Ongoing research

It's Presidents' Day today, a holiday for most of us but not for the honey bees. The bees are buzzing in and around the almond blossoms, collecting nectar and pollen for their hives. Nectar provides the carbohydrates for the hive, and pollen provides the proteins.

There's nothing like a steaming hot cup of coffee to jump-start the day. If there's anything better than one cup, it's TWO cups. Well, honey bees like a little caffeine, too. And nicotine.

The first time I met Alexandra "Alex" Klein, she was perched in the arms of an almond tree in the Capay Valley, Yolo County. It was Feb. 27, 2008.

The Tidy Tips are a'blooming and the bees are a'buzzing. The Tidy Tips, a native California wildflower (Layia platyglossa, family Asteraceae) is a welcome addition to flower beds.

Let's go buggy at the Bohart! The Bohart Museum of Entomology, which houses more than seven million insect specimens at its facility on the University of California, Davis campus, has extended its hours to include several weekends. The first will be Saturday, Feb. 13 from 1 to 5 p.m.

The Insects are coming. The Insects are coming. That would be the fourth edition of The Insects: An Outline of Entomology, the newly published work of professors Penny Gullan and Peter Cranston (at right) of the UC Davis Department of Entomology.

A nice prize! Evolutionary ecologist Anurag Agrawal (right), who received his doctorate in population biology from the University of California, Davis in 1999 under major professor Richard Rick Karban, has just received the sixth David Starr Jordan Prize for his innovative research inolving plant-an...

A sure sign of spring: trucks loaded with bee hives heading out to the almond orchards. Yes, almond pollination season is almost here. California has approximately 700,000 acres of almonds, and each acre requires two hives for pollination.

To bee or not to bee. When research entomologist Terry Griswold (left) speaks on North American bees on Wednesday, Feb.

Plant it and they will come. The Hagen-Dazs Honey Bee Haven, planted last fall, is already attracting a few honey bees. The half-acre bee friendly garden, located next to the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr.