- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
The seminar takes place from 12:10 to 1 p.m. in 122 Briggs Hall and will be hosted by one of his collaborators, Santiago Ramirez, assistant professor, UC Davis Department of Evolution and Ecology.
"Communication between the sexes by means of chemicals is widespread among insects including bees," Eltz writes in his abstract. "In most cases, bee pheromones are endogenous in the sense that they are produced from simple metabolic precursors. However, in the neotropical orchid bees (Apinae, Euglossini) the males have replaced endogenous pheromones by a wide range of environmental volatiles harvested from plants and other odoriferous sources in their habitat."
"Male orchid bees collect complex blends of volatiles in a way similar to 'enfleurage' of the traditional perfume industry, and later broadcast such 'perfumes' during courtship display," he says. "In my talk, I show how male orchid bees manage to accumulate chemically species-specific perfumes in variable odor 'markets,' shed light on the mechanisms and circumstances of perfume signaling, and discuss the evolutionary causes of perfume making."
Eltz studied biology at the University of Würzburg, Germany, and Duke University, Durham, N.C., with a focus on animal ecology and evolution. He received his doctorate at the University of Würzburg; his dissertation was on "Ecology of Stingless Bees (Apidae, Meliponini) in Lowland Dipterocarp Forests in Sabah, Malaysia, and an Evaluation of Logging Impact on Populations and Communities."
He has studied in Panama, Malaysia, Australia and Mexico, receiving fellowships or employed as a visiting scientist.
Plans are to record the seminar for later posting on UCTV seminars.
For the remainder of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology seminars, access this page.