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| Frank Zalom will be inducted as vice president-elect of the 6000-member ESA. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) |
DAVIS--The UC Davis Department of Entomology will be one of the most honored departments in its history when the Entomological Society of America (ESA) holds its 59th annual meeting, Nov. 13-16 in the Reno-Sparks Convention Center, Reno.
Professor Frank Zalom, in line for the presidency of the 6000-member association, will be installed as vice president-elect and will begin