Jan. 16, 2012

Neal Williams will be giving a presentation at the International Symposium on Pollinator Conservation on Jan. 27 in Fukuota, Japan. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

DAVIS--Pollination ecologist Neal Williams, assistant professor of entomology at UC Davis, will be one of the featured speakers at the International Symposium on Pollinator Conservation, to be held Jan. 27-29  in Fukuoka, Japan.

His talk will explore agricultural landscape change and the role of bee life history in predicting and understanding responses of bee communities. The conference, sponsored by the Japan Society of the Promotion of Science and themed "Conservation and Sustainable Use of Pollinators: Towards Global Assessments," will take place on the Hakozaki campus, Kyushu University.

Williams is the only invited speaker from California. (See his lab research)

 “Bees provide a critical ecosystem service for humanity through their pollination of crops worldwide,”  said Williams, who will speak on “Bee Life History and Resource Distributions Determine Population and Community Responses to Agricultural Landscape Change.”

“There is increasing recognition of the contributions of wild species to crop pollination and their role in sustainable pollination into the future.  The persistence of wild bee species depends on the availability of essential nesting sites and forage resources within the landscape.  Agriculture management can profoundly change the abundance and distribution of these resources over time and space."

Bombus vosnesenskii

“Because bee species differ in specific nesting and forage requirements, there is the potential for land transformation to filter wild bee communities based on such ecological traits,” Williams said. “I will present two separate studies from central California exploring the role nesting and forage resources in determining bee responses to agricultural intensification.  The first study explores the effects of bee life history traits and resource distributions on observed changes in bee communities between semi-natural and farmland components of an agricultural landscape. 

“I will use a combination of empirical data sampled over multiple landscapes and spatial modeling of bee communities to reveal the relative importance of forage and nesting resources to bee responses.    The second study focuses on the bumble bee Bombus vosnesenskii.  I will use empirical data on bumble bee colony performance and a spatially-explicit model of floral abundance to quantify the importance the forage-resource landscape in determining worker and queen production.”

Williams pointed out that  “the abundance of forage strongly affected worker production; however, it was most sensitive to early season resources.  Spatio-temporal variation in the resource landscape across the season reduced the overall effect of the forage landscape on queen production.  Nonetheless consistent forage resources are key to the persistence of bumble bee populations in this region.”

Other featured speakers include:

James Cane from the USDA-ARS Bee Biology and Systematics Lab, Utah State University, Logan, Utah, who will speak on “Native Bees for Wildflower Seed Farming and Large-Scale Wildland Restoration in the western United States.”

David Goulson from University of Stirling, UK, “Bumble Bee Conservation in Practice; the Work of the Bumble Bee Conservation Trust”

Jacobus Biesmeijer from the NCB Naturalis, The Netherlands, “European Pollinators and Plants: Recent Changes in Space and Time”

Bernard Vaissiere from the French National Institute for Agricultural Research, France, “Economic Valuation of Vulnerability of World Agriculture Confronted with Pollinator Decline”

Hisatomo Taki, “Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Japan, “Pollinator Responses to Forest Management in Japan”

The conference is supported by the Ecological Society of Japan and the Japanese Society of Applied Entomology & Zoology.

The conference aims:

Recently, crop pollination by insects has been regarded as one of the most important ecosystem service. Insect pollination is necessary for 75 percent of all crops that are used directly for human food worldwide. Economic value of insect pollination is estimated to be € 153 billion per year. Furthermore, insect pollination is also necessary for the reproduction of many wild plants. However, pollinator declines have been reported in many parts of the world. Such declines are considered to be due to habitat destruction and fragmentation, environment pollution, and invasion of competitors and pathogens. This symposium aims to (1) grasp current situation facing pollinators around the world, (2) discuss effective conservation efforts and (3) develop collaborative networks among researchers from around the world including Asian countries. Many Asian countries will be required to achieve economic growth and conservation of biodiversity simultaneously. If cooperative framework is established between Asian researchers and those from other parts of the world, it can facilitate global-scale monitoring and efficient and effective conservation of pollinator diversity.

---

Back to News 

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

Jan. 11, 2012

Anurag Agrawal

DAVIS---Anurag Agrawal, professor of ecology at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., will speak on "Evolutionary Ecology of Plant Defenses" from 12:10 to 1 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 18 in 122 Briggs

Host is Andrew Merwin of the Michael Parrella lab.

Seminar abstract: " In order to address coevolutionary interactions between milkweeds and their root feeding four-eyed beetles, I will present data on reciprocity, fitness tradeoffs, specialization and the genetics of adaptation.  In addition to wonderful natural history, this work sheds light on long-standing theory about how antagonistic interactions proceed in ecological and evolutionary time."

