Oct. 14, 2011
(Note: Those wishing to attend only the reception, set for 5 to 6:30 p.m. may do so at a reduced cost: $10 general admission and $5 for students)
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DAVIS--Show me the honey!
The Honey! event on Friday, Oct. 21 in the UC Davis Conference Center will feature a “best honey contest,” officials announced today.
The competition will be part of a public celebration of honey sponsored by Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science and co-sponsored by the UC Davis Department of Entomology.
Beekeepers are invited to deliver a jar of honey on Oct. 21 to the UC Davis Conference Center for judging by the attendees. First, second and third prizes will be awarded. The site is located across from the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts.
“There will be special prizes for the best honey,” said event coordinator Clare Hasler-Lewis, executive director of the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science (RMI).
The daylong event, to take place from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., will include five UC Davis or former UC Davis faculty, a honey-themed lunch, honey tasting and a reception featuring the Honeybee Trio of Vacaville and the Jazz Nuances of Davis.
Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen of the UC Department of Entomology, will coordinate honey judging. He also spearheads the annual honey tasting at Briggs Hall during UC Davis Picnic Day.
The attendees will judge different varieties of honey, such as clover, fireweed, orange blossom, eucalyptus, tupelo, safflower and buckwheat and will rank them from one to 5, with one being the best. Further details will be announced on the RMI website at http://robertmondaviinstitute.ucdavis.edu/honey.
Morning speakers are Mussen, who will discuss “The Wonder of Honey Bees”; assistant professor/bee biologist Brian Johnson, who will speak on “How Bees Cooperate to Make Honey and What they Do With It When We Don't” and emeritus professor/bee scientist Norman Gary, an author and professional bee wrangler, whose topic is “Hobby Beekeeping in Urban Environments.”
Afternoon speakers are Louis Grivetti, professor emeritus, Department of Nutrition, discussing “Historical Uses of Honey as Food” and Liz Applegate, professor, Department of Nutrition and director of Sports Nutrition Program, “Sweet Success—Honey for Better Health and Performance.”
Honey tasting, coordinated by Mussen, is scheduled from 3 to 3:45 p.m.
The reception, set from 5 to 6:30 p.m., will feature the popular Honeybee Trio of Vacaville: Karli Bosler, 16; Natalie Angst, 16, and Sarah McElwain,15, all students at Will C. Wood High School, Vacaville. Among the songs they’ll sing, starting at 5 p.m., is “Sugartime.” (See rehearsal on YouTube.) Their repertoire includes classics from the 1930s and beyond in three part-harmony.
Gimbal's Fine Candies of San Francisco will provide samples of Honey Lovers. Part of the proceeds from the sale of their product goes to support beekeeping programs at UC Davis.
Norm Gary will sign and sell his newly published book, “Honey Bee Hobbyist: The Care and Keeping of Bees.” On display will be bee observation hives by Brian Fishback, of Wilton, past president of the Sacramento Area Beekeepers’ Association and a volunteer at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility.
In addition, beekeeping equipment will be displayed from the Laidlaw facility, bee specimens from the Bohart Museum of Entomology, and bee and book products by Rev Honey (Ron Fessenden, M.D.)
Recently reduced prices are: industry members and the public: $50; UC faculty, staff and Friends of the RMI: $35, and UC students, $15. For those attending the reception only, the cost is $10 general admission and $5 for students. Reservations may be made online at http://robertmondaviinstitute.ucdavis.edu/honey or with Kim Bannister at kbannister@ucdavis.edu or (530) 752-5171.
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-689
Oct. 12, 2011
Robbin Thorp with a computer screen of Franklin's bumble bee.DAVIS--Suspected sightings of the critically imperiled Franklin's bumble bee in Douglas County, Ore.--a bee, being studied and monitored by Robbin Thorp, emeritus professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis--have unfortunately turned out to be unfounded..
But the good news is more people are looking for Franklin's bumble bee, Bombus franklini (Frison), which is expected to be listed soon as endangered.
In an article published Oct. 12 article in The News-Review, Douglas County, reporter John Sowell wrote that "amateur bee sleuths throughout Douglas County have been keeping an eye out for the Franklin's bumble bee since the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced last month it is considering placing the elusive bee on the Endangered Species."
Franklin's bumble bee on California poppy. Click to enlarge. (Photo by Robbin Thorp)Since the paper published a photo of the bee in its Sept. 13 edition, nearly two dozen area residents think they've spotted it and have been sending photos of bees to the newsroom. Thorp has identified each of them as other species. Some are the yellow-faced bumble bee (Bombus vosnesenskii).
Franklin's bumble bee, mostly black, has distinctive yellow markings on the front of its thorax and top of its head, Thorp said. It has a solid black abdomen with just a touch of white at the tip, and an inverted U-shaped design between its wing bases.
Franklin’s bumble bee, found only in a narrow range of southern Oregon and northern California, hasn't been seen since 2006.. Its range, a 13,300-square-mile area confined to Siskiyou and Trinity counties in California; and Jackson, Douglas and Josephine counties in Oregon, is thought to be the smallest of any other bumble bee in North America and the world.
Sowell's news article, used with permission, is below.
