June 2, 2011
DAVIS--Native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis, will speak on native bees on Saturday, June 18 at “A Celebration of the Bees” in Mill Valley.
The celebration, to be held from 1 to 4 p.m. at 221Hillside Gardens and dubbed a “bee-in,” is a community gathering to benefit the beekeeping projects of SuperOrganism: the Marin Pollen Project and the Marin Survivor Stock Queen Bee Project.
The event, sponsored by Savory Thymes, will include a talk on honey bees by master beekeeper and author Mea McNeil of San Anselmo; demonstration and learning stations presented by the Marin Beekeepers’ Association; honey tasting featuring local varieties of honey; mead (honey wine) tasting; and live Celtic music. Hors d’oeuvres will be served.
Thorp, a noted native pollinator specialist, will discuss the diversity of native bees, such as bumble bees, carpenter bees and leafcutting bees, and how residents can provide habitat for them.
He is involved in research on the role of native bees in crop pollination, the role of urban gardens as bee habitat, and declines in native bumble bee populations. He does research in ecology, systematics, biodiversity, and conservation of bees, including pollen specialist bees in vernal pool ecosystems. He is involved with the management of the Jepson Prairie Reserve, a vernal pool ecosystem.Although he “officially” retired in 1994, Thorp maintains an office at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis. He monitors the adjacent Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven and Campus Buzzway for species of bees; between March 2009 and July 2010, he has detected 60 different species of bees.
Since 2002, Thorp has served as an instructor in The Bee Course offered annually through the American Museum of Natural History, New York at its Southwest Research Station, Portal, Ariz.
Throughout the year, he presents a number of talks. Most recently, on May 26, he delivered a talk on “Native Bees and Their Lifestyles” to the City of Davis Open Space and Habitat Commission.McNeil will discuss sustainable populations of bees. “Beekeepers are known for being independent individuals, but some local Marin County beekeepers have joined in a cooperative effort,” she said. “Knowing they can expect high loss, they are leaving their bee colonies untreated in order to select strong surviving queens for the propagation of local stock. They are coordinating test equipment, reference materials, seminars, connections with other groups, forage plantings and a program to distribute queen cells. They are looking beyond mere survival to a gentle, productive, local resistant strain of honey bee.”
McNeil says that the bees will be “sentinels for all creatures.” A sampling of pollen from hives across Marin County will be analyzed for pesticide and fungicide content in a toxicology study in cooperation with Pennsylvania State University. “Perhaps their greatest contribution is that they will be a prototype for what can happen everywhere for our ailing bees,” she said.
Tickets are $35 per person and can be purchased from this website. Reservations can be made with Jerry Draper at beecele@superorg.org. Children will be admitted free, but reservations are required, he said.
SuperOrganism is a non-profit organization dedicated to furthering sustainable agricultural practices through research, events, publications, lectures, demonstrations, and other means. SuperOrganism takes its name and purpose from the model of a honey bee (Apis mellifera) colony where individuals work selflessly and mindfully towards the common good of the whole.
Savory Thymes supports and educates the public about local and sustainable systems.
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
June 8, 2011
Bryce Sullivan talks about what he learned in painting a honey bee.Maxx Becker compared pollination efficiency between the blue orchard bee and the honey bee.Carpenter bee by Victor LorGreen sweat bee by Safa Rashid
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
June 8, 2011
Graduate student Sarah Dalrymple next to the bee mural. (Photos by Kathy Keatley Garvey)DAVIS--It’s a shed to bee-hold.
A colorful native-bee mural on a tiny tool shed in the honey bee garden at the University of California, Davis may indeed be the most bee-utiful shed in the country.
It’s informative, educational and artistic, visitors and bee specialists alike agree.
“It’s spectacular,” said native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology at UC Davis. "It is gratifying to see our native bees get recognition along side their most famous cousin, the European honey bee."
Squash bee? Check. Leafcutter bee? Check. Sweat bee? Check. Wool carder bees? Check.
They’re among the 22 bees portrayed by 22 UC Davis students enrolled in the recent Entomology 1, “Art, Science and the World of Insects.”
The art is a new addition to the Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road, west of the central campus. The haven does quadruple duty: it’s a year-around food source for the Laidlaw bees and other pollinators; and it’s an educational, artistic and research garden that focuses on the plight and needs of honey bees.
The students are neither entomology nor art majors. In fact, their fields of study span 12 different majors, including engineering and computer science. Many had never heard of a digger bee, longhorned bee or a sweat bee, let alone how to depict it on the mural.
Small carpenter bee by Caitlyn Jones.But soon they did. Graduate student/teaching assistant Sarah Dalrymple guided them on an art and science expedition that led to the design, creation and installation of the mural.