Biosketch: Anurag Agrawal received his doctorate in population biology from UC Davis, working with major prfoessor Rick Karban.  Now a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Cornell University, Agrawal works on plant-insect interactions, including aspects of herbivory, community ecology, phenotypic plasticity, chemical ecology and coevolution. Research projects include work on local biodiversity, ecology of invasive plants, the biology of Monarch butterflies, and the evolution of plant defense strategies.

Coordinating the winter seminars are assistant professors Louie Yang and Joanna Chiu. Most of the talks (except for Jan. 11 and March 21) will be webcast and then can be viewed on UCTV. Professor James R. Carey is spearheading the project.

The complete list of speakers:

Jan. 11: Denise Ferkey, assistant professor, State University of New York (SUNY), Buffalo, will speak on "Regulation of Chemosensory Signaling in C. elegans."
Hosts: Valerie Williamson, professor of nematology, and Ed Lewis, professor of nematology and entomology and acting chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology.
Site: 12:10 to 1 p.m., 122 Briggs Hall.
Webcast and posted on UCTV: Yes..

Jan. 18: Anurag Agrawal, professor of ecology at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., will speak on "Evolutionary Ecology of Plant Defenses."
Host: Andrew Merwin of the Michael Parrella lab.
Site: 12:10 to 1 p.m., 122 Briggs Hall.
Webcast and Posted on UCTV: Yes

Jan. 25: Mary Louise Flint, Cooperative Extension specialist and associate director for Urban and Community IPM, UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program, will speak on "Educating the Urban Public about Insect Pests and their Management."
Site: 12:10 to 1 p.m., 122 Briggs Hall.
Host: None
Webcast and Posted on UCTV: Yes

Feb. 1: T’ai Roulston, research associate professor and curator, State Arboretum of Virginia, will speak on "Pollen as a Resource for Pollinators: What Governs Quality?"
Site: 12:10 to 1 p.m., 122 Briggs Hall.
Host: Neal Williams, assistant professor of entomology.
Webcast and Posted on UCTV: Yes

Feb. 8: Damian Elias, assistant professor, Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, UC Berkeley, will speak on "Multimodal Communication in Jumping Spiders."
Site: 12:10 to 1 p.m., 122 Briggs Hall.
Host: Leslie Saul of the Neal Williams lab.
Webcast and Posted on UCTV: Yes

Feb. 15: Jamesina J. Scott, district manager and research director, Lake County Vector Control District, will speak on  "Aedes japonicus -- Tracking an Invasive Mosquito We Knew Very Little About."
Site: 12:10 to 1 p.m., 122 Briggs Hall.
Host: Brittany Mills of the William Reisen lab.
Webcast and Posted on UCTV: Yes

Feb. 22: Jennifer Thaler, associate professor, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., will speak on "Tri-Trophic Plant-Insect Interactions in Solanaceous Plants."
Site: 12:10 to 1 p.m., 122 Briggs Hall.
Host: Billy Krimmel of the Jay Rosenheim lab
Webcast and Posted on UCTV: Yes

Feb. 29: Jay Rosenheim, professor of entomology at UC Davis, will speak on "Insect Ecology in Natural and Agricultural Systems."
Site: 122 Briggs Hall.
Host: Kelly Hamby of the Frank Zalom lab.
Webcast and Posted on UCTV: Yes

March 7: Candice Stafford, graduate student researcher in the Diane Ullman lab, will speak on "A Virus at the Helm: Infection with Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus Modifies Thrips Feeding Behavior."
Site: 12:10 to 1 p.m., 122 Briggs Hall.
Host: Diane Ullman, professor of entomology and associate dean for undergraduate academic programs in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
Webcast and Posted on UCTV: Yes

March 14: Ulrich Mueller, W. M. Wheeler Lost-Pines Professor of Integrative Biology, University of Texas, Austin, will speak on "Ant-Microbe Interaction and Evolution."
Site: 12:10 to 1 p.m., 122 Briggs Hall.
Host: Marek Borowiec of the Phil Ward lab.
Webcast and Posted on UCTV: Yes

March 21: Stephen Welter, professor, Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, UC Berkeley, and associate dean of instruction and student affairs, will speak on "Pheromone Mating Disruption Systems for Management of Insects in Perennial Crops:  New Successes with Old Problems."
Site: 12:10 to 1 p.m., 122 Briggs Hall.
Host: Steve Seybold, UC Davis Department of Entomology affiliate
Webcast and Posted on UCTV: No.

Contact information:
Louie Yang: (530) 754-3261 or lhyang@ucdavis.edu
Joanna Chiu: (530) 752-1839 or jcchiu@ucdavis.edu

---

Back to News 

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

Jan. 10, 2012

Thomas Seeley

DAVIS--Thomas Seeley, professor in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior at Cornell University, where he teaches courses in animal behavior and does research on the functional organization of honey bee colonies, will present two lectures this week on the UC Davis campus.

