Agriculture

There they were. Together. The scene: A honeybee (Apis mellifera) and a bumblebee (Bombus vosnesenskii) nectaring on a purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) in a UC Davis bee garden. If you've observed honeybees and wild bees foraging in your garden, you've probably wanted to compare them.

Honeybees are celebrated as effective plant pollinators, but just how effective are they? Newly published UC Davis research in the American Journal of Botany yields some surprising results.

The systemic insecticide imidacloprid, belonging to a class of chemicals called the neonicotinoids or "neonics," is commonly used to control insects that damage agricultural crops.

The black fig fly is a new invasive species recently found in Southern California. It has been found in fig orchards in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, Santa Barbara, San Bernardino, San Diego, and Ventura counties. This small insect attacks only figs and prefers unripe or unpollinated fruit.

Huanglongbing Update As of November 5, a total of 2,619 trees and 368 ACP have tested positive via PCR for the bacterium that causes HLB. The most recent activity has been in Orange and San Bernardino counties.

A newly published, two-year UC Davis study reveals that normal exposure to the insecticide imidacloprid generates a multi-generational effect on the blue orchard bee, Osmia lignaria, reducing both reproduction and population growth.

There's no doubt--no doubt at all--that Fatma Kaplan is a go-getter. And maybe a genius. Born on her family's 40-acre farm in Turkey, where they grew hazel nuts, Kaplan went from farmer to scientist to entrepreneur. Today Kaplan is the chief executive officer and co-founder of Pheronym, Inc.

Fatma Kaplan, chief executive officer and co-founder of Pheronym, Inc., an agricultural-biotechnology startup based in Woodland, Calif., will address the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology at an in-person and virtual seminar at 4:10 p.m. Wednesday, Dec.

Internationally known scientist Nadav Aharonson of Israel, a UC Davis alumnus celebrated for his expertise on pesticides and their impact on agricultural crops, died recently in his hometown of Ramat Ha-Sharon at age 87.

NEW BOOK :: Manage Weeds on Your Farm A Guide to Ecological Strategies Our friend Lynn Sosnoskie (at Cornell University) shared the following announcement with us: A free (downloadable) resource Manage Weeds on Your Farm A Guide to Ecological Strategies Manage-Weeds-on-Your-Farm.pdf (sare.