“Each student chose a different native bee species to research and then came up with a design to illustrate an interesting aspect of the bee’s behavior,” said Dalrymple, who served as the graphics project coordinator. She is studying for her doctorate with major professor Rick Karban of the UC Davis Department of Entomology.
“They painted their own composition onto a hexagonal piece of concrete board and at the end of the quarter these hexagons were assembled into a honeycomb mosaic on the side of the shed,” she said.
Most of the bees depicted, including mason, sweat, squash, leafcutter, blue orchard, carpenter and bumble bees are natives. Also portrayed: the non-native honey bee (Apis mellifera), brought to America in 1622 by European colonists.
“When most people hear the word, ‘bee,’ honey bee immediately comes to mind,” said UC Davis Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen. “Honey bees do provide 80 to 90 percent of the crop pollination that results in about one-third of our daily diet. However, other bees contribute to crop pollination and are responsible for the maintenance of flowers, shrubs and trees in our forests, meadows and deserts.”
Thorp, who annotated the mural, said that it is "more than just a collection of individual panels."
"Sarah and the students obviously collaborated in piecing together individual works to form a landscape horizon and a tree trunk that connects many of the panels brings the mural together as a collective piece," he said. "The students did their research and were able to present aspects of the biology of their subjects above and beyond providing pretty pictures of some of the diverse array of bee species."
"One panel in particular caught my attention when I saw the mural in its entirety," Thorp said. "That was a clever rendition comparing the way we see flower colors and the way in which bees view them with their vision that reaches further into the ultraviolet part of the spectrum than we can view with our unaided eyes. That helps point out that bees and humans perceive the world in different ways."
Dalrymple, named the recipient of a 2011 UC Davis Outstanding Graduate Student Teaching Award for her work, “crossed the boundaries between biology, art and culture and provided “a high level of expertise and innovation in each area,” said course co-instructor Diane Ullman, associate dean for Undergraduate Academic Programs, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and professor of entomology.
“This kind of integration takes courage and the will to reach across disciplinary borders to engage students in a new way of thinking,” said Ullman. “Sarah brought her knowledge of ecology and population together with her background in art and taught the graphics studio section of this course. Of the three sections--ceramics, textile surface design and graphics--graphics is perhaps the most difficult to teach because it is the least forgiving of different skill levels, talents and experience.”
Course co-instructor Donna Billick, a noted artist based in Davis, described the class as extremely successful, and “a letterhead class for Sarah.” Both Ullman and Billick are the co-founders and co-directors of the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program.
As for Dalrymple, she said she’s always loved art and science and blending them came naturally. “I took a lot of art classes as a kid and in high school and especially enjoyed working with oil and acrylic paints,” Dalrymple said. “In college I majored in biology (ecology and evolutionary biology) and minored in Spanish at the University of Tennessee and lost my focus on art.”
Dalrymple, a member of the Department of Evolution and Ecology’s Population Biology Graduate Group, regained her focus on art after Ullman offered her a teaching assistant position in graphics. “I was extremely excited for the opportunity to combine my enthusiasm about science with my long-held interest in art and to expand my teaching practice into the arts,” said Dalrymple, now a third-year teaching assistant.
“Each time I teach this class my goal is one, to empower students to take ownership of their work and, two, collaborate to unify their artwork under a larger theme,” Dalrymple said. “The students responded with diligent work outside of class and a willingness to work together to make big picture decisions about project details and critique one another’s work. Collaborating in this way, students were able to build off of one another’s ideas to create something I never could have pictured. “
“I came into the class with a general idea of how the mosaic would be laid out, but the students filled in all of the details,” Dalrymple said. “Many of these students came into the class with very little art experience, but still produced impressive artwork.”
The best part of class? “That students actively contribute to the knowledge and ideas behind the design, so it becomes a more meaningful and empowering learning experience for them,” Dalrymple said.
“About two-thirds of the way through the quarter I observed a noticeable shift from students relying solely on me for critiques of their ideas and paintings to them relying on one another. I think it is rare for undergraduates to realize that other students have valid input and ideas, so I am proud to have been a part of that learning experience.”
The students commented on their work at a recent end-of-class gathering in the haven. “I haven’t done art since kindergarten,” said student Madel Soriano, who portrayed a squash bee (Peponapis sp.) She said she learned that the male squash bee sleeps inside the flower, awaiting the females. Soriano thanked cucurbits specialist Jim Cane of the Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, and native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology (who also annotated the mural).
Soriano’s advice to future students: “Don’t be hesitant to ask the researchers. They’re happy to help.”