Seeley will speak on “Swarm Intelligence in Honey Bees” from 4:10 to 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 19 in 2 Wellman Hall as part of the UC Davis Department of Evolution and Ecology’s winter seminar series. Host is Rick Grosberg, professor of evolution and ecology.

Then on Friday, Jan. 20, Seeley will speak on “The Flight Guidance Mechanisms of Honey Bee Swarms at 12:10 p.m. in 6 Olsen Hall as part of the UC Davis Animal Behavior Group’s winter seminar series. His host will be Brian Johnson, assistant professor at the UC Davis Department of Entomology.

Of his Thursday talk, Seeley says: “Swarm intelligence is the solving of a cognitive problem by two or more individuals who independently collect information and process it through social interactions.   With the right organization, a group can overcome the cognitive limitations of its members and achieve a high collective IQ.   To understand how to endow groups with swarm intelligence, it is useful to examine natural systems that have evolved this ability.   An excellent example is a swarm of honey bees solving the life-or-death problem of finding a new home.   A honey bee swarm accomplishes this through a process that includes collective fact-finding, open sharing of information, vigorous debating, and fair voting by the hundreds of bees in a swarm that function as nest-site scouts.”

Seeley said he will show “how these incredible insects have much to teach us when it comes to achieving collective wisdom and effective group decision making.”

Seeley, who grew up in Ithaca, N.Y., began keeping and studying bees while a high school student. He left home to attend college at Dartmouth in 1970, but he returned home each summer to work for Roger A. Morse at the Dyce Laboratory for Honey Bee Studies at Cornell University. There he learned the craft of beekeeping and “began probing the inner workings of the honey bee colony. “

Thoroughly intrigued by the smooth functioning of bee colonies, Seeley went on to graduate school at Harvard University where he studied under two ant men (Bert Hölldobler and Edward O. Wilson). He subsquently began his research on bees in earnest, and earned his Ph.D. at Harvard in 1978. 

Seeley taught at Yale for six years, then worked his way home to Ithaca/Cornell in 1986, where “I’ve been ever since.”

In recognition of his scientific work, Seeley has received the Senior Scientist Prize of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation; a Guggenheim Fellowship, and was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Seeley’s research focuses on the internal organization of honey bee colonies. His work is summarized in three books: "Honeybee Ecology" (1985, Princeton University Press), 'The Wisdom of the Hive" (1995, Harvard University Press), and "Honeybee Democracy" (2010, Princeton University Press). 

---

Back to News 

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

Jan. 10, 2012

Judit Hersko will give a presentation at 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 18 in the Buehler Alumni and Visitors' Center.

DAVIS--The UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program will sponsor a presentation by distinguished process-based visual artist Judit Hersko from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 18 in the Walter Buehler Alumni and Visitors Center, UC Davis.

In her presentation, "Pages from the Book of the Unknown Explorer," the installation artist will examine polar exploration and science with her performance, described as “richly visual” and that will “invoke art, art, Antarctic ecology, oceanography and biology, microscopic and global phenomena, and changing perceptions of science.”

Hersko, an assistant professor in the Visual and Performing Arts Department at California State University, San Marcos, has exhibited her work widely throughout the United States and Europe. In 1991 she was a visiting artist at the Women's Museum in Bonn, Germany and in 1997 she represented her native Hungary at the Venice Biennale.

Her work has been shown in Germany, Austria, Hungary, Spain, and in many cities around the United States including Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and San Diego. The recipient of an Artslink Collaborative Grant and a California Arts Council Visual Arts Fellowship in Sculpture, she recently was invited as a fellow to the Lucas Artists Residency Program at Montalvo. She has several pieces in museum collections including The Museum of Contemporary Art, Ludwig Museum in Budapest.

Hersko's work has been the subject of many publications, including articles in Sculpture magazine, Art in America and the Los Angeles Times.

She received her master of fine arts in sculpture from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1989.

The UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program, co-founded (2006) and co-directed by Diane Ullman and Donna Billick, is a pioneering program in the use of an art-science fusion paradigm in undergraduate education and community outreach.

Ullman, professor and former chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology, is the associate dean for undergraduate academic programs in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Billick, a self-described “rock artist,” is  an alumna of UC Davis (bachelor of science degree in genetics in 1973 and her master’s degree in fine arts in 1977).

The Art/Science Fusion Program includes design faculty, science faculty, museum educators, professional artists and UC Davis students. “Participants see and feel art and science, hold it in their hands, hearts and memories—in ceramics, painting, photographs, music, and textiles,” Ullman said.

The Jan. 18th event is part of the Speaker Series, "The Consilience of Art and Science" and is sponsored in part by a grant from the National Science Foundation.

---

Back to News 

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