- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
New to the Biodiversity Day are the Nematode Collection, Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, California Raptor Center, Phaff Yeast Culture Collection and the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden.
They will join the Center for Plant Diversity, Botanical Conservatory, Paleontology Collections, Anthropology Collection, Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, and the Bohart Museum of Entomology for a day of science exploration.
Biodiversity Museum Day is billed as a special day for the public to go behind the scenes to learn how scientists conduct research; gain first-hand educational experience; and see some of the curators' favorite pieces, including the history of the collection or the organism.
Parking is free. Visitors are encouraged to stroll or bike around the UC Davis campus to visit these diverse collections. They can explore displays, talk to scientists and students, and participate in family-friendly activities. This year students interested in applying or transferring to UC Davis are especially encouraged to visit.
All participating museums and collections have active education and outreach programs, but the collections are not always accessible to the public. For a full-day experience, the Biodiversity Museum Day has scheduled staggered hours:
- Anthropology Collections, Young Hall, open noon to 4 p.m.
- Arboretum, Headquarters along LaRue Road, open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Bohart Museum of Entomology, Academic Surge Building, open noon to 4 p.m.
- Botanical Conservatory, greenhouses along Klieber Hall Drive, open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- California Raptor Center, Old Davis Road, open 9 a.m. to noon
- Center for Plant Diversity, Sciences Lab Building, open 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
- Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, Bee Biology Road, open 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
- Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, Academic Surge Building, open noon to 4 p.m.
- Nematode Collection, Sciences Lab Building, open 1 to 4 p.m.
- Paleontology Collections, Earth and Physical Sciences Building, open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- Phaff Yeast Culture Collection, Earth and Physical Sciences Building, open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Most of the collections are located indoors. In the event of rain, alternative locations are planned for the outdoor sites. Maps, signs and guides will be available at all the collections, online, and on social media, including Facebook and Twitter, @BioDivDay.
For further information about the event, contact Ernesto Sandoval, director of the Botanical Conservatory, at jesandoval@ucdavis.edu or (530) 752-0569.
(Editor's Note: More information and photos are pending. The Bohart Museum of Entomology,Häagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven and the Nematode Collection are all part of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.)
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The special activity, “Moth Night,” will take place from 8 to 11 p.m. at 1124 Academic Surge on Crocker Lane, UC Davis campus. Free and open to the public, it will include outdoor collecting; viewing of the Bohart Museum's vast collection of worldwide moth specimens; demonstrations on how to spread the wings of a moth; and information on how to differentiate a moth from a butterfly. Free hot chocolate will be served.
The event is in keeping with National Moth Week, July 18-26, an annual event coordinated by Friends of the East Brunswick (New Jersey) Environmental Commission. This year, National Moth Week will spotlight the Sphingidae family of moths found throughout the world commonly called hawk moths, sphinx moths and hornworms. Citizen scientists will be out in force to record and photograph what they see that week.
Tabatha Yang, public education and outreach coordinator of the Bohart, said that after the sun sets, a black light demonstration will be held. Visitors will collect moths from a white sheet, much as residents do around their porch lights.
Entomologist Jeff Smith of Rocklin, an associate and 27-year volunteer at the Bohart Museum, will show visitors how to spread the wings of moths. Smith curates the 400,000-specimen Lepidoptera collection at the Bohart Museum. Smith organizes and identifies the butterflies and moths, creates the drawers that display them, and the labels that identify them. In between, he shares his passion for insects and spiders at outreach programs. Smith has spread the wings of 200,000 butterflies and moths, or about 7000 a year, since 1988.
Naturalist Greg Kareofelas of Davis, a longtime associate at the Bohart Museum, will assist with the open house and the outdoor collecting. The Bohart Museum, directed by Lynn Kimsey, professor of entomology at UC Davis, is a world-renowned insect museum that houses a global collection of nearly 8 million specimens.
Moths continue to attract the attention of the entomological world and other curious persons. Scientists estimate that there may be more than 500,000 moth species in the world. “Their colors and patterns are either dazzling or so cryptic that they define camouflage,” according to National Moth Week spokespersons. “Shapes and sizes span the gamut from as small as a pinhead to as large as an adult's hand.” Most moths are nocturnal, but some fly during the day, as butterflies do.
The Bohart Museum traditionally celebrates Mother's Day with “Moth'ers Day,” holding an open house.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The UC Davis Picnic Day judges decided that the Department of Entomology and Nematology's Bug Doctor booth ("The Doctor Is In!") in front of Briggs Hall "best embodies the Picnic Day theme, "Heart of the Community." It won the "most community-oriented award."
"This year, the exhibits team had the opportunity to visit several exhibits, one of which was 'Bug Doctor,' wrote exhibits director Tammy Ng to Entomology Picnic Day coordinator Erin Donley. "As a team, we noticed that the 'Bug Doctor' exhibit attracted and engaged people of all ages. We believe that out of the 95 exhibits on Picnic Day 2015, 'Bug Doctor' best embodies the Picnic Day 2015 theme: 'Heart of Our Community.'"