Jessa Fautino, who crafted a longhorned bee (Mellisodes sp.) said she had not created any art since grade schools. What particularly challenged her: “how to make the bees look hairy, how to make the wings look realistic, and how to blend the colors.” She learned that the longhorned bee does much of its pollination in August, is involved in communal roosting.
Christine Chen, who did a wool carder bee (Anthidium manicatum), said the female bee cards the fuzz from the leaves of lamb’s ear and other plants for her nest. The male is territorial and chases away other insects.
Anthony Ngo, who portrayed an iridescent sweat bee (Agapostemon sp.) said he had no painting experience before the class. “Sarah helped me a lot.”
Many of the students said the wall mural is a legacy; that it will be there after they graduate from UC Davis.
“It will be here forever,” said Andrew Yip, who drew a leafcutter bee (Megachile sp.)
Now a science/art team, including Ullman, Billick, Dalrymple, are meeting with Thorp to discuss creating functional art: building and decorating nesting structures for native bees in the garden.
“Then we’ll be back to the drawing boards to come up with an innovative idea for a project that encourages scientific discovery and creative input from students,” Dalrymple said.
“We want to continue to do this kind of work,” said Billick, who created the six-foot-long bee sculpture, “Miss Bee Haven,” in the garden. Two columns of painted bee-motif bee boxes, the work of the UC Davis Art Science Fusion Program, grace the entrance to the garden. One column represents honey bee activity inside the hive and the other, outside the hive.
And now the native bees have their place in the garden, too.
(Editor's Note: The haven is open year around from dawn to dusk. There is no admission fee.)
Related Links:
The Bee Mural Legend (Identifying the bees and artists, with bee annotations by native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology)
A Photo Essay of the Students Who Created the Art
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
July 5, 2011
Distinguished professor Bruce Hammock is unaware a balloon is heading straight for him. The ninth annual balloon battle is set for 3:45 p.m., Friday, July 15 on the north lawn of Briggs Hall on KleibeDAVIS--Are you ready to get wet?
The ninth annual Bruce Hammock Lab Water Balloon Battle, aka Bruce's Big Balloon Battle at Briggs, will take place at 3:45 p.m., Friday, July 15 on the north lawn of Briggs Hall on Kleiber Drive.
“We have about 2000 water balloons that need to be filled and tossed,” said coordinator Christophe Morisseau, associate research scientist in the lab.
The balloon filling begins at 1:30 p.m. in 82 Briggs.
To participate, all you need to do is help fill the balloon and show up and be prepared to get wet, Morisseau said. Faculty, staff, students, children and spouses are welcome to participate or watch.Hammock launched the water balloon fest in 2003 as a way to build camaraderie and gain relief from the heat. The water warriors usually toss all the balloons within 15 minutes, a feat known as "15 Minutes of Aim!"
The Hammock lab is known for working hard and playing hard. Hammock, a member of the National Academy of Sciences since 1999, holds a joint appointment in cancer research with the UC Davis Medical Center. He directs the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) Superfund Program on the UC Davis campus, as well as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Training Program in Biotechnology and the NIEHS Combined Analytical Laboratory.More information is available on the water balloon battle is available from Morisseau at (530) 752-6571.
Related Links:
See photos from last year's blast.
See photos from 2009 blast.
See photos from 2008 blast.
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
DAVIS--Honey bee researcher and apiculturist Brian R. Johnson, a University of California President's Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Berkeley, has joined the faculty of the UC Davis Department of Entomology.
He is based at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road and at 396 Briggs Hall.
Michael Parrella, professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology, welcomed the new assistant professor.
'The Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility has been the site of very innovative bee research over the years that have contributed to the facility's national and international reputation,” Parrella said. “We are excited about hiring Brian Johnson as the new apiculturist at UC Davis as Brian is committed to moving the science of apiculture forward as well as to conducting problem-solving research to help beekeepers, bee breeders and those stakeholders who rely on pollination services provide by honey bees.”
As a UC President's Postdoctoral Fellow, Johnson worked with Neil Tsutsui of the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management (ESPM) from 2009 until this spring. Earlier, from 2006 to 2009, he served as a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at UC San Diego and the University of Bristol, UK.
Johnson received his doctorate in 2004 from Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. in behavioral biology (thesis: “Organization of Work in the Honey Bee”). He obtained his bachelor's degree in 1998 from the UC San Diego, where he majored in ecology, behavior and evolution.
“Although I've been studying bees for over 12 years, I still learn something unexpected and important with every new study,” Johnson said. “The colony is like a hugely complex puzzle, with many pieces fitting together in functionally cohesive ways. This brain-teaser aspect of figuring out how a honey bee colony works is I think what first attracted me to bee research.”
