- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Co-chairing the event are pollination ecologist Neal Williams, professor of entomology, and Extension apiculturist Elina Lastro Niño, both of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
The conference, themed “Multidimensional Solutions to Current and Future Threats to Pollinator Health,” will cover a wide range of topics in pollinator research: from genomics to ecology and their application to land use and management; to breeding of managed bees; and to monitoring of global pollinator populations. Topics discussed will include recent research advances in the biology and health of pollinators, and their policy implications.
Keynote speakers are Christina Grozinger, distinguished professor of entomology and director of the Center for Pollinator Research, Pennsylvania State University, (the research center launched the annual pollinator conferences in 2012) and Lynn Dicks, Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Research Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, England.
Grozinger studies health and social behavior in bees and is developing comprehensive approaches to improving pollinator health and reduce declines. Lynn Dicks, an internationally respected scientist, studies bee ecology and conservation. She received the 2017 John Spedan Lewis Medal for contributions to insect conservation.
Other speakers include:
- Claudio Gratton, professor, Department of Entomology, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Quinn McFrederick, assistant professor, Department of Entomology, UC Riverside
- Scott McArt, assistant professor, Department of Entomology, Cornell University
- Maj Rundlöf, International Career Grant Fellow, Department of Biology, Lund University, Sweden
- Juliette Osborne, professor and chair, Applied Ecology, University of Exeter, England
- Maggie Douglas, assistant professor, Environmental Studies, Dickinson College
The UC Davis Honey and Pollination Center, directed by Amina Harris, is playing a major role in the international conference. The center's events manager, Elizabeth Luu, is serving as the conference coordinator. For more information on the conference, access the UC Davis Honey and Pollination website at https://honey.ucdavis.edu/pollinatorconference2019 and sign up for the newsletter for up-to-date information.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
All will take place from 4:10 to 5 p.m., Wednesdays in 122 Briggs Hall.
The seminars:
Wednesday, Jan. 9
Brian Gress, postdoctoral fellow in the Frank Zalom lab, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Title: "Host Selection and Resistance Evolution in Drosophila suzukii"
Host: Frank Zalom, distinguished professor of entomology, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, Jan. 16
No seminar today. (Seminar by Sarah Stellwagen, postdoctoral researcher, University of Maryland
will present her previously scheduled seminar on “Toward Spider Glue: From Material Properties to Sequencing the Longest Silk Family Gene” on April 24.)
Wednesday, Jan. 23
Jenita Thinakaran, UC Davis postdoctoral researcher based at the Shafter Agricultural Research Station
Title: "A Systems Approach to Managing Potato Psyllid in Relation to Its Alternate Hosts"
Host: Geoffrey Attardo, assistant professor of entomology, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, Jan. 30:
Laura Burkle, assistant professor of ecology, Montana State University, Bozeman
Topic: Wild bees, interactions with flowers
Hosts: Pollination ecologist Neal Williams, professor of entomology, and Maureen Page, doctoral student in the Williams lab, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, Feb. 6
Alan Hastings, theoretical ecologist and distinguished professor, UC Davis Department of Environmental Science and Policy
Title: "Stochasticity and Spatial Population Dynamics"
Host: Hanna Kahl, doctoral student in the Jay Rosenheim lab, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, Feb. 13
Antoine Abrieux, postdoctoral fellow, Joanna Chiu lab, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Title: "Understanding the Molecular Mechanisms underlying Photoperiodic Time Measurement in Drosophila melanogaster"
Host: Joanna Chiu, associate professor and vice chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, Feb. 20:
Alexander Raikhel, distinguished professor, UC Riverside
Title: "The Role of Hormone Receptors and MicroRNAs in Mosquito Reproduction and Metabolism"
Host: Geoffrey Attardo, assistant professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematolgoy
Wednesday, Feb. 27:
Lauren Esposito, faculty member, San Francisco State University, and assistant curator and Schlinger Chair of Arachnology at the California Academy of Sciences
Title: "Evolution of New World Scorpions and Their Venom"
Host: Jason Bond, Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair in Insect Systematics, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, March 6:
Monika Gulia-Nuss, assistant professor, biochemistry and molecular biology, University of Nevada, Reno
Topic: DNA Methylation in Ticks
Host: Geoffrey Attardo, assistant professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Wednesday, March 13:
Stephen "Fringy" Richards, associate professor, Baylor College of Medicine, Human Genome Sequencing Center.
