Ongoing research

The Arthur Temple College of Forestry and Agriculture, in conjunction with Stephen F. Austin State University, will soon launch a new scholarly journal titled Journal of Geospatial Applications in Natural Resources.

It was great to see the Entomological Society of America (ESA) select "neonicotinoids" as a student debate topic for its recent meeting in Portland, Ore. Bee health is a challenge, and this hot topic tied in with ESA President Frank Zalom's theme "Grand Challenges Beyond the Horizons.

Save the date! Richvale: Tuesday, Jan 20, 8:30 to 12:00. Evangelical Church, 5219 Church St., Richvale Glenn: Tuesday, Jan 20, 1:00 to 4:30. Glenn Pheasant Hall, 1522 Highway 45, south of Glenn Colusa: Friday, Jan 23, 8:30 to 12:00. CIP Conference Room, 100 Sunrise Blvd.

If you should ask Extension apiculturist (emeritus) Eric Mussen of the University of California, Davis, whether he believes that neonicotinoids are the primary cause of colony collapse disorder (CCD), he will say answer you fair and square: "No, they're not the primary cause of CCD.

Two's company. Three's a crowd? Not necessarily. Sometimes we wish it were half a dozen.

From our Faith Kearns at the UC Water Institute: https://twitter.com/ucanrwater/status/543501860527550464 As great as this bath has been, we still are way behind normal.

It's great to see Jessica West, a member of Joanna Chiu's molecular genetics lab in the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology and a member of the Research Scholars Program in Insect Biology.

Check out the Geo-tagged tweets in Yosemite Valley. If you look closely you can see that people are tweeting from the top of Half-Dome, The Mist Trail, Glacier Point, and many parts of Yosemite Valley.

It is the time of the year when Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR) licenses need to be renewed. I usually have enough continuing education hours to renew, but this year I fell short. A few days ago, I took the new "Pesticide Resistance" online course offered by UC IPM.

The Polyphagous Shot Hole Borer (PSHB), Euwallacea sp. #1, is an invasive beetle that carries three fungi: Fusarium euwallaceae, Graphium sp. , and Acremonium sp. The adult female tunnels galleries into a wide variety of host trees, where it lays its eggs and grows the fungi.