The Bug Doctor is a traditional part of the department's UC Davis Picnic Day activities, which also include cockroach races, maggot art, honey tasting, bee observation hive, forensic entomologist Bob Kimsey's "Dr. Death booth," and displays of ants, bees, lady beetles, caterpillars, aquatic insects, mosquitoes and insect-collecting equipment. Traditional participants also include the Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito Control District and the Fly Fishers of Davis. This year featured a new exhibit, the Pollinator Pavilion, coordinated by graduate student Rei Scampavia (separate story and photos pending). Thousands flocked through Briggs Hall.
At the Bohart Museum of Entomology, on Crocker Lane, the officials carried out the theme, "The Good, the Bad and the Bugly," with the displays centered on pollinators. Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum and professor of entomology at UC Davis, estimated a crowd of 4000 at the Bohart.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
UC Davis's fourth annual Biodiversity Museum Day, to take place Sunday, Feb. 8 from 12 noon to 4 p.m., will showcase collections at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, Center for Plant Diversity, the Botanical Conservatory, the Paleontology Collection, the Anthropology Collection, and the Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology.
“Each museum's impressive research/teaching collection documents the biodiversity of life in California and throughout the world, whether it be plants, fossils, human culture, insects or birds,” said co-coordinator Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator for the Bohart Museum.
All participating museums have active education and outreach programs, but the collections are not always accessible to the public.
There is no admission and no parking fees. Visitors are encouraged to stroll or bike around the UC Davis campus and visit all six collections. All collections are located indoors.
Maps, signs and guides will be available at all the locations on the main UC Davis campus.
The locations:
The locations:
Bohart Museum of Entomology, Room 1124 of Academic Surge, Crocker Lane (off LaRue Road)
Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology, 1394 Academic Surge, Crocker Lane
UC Davis Botanical Conservatory, Kleiber Hall Drive
Center for Plant Diversity, Sciences Laboratory Building, off Kleiber Hall Drive, near Briggs Hall
Anthropology Collections, Young Hall, off A Street
Geology Collections, Earth and Physical Sciences Building, across from Academic Surge Building, Crocker Lane
For more information visit the Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/UC-Davis-Biodiversity-Museum-Day/316198101914890?sk=timeline. For further information, contact co-coordinator Ernesto Sandoval of the Botanical Conservatory at jesandoval@ucdavis.edu or (530) 752-0569.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
“Parasitoid Palooza” may be the first public celebration dedicated to parasitoids, said Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum and professor of entomology at UC Davis, and Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator. “Parasitoids are animals that feed internally or externally on a host to complete their development to an adult, ultimately killing it,” Kimsey said. “These insects are important biological control agents. We use them as biological control agents because they kill the host, sometimes as an egg or a larva.”
Most of the open houses are from 1 to 4 p.m., except for an evening event, “Moth Night” on Saturday, July 18, and two events--Biodiversity Museum Day on Sunday, Feb. 8 and UC Davis Picnic Day on Saturday, April 18--which have extended hours.
The Bohart Museum, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane, off LaRue Road, houses a global collection of nearly eight million specimens. The museum is open to the public four days a week, Monday through Thursday, but it sponsors special weekend open houses as well.
The schedule:
- Saturday, Sept. 27: “How to Be an Entomologist,” 1 to 4 p.m.
- Sunday, Nov. 23: “Insect Myths,” 1 to 4 p.m.
- Saturday, Dec. 20: “Insects and Art,” 1 to 4 p.m.
- Sunday, Jan. 11: “Parasitoid Palooza,” 1 to 4 p.m.
- Sunday, Feb. 8: “Biodiversity Museum Day,” noon to 4 p.m.
- Saturday, March 14: “Pollination Nation,” 1 to 4 p.m.
- Saturday, April 18: UC Davis Picnic Day, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
- Sunday, May 17: “Name That Bug! How About Bob?” 1 to 4 p.m.
- Saturday, July 18: “Moth Night,” 8 to 11 p.m.
The Bohart Museum is the home of the seventh largest insect collection in North America, and the California Insect Survey, a storehouse of the insect biodiversity. Noted entomologist Richard M. Bohart (1913-2007) founded the museum. The Bohart Museum's regular hours are from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. The insect museum is closed to the public on Fridays and on major holidays. Admission is free.
Special attractions include a “live” petting zoo, featuring Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks and tarantulas. Visitors are invited to hold the insects and photograph them.
The museum's gift shop (on location and online) includes T-shirts, sweatshirts, books, jewelry, insect-collecting equipment and insect-themed candy.
Those interested in joining the Bohart Museum Society to support the educational mission can do so by signing up here. Benefits include:
- a subscription to the Bohart Museum Society quarterly newsletter
- invitation only special events and programs
- select member discounts on gift shop merchandise
- members-only Halloween open house
- access to the collections, and free information and identification services from staff
- use of the museum library of entomological books and periodicals
Through funds from the Bohart Society, the museum supports a visiting scientist program, high school student internships and associates program.
For those interested in naming an insect after themselves or for a loved one, the museum offers a BioLegacy program established to support species discovery and naming, research and teaching activities of the museum through sponsorships.
More information is available from Tabatha Yang at tabyang@ucdavis.edu or by telephoning (530) 752-0492. The website is at http://bohart.ucdavis.edu/