- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
"Our CrowdFund will provide funding to three Title I schools or affiliated youth groups that will cover the guided tour fee and transportation costs for up to 50 people (students, teachers, parents) to participate in a 90-minute field trip at the Bee Haven on the UC Davis campus," announced Christine Casey, academic program management officer for the UC Davis Bee Haven, an educational bee demonstration garden maintained and operated by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
"Participants will see and learn about the 200 plant and 80 bee species that occur at the Haven. They will safely catch and observe bees and participate in a grade-appropriate bee monitoring exercise that will introduce them to scientific research and create a memorable learning adventure about bees, plants, science, and the natural world. We'll also provide books for each school's library that can be used to extend program impact." View Casey's YouTube video.
Casey serves as the Crowdfund leader. Assisting her are Haven volunteers Connie Alexich, Diane Kelly, and Barbara Heinsch.
The bee garden, located next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road, is open daily from dawn to dusk except for Tuesdays (open at 10 a.m.) "so we can maintain physical distance during garden maintenance," Casey says.
The UC Davis Bee Haven was installed in the fall of 2009 during the interim department-chair term of Professor Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology. Art by the UC Davis Art-Science Fusion, co-directed and co-founded by Diane Ullman, professor and former chair, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and Donna Billick of Davis, graces the garden. Billick, a self-described "rock artist, created the six-foot-long, 200-pound ceramic mosaic sculpture of a worker bee, "Miss Bee Haven," in 2010.
All contributions to support the fundraising project are welcome and appreciated. Access the CrowdFund site at https://crowdfund.ucdavis.edu/project/29773. As of 11 a.m. today (Feb. 17), donations amounted to $575. The project ends at 12:59 p.m., Feb. 28.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
A UC Davis Crowdfunding Project is underway until 11:59 p.m., Feb. 28, with a set goal of $5000. Contributions from $5 on up are welcome.
The Biodiversity Museum Day, free and science-based, traditionally takes place the Saturday of Presidents' Day weekend and involves nearly a dozen museums or collections showing their displays and exhibits to the general public. It's always been an opportunity for campus visitors to talk to the scientists and see the work underway.
However, due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions and UC Davis policies, this year's event will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Sunday, March 6 in the UC Davis Conference Center, 550 Alumni Lane and is geared for undergraduates and other members of the UC Davis community instead of the general public. (The general public can look forward to the UC Davis Picnic Day on April 23, 2022 when many of the same museums and collections are scheduled to be featured.)
"Last year, throughout the month of February, we offered a virtual 'BioDivDay' with lectures, talks, and demos from experts," they wrote on the Biodiversity Museum Day Crowdfunding Project page. "Your support will enable our 11 collections-- the students, staff and faculty associated with them-- to hold this event again."
"Donations will not only help us sustain the free, in-person event, it will enable our student interns to take science outreach to a whole new level. The goal of our event is to connect people from all walks of life to science and the biodiversity surrounding them. All donors will be recognized on the Biodiversity Museum Day social media accounts with a shout-out post. Your gifts will help us with some of our key expenses that include:
- Volunteer support ($2000)
- Event rentals ($1500)
- Event materials ($1500)"
COVID guidelines for UC Davis,Yolo County and the state of California--including appropriate mask wearing, UC Davis symptom surveys, vaccination records or negativeCOVID tests--will be followed. Side trips or tours of some of the facilities or collections, including the Bohart Museum of Entomology, Botanical Conservatory, Arboretum and Public Garden, and the yeast collection are planned but not yet scheduled.
To donate, access https://bit.ly/3HPhSaA. A donor wall includes the names of contributors.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The seminar is open to all interested persons. The Zoom link is https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/99515291076.
Heck, who focuses her USDA-ARS research on the discovery and characterization of insect vector-plant-pathogen interactions, serves as a lead scientist and research molecular biologist with the Emerging Pests and Pathogens Research Unit, located in the Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture and Health, Ithaca.
The invasive pest, Asian citrus psyllid, is a threat to America's citrus industry and causes serious damage to citrus plants and citrus plant relatives, according to a USDA Fact Sheet. "Burned tips and twisted leaves result from an infestation on new growth. Psyllids are also carriers of the bacterium that causes Huanglongbing (HLB) disease, also known as citrus greening disease, spreading the disease to healthy citrus plants. Citrus greening is one of the most serious citrus plant diseases in the world. Once a tree is infected, there is no cure."
"Vector-borne diseases are among the most challenging problems in agriculture," says Heck, who plans and conducts sophisticated experiments using a variety of molecular, genetic and functional genomics methods to gain a deeper understanding of vector-borne plant pathogens.
