- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Let The Games begin!
The award-winning UC Davis Entomology Games Team is gearing up for the national competition.
The popular Entomology Games, a lively question-and-answer, college bowl-style competition on entomological facts played between university-sponsored student teams, takes center stage at the annual meeting of the Entomological Society of America (ESA). This year's meeting is set Nov. 13-16 in Vancouver, British Columbia.
A preliminary round will be held from 1 to 3 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 13 in the West Ballroom of the Vancouver Convention Center. The final round is from 5 to 7 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 15 at the same site. The event was formerly known as the Linnaean Games.
The UC Davis team defeated the UC Riverside team at the 2022 meeting of the Pacific Branch, Entomological Society of America (PBESA) to advance to the nationals. UC Riverside also will compete in the nationals as the PBESA runner-up. The Pacific Branch encompasses 11 Western states, parts of Canada and Mexico and several U.S. territories.
Some of the questions asked of the teams at the PBESA meeting, held April 10-13 in Santa Rosa:
- Give the binomial name of the new record-holder for millipede with greatest number of legs, along with its country of origin. (Answers: Eumillipes persephone; Australia)
- What is a chemical called that is added to an insecticide that enhances the formulation and efficacy, but is not itself toxic? (Answer: an adjuvant)
- Name the heme containing enzymes that play a role in the detoxification of xenobiotics such as pesticides. (Answer: Cytochrome P450s)
- What is the most prevalent virus affecting humans that is vectored by Aedes mosquitoes? (Answer: Dengue)
In last year's national match, Ka Mea Kolo, an entomology club at the University of Hawaii, defeated Texas A&M to claim the championship. Auburn University won the national championship in 2020, and the University of Florida in 2019.
Since 2015, UC Davis has scored three national championships:
- 2018: The University of California team (UC Davis/UC Berkeley) defeated Texas A&M. Members of the UC Team: captain Ralph Washington Jr., then a UC Berkeley graduate student with a bachelor's degree in entomology from UC Davis; doctoral students Brendon Boudinot, Jill Oberski and Zachary Griebenow of the Phil Ward lab, and doctoral student Emily Bick of the Christian Nansen lab.
- 2016: UC Davis defeated the University of Georgia. Members of the UC Davis team: captain Ralph Washington Jr., Brendon Boudinot and Emily Bick.
- 2015: UC Davis defeated the University of Florida. Members of the UC Davis team: captain Ralph Washington Jr., and members Brendon Boudinot, Jessica Gillung and Ziad Khouri.
The 7000-member ESA, founded in 1889 and located in Annapolis, Md., is the world's largest entomological organization. It is affiliated with educational institutions, health agencies, private industry and government. Members are researchers, teachers, extension service personnel, administrators, marketing representatives, research technicians, consultants, students, pest management professionals, and hobbyists.
Resources:
- Listen to the 2018 Entomology Games (won by the University of California team, comprised of UC Davis and UC Berkeley students), posted on YouTube (audio only, no video)
- Watch the 2016 National Linnaean Games Championship Round (won by UC Davis), posted on YouTube
- Watch the 2015 National Linnaean Games Championship Round (won by UC Davis), posted on YouTube
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The 108th annual UC Davis Picnic Day will include scores of insect-related displays and activities sponsored by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. Entomological events will take place at Briggs Hall; the Bohart Museum of Entomology (Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane); and in the courtyard of Green Hall (formerly Life Sciences).
Free and open to the public (as is parking), it will be the first in-person Picnic Day in nearly three years. The theme is "Rediscovering Tomorrow."
Danielle Rutkowski, doctoral candidate in the lab of associate professor Rachel Vannette, is planning and coordinating the UC Davis Graduate Student Association (EGSA) events.
"We're all so excited that it's in-person again," said Jill Oberski, EGSA president. "Grad students usually run most of the entomology exhibits, but most of the younger graduate students have never been to a 'real' Picnic Day—so we finally have the chance to pass the experience on to them. It's always crazy and exhausting but it's so much fun, and a really great opportunity to engage with the public."
