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
Jan. 11, 2013
His talk, set from 12:10 to 1 p.m. in Room 1022 of the Life Sciences Addition, will double as his exit seminar. He received his doctorate in June 2012 from UC Davis, with major professor Phil Ward. He will be introduced by Ward.
Branstetter, who now works in the Department of Entomology, National Museum of Natural History, will discuss Stenamma, ants previoulsy known as "leaf-litter ants," but which are also arboreal and found in clay banks, among other places.
"For my Ph.D. research I have been investigating the taxonomy and phylogeny of the ant genus Stenamma, a group of cryptic leaf litter ants, which have a Holarctic-Neotropic distribution pattern," he says. "Using molecular phylogenetics I have shown that Stenamma is separated into two large clades, a Holarctic clade and a Middle American clade. With this result, I have been revising the Middle American clade of Stenamma and will be describing over 30 new Stenamma species. On-going work aims to understand the biogeography and natural history of Middle America species."
An abstract of his Jan. 16th seminar:
Stenamma comprises an intriguing genus of cryptic, cold-tolerant ants, which occur throughout the temperate zone and Central America. The group was considered to be a primarily Holarctic lineage, until collecting by the Leaf Litter Arthropods of Mesoamerica (LLAMA) project uncovered a trove of new species, which rival the Holarctic forms in terms of richness, as well as morphological and behavioral diversity. The LLAMA project also revealed that within the Neotropics, Stenamma can be abundant and dominant in high-elevation wet forests, a habitat inhospitable to most ants. These observations led to the formulation of several questions: What is the origin of the Middle American Stenamma species assemblage? Is it composed of multiple lineages that have dispersed south from North America, or could it represent the ancestral stock from which the temperate forms arose? Similarly, is the adaptation to cold tolerance a feature that evolved in the tropics along elevational gradients, or is it the product of temperate seasonality? Using evidence from phylogeny, biogeography and natural history, I attempt to answer these questions and to determine what other factors have been most important in the evolutionary history of this atypical and overlooked ant genus.
Of his fascination with ants, he says:
"Ants are the most successful group of social insects on the Earth. They occur in almost all terrestrial habitats and are often numerically dominant and ecologically important. Furthermore, ants are diverse. There are likely to be over 20,000 species worldwide and among these species there is a staggering amount of morphological and behavioral variation. It's not just the red ant and black ant. Some species are predatory and have large trap-jaw mandibles. Some are farmers, growing fungus gardens inside their nests. Some are parasites of other ant species, living in host nests and taking advantage of a tricked worker force. And some have huge migrating colonies that go on massive raids to collect food."
He's also "intrigued by this diversity and have devoted myself to discovering and describing species and behaviors. Most of my work focuses on using morphology and genetic data to determine what species are, but I also spend lots of time in the field making direct observations about behavior and ecology."
Born in Toledo, Ohio, Branstetter grew up in Kalamazoo, Mich. "It was not until I entered college at The Evergreen State College in Washington state that I became interested in science and eventually entomology," he says. His passion for entomology ignited when he took a class by his now colleague Jack Longino. During this class, "Insects and Plants of Washington," he became fascinated with insects and ants, Longino's specialty.
Later Branstetter took another course by Longino on tropical rainforests "and I had the opportunity to travel and work in Costa Rica for two-months. During the course I did a project on ant behavior at the La Selva Biological Station. It was during this time that I decided that I was interested in studying the systematics of ants."
The following summer Branstetter interned at the California Academy of Sciences, participating in its Summer Systematics Institute. "I worked on bee morphology and was exposed to insect taxonomy," he recalled. "During the internship I made the decision that I would go to graduate school to study insect systematics and I started writing my applications. The following year I was accepted into grad school at Davis with Phil Ward and began my career as an ant taxonomist."
The ants he studies are "special because they are an example of a group that originated in the temperate zone and later dispersed into the tropics. Within the tropics they have radiated in mid- to high-elevation wet forests, sometimes becoming the most dominant ant. This is in contrast to most other ants, which usually peak in diversity and abundance in the lowlands."
"It is my hope that studying Stenamma diversity and ecology will yield insights into the factors that have helped ants become so successful. Also, the genus has many undescribed species in Middle America. Describing these species and making identification keys will allow others, such as ecologists or conservation biologists, to identify them in their work. Of particular importance are the montane species, which may be in danger of extinction due to climate change."
Branstetter's seminar will be recorded for later viewing on UCTV. The seminars are coordinated by assistant professors Brian Johnson and Joanna Chiu. Professor James R. Carey coordinates the videotaping project.
(Editor's Note: Laura Sáenz in Nicaragua took these three photos while the ant specialists were doing field work for the Leaf Litter Arthropods of MesoAmerica (LLAMA) project. Of the first photo, taken in Parque Nacional Cerro Saslaya, Branstetter says: "The litter was hung in Winkler extraction sacks for three days to collect arthropods and then dumped out." The second photo shows Branstetter standing next to a Winkler hanging structure, constructed in the forest by their field guide who used only a machete. The third photo, taken at Reserva Nacional Kahka Creek, shows him in the process of doing a transect of mini Winkler samples. In his hands he has a machete, a Winkler sifter, and a sample bag. Underneath him is a 50 m measuring tape, used to mark sampling points. "I'm completely soaked in sweat, because this site was near sea level in lowland rainforest, meaning it was VERY hot and VERY humid. Not easy work, especially with the mosquitoes.")
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894