Sept. 9, 2011

Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen shows a frame to visitors at theHarry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

DAVIS---Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen of the UC Davis Department of Entomology will speak on “Current Beekeeping Problems: Disasters or Opportunities” at the Western Apicultural Society (WAS) conference on Tuesday, Sept. 13 in Kamuela,  Hawaii.

The annual conference will take place Sept. 12-15 in the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel in Kamuela.

The program also will include talks about beekeeping in Hawaii, alternatives to conventional beekeeping, new research, and colony collapse disorder and other colony losses.

Mussen, a five-time past president of WAS, has served as an Extension apiculturist with the UC Davis Department of Entomology since 1976, shortly after receiving his doctorate in entomology from the University of Minnesota.

Mussen writes the bimonthly Extension newsletter, from the UC Apiaries, considered one of the best and most informative in the industry, and Bee Briefs, both available free on the UC Davis Department of Entomology website. His research interests include managing honey bees and wild bees for maximum field production, while minimizing pesticide damage to pollinator populations. His research also focuses on maintaining healthy bees

Mussen is the recipient of numerous state and national awards for his work in educating the agricultural community, the beekeeping industry and the general public about honey bees.

He and  UC Davis professor-apiculturist Norman Gary (now retired), co-founded WAS in 1978 as a non-profit, educational organization designed specifically to meet the educational needs of beekeepers from Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming; the provinces of Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and the Yukon; and the states of northern Mexico.

More information is on the website at http://groups.ucanr.org/WAS/.

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--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894

DAVIS--He’s of German and Italian stock, just like the honey bees he tends.

Billy Synk, whose father is of German descent, and his mother, Italian, tends the Carniolan and Italian bees at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at the University of California, Davis.

Synk, a staff research associate since May, loves working with the 125 research hives. “There’s always something new to learn,” he said.

Synk divides his time working for honey bee specialist Brian Johnson and native bee specialist Neal Williams, both associate professors in the Department of Entomology. “I like being super busy,” he said.

“Billy is doing a great job,” Johnson commented. “He’s a fast learner and a hard worker and has already played a big role in some experiments.”

Synk, who received his bachelor of science degree in environmental policy and management in 2008 from Ohio State University (OSU), worked with noted bee breeder-geneticist Susan Cobey at OSU. Cobey later joined the Laidlaw facility in May of 2007.

 “Billy worked with me as a student beekeeper assistant,” said Cobey, now a bee breeder-geneticist at Washington State University.  “I always look for students who are intrigued with bee behavior and have a rapport with the bees, rather than being asked the two common questions, ‘Do you get stung?” and ‘Do you make honey?” Billy developed a good rapport with the bees, is always enthusiastic and fun to work with. We stayed in close touch over the years. I feel he will be an asset to the UC Davis bee biology program.”

Synk, who received his bachelor of science degree in environmental policy and management in 2008 from Ohio State University, worked at OSU for four years, first for Cobey, and later as a greenhouse assistant, research farm assistant manager, and as an assistant with a soybean project. He also worked at the Ohio State Equine Center, where he recalls “chasing the horses and giving them shots.”

Now a Californian, Synk  left Ohio for California four years ago, first rearing leafcutter bees  for a seed company specializing in  alfalfa and vegetables.

At the Laidlaw facility, Synk works closely with Kimiora Ward of the Williams lab, assisting her with a variety of field work and lab projects. He samples for bees and pests, mounts slides, enters data, monitors for general bee hive health, applies treatments, designs experiments, works with general facilities, and manages interns, students and visitors.  He recently tended the blue orchard bees in the hoop houses.  His skills extend to plumbing, electrical and woodworking.

Synk also helps out at the Haagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, the half-acre bee friendly garden planted next to the Laidlaw facility.

Born in Solon, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, Synk grew up playing high school football--his coaches nicknamed  him “N’ Synk.”  Today his passions include cycling, rock climbing, and of course, bees.

 

He’s of German and Italian stock, just like the honey bees he tends.

Billy Synk, whose father is of German descent, and his mother, Italian, tends the Carniolan and Italian bees at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at the University of California, Davis.

Synk, a staff research associate since May, loves working with the 125 research hives. “There’s always something new to learn,” he said.

Synk divides his time working for honey bee specialist Brian Johnson and native bee specialist Neal Williams, both associate professors in the Department of Entomology. “I like being super busy,” he said.

