- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The seminar, hosted by Professor Neal Williams begins at 4:10. Click here to register to attend.
Rader, an associate professor, says she is broadly interested in pollination ecology, landscape ecology and plant–animal interactions in natural and human-modified landscapes. She is currently working on projects that investigate the ways in which plant and animal biodiversity respond to global change and the performance of wild and managed insect pollinators in horticultural crops.
She writes on her website: "I am a community ecologist and my research focuses on plant–animal interactions in natural and human-modified landscapes. I am interested generally in the ecology of plants and animals in different types of habitats and landscapes and how they respond to differing management practices and global change. My current projects relate to wild and managed insect pollinators, their efficiency at pollinating horticultural crops and finding ways to improve fruit yield and quality by understanding their life history needs."
Rader holds a bachelor of environmental science (1998) from the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. She obtained both her master's degree (2005) and doctorate (2011) from James Cook University, Cairns, Australia. Her master's thesis: "Vertical Distribution, Resource and Space Use in a Tropical Rainforest Small Mammal Community." For her doctorate: "The Provision of Pollination Ecosystem Services to Agro-Ecosystems by a Diverse Assemblage of Wild, Unmanaged Insect Taxa." She won a 2017- 2020 Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award.
Among her most recent journal publications:
- S.A.E.C. Wijesinghe, L.J. Evans, L. Kirkland & R. Rader 2020, ‘A global review of watermelon pollination biology and ecology: The increasing importance of seedless cultivars,' Scientia Horticulturae, vol. 271, pp. 109493,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2020.109493 - Heidi Kolkert, Rhiannon Smith, Romina Rader & Nick Reid 2020, ‘Insectivorous bats foraging in cotton crop interiors is driven by moon illumination and insect abundance, but diversity benefits from woody vegetation cover,' Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, vol. 302, pp. 107068,
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167880920302541 - Jamie R. Stavert, Charlie Bailey, Lindsey Kirkland & Romina Rader 2020, ‘Pollen tube growth from multiple pollinator visits more accurately quantifies pollinator performance and plant reproduction,' Scientific Reports, vol. 10, no. 1,
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-73637-5 - Liam K. Kendall, Vesna Gagic, Lisa J. Evans, Brian T. Cutting & Jessica Scalzo, Romina Rader. 2020, ‘Self-compatible blueberry cultivars require fewer floral visits to maximize fruit production than a partially self-incompatible cultivar,' Journal of Applied Ecology,
https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1365-2664.13751 - Vesna Gagic, Lindsey Kirkland, Liam K. Kendall, Jeremy Jones & Jeffrey Kirkland Romina Rader 2020, ‘Understanding pollinator foraging behaviour and transition rates between flowers is important to maximize seed set in hybrid crops,' Apidologie,
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13592-020-00800-2
Agricultural Extension specialist Ian Grettenberger coordinates the seminars. This is the last of the winter seminars. For technical issues, contact Grettenberger at imgrettenberger@ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Host is medical entomologist/geneticist Geoffrey Attardo, assistant professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. The Zoom link is here.
"Tsetse flies house an assortment of endosymbiotic bacteria and serve as the prominent vectors of pathogenic African trypanosomes," Weiss says in his abstract. "Tsetse and insect stage trypanosomes are metabolically dependent on the fly's endosymbiotic bacteria in order to maintain their physiological homeostasis. I will describe these interdependencies and
how they can be exploited to decrease tsetse's vector competency."
Weiss received his master's degree from the University of Queensland, Brisbane, in 1997 and his doctorate from the University of Alberta, Canada (2003).
"My research focuses on acquiring a better understanding of the relationship between insect disease vectors and their associated micro-organisms," he writes on his website. "To this end, I currently use the tsetse fly (Glossina morsitans morsitans) as a model system. These insects are the sole vectors of pathogenic African trypanosomes, which are the causative agent of Human African trypanosomiasis. Tsetse flies also harbor indigenous endosymbiotic bacteria that are intimately associated with their host's physiological well-being. I am interested in learning more about (1) the evolution adaptations that permit host tolerance of bacterial endosymbionts, (2) how symbiotic bacteria impact host physiology, with specific emphasis on nutritional supplementation and host immunity, and (3) how to use microbial symbionts to reduce disease vector competence."
Cooperative Extension specialist Ian Grettenberger coordinates the winter seminars. For technical issues, contact him at imgrettenberger@ucdavis.edu.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Host is Extension specialist Ian Grettenberger, who coordinates the department's seminars. Access the Google form link here to attend the seminar.
"Coffee agroforests are great for biodiversity conservation and sustain millions of families and national economies," Jiminez-Soto says in her abstract. "Within these shaded agroecosystems, a complex network of interactions and the availability of resources maintain coffee pests in check, particularly the coffee berry borer, the most devastating insect pest for coffee. Despite the importance of biodiversity conservation and maintenance of shade in these systems, the life of people is often at odds with conservation efforts and management practices, revealing social inequalities and contradictions in plantation-like agricultural systems. In this presentation, I share socio-ecological complexities in the coffee-biodiversity nexus, focusing on ants as biocontrol agents, and the everyday lived experience of farmworkers in Mexican coffee agroforests."
Jiménez-Soto was quoted in a National Geographic piece, "How This Invasive Snail Could Save Your Coffee from Destruction," published on March 10, 2020.
Writer Forest Ray pointed out that "Coffee leaf rust is the most economically significant coffee pest in the world. Since the 1980s, occasional outbreaks of this fungus have crippled coffee production in the Americas, at times doubling or tripling its price. And the problem has escalated since 2008, as have the massive resources invested in fighting it."
