Rangelands

If there's anything better than seeing honey bees foraging on almond blossoms, it's this: Bumble bees foraging on almond blossoms. Make that the yellow-faced bumble bees, Bombus vosnesenskii, in Benicia.

The 2019 Beer for a Butterfly contest is over. And the winner isdrum roll Art Shapiro, UC Davis distinguished professor of evolution and ecology.

No winner yet. The annual Beer for a Butterfly" or "Suds for a Bug" contest has not produced a winner. But somewhere out there, is a cabbage white butterfly taking its first flight.

A Healthy Soils Demonstration project was recently launched at Sierra Foothill REC in experimental rangeland plots in the Forbes pasture.

Are you ready for the eighth annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day on Saturday, Feb. 16 when 13 museums and collections will be open on the University of California, Davis, campus? The event, free, family friendly and educational, is always held on Presidents' Day weekend.

No, it's not Valentine's Day, yet. Yes, the almonds are blooming. No, it's not spring. But it looks like spring in Benicia. The almonds are blooming in the Benicia (Calif.) State Recreation Area. Some are on the road at the entrance to the park. Other trees are also blooming.

1. 2019 California Plant and Soil Conference February 5-6, 2019 DoubleTree Hotel & Fresno Convention Center 2233 Ventura Street, Fresno, CA 93721 Tel: 559-268-1000. http://calasa.ucdavis.

When you're munching on French fries or potato chips, you're probably not thinking about the potato psyllid. But you should be. You should especially be thinking about the zebra chip. No, it's not a newly marketed potato chip or computer chip.

It's not outlandish now, if it ever were. A recent article in Science headlined "Once Considered Outlandish, the Idea that Plants Help their Relatives Is Taking Root," and dealing with how plants communicate, is drawing widespread attention.

Doesn't Santa give everyone a Mexican redknee tarantula for Christmas? Oh, you didn't get yours? Well, Delsin Russell, 9, of Vacaville, did, and he and his mother journeyed Saturday, Jan.