“Billy is doing a great job,” Johnson commented. “He’s a fast learner and a hard worker and has already played a big role in some experiments.”

Synk, who received his bachelor of science degree in environmental policy and management in 2008 from Ohio State University (OSU), worked with noted bee breeder-geneticist Susan Cobey at OSU. Cobey later joined the Laidlaw facility in May of 2007.

 “Billy worked with me as a student beekeeper assistant,” said Cobey, now a bee breeder-geneticist at Washington State University.  “I always look for students who are intrigued with bee behavior and have a rapport with the bees, rather than being asked the two common questions, ‘Do you get stung?” and ‘Do you make honey?” Billy developed a good rapport with the bees, is always enthusiastic and fun to work with. We stayed in close touch over the years. I feel he will be an asset to the UC Davis bee biology program.”

Synk, who received his bachelor of science degree in environmental policy and management in 2008 from Ohio State University, worked at OSU for four years, first for Cobey, and later as a greenhouse assistant, research farm assistant manager, and as an assistant with a soybean project. He also worked at the Ohio State Equine Center, where he recalls “chasing the horses and giving them shots.”

Now a Californian, Synk  left Ohio for California four years ago, first rearing leafcutter bees  for a seed company specializing in  alfalfa and vegetables.

At the Laidlaw facility, Synk works closely with Kimiora Ward of the Williams lab, assisting her with a variety of field work and lab projects. He samples for bees and pests, mounts slides, enters data, monitors for general bee hive health, applies treatments, designs experiments, works with general facilities, and manages interns, students and visitors.  He recently tended the blue orchard bees in the hoop houses.  His skills extend to plumbing, electrical and woodworking.

Synk also helps out at the Haagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, the half-acre bee friendly garden planted next to the Laidlaw facility.

Born in Solon, Ohio, a suburb of Cleveland, Synk grew up playing high school football--his coaches nicknamed  him “N’ Synk.”  Today his passions include cycling, rock climbing, and of course, bees.

DAVIS--Steve Heydon, senior museum scientist at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, has been named the recipient of a Citation for Excellence Award, a coveted honor awarded annually to outstanding UC Davis staff. The awards are sponsored by the UC Davis Staff Assembly.

Heydon, who began working for the Bohart Museum in 1990, will be honored at the annual Citation for Excellence Awards, set for Thursday, Aug. 2 at the chancellor’s residence, the home of Chancellor Linda P. B. Katehi and her husband, Spyros Tseregounis, UC Davis professor of chemical engineering.

Heydon was nominated by communications specialist Kathy Keatley Garvey, UC Davis Department of Entomology; and the Bohart Museum's program representative Tabatha Yang and junior specialist Andrew Richards, with input from colleagues and Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and professor of entomology.  

They wrote that “He goes out of his way to answer questions from the general public, faculty, staff, students, visiting scientists, and the news media. Even when he’s absorbed in a scientific project, with deadlines looming and time vanishing, he is always genuinely polite, respectful and approachable.  ‘He is always willing to drop what he’s doing to help out a scientist, reporter, staff member, volunteer or the public,’ as one colleague said.”

“ Our nominee treats everyone with the utmost respect and understanding, an earmark of an outstanding UC Davis employee. If someone is afraid of a specimen that they’ve just found, he will sit down with them, allay any fears, and tell them interesting tidbits about it, such as how it fits into the scheme of things, what it eats and what will eat it.  He will pull out reference books and collection drawers so they can match their specimen to the genus and species and to the locality. He doesn’t lecture or talk down to anyone; to him, there’s no such thing as a ‘dumb question.’ He engages them at their level and imparts knowledge that they will always remember. ‘Wow, I didn’t know that!’  Or, ‘Amazing!’  They walk away thrilled with their one-on-one experience of talking to a scientist.”

“Always willing to help out--even at a moment’s notice--he will guide both pre-arranged and impromptu tours to visiting groups ranging in age from 5 to 95.  We’ve seen him eagerly answering questions he may have answered hundreds of times but each time he gives the impression that this question is special and the person asking it is special. Because they are.  In fact, he goes out of his way to engage them.  He’ll ask why someone thinks a specimen is ‘icky,’ ‘gross’ or ‘better off dead.’”

His colleagues praised him as bringing out “the best in everyone” and as someone who “sincerely cares.”

