Ongoing research

It's a peach of a tree, but it isn't a peach. It's a nectarine, a close variety of the peach--the result of a genetic mutation. In between the rain storms, honey bees are nectaring the nectarines and packing pollen, getting ready for the spring hive build-ups.

The old Town Hall off Main Street, Vacaville, Calif., is the perfect backdrop for Iceland poppies (Papaver nudicaule) thriving in planters. The Iceland poppies, sometimes called arctic poppies, are native to northern Europe and North America. "Papaver" is the Greek word for "poppy.

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It didn't take long. Last year at this time the field next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility on Bee Biology Road at the University of California, Davis stood bleak and barren. Nothing there but scattered patches of grass and a few pocket gophers and ground squirrels.

How fuelish is the honey bee? Is it as fuel-efficient as say, the new Volkswagen that gets an estimated 170 miles per gallon, more MPG than any other vehicle? National Public Radio recently posted an interesting article on its Web site comparing the VW with the HB (the honey bee, Apis mellifera).

Eric Mussen is used to fielding questions about honey bees--how and why they gather nectar, honey, propolis and water; how many eggs a queen bee can lay in a day; and why beekeeper use smokers.

Ladybugs are easy to "spot." As soon as the weather warms and those dratted plant-sucking aphids emerge, here come the polka-dotted ladybugs. The prey and the predator. The pest and the beneficial insect. The bad and the good. Actually, many folks have already reported ladybug sightings.

It's not too early to start thinking about NPW. NPW? National Pollinator Week. The fourth annual National Pollinator Week, set June 21-27, is a time not only to remember the pollinators, but to celebrate them.

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The arthropod community at UC Davis--and beyond--has circled the date, Wednesday, Feb. 24. It's not just the last Wednesday of the month.