Topic: "Evolutionary Genomic Innovation Within the Phylum Arthropoda"
Host: Steve Nadler, professor and chair, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology
Spring Break: March 20-27
For further information on the seminars, contact Geoffrey Attardo at gmattardo@ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
DAVIS--Pollination ecologist and Chancellor's Fellow Neal Williams, professor of entomology, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, has been named one of the Highly Cited Researchers in the 2018 list just released by Clarivate Analytics.
Williams is one of only 19 UC Davis researchers so honored and one of 10 from the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.
Williams focuses his research on the ecology and evolution of bees and other pollinator insects and their interactions with flowering plants. His work is particularly timely given concern over the global decline in bees and other pollinators.
The company, based in Philadelphia, honors exceptional scientists and social scientists who have demonstrated significant influence by publishing multiple papers that rank in the top 1 percent by citations in a particular field and year, over a 10-year period.
“This is a wonderful testament to the incredible breadth of expertise at UC Davis and the associated global impact,” said Prasant Mohapatra, UC Davis vice chancellor for research, in a UC Davis news story. “I would like to congratulate each of the named investigators and their teams on such an inspiring accomplishment.”
Williams joined the UC Davis Department of Entomology (now Department of Entomology and Nematology) in 2009 from the Bryn Mawr (Pa.) College. He holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and a doctorate from the State University of New York, Stony Brook.
He was named a Chancellor's Fellow in 2015, a five-year program that granted him $25,000 to support his research, teaching and public service activities. The program, established in 2000 to honor the achievements of outstanding faculty members early in their careers, is funded in part by the Davis Chancellor's Club and the Annual Fund of UC Davis.
Clarivate Analytics' services focus largely on analytics, including scientific and academic research, patent analytics, regulatory standards, trademark protection, pharmaceutical and biotechnology intelligence, domain brand protection and intellectual property management. The services include Web of Science, and EndNote.
UC Davis researchers on the 2018 list are:
- Jay Belsky, Human Ecology, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
- Eduardo Blumwald, Plant Sciences, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
- Siobhan M. Brady, Plant Biology, College of Biological Sciences
- Cameron S. Carter, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine
- Douglas R. Cook, Plant Pathology, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
- Alan Crozier, Nutrition, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
- Shuguang Cui, Electrical and Computer Engineering, College of Engineering
- Kathryn G. Dewey, Nutrition, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
- Jorge Dubcovsky, Plant Sciences, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
- Irva Hertz-Picciotto, Public Health Sciences, School of Medicine
- Robert J. Hijmans, Environmental Science and Policy, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
- Theodore C. Hsiao, Land, Air and Water Resources, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
- David A. Mills, Food Science and Technology, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
- Sally Ozonoff, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine
- Sally J. Rogers, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine
- Andrew Sih, Environmental Science and Policy, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
- Neal M. Williams, Entomology and Nematology, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
- Heike Wulff, Pharmacology, School of Medicine
- Qi Zhang, Environmental Toxicology, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
That's how a University of California, Davis undergraduate student described mayflies in a class taught by Lynn Kimsey, professor of entomology and director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology.
That sentence now appears in a newly published---and first-ever--Bohart Museum calendar, illustrated by talented artist Karissa Merritt, a fourth-year UC Davis entomology major.
Professor Kimsey collects strange, funny and odd answers that her students pen on their tests or essays in Entomology 100. Some of her favorite sentences, all calendared, include:
- “The infected fleas can harbor rats, ground squirrels, rabbits, and occasionally, even house cats.”
- "In addition to a food product, pollinators are also used to pollinate crops.”
- "Normally, locusts are introverted creatures; they do not socialize unless it is for reproduction.”
- "Drones are male bees that contribute only in the perm production for the queen."