Jiménez-Soto, sharing her expertise on both coffee and biocontrol measures, was quoted as saying: "Classic approaches to pest control have often failed to understand this complexity, causing major natural disasters."
She holds a master's degree and doctorate in environmental studies from UC Santa Cruz, receiving her master's degree in 2015 and her doctorate in 2018.
For technical issues involving the seminar, contact Grettenberger at imgrettenberger@ucdavis.edu. A list of the remaining virtual seminars for the winter quarter (with the Zoom links) are here.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
Research entomologist Daniel Hasegawa of the Crop Improvement and Protection Research Unit, Agricultural Research Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture, will speak on "Landscape and Molecular Approaches for Managing Thrips and Thrips-Transmitted Viruses in the Salinas Valley" at the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology's first seminar of the winter quarter on Wednesday, Jan. 20.
His virtual seminar begins at 4:10 p.m., announced agricultural Extension specialist Ian Grettenberger, seminar coordinator. To access the seminar, fill out this Google form link.
"In 2019-2020, lettuce production in the Salinas Valley of California was devastated by thrips-transmitted impatiens necrotic spot virus (INSV)," Hasegawa says in his abstract. "Due to the inherent challenges in managing thrips using conventional chemical tactics, and no direct means for managing the virus, there is a strong need for new management strategies. This seminar will provide an overview of (1) the challenges in managing thrips and INSV in lettuce production, (2) what we've learned about the epidemiology of thrips and INSV, and (3) opportunities to improve cultural practices and develop biotechnology tools, such as RNAi for managing thrips and INSV in the Salinas Valley."
Hasegawa joined the Salinas USDA-ARS team in May 2019 after serving as a postdoctoral research associate (molecular biology) for three years with USDA-ARS in Charleston, S. C. He specializes in vector entomology, molecular biology and biotechnlogy. "My lab uses a variety of techniques to understand insect vector-virus relationships that impact plant health and agriculture," he says on Linked In. "We use molecular, genetic, and epidemiological concepts to understand drivers of vector-borne transmission of pathogens and utilize genetic technologies (e.g. RNAi and CRISPR), to improve agriculture productivity and sustainability."
Hasegawa received his bachelor of science degree in biochemistry in 2007 from UC Riverside and his doctorate in biology from Clemson University in 2013.
The mission of the Crop Improvement and Protection Research Unit is to improve germplasm of lettuce, spinach and melon, determine basic biology of viral, fungal and bacterial diseases affecting these crops, develop alternatives to methyl bromide as a soil fumigant for control of soilborne pests in strawberry and vegetables, reduce postharvest losses of lettuce, develop scientifically based organic crop production practices, and develop methods for control of weeds. See more on the Pacific West Area website.
- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
All seminars will be held on Wednesdays at 4:10 PM (PST). Zoom links will be accessible via a Google form link.
Wednesday, Jan. 20
Daniel Hasegawa, Ph.D
USDA-ARS, Crop Improvement and Protection Research: Salinas, Calif.
Title: "Landscape and Molecular Approaches for Managing Thrips and Thrips-transmitted Viruses in the Salinas Valley of California."
Website link
Host: Ian Grettenberger
Google form link to access the seminar
Wednesday, Jan. 27
Charissa deBekker, Ph.D
University of Central Florida, Biology Department
Title: "What Makes a Zombie Ant Tick? Connecting Genomes with Behavioral Phenomes in Ants, Manipulated by a Fungal Parasite."
Website link
Host: Ian Grettenberger
Google form link to access seminar
Wednesday, Feb. 3
Shalene Jha, Ph.D
University of Texas, Austin, Department of Integrative Biology
Title: "Plant-Insect Interactions and Ecosystem Services in the Context of Global Change"
Website link
Host: Charlie Nicholson, postdoctoral researcher, Neal Williams lab and Elina Lastro Niño lab
Google form link for Zoom info
Wednesday, Feb. 10
Estelí Jimenez-Soto, Ph.D
UC Santa Cruz, Environmental Studies Department
Title: "A Complex Cup of Joe: Biodiversity, Pest Control and Political Ecologies in Mexican Coffee
Agroforests"
Website link
Host: Marshall McMunn, postdoctoral fellow, Rachel Vannette lab
Google form link for Zoom info
Wednesday, Feb. 17
Brian Weiss, Ph.D
Yale University, Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases
Title: "Metabolic Complementation Between Members of the Tsetse Fly Holobiont"
Website link
Host: Geoff Attardo, assistant professor
Google form link for Zoom info
Wednesday, Feb. 24
Jessica Kansman, Ph.D
Pennsylvania State University, Department of Entomology
Title: "To be an Aphid in a Cruel World: How Abiotic and Biotic Stressors Influence Plant-Insect
Interactions"
Website link
Host: Ian Grettenberger
Google form link for Zoom info
Wednesday, March 3
Monika Gulia-Nuss, Ph.D
University of Nevada, Reno, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Title: Pending (Her research program investigates the fundamental questions related to vector biology and vector-parasite interaction. She is particularly interested in aspects of invertebrate reproductive physiology, nutrient allocation, and vector competence and population genomics)
Website link
Host: Geoff Attardo, assistant professor
Google form link for Zoom info
Wednesday, March 10
Romina Rader, Ph.D
University of New England, School of Environmental and Rural Science
Title: Pending (Her research deals with community ecology in agroecosystems)
Website link
Host: Neal Williams, professor
Google form link for Zoom info
For questions, contact Grettenberger at imgrettenberger@ucdavis.edu.