EGSA will be selling a number of t-shirts, both classic attire and new designs. New designs are "UCD Amblypygid," designed by Emma Jochim of the Jason Bond lab (it's EGSA's first arachnid shirt) and the limited-edition 'Mosquito Picnic' for Picnic Day 2022, designed by Oberski. "And we have stickers, masks, and several years' worth of back stock we would love to sell!" Oberski noted, adding that EGSA takes both cash and credit cards. Some of the classic T-shirt designs, such as The Beetles, sell fast. The link to EGSA's online store: https://ucdavisentgrad.
The list of insect-related events includes:
Bug Doctor
In front of Briggs Hall
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Meet an entomologist and talk about insects! Even bring some from your home or garden for identification! The line-up: three doctoral candidates: Xavier Zahnle of the Jason Bond lab, 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.; Zachary Griebenow of the Phil Ward lab, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; and Jill Oberski of the Phil Ward lab, 3 to 5 p.m.
Doctor Death
Briggs Hall 122
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Meet forensic entomologist Bob Kimsey of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and learn how how insects are used in forensics! Kimsey is also the faculty chair of the department's Picnic Day.
Honey Bees and Honey
Briggs Hall Courtyard
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Learn about honey bees and the honey production process.
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Briggs Hall Entryway
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Popular insect-themed t-shirts such as ‘The Beetles' are on sale via the Entomology Graduate Student Association.
Lil' Swimmers and Fly-tying
Briggs Hall
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
See live insects from streams and ponds from lab of professor Sharon Lawler, and learn the art of fly-tying for fly fishing from members of the Fly Fishers of Davis.
Maggot Art
Green Hall Courtyard
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Children (and grown-ups) can create art using live maggots dipped in non-toxic, water-based paint. (See news story)
Ants
122 Briggs Hall
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The Phil Ward lab will get you interested in ants. They'll have posters and photos (some from noted photographer and UC Davis alumnus Alex Wild, curator of entomology at the University of Texas, Austin). Got a question about ants?
Forest Entomology, Medical Entomology, Agricultural Entomology
122 Briggs Hall
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Learn the roles of insects in forest entomology, medical entomology and agricultural entomology. Check out the displays and talk to the entomologists. Among those participating: Agricultural Extension specialist Ian Grettenberger, assistant professor, and his lab will be there, as will forest entomologist and graduate student Crystal Homicz.
Caterpillar Biology
122 Briggs Hall
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Grace Horne, a graduate student in the laboratory of Emily Meineke, assistant professor of urban landscape entomology. will display hornworm caterpillars and pupae, and she'll discuss butterfly and moth biodiversity and biology, including urban biodiversity and their interactions with their host plants.
Mosquito Control
In front of Briggs Hall
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Learn about how to control mosquitoes and protect yourself. This booth is staffed by the Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control District.
Briggs Hall Courtyard
9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Talk with expert entomologists about safely controlling pest insects.UC IPM will give away lady beetles, aka ladybugs.
Butterflies and Change (Bohart Museum of Entomology)
East Academic Surge Entrance
10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
What's happening with California's state insect, the California Dogface Butterfly? And learn about monarch butterflies. Plus, view the Bohart Museum of Entomology's never-before-seen, student-created traveling, display exhibits.
Cockroach Racing
In front of Briggs Hall
11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Entomologists will race cockroaches on tiny tracks to the delight of the crowd. Be there to cheer your favorites.
The 2022 Picnic Day, billed as one of the largest student-run events in the nation, will showcase more than 200 events. Picnic Day chair Amanda Portier and vice chair Jesse Goodman announced that "we strive to bring together people from Davis and beyond to celebrate all that our community has to offer." The schedule includes displays, animal events, performers, and parade floats.
For the complete schedule, access this link. "Please be prepared to show an approved UC Davis Daily Symptom Survey for entrance into some indoor events," the website points out. "For those who are not UC Davis students or employees proof of COVID-19 vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test from the last 72 hours may also be required. Screening is at the discretion of individual exhibits and animal events."