"Research planning involves novel, exceptionally difficult, team research that is subdivided into multiple phases with agency stakeholders," Heck says. Her research "integrates developed knowledge into applied agricultural practices to create novel management strategies for vector-borne plant diseases and the insect vectors." She conducts her studies in support of the USDA-ARS NP 304 Action Plan: Crop Protection and Quarantine, Problem Statement 3A2, a systems approach to environmentally sound pest management.
Heck, who holds a bachelor's degree in biology from Boston University, received her doctorate from.Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring, N.Y. She completed her postdoctoral training in vector biology and mass spectrometry-based proteomics. Her research on protein interactions and protein transport in plants and insects spans more than 20 years, resulting in an international reputation as a vector biology authority skilled in the management of vector-borne plant diseases. Heck is a lead in the USDA-ARS Citrus Greening Grand Challenge, the agency's coordinated national response to combat citrus greening disease and the agency's scientific representative on the National Cotton Council's Cotton Leafroll Dwarf Virus Task Force.
Heck has published more than 50 peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, and several patents. Her peers have recognized her scientific excellence with a number of awards, including a 2017 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from the Obama White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.
For technical issues involving the seminar, contact Siddique at siddique@ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The seminar will take place in 122 Briggs Hall. The Zoom link is https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/99515291076.
BosWash Megalopolis is the heavily populated area extending from Boston to Washington and including New York City, Philadelphia, and Baltimore.
"The temperate deciduous forest biome covers about 5 percent of the Earth's surface, but is home to 25 percent of the human population," D'Amico says in his abstract. "Once a huge tract of forested land, this area now consists of many thousands of small, heterogenous forests. Research in the FRAME (FoRests Among Managed Ecosystems) program is conducted over a network of permanent forest sites in the BosWash Megalopolis of the U.S. East Coast, to answer ecological questions at many trophic levels. I will discuss the results of some of this research."
FRAME researchers target temperate deciduous forests in the Anthropocene age, a current geological age viewed as the period during which human activity has been the dominant influence on climate and the environment.
From the website: "Our current work includes experimental and observational studies of soil and key species to understand interactions between plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates. Other research is focused on monitoring, manipulations aimed directly at site improvement, and technology transfer for better management of urban forest fragments. As of 2022, there are 60 FRAME sites in MA, PA, DE, MD and NC."
Among D'Amico's publications:
- Conceptualizing social-ecological drivers of change in urban forest patches, published in August 2021 in Urban Ecosytems
- Local landscapes and microhabitat characteristics are important determinants of urban–suburban forest bee communities, published in October 2019 in Ecosphere
- Lawn mowing frequency in suburban areas has no detectable effect on Borrelia spp. vector Ixodes scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae), published in April 2019 in PLOS-ONE
- Urban forest fragments buffer trees from warming and pests, published in March 2019 in Science of the Total Enfironment
A 25-year research entomologist with USDA, D'Amico joined in February, 1997. He has served on the adjunct faculty of the University of Delaware since 2001. His expertise includes ecosystems ecology, urban ecology an invasion ecology. D'Amico received his bachelor's degree in biology in 1989, and his doctorate from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
The Wednesday seminars are coordinated by nematologist Shahid Siddique, assistant professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. For technical issues, contact ssiddique@ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Watch for eight-legged encounters!
The American Arachnological Society's 2022 meeting is scheduled June 26-30 on the University of California, Davis, campus.
It will be hosted by two UC Davis arachnologists: Jason Bond, the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair in Insect Systematics, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, and associate dean, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, and Joel Ledford, assistant professor of teaching, Department of Plant Biology, College of Biological Sciences.
Formal meeting registration will begin Sunday afternoon, June 26, followed by an evening reception. A local daylong field trip is planned for Thursday, June 30. (Pre-register for the meeting at https://ces.ucdavis.edu/AASM)
"We typically expect somewhere around 125-150," Bond said.
The event is sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation. In collaboration with the UC Davis Bohart Museum of Entomology and the University of Nebraska, “we will also host a pre-meeting, outreach event, ‘Eight-Legged Encounters' for the Davis community and campus,” Bond said. It's tentatively planned for Saturday, June 25. Those interested in attending should contact Bond at jbond@ucdavis.edu.
The purpose of the American Arachnological Society, founded in 1972, is “to further the study of arachnids, foster closer cooperation and understanding between amateur and professional arachnologists, and to publish the Journal of Arachnology," according to its website.
