Ongoing research

Never say "pipe down" to a pipevine swallowtail. It's a butterfly we treasure. You may have seen it nectaring on your butterfly bush. It's black with blue iridescent upper wings and orange arrowhead-like spots on its inner wings.

Do weed populations change during a drought? Does drought favor certain species? Does annual or perennial species matter? During this four year period of drought in California, have they changed? What are the populations of annual and perennial weeds?

Talk about greed. Talk about gluttony. How much food does a banded garden spider (Argiope trifasciata) need? For 30 minutes, we watched a well-fed banded garden spider catch bee after bee in its sticky web that it had cleverly anchored between two lavender plants.

In case you have missed it, heated debates have been raging across the Internet regarding our food and food production practices.

When reviewing possible problems your citrus might have, it's easy to jump to the conclusion that it is a virus. That's because viruses are a major problem around the world in citrus and the effects can be slow, chronic and debilitating or fast and deadly.

A webmap featured in an article in the High Country News shows where vandalism has been reported most in protected areas across the West since 2013. As the article associated with the map states, the areas most impacted are those closest to urban areas, particularly in the desert parks.

Nobody lost their head today. Oh, in the people world, all across our nation's workplaces, they did. Eyes rolled, tempers flared, outbursts erupted and some angry assailants went into what my ol' journalism professor aptly described as "a blithering rage.

The Monarchs are on the move. In the late summer and early fall, the Monarchs (Danaus plexippus) head for the California coastline or central Mexico to overwinter. "Monarchs west of the Rocky Mountains travel to small groves of trees along the California coast," according to Monarchwatch.org.

The macadamia is native to Australia and has been grown in California continuously since 1879 (Arpaia 1994). In addition to the commercial growers, macadamias make excellent back yard trees, are beautiful as landscaping, and can be grown in tubs on your patio.

Link to CWSS Annual Meeting Announcement and Registration Page See you there! Brad CALIFORNIA WEED SCIENCE SOCIETY 2016 ANNUAL CONFERENCE HYATT REGENCY AT CAPITOL PARK SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA "ADDRESSING DIVERSE AND DYNAMIC CHALLENGES IN WEED MANAGEMENT" WHEN AND WHERE?