- "Feigning death is also a play that stick insects will do when their other tragedies are all failed."
Merritt, a two-year Bohart associate, illustrated the entire calendar, drawing upon her creativity, humor and imagination. “Karissa is a gifted graphic artist,” Kimsey said.
The calendar, published by Tara Baumann & Associates of Vacaville, is a project of the non-profit Bohart Museum Society. The calendar sells for $12 at the Bohart Museum, located in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building on Crocker Lane. Those who contribute $50 or more to the Bohart Museum Society will receive a calendar with their donation. All proceeds are earmarked for research, education and outreach projects.
"One of the outcomes of teaching a general entomology course to undergraduates is that you develop a new appreciation for science fiction-fantasy," Kimsey said. "In part, this is because every year some new scientific discovery about an insect causes you to have a head slapping moment—they do what? The other part is how little students know about insects. Most are not entomology majors, and many aren't even majors in the biological sciences, so there are a lot of misconceptions.”
“One aspect of teaching this course is the writing requirement," she explained. "Students at UC Davis are required to take a number of units in general education, science and writing. My course fulfills two of those requirements, which means that I have to require—and grade—student term papers as part of their assignments. I can say definitely that student writing abilities have not improved over the years. So, to alleviate the pain of grading these works of art, I started collecting particularly silly or otherwise awesome sentences from their papers.”
Karissa Merritt not only enjoys drawing insects but teaching others how to do so. Last January, the Bohart Museum featured her as an “artist in residence” at its open house on insects and art. She offered tips on how to draw insects and took requests from youths. “It was touching to see how something like mundane doodling could bring smiles to kids' faces,” she said. “In fact, many ended up going home with original art work!"
What especially fascinates her the most about insects? “How alien their biology and morphology as compared to vertebrates,” Merritt said. “But working in the Bohart, I find many specimens that just amaze me with their beauty. Insects are just so diverse and it's amazing what nature produces!"
Merritt's favorite insect order is Hymenoptera, which includes bees, ants and wasps. “But I like all insects,” she acknowledged. She learned beekeeping when she volunteered in the lab of Extension apiculturist Elina Lastro Niño at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, UC Davis.
Merritt is also an alumnus of “Bug Boot Camp,' a five-week insect taxonomy and field ecology course taught by Phil Ward, UC Davis professor of entomology and held at the Sagehen Creek Field Station, in California's northern Sierra Nevada. That course enabled her to sharpen her taxonomy skills.
The Bohart Museum houses a global collection of nearly eight million insect specimens, and is the home of the seventh largest insect collection in North America and the California Insect Survey, a storehouse of insect biodiversity. The facility also includes a gift shop and a live "petting zoo" of Madagascar hissing cockroaches, walking sticks, and tarantulas.
The Bohart Museum is open to the public (free admission) from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 5 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays. More information on the Bohart Museum is available on the website at http://bohart.ucdavis.edu or by contacting (530) 752-0493 or emailing bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Five candidates will present seminars in Briggs Hall, UC Davis campus, for the two U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) honey bee positions open at the USDA facility, located on Bee Biology Road, next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility.
Paul Pratt, the selection committee chair, is the research leader for the Invasive Species and Pollinator Health Research Unit, Western Regional Research Center of the Agricultural Research Service, USDA, in Albany, Calif.
Seminars will be presented in 122 Briggs from 10 to 11 a.m. followed by a group faculty meeting (UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology) in Briggs 366 from 1:30-2:15 p.m.
The schedule:
Tuesday, Dec. 11:
Natalie Boyle: “Promoting Pollinator Health and Safety in Agroecosystems”
Wednesday, Dec. 12
Michael Smith: "How Does a Bee Detect her Colony's Size?”
Thursday, Dec. 13:
Julia Fine: "Inside the Brood Box: Using Novel Methods in the Study of Honey Bee Reproduction”
Friday, Dec. 14:
Arathi Seshadri: “The Role of Behavioral and Nutritional Factors in Honeybee Health”
Monday, Dec. 17:
Clint Otto: "From Landscapes to Flowers: Understanding Forage in America's Last Beekeeping Refuge”
