UCCE Master Gardeners of Tuolumne County

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Searching the California Floristic Province for Trapdoor Spiders
A UC Davis scientist has just received a federal grant to study trapdoor spiders in California, with opportunities for undergraduate students to participate in the research. Citizen scientists also can be involved through public sightings and suggestions for naming a newly discovered  species. First, the grant: Jason Bond, professor and the Schlinger Chair in Insect Systematics, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, has received a 4-year, $1.4 million National Science...

WSU Video with UC Davis Connections: Selecting Methods for Honey Bee Breeding
If you're a beekeeper or scientist and want to know more about bee breeding, you should access the newly produced video, "Selecting Methods for Honey Bee Breeding." It's the work of Washington State University's Honey Bee Research Program, College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences (WSU CAHNRS), and accessible free online on Vimeo at https://vimeo.com/380776410. The 28-minute video, two years in the making, is aimed at helping beekeepers improve their stock and overcome...

Pieris rapae, Pieris rapae, Pieris rapae...
"Today dawned foggy," began Art Shapiro, distinguished professor of evolution and ecology, in a Jan. 22nd group email. As you know, Shapiro sponsors the annual Cabbage White Butterfly Contest--the first person who collects the first cabbage white of the year from the three-county area of Sacramento, Solano and Yolo wins a pitcher of beer. It's a research project he's been working on since 1972 to determine the first flight of Pieris rapae. He's usually the winner because he knows where to...

A Troubling Question: Why Are the Monarchs Declining in the West?
The question is troubling: What's going on with the monarch butterfly population in the West? The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation reported this week that its Western Monarch Thanksgiving Count shows a decline for the second consecutive year. “Sadly, fewer than 30,000 monarchs were counted—29,418 to be exact—for the second year in a row, so the western monarch population remains at a critical level,” according to Matthew Shepherd, director of communications...

Why These Rock Artists Are Rock Stars
Rock artists, all. Those who painted rocks at the UC Davis Bohart Museum of Entomology open house on Saturday, Jan. 18 were not just rock artists. They were rock stars, painting creative, inspirational and seasonal illustrations. A sign on the table, staffed by entomologist Ann Kao of the California Department of Food and Agriculture (2019 alumnus of UC Davis), urged: "Paint a Rock!" The directions: Please choose a rock Be creative, you can write a kind message on it You may keep it or...