Posts Tagged: Rachael Long
Exciting story book for children introduces the benefits of bats
Written by Rachael Long, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Yolo County, the story chronicles the adventures of 9-year-old Jack, who is exploring Nevada’s Black Rock Range when he falls into a cave. Jack befriends a bat named Pinta and a coyote pup named Sonny, who are determined to help him find his way home.
The story of Jack was first told to Long’s now 16-year-old son. When he was young, Long would make up stories to tell him during their long daily commute from their home on a farm outside of town.
“Each day, the stories got more and more elaborate,” Long said, “and I incorporated my long-time interest in bats.”
Long’s father, a UC Berkeley biology professor, introduced her to the world of bats. She was an early member of Bat Conservation International and she took a field class through the organization in 1992.
“The more I learned about bats, the more interesting I found them,” Long said.
As a field crops and pest management expert for UCCE, Long has worked to boost Californians’ appreciation for bats’ importance in pest control. The state is home to 25 species of bats, seven of which are commonly found in the Central Valley. Bats can consume their body weight or more in insects each night, with a colony of 500 bats eating a grocery bag full of insects from nightfall to dawn. The loss of bats in North America could lead to agricultural losses of more than $3.7 billion per year, according to an analysis published in the journal Science in April 2011. Long has researched bats’ role in reducing Sacramento Valley crop pests.
“We know that bats in the Sacramento Valley feed on insects such as moths, beetles and plant bugs that are often agricultural pests,” wrote Long when the results of her study were published in the January-February 1998 issue of California Agriculture journal. “Potentially, they may help reduce insect infestations in crops by feeding on these pests.”
Long also published a study of bats’ use of constructed bat boxes in the April-June 2006 California Agriculture journal. By evaluating the 186 bat houses in rural areas of California's Central Valley, Long learned that the flying mammals prefer houses mounted on structures such as buildings, those that are shaded or exposed only to morning sun, and within one-quarter mile of water.
Long is an author of the UC publication Songbird, Bat and Owl Boxes, which outlines methods for integrating nest boxes with farm management, provides details on construction and maintenance of nesting boxes, and information on other sources of reliable bat information. The publication includes plans for building a wildlife nesting house.
Naturally, Long sought to share what she knows about bat’s role in the environment with young readers in her fictional but scientifically sound children’s stories.
At the beginning of the book, when Jack falls into the cave, Pinta, the bat, is alarmed. “But as she flew around the cave, her keen ability to echolocate to find her way in the dark, gave her a different picture than she expected. Oh no, a boy, not a monster!” At first, Jack lies on the cave floor knocked out by his injuries. Long writes, “(Pinta) hovered above him, wings stretched more than a foot, beating rapidly but barely making a sound.”
Such tidbits about bats are sprinkled throughout the story. Young readers will be so absorbed in Jack’s journey home, the fate of an escaped jailbird and the search for gold, they won’t realize they are learning about natural science.
Tate Publishing quotes New York Times science journalist Jim Robbins as saying in a review of Gold Fever, “Bats play a little known, but vital role in the world. This book introduces young readers to their world in an engaging and entertaining way.”
Gold Fever is the first in the three-book "Black Rock Desert Adventure Series." Proceeds from the trilogy will go to fund bat conservation programs.
Lack of pollination due to insecticide use affects onion seed yields, study finds
A lack of pollination by honey bees — brought on by increased insecticide use to control onion thrips — was linked to a sharp decrease in yields of California onion seeds, according to research published in the July-September 2011 issue of the University of California’s California Agriculture journal.
“Honey bee visits to onion flowers were negatively correlated with the number of insecticides applied per field and field size,” wrote the study’s authors, Rachael F. Long of UC Cooperative Extension in Yolo County and Lora Morandin of the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at UC Berkeley. “Reduced onion seed yields in recent years could be associated with the increase in insecticide use, which may be repelling or killing honey bees, important pollinators of this crop.”
The research was conducted in May and June 2009, in 13 commercial hybrid onion seed production fields in Yolo and Sacramento counties. At each of six sampling sites per field, the researchers observed the numbers and types of insects visiting onion flowers that were potential pollinators of onions. To assess onion seed yields relative to insect pollinator activity, they collected onion umbels from the sampling sites and counted the seeds to obtain average yield data. Ground mapping was done around each field to determine whether other preferred floral resources were available to honey bees, perhaps luring them away from onion flowers.
Onion thrips were previously of minor importance in onion seed production. However, iris yellow spot virus is a new pathogen for California onions that is vectored by onion thrips, and it can cause significant onion seed yield losses if left unmanaged. The insecticides used by growers at these field sites to control onion thrips included spinosad, spinetoram, methomyl, cypermethrin, lambda-cyhalothrin and sodium tetraborohydrate decahydrate. The number of insecticides applied per field ranged from one to seven, including tank mixes, with all pesticides applied prebloom. The number of bee hives per acre ranged from four to 14, with the exception of one field that had resident hives at 42 per acre.