Douglas County Insect Sightings Create Buzz, news article by John Sowell of The News-Review, Douglas County, Ore. (PDF). Related links:
Franklin's Bumble Bee May Soon Be Listed as Endangered
Declining Bumble Bee Population Alarming
Robbin Thorp's Bumble Bee Research Yields Dickson Award
Mission to Save Franklin's Bumble Bee
Endangered Species Act
California’s List of Endangered Species
Bumble Bees in Decline (Xerces Society)
Bumble Bees in California (UC Berkeley)
Urban Bee Gardens (UC Berkeley)
Watch Robbin Thorp's Webinar on bumble bees
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
Oct. 12, 2011
Michael ParrellaDAVIS--Michael Parrella, professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology, with a joint appointment in the Department of Plant Sciences, is the recipient of the Entomological Society of America's Distinguished Achievement Award in Horticultural Entomology.
The award, sponsored by Gowan Company, singles out an entomologist who has contributed greatly to the American horticulture industry.
Parrella will receive the award at the 59th Annual ESA Meeting, set Nov. 13-16 in Reno. This includes a cash prize and a plaque.
Parrella served as an associate dean in the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences for 10 years.
A native of Elizabeth, N.J., he received his master’s and doctorate degrees in entomology from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. He joined the UC Davis faculty in 1989. In his 30-year career, Parrella has developed an internationally recognized program focused on advancing integrated pest management and biological control for the floriculture and nursery industry.
A Fellow of ESA and past president of the Pacific Branch, Parrella represents the Branch on the ESA Governing Board. Among his awards: ESA’s Recognition Award; inductee into the California Floriculture Hall of Fame; the Emma Lausten Horticulture Award from Rutgers University; the Virginia Tech Distinguished Alumni Award; the Alex Laurie Research Award from the Society of American Florists; and the Futura Research and Education Award from the Professional Plant Growers Association.
He has served on USDA/CSREES review panels for the Departments of Entomology at six universities. He helped draft the document that led to the USDA-ARS Floriculture and Nursery Research Initiative. He has been western regional administrator for the USDA IR-4 program for the past 10 years, a pest management consultant to the American Floral Endowment, and UC liaison to the California Cut Flower Commission and the California Association of Nurserymen.
Parrella is the author of more than 375 publications and serves on the editorial board of the Journal of Environmental Horticulture. He lectures all over the world.
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
Oct. 12, 2011
Walter LealDAVIS--Chemical ecologist Walter Leal, professor and former chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology, is the recipient of the Entomological Society of America's Nan-Yao Su Award for Innovation and Creativity in Entomology.
Each year this award is given to an ESA member who is able to demonstrate, through his/her projects or accomplishments, an ability to identify problems and develop creative, alternative solutions that significantly impact entomology.
Leal will receive the award, which includes a cash prize and a plaque, at the 59th Annual ESA Meeting, set for Nov. 13-16 in Reno.
Leal, educated in Brazil and Japan, holds a doctorate in applied biochemistry from Tsukuba University, Japan, and also earned degrees in chemical engineering and agricultural chemistry.
A pioneer in the field of insect communication and on the cutting edge of research, he employs innovative approaches to insect olfaction problems. His work examines how insects detect smells, communicate with their species, detect host and non-host plants, and detect prey.
Leal has designed and synthesized complex pheromones from many insects, including scarab beetles, true bugs, longhorn beetles and the citrus leafminer. He and his lab discovered the secret mode of the insect repellent DEET.
A native of Brazil, Leal is a Fellow of the ESA and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He served as president of the International Society of Chemical Ecology (ISCE) and of ESA’s Integrative Physiological and Molecular Insect System Section. He received ESA’s 2008 Recognition Award in Insect Physiology, Biochemistry, and Toxicology; ISCE’s 2007 Silverstein-Simeone Award; and the highest medals of honor from the Entomological Society of Brazil and the Japanese Society of Applied Entomology and Zoology.
Under his tenure as department chair, the Chronicle of Higher Education ranked the department No. 1 in the country. Leal has published his work in more than 161 peer-reviewed journals in the general field of insect pheromones, insect chemical communication, and insect olfaction, many widely cited by his peers. He has 28 Japanese and two U.S. patents.
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
Oct. 11, 2011
Frances SivakoffDAVIS--Frances Sivakoff, UC Davis doctoral candidate in entomology, will speak on “Pest Management from a Landscape Perspective: Understanding the Factors that Influence the Distribution of Lygus Hesperus” from 12:10 to 1 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 19 in 122 Briggs.
She studies with major professor Jay Rosenheim.
(Lygus herperus)Abstract: Effective management of polyphagous, highly mobile agricultural pests must be done at the landscape level. The distribution of pests across the agricultural landscape is largely dictated by two factors, the dispersal ability of both the pest and its predators and the distribution and suitability of host patches. We explored these factors to understand the spatial distribution and population dynamics of Lygus spp. (specifically L. hesperus and L. elisus). First, the dispersal ability of Lygus relative to that of its predators was investigated directly with a large-scale mark-capture study using protein markers. The results of this study indicate that Lygus exhibited intermediate dispersal abilities compared to its complex of generalist predators. This suggests that the reason why Lygus are under poor biological control is not because they out-disperse their predators. Then, we evaluated the effect of landscape structure on the population dynamics of Lygus hesperus. We used a novel data set to investigate the effect of 15 common crops and uncultivated agricultural land on Lygus density, correlating the amount of area of each crop type with Lygus densities measured in focal cotton fields. The results of this study support the already established importance of safflower, alfalfa, cotton, and uncultivated agricultural land on Lygus population dynamics. It also demonstrated the importance of several other crops in California’s San Joaquin Valley that have not traditionally been considered for the management of Lygus.
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