“ In summary, many people think that talking to a scientist can be intimidating, imposing and challenging, but this description does not apply at all to our nominee, a scientist who joined the UC Davis workforce in 1990. His friendliness, patience, generosity, passion, competence, dedication, enthusiasm and delightful sense of humor make him an excellent candidate for a Citation for Excellence. He’s a true UC Davis goodwill ambassador in that he takes pride in the university, his department, his colleagues, and his work, which in itself, has drawn national and international acclaim. In his collaborations with other universities and government agencies, he is known for his almost intuitive competency and his quick response to queries. In short, he is a prized employee, the best of the best.”

Heydon has one son, James, 11, a frequent visitor to the Bohart Museum. His late wife, Stella Heydon, worked for the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and received the 2010 ECE Staff Recognition Award for her excellent work.

July 25, 2012

DAVIS--A University of California, Davis discovery that male navel orangeworms respond more readily to artificial or “deceitful” female sex pheromones than to natural sex pheromones could lead to a better mating disruption approach, resulting in a reduced larval infestation of California’s multibillion almond, pistachio and walnut crops.

The research, published July 20 in PLoS ONE, a peer-reviewed, open-access journal from the Public Library of Science, also found that the deceitful sex pheromone or paraphermone is more chemically stable than the natural sex pheromone, said chemical ecologist Walter Leal, professor and former chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology.

 “Sex pheromones can be used as an environmentally safe alternative to control insect population without the need of hard chemical like pesticides,” he said. “Unfortunately, the constituents of the natural navel orangeworm sex pheromones are chemically unstable and, therefore, readily degraded in the field.”

“Our research is aimed at identifying more stable analogs (parapheromones) for practical application,” Leal said, noting “We’re working on how this compound, discovered years ago,  interacts with the olfactory system.  We found that a formate analog of the pheromone is so deceitful that it ‘tricks’ the moth olfactory system. The formate has been known since 1982 but it was unknown how it works.”

“The moth sense of smell cannot distinguish the natural sex pheromone from the parapheromone to a point that the odorant receptors tuned to the reception of the sex pheromone are even more sensitive to the synthetic alternative,” he explained.

The larvae of the navel orangeworm (Amyelois transitella) infest unharvested or "mummy" nuts left on the tree or on the ground. The infestations can also lead to fungal diseases.

The UC Davis-based research suggests that the stronger response to the formate analog might be a “common feature of moth pheromone receptors,” Leal said, “and could be used as a replacement for chemically less stable aldehyde pheromones.”

Ultimately, the research aims to  identify a chemically stable replacement for the natural sex pheromone, which can be used in the field to disrupt male-female communication

The scientists cloned odorant receptors (ORs) and then tested them in the antennae of the male navel orangeworm.

“Insects achieve their prominence through successful reproduction, which in turn relies heavily on an acute olfactory system, “ wrote the eight-member team comprised of seven scientists from the Leal lab and a researcher from the Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture. “Thousands of finely tuned pheromone sensors in the antennae enable male moths to follow the trail of a pheromone scent remotely released by conspecific (same species) females when they overtly advertise their readiness to mate.”

“The acuteness of the insect's olfactory system is clearly manifested in the selective and sensitive detection of sex pheromone by male moths,” they wrote. “Although a single molecule of the natural sex pheromone is estimated to be sufficient to activate a neuron in male antennae, pheromone analogs with minimal structural modifications may have very little or no activity.  One noticeable exception to this ‘lock-and-key’ tight selectivity of the receptor-pheromone system is that formate analogs are ‘deceitful’ to detectors of aldehyde pheromone.”

The navel orangeworm (NOW) is the primary pest of California's 800,000 acres of almonds, reducing yield and increasing processing costs. NOW females lay their eggs in the mummified nuts. The larvae consume most of the nut meats and produce large amounts of webbing and frass.

The research team included Pingxi Xu, Elizabeth Atungulu, Zain Syed, Young-Moo Choo, Diogo Vidal Caio Zitelli and Leal from the UC Davis lab, and Stephen Garczynski of the Yakima Agricultural Research Laboratory in Wapato, Wash, an ARS/USDA lab. Syed is now with the University of Notre Dame.

Their work drew grant support from the National Science Foundation;  National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA; National Institutes of Health; and the Washington Tree Fruit Commission  In addition, two of the researchers,  Vidal and Zitelli, from Brazil, gained financial support from  CAPES undergraduate scholarships. CAPES ( Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior)  is an organization within the Ministry of Education in Brazil.