Ongoing research

Quick question: What critter can chew and digest Styrofoam? Drum roll...Time's up... If you answered "mealworms"--or the larval form of the darkling beetle, family Tenebrionidae--that's correct.

Western tarnished plant bug (Lygus hesperus), which is generally referred to as lygus bug, is a major pest of strawberries on the California Central Coast. Lygus bug feeding on developing berries causes fruit deformity.

When it starts to rain, things start happening. Growers come in with some interesting specimens. Wet, high leaf mulch environments create a special world that brings out some interesting creatures like slime molds and land planaria.

UC Cooperative Extension in San Joaquin County will host the SJC and Delta Field Crops Meeting on Friday, January 8, 2016 from 8:00am to 12:00pm. The meeting location is the Cabral Agricultural Center in Stockton (2101 E.Earhart Ave., Stockton, CA 95206).

More information coming soon. On January 15th we will hold a full day free workshop on Open Mapping Tools using ESRI.

When entomologist Diane Ulman, professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis, and self-described rock artist Donna Billick of Davis co-founded the UC Davis Art/Science Fusion Program, one of the many outcomes is LASER.

"Fourteen" is a lucky number at the Berkeley Aquatic Park, 80 Bolivar Drive, Berkeley. Fourteen is considered a day of love and romance, as in the 14th of February, Valentine's Day. But at the Berkeley Aquatic Park, it's also love. Love at first sight. Or love at first site.

When material possessions tear at the very fabric of our lives, it's time to re-weave and re-think. Gimme more, gimme more, gimme more! seems to be the mantra of the rich and famous and the faux rich and famous.

Lygus bug nymphal and adult stages Lygus bug or western tarnished plant bug (Lygus hesperus) is a major pest in California strawberries and causes significant yield losses by contributing to the fruit deformity. Lygus bug is a hemipteran insect and has piercing and sucking mouthparts.

If you look closely, you'll not only see the cycle of life in your garden, but art as the center of life. Take the Gulf Fritillaries. They're a stunning orangish-reddish butterfly (Agraulis vanillae) with silver-spangled underwings.