A native of Hartford, Conn., Johnson grew up primarily in San Jose but also lived in Omaha, Neb. He has broad interests in evolution, ecology, behavior, genetics, and theoretical biology.
| Johnson, who received his doctorate in behavioral biology from Cornell University, is 'interested in integrative biology, which is biological research on a trait at all levels from genes to ecology and behavior.' |
“Basically, I'm interested in integrative biology, which is biological research on a trait at all levels from genes to ecology and behavior,” Johnson said.
“In the past (prior to the 1980s) bees were more or less healthy, so little effort went into understanding their basic epidemiology,” Johnson said. “When tracheal mites, and then Varroa moved in, great effort went into controlling these pests, but still little effort went into basic bee epidemiology. Now with colony collapse disorder (CCD), the emphasis is finally transitioning from trying to put out fires--by which I mean control nasty pests of current concern--to both trying to put out fires and understand what causes them in the first place.”
“My hope is that Davis can be at the forefront of this endeavor to both control CCD,” Johnson said, “and to understand what factors underlie a healthy or unhealthy population of honey bees.”
He was the lead author of two research studies published this year, “Taxonomically Restricted Genes Are Associated with Eusocial Evolution in the Honey Bee” (BMC Genomics), and “Nestmate Recognition in Social Insects: Overcoming Physiological Constraints with Collective Decision Making” (Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology).
Last year Johnson served as the lead author of “Self Organization, Natural Selection and Evolution: Cellular Hardware and Genetic Software" (BioScience); “Communication in Social Insect Colonies: the Roles of Signals and Cues in Group Level Coordination of Action" (Behavioral Ecology); "Eliminating the Mystery from the Concept of Emergence" (Biology and Philosophy); “Modeling the Adaptive Role of Negative Signaling in Honey Bee Intraspecific Competition" (Journal of Insect Behavior); “Spatial Effects, Sampling Errors, and Task Specialization in the Honey Bee" (Insectes Sociaux); “Deconstructing the Superorganism: Social Physiology, Groundplans, and Sociogenomics" (Quarterly Review of Biology) and “Division of Labor in Honey Bees: Form, Function, and Proximate Mechanisms" (Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology).
He also teamed with other researchers to publish work in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, PloS Genetics, and the Journal of Insect Biology.
Among his awards: the UC President's Postdoctoral Fellowship (2009-2011), project title, "Role of Genotypic Variabiity in Self-Organzing Task Allocation Mechanisms in the Honey Bee"; National Science Foundation (NSF) Minority Postdoctoral Fellowship (2006-2009); and a NSF Predoctoral Fellowship (2000-2003).
Johnson taught biology as an adjunct instructor at West Valley College, Saratoga, Calif., and at Foothill College, Los Altos, Calif. He lectured on "Introduction to Insect Behavior" at UC Berkeley in the fall of 2009 and 2010 and also presented lectures on campus on the evolution and design of superorganisms. As an invited speaker, he discussed "Adaptively Regulated Behavioral Plasticity in the Superorganism" last July at the European Society for Evolutionary Developmental Biology, Paris, and also delivered honey bee presentations over the last several years in Brussels, Belgium; Cambridge, UK, and in Illinois and Arizona, among others.
With the addition of Johnson, UC Davis is re-building its bee biology program. UC Davis lost several professors at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility in recent years due to retirement: Norman Gary (1994), Robbin Thorp (1994), Robert Page Jr. (2004) and Christine Peng (2005). Page, former chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and now the vice provost and dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Arizona State University, continues to keep his specialized bee stock at UC Davis where bee breeder-geneticist M. Kim Fondrk manages it.
Johnson joins the “bee team” of Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen, a member of the UC Davis Department of Entomology since 1976; native pollinator specialist Neal Williams, assistant professor of entomology; veteran bee breeders-geneticists Susan Cobey and M. Kim Fondrk; and staff research associate and beekeeper Elizabeth Frost. Cobey maintains a dual research appointment with Washington State University.
Also lending his expertise is native pollinator specialist Robbin Thorp. Although officially retired, he continues his research, outreach and publications work from his office in the Laidlaw facility. He is one of the instructors at The Bee Course, held annually at the Southwestern Research Station, Portal, Ariz.
The Laidlaw facility is named for Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. (1907-2003), considered "The Father of Honey Bee Genetics." He served on the UC Davis Department of Entomology faculty from 1947 until his retirement in 1974. Although retiring in 1974, he continued his research and outreach programs, publishing his last scientific paper at age 87 and his last book at 90. He died at age 96 at his home in Davis.
Related information:
Brian Johnson's website
Email: brnjohnson@ucdavis.edu
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