“This study found that the number of insecticides applied and field size were the strongest predictors of honey bee activity and onion seed yields,” the authors wrote.
Long and Morandin cautioned that to confirm a causal relationship, more information is needed on the specific effects of different classes and rates of insecticides on honey bee activity. In addition, cultivar can play a role in honey bee activity and needs to be further investigated with respect to pesticide use and bee activity.
“Our study suggests that growers should exercise caution when using insecticides, applying them only when needed as opposed to preemptively, to better protect both wild and honey bee pollinators,” the authors wrote. “Also, the negative correlation between field size and honey bee activity suggests that spreading honey bee colonies around onion fields rather than grouping them may increase honey bee activity and pollination in larger fields.”
Onion seed is primarily grown in Colusa County and the Imperial Valley on about 2,000 acres. The value of the seeds is $12 million to growers, according to agricultural commissioner county crop reports, and they generate an additional $40 million in subsequent retail sales.
“While clearly a specialty, small-acreage crop, onion seed production is important to the rural economies in California where onion seed is primarily grown,” Long and Morandin noted.
Rachael Long monitors pollinator activity in a hybrid onion seed field. Honey bee hives (foreground) are placed in fields to promote pollination. (Photo: Edwin Reidel)
White-nose syndrome takes devastating toll on bats
White-nose syndrome, a horrific disease that has killed millions of bats on the East Coast since its identification in 2006, is spreading fast across the United States, warns Rachael Long, UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor for Yolo County. She dreads its arrival in California.This disease is caused by a fungus that grows most noticeably on a bat’s muzzle, coating it in a white powder, hence the name "white-nose." It primarily affects hibernating bats by causing them to be more active, according to Long.
"As a result they wake up more often during the winter, burn up fat reserves, and die of starvation," Long said. Where the disease is occurring, bats that were relatively common are now rare.
"Like a tsunami on a quiet beach, white-nose syndrome is expected to strike California in the next couple of years," Long said. "With 25 species of bats in our state, the potential loss in the abundance and diversity of bats could be devastating."
Bats are extremely important in our environment. They are voracious predators of insects, often consuming their body weight in insects each night. As a result, they are important allies to farmers, helping to reduce the numbers of insects that damage crops and providing important ecosystem services in agricultural landscapes.
Currently no one knows where white-nose syndrome came from or how to control it. The disease first showed up in New York in 2006 in a cave that is a popular tourist destination, so it may have been introduced by a foreign visitor.
The hope is that enough bats have a strong enough immune system to survive the disease to repopulate the landscape before colonies go extinct. Likewise, researchers hope that the fungus will not adversely affect migratory colonies, that is, those bats that spend the winter in warmer climates and return to more temperate regions in spring and summer. The fungus favors cooler conditions so it may primarily impact bats that hibernate. California is home to both types of bats. For example, the Mexican freetailed bats migrate, but big brown bats hibernate.
Long suggests a number of ways that one can help bats and the white-nose syndrome crisis, including the following:
- Report unusual late-winter bat behavior (for example, bats flying during the daytime) or unexplained bat deaths to your state wildlife agency.
- Adhere to state, federal and local cave advisories and closures to help prevent the transmission of white-nose syndrome. Even though bats carry the fungus, people can also move the disease around and in greater distances than bats.
- Share with family and friends the benefits of bats and information about the white-nose syndrome crisis.
- Encourage state and federal legislators to allocate funding towards the effort to understand and fight white-nose syndrome.
For more information about bats, see Long's research articles published in California Agriculture journal: "Well-placed bat houses can attract bats to Central Valley farms" and "Bats feed on crop pests in Sacramento Valley."
The photo above of the little brown bat with white fungus on his nose is courtesy of Ryan von Linden of the New York Department of Environmental Conservation. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has this photo and other photos showing symptoms and the effects of white-nose syndrome at http://www.fws.gov/WHITENOSESYNDROME/photos.html.
Organic farming gets more research dollars
The 2008 Farm Bill gave organic agriculture a significant boost by increasing funding for organic research from $2 million a year to $20 million, according to an article in the New York Times.
Reporter Jim Robbins outlined some of the research that is underway across the country, opening with work at the UC Davis student farm, where native sunflowers provide a "bed-and-breakfast" for beneficial insects, according to farm director Mark van Horn.
Robbins also described the work of UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor Rachael Long, who has studied bats' role in battling codling moth in walnut and apple orchards. According to her research, bats eat their weight in bugs every night.
“They eat a ton of insects,” Long was quoted. “They also eat cucumber beetles and stink bugs, which affect tomatoes.”
Scientists are continuing their research to identify a blend of systems that will grow food and support the natural ecosystem on the farm and beyond.
“That’s the holy grail,” Van Horn told the reporter. “An agricultural system that mimics a natural system.”
Bats help organic farmers by feeding on crop pests.