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
- Medical entomologist-geneticist Geoffrey Attardo, assistant professor, will receive the Medical, Urban, and Veterinary Entomology Award
- Doctoral student Erin Taylor Kelly of the Geoffrey Attardo laboratory will receive the Student Leadership Award
- Undergraduate student Gwendolyn "Gwen" Erdosh of the Louie Yang lab will receive the inaugural Dr. Stephen Garczynski Undergraduate Research Scholarship
- The team of doctoral candidate Zachary Griebenow of the Phil Ward lab, captain; doctoral candidate Jill Oberski of the Ward lab; doctoral student Erin “Taylor” Kelly of the Geoffrey Attardo lab; and doctoral student Madison “Madi” Hendrick of the Ian Grettenberger lab will compete in the Entomology Games.
The awards luncheon is at 12:15, April 12.
Geoffrey Attardo is a global expert on vectorborne diseases, and renowned for his groundbreaking work on tsetse flies. Attardo, who joined the UC Davis Department of Entomology andNematology in 2017 from the Yale School of Public Health's Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, “excels not only as a researcher, but as a teacher, mentor, scientific illustrator, macro photographer,videographer and science communicator,” said UC Davis distinguished professor Bruce Hammock in his letter of nomination. (See news story)
Entomology Games. The Entomology Games is a lively question-and-answer, college bowl-style competition on entomological facts played between university-sponsored student teams. It was formerly known as the Linnaean Games. The preliminary round is from 5 to 6 p.m., April 10. Plans are to hold three rounds with questions from each of the 10 categories: Biological Control, Behavior and Ecology, Economic and Applied Entomology, Medical-Urban-Veterinary Entomology, Morphology and Physiology, Biochemistry and Toxicology, Systematics and Evolution, Integrated Pest Management and Plant-Insect Interactions, History of Entomology, and Entomology in Popular Culture. (See UC Davis news story)
The final round is from 8 to 10 p.m., April 11. Both the championship team and the runner-up team will represent PBESA at the Entomological Society of America (ESA) meeting, Nov. 13-16 in Vancouver, British Columbia. Last year's national champion was the University of Hawaii, which edged Texas A&M University.
UC Davis has scored three national championships since 2015. In 2018, the University of California team won the national championship, defeating Texas A&M. The team included captain Ralph Washington Jr., then a UC Berkeley graduate student with a bachelor's degree in entomology from UC Davis; doctoral students Brendon Boudinot, Jill Oberski and Zachary Griebenow of the Phil Ward lab, and doctoral student Emily Bick of the Christian Nansen lab.
UC Davis won the national competition in both 2016 and 2015, defeating the University of Georgia in 2016, and the University of Florida in 2015.
A number of other UC Davis faculty and students will participate in the PBESA meeting. (See schedule.)
PBESA encompasses 11 Western states, parts of Canada and Mexico and several U.S. territories.
- In the United States: Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawai'i, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming
- U.S. Territories: American Samoa, the Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Johnston Atoll, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Midway Islands, Wake Island
- In Canada: Alberta, British Columbia, Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan, Yukon
- In Mexico: Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sinaloa, Sonora
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Let The Games begin!
The UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology Team, with a history of three national championships, is gearing up for the Entomology Games at the annual meeting of the Pacific Branch, Entomological Society of America (PBESA). The meeting takes place April 10-13 in the Hyatt Regency Sonoma Wine Country. Santa Rosa.
The team includes doctoral candidate Zachary Griebenow of the Phil Ward lab, captain; doctoral candidate Jill Oberski of the Ward lab; doctoral student Erin “Taylor” Kelly of the Geoffrey Attardo lab; and doctoral student Madison “Madi” Hendrick of the Ian Grettenberger lab.
The Entomology Games is a lively question-and-answer, college bowl-style competition on entomological facts played between university-sponsored student teams. It was formerly known as the Linnaean Games.
