Ongoing research

Bet you've never seen a butterfly like this! The colorful butterfly seemed to flutter from a blanket that Solano County 4-H'er Erica Lull was sewing last Saturday, Jan. 14, at a Cuddle Me Close community service project.

"We have no rapae!" No rapae today! That's the latest report from Art Shapiro, distinguished professor of evolution and ecology at the University of California, Davis. He's sponsoring his annual Butterfly-for-a-Beer Contest and it's Day 13, Friday the 13th.

A recent website just posted hopes to make research papers available to the general public. Many times these papers are locked away in archives or libraries and are hard to access. This website wants to change that.

Despite the widespread interest in migrating monarch butterflies, other insects migrate, too. That's way we were excited to see National Public Radio's Nell Greenfieldboyce generate a recent piece on "Bugs Abound: If You Think the Skies Are Crowded, You Have No Idea.

On Friday, January 6th, I hosted the annual SJC and Delta Field Crops Meeting in Stockton, CA. The presentations from that meeting have now been posted to my website and are available here.

Yardwaste mulch applied around trees and shrubs can help conserve water, minimize infection with root rot and if applied thick enough control weeds. It is usually very cheap or free and the biggest cost is the spreading.

Hear that buzz? That's the sound of success. It finally happened. The beleaguered rusty-patched bumble bee, Bombus affinis, is now listed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as an endangered species, the first bee in the continental United States to be listed under the Endangered Species Act.

Christian Nansen is an entomologist on the move.

It is not a good time to be a butterfly. Especially if you're a monarch butterfly that eclosed on Jan. 5 in cold and rainy Vacaville, Calif. while all--or most--of your counterparts are overwintering along coastal California or in central Mexico.

Ventura County Healthy Living Day 2016 Farm Day Ventura County Presentation Day...