Rangelands

For the last two years, UC IPM has shared an Easter egg photo quiz with insect and spider eggs and egg cases. In case you want to play again, this post is from our 2018 egg hunt and this post is our 2019 egg hunt.

For the 2019-2020 field season, we have made some adjustments to the Healthy Soils Demonstration Project at the Sierra Foothills Research and Extension Center (to read about the background of this project, click here) in response to a spontaneous grass fire in June 2019.

All hail the honey bee! It's an immigrant, like almost all of us, except for the Native Americans. European colonists brought the honey bee (Apis mellifera) to what is now the United States in 1622. Specifically, they arrived at the Jamestown colony (Virginia).

On Wednesday, April 8, UC Ag Experts Talk will be hosting a webinar titled From Integrated Pest Management to Integrated Pest and Pollinator Management: An Update on Current Research on Pollinator Health. This is a 2.5 hrs in-person meeting converted into a webinar.

Sometimes you just have to display your sense of humor. Take the case of a huge praying mantis sculpture that anchors the Davis, Calif., front yard of entomologists Robert and Lynn Kimsey of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.

As I've written numerous times, research into the efficacy of livestock protection tools, including livestock guardian dogs, is difficult (if not impossible).

Have you ever seen a plume moth? Or has a plume moth ever seen you? We spotted a pterophorid plume moth (family Pterophoridae) yesterday on our back door in Vacaville, Calif.

The things we overlook are the things we should look for. Take mustard and honey bees.

So, you're sheltering in place and thinking about honey bees, bumble bees, monarchs and assorted other insects. Nematodes, too. And maybe a spider or two? You're in luck.

So many good-hearted people are trying to help others during the coronavirus pandemic. Take professional seamstress and aerobics instructor Teresa Hickman of Vacaville, Calif., who is devoting much of her time to sewing two-layer cotton face masks, now that her classes are on hiatus.