The preliminary round is from 5 to 6 p.m., April 10. Plans are to hold three rounds with questions from each of the 10 categories: Biological Control, Behavior and Ecology, Economic and Applied Entomology, Medical-Urban-Veterinary Entomology, Morphology and Physiology, Biochemistry and Toxicology, Systematics and Evolution, Integrated Pest Management and Plant-Insect Interactions, History of Entomology, and Entomology in Popular Culture. (See 2021 sample questions.)
The final round is from 8 to 10 p.m., April 11. Both the championship team and the runner-up team will represent PBESA at the Entomological Society of America (ESA) meeting, Nov. 13-16 in Vancouver, British Columbia. Last year's national champion was the University of Hawaii, which edged Texas A&M University.
In 2018, the University of California team won the national championship, defeating Texas A&M. The team included captain Ralph Washington Jr., then a UC Berkeley graduate student with a bachelor's degree in entomology from UC Davis; doctoral students Brendon Boudinot, Jill Oberski and Zachary Griebenow of the Phil Ward lab, and doctoral student Emily Bick of the Christian Nansen lab.
UC Davis won the national competition in both 2016 and 2015, defeating the University of Georgia in 2016, and the University of Florida in 2015.
Some of the questions in the past have involved the work entomologists affiliated with the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology: emerita Mary Lou Flint, a longtime leader of the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management (UC IPM) Program and an Extension entomologist based in the department; Rebecca Godwin, who received her doctorate from UC Davis and is now an assistant professor of biology at Piedmont University, Demorest, Ga.; and Jason Bond, the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair and associate dean, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
Q. Mary Lou Flint's textbook, IPM in Practice; Principles and Methods of Integrated Pest Management, cites the management of what invasive plant, first introduced to North America from Europe, as an "excellent example of classical biological control in the Western US?" This plant was controlled by importing the European chrysomelid beetle Chrysolina quadrigemina.
A. Klamath weed / St. John's Wort / Hypericum perforatum
Q: In early 2021, (Rebecca) Godwin and (Jason) Bond described 33 new species of the trapdoor spider genus Ummidia, including a species named in honor of what alt-country singer-songwriter, who was the most-nominated woman at the 2019 Grammy Awards? She has had success both as a solo artist and as a member of the all-female supergroup The Highwomen, and her annual music festival "Girls Just Wanna Weekend" is held in Mexico near the type locality of her namesake trapdoor spider. Name this singer.
A: Brandi Carlile
PBESA is comprised of 11 Western states, parts of Canada and Mexico, and several U.S. territories.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Wilson, recognized as one of the world's most influential scientists, was known as “The Ant Man,” "The Father of Sociobiology," "The Father of Diversity" and “The Modern-Day Darwin," for his pioneering and trailblazing work that drew global admiration and won scores of scientific awards.
But among his peers, colleagues and mentees, he was known as "Ed."
Wilson's work, On Human Nature, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1979. He won a second Pulitzer in 1991 with The Ants, co-authored with colleague Bert Hölldobler. In 1990, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded Wilson the Crafoord Prize in biosciences, the highest scientific award in the field. In 1996, Time magazine named him one of America's 25 most influential people. In 1977 President Jimmy Carter awarded him the National Medal of Science for his contributions toward the advancement of knowledge in biology.
Wilson, according to reports, always considered himself an Alabaman who went to Harvard, rather than a Harvard professor born in Alabama. Born June 10, 1929 in Birmingham, Ed graduated from the University of Alabama in 1949 with two degrees in biology, and received his doctorate in biology from Harvard in 1955. He joined the Harvard faculty in 1956. Although officially retiring in 1996, he remained active as an emeritus professor and honorary curator until his death.
Some tributes from UC Davis faculty and students:
“E. O. Wilson was a towering figure in the study of social insects, in evolutionary biology, and in conservation biology,” said fellow ant specialist and professor Phil Ward of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology who organized the 2007 E.O. Wilson Festschrift (a collection of writings published in honor of a scholar). “He made important contributions in all of these areas, but his specialty was the study of ants, those ‘little creatures that run the world.' Wilson's book, The Insect Societies (1971), introduced its readers to the fascinating world of ants and other social insects, using language that was both engaging and accessible, yet highly informative.”
