lansing, Mich.
Rachael Winfree, pollination ecologist, Rutgers University Department of Ecology, Evolution and Natural Resources, New Brunswick, N.J.
Nikki Rothwell, Extension horticulturalist, Michigan State University's NW Michigan Horticultural Research Station, Traverse City, Mich.
Larry Gut, Extension specialist for tree fruit entomology, Michigan State University Department of Entomology. East Lansing, Mich.
Jaret Daniels, entomologist, University of Florida Department of Entomology and Nematology, Gainesville, Fla.
Sujaya Rao, entomologist, Oregon State University Department of Crop and Soil Science, Corvallis, Ore.
Eric Mader, Assistant Pollinator Program director, The Xerces Society, Portland, Ore.
Stephen Peterson, entomologist, AgPollen LLC, Waterford, Calif.
Jim Cane, research entomologist, USDA-ARS Pollinating Insects Research Unit, Department of Biology, Utah State University, Logan, Utah
James Strange, research entomologist, USDA-ARS Pollinating Insects Research Unit, Department of Biology, Utah State University, Logan, Utah
Bob Gillespie, Wenatchee (Wash.) Valley College Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Elizabeth Elle, Simon Fraser University Department of Biological Sciences. Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
