Rangelands

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Palo Verde Tree in Spring
Landscape Horticulture Updates for Southern California: Article

Trees Come First During the Drought!

May 3, 2021
By Janet S Hartin
During the drought, your trees should come first! Because many well-maintained trees don't reach their prime until their 4th or 5th decade, it's important to keep them watered during the drought and water restrictions.
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Cornell University Professor Anurag Agrawal collecting milkweed data in Ithaca. He was just elected to the National Academy of Sciences. (Photo courtesy of Cornell)
Entomology & Nematology News: Article

UC Davis Doctoral Alumnus Anurag Agrawal of Cornell Elected to NAS

May 3, 2021
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
UC Davis doctoral alumnus Anurag Agrawal, the James A. Perkins Professor of Environmental Studies in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., is a newly elected member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS).
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UC Davis doctoral candidate Charlotte Herbert Alberts reads to her son, Griffin, born in April of 2020.
Bug Squad: Article

Happy 'World Robber Fly Day!'

April 30, 2021
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Do you know that today is "World Robber Fly Day?" "World Robber Day?" you ask. No, "World Robber Fly Day.
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A honey bee and a lygus bug sharing a batchelor button in the UC Davis Ecological Garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

The Bee and the Lygus Bug

April 29, 2021
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
Ever seen a beneficial insect and a pest sharing the same blossom? At a recent visit to the UC Davis Ecological Garden at the Student Farm, we watched a honey bee, Apis mellifera, and a lygus bug nymph, Lygus hesperus, foraging on a batchelor button, Centaurea cyanus. The bee: the beneficial insect.
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Yellow starthistle rosette weevil. (Photo: Beth Brenneman)
Green Blog: Article

Officials release new weevil to battle yellow starthistle

April 28, 2021
By Jeannette Warnert
In April 2021, scientists released weevils from the Mediterranean region of Europe at the Bureau of Land Management Magnolia Ranch day-use area in El Dorado County to join the battle against yellow starthistle.
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A male monarch on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

The Look-at 'Cats

April 27, 2021
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
They were the "Look-at-Cats." The feral cats on our farm (the progeny of strays dropped off by "imperfect" strangers) became known as "The Look-at-Cats." You couldn't touch, pet or hold them. You could feed them, though, and spay or neuter them--if you could catch them. And you could name them, too.
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A common crane fly, Tipula oleracea, on a tower of jewels, Echium wildpretii. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Bug Squad: Article

You Don't Have to Crane Your Neck to See Them

April 26, 2021
By Kathy Keatley Garvey
They're out there, and you don't have to crane your neck to see them. Some folks mistakenly call them "mosquito hawks" or "mosquito eaters," but they are neither. They are crane flies, members of the family Tipulidae of the order Diptera (flies). They're everywhere.
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