“This was followed two decades later by the equally magisterial The Ants, co-authored with Bert Hölldobler,” Ward noted. “These landmark contributions inspired many budding biologists, myself included, to devote ourselves to the study of ants and other social organisms. Equally important, Wilson argued passionately and compellingly for the conservation of biological diversity in a dwindling natural world. He once said that 'destroying rainforest for economic gain is like burning a Renaissance painting to cook a meal.' Let us honor his legacy by heeding this message!”
UC Davis doctoral alumnus Brendon Boudinot of the Phil Ward lab and now a postdoctoral researcher in Germany at the Institute of Zoology and Evolutionary Research, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, says the ant world is reeling with Wilson's passing. “A big chunk of my dissertation was dedicated to testing his hypotheses for the origin and early evolution of ants!”
Boudinot met Wilson when he was visiting the Ant Room at the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology in 2013. “The work I was doing was the foundation for my studies on ant males, and I was near the end of the trip, at one of the many microscopes by the window facing the yard,” he said. “Ed surprised me by coming right up to my shoulder at the scope; he asked me what I was working on. I am a bit abashed to say that I couldn't say anything because my mind went blank! Stef Cover, the pins-and-points curator told Ed what I was doing, and for the life of me I will always remember what Wilson said. He was happy that I chose to work on male ants, when this sex has been actively ignored by researchers over the past centuries, and that he himself was more apt to squash one at a light trap than to collect one. I hope that my keys and diagnoses have helped people appreciate male ants.”
“I am so thankful that I met him,” Boudinot said, “and that I was able to work with so many people in his sphere. The ant world is reeling, as he was a gentle giant of myrmecology, and of course biology writ large.”
Doctoral candidate Jill Oberski of the Phil Ward lab met “The Ant Man” in 2019. “I got to meet E. O. Wilson when I traveled to the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology in 2019. In addition to myself, there were several other researchers visiting the “Ant Room,” which houses a huge number of type specimens.”
“He asked me about my research on Dorymyrmex taxonomy and biogeography, although as a second-year PhD student I didn't have much to report yet. He was genuinely interested in my work and excited that I was working to resolve Dorymyrmex--which has always been a taxonomic headache. He also told me he recalled watching ants forming cone-shaped nests as a child in Alabama, which could only have been Dorymyrmex. He was exceedingly kind and encouraging.
“Finally, the Ant Room staff and visitors ate lunch together in Ed's office—lobster sandwiches, diet Dr. Pepper, and coffee, as is customary.”
Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and a UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology, remembers working near his office when she served as a visiting professor/lecturer (1987 to 1989) at Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology, before joining the UC Davis faculty in 1989.
“His office was just down the hall from mine when I taught at Harvard. Here he was, one of the most famous biologists of his generation and I would see him sit down on the sidewalk to show a little kid the ants there. Also, saw him in the sitting on a bench Burlington Mall while his wife shopped, writing on a yellow pad of paper. Totally focused on what he was writing with shopping pandemonium all around. He was brilliant, humble and engaging.”
UC Davis doctoral alumnus Fran Keller, a professor at Folsom Lake College, and a research scientist at the Bohart Museum of Entomology, helped honor his work at a special symposium hosted at the 2005 Entomological Society of America meeting in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
"Our department of entomology helped fund my trip to Harvard,” she recalled, “and he agreed to meet me over the course of two days in May 2005. The ESA symposium took place in mid-December. I recorded our interview on a cassette tape,” she said, adding she hopes to publish it in a journal.
Wilson responded: “Everyone has an animal that reaches them or that they connect with at some level, even though you were born an entomologist, perhaps yours is the rhino.”
“After my interview with Ed, I bought the book in the MCZ, The Rarest of the Rare: Stories Behind the Treasues at the Harvard Museum of Natural History. In that book, it highlights the extinct and rare species held in the MCZ collections. One of those specimens is the last Xerces butterfly, which was caught by Harry Lange (UC Davis emeritus professor of entomology). Harry's quote in that book, ‘I didn't know it was the last one, I thought there would be more' and then my time eating lunch and then wandering the MCZ collection and chatting with Ed inspired me to create the Xerces t-shirt for the Bohart Museum of Entomology.”
One of Keller's mentors, Tom Schoener, studied with Wilson. “I worked on plant ecology and island biogeography for my undergrad research (Sacramento City College)," she said, "and continued that for awhile in grad school (UC Davis). Ed Wilson was one of the founders of island biogeography.”
As a undergraduate at Sacramento City College, Keller was part of a field trip to hear Wilson speak at his 2002 book tour on The Future of Life.
UC Davis doctoral alumnus Alex Wild, an evolutionary biologist, science photographer and curator of entomology at the University of Texas, Austin, wrote this on his Twitter account, @Myrmecos, which has more than 30,000 followers: “Ed Wilson was one of my science heroes. Over the years I came to admire two things in particular. One was his ability to craft technical books so compelling as to launch scores of scientific careers in their wake.”
“The other thing is how Ed Wilson handled professional disagreement," Wild tweeted. "And he had a lot of those, because Wilson was frequently wrong. About a great range of topics. For a guy known for ant research, his interpretation of ant origins was just… silly.”
"But he continued to support, both financially and professionally, the young upstarts who, over and over, proved him wrong. That's a rare trait for a field as ego-driven as evolutionary biology.”
When a follower asked: “Can you explain to a non-biologist bug enthusiast why his interpretation of ant origins was silly?”, Wild replied: “His arrangement of the ant subfamilies, based on subjective hunches of evolutionary relationships rather than data, bore no resemblance at all to the well-supported relationships from subsequent data-based studies, like https://www.pnas.org/content/103/48/18172. (This 2006 research article, "Evaluating Alternative Hypotheses for the Early Evolution and Diversification of Ants," is co-authored by Seán G. Brady, Ted R. Schultz, Brian L. Fisher, and Philip S. Ward and edited by Bert Hölldobler, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany)
“There are no words that adequately describe E.O. Wilson's courage in challenging dogma, his energy in documenting and sharing the wonders of our planet, or his extraordinary creativity," said Diane Ullman, UC Davis professor of entomology and former chair of the Department of Entomology. "So much of his writing touched me deeply, from his writing about the continuum between art and science (Consilience), to his collaboration with Bert Hölldobler, addressing the incredible biology and behavior of social insects (Superorganism). He wrote a wonderful, 'coming of age' novel, seemingly much inspired by his own youth (Anthill)."
"The first time I was able to hear him speak in person was in 1996 at the International Congress of Entomology in Florence, Italy, where he was the plenary speaker opening the meeting. He spoke passionately about loss of biodiversity, and was sounding the alarm on impact of humans and climate change on the planet. He continued to lead this charge up to the very end, never giving up on proposing potential solutions on a global scale. He was witty and with use of metaphor made us see so very many things."
Caleb Johnson, who teaches writing at Appalachian State University, Boone, N.C., described E.O. Wilson as “the world's forestmost authority on biodiversity” in an April 21, 2020 article in The Bitter Southerner. He referred to him as “A world-renowned scientific thinker whose vision for stopping this unprecedented environmental hemorrhaging is based on more than seven decades of careful witness, writing, and work in ecology and conservation."
Johnson wrote that Wilson lost his right eye in a fishing accident in the summer of 1936 near Paradise Beach, Fla., but he never let that stop his goals.
"In the 1940s, E.O. Wilson was an Alabama teenager who wandered the bottomland around Mobile and studied its creatures. He never stopped and became the world's foremost authority on biodiversity. He's 90 now, but still working, because he knows there's a way to undo the damage we've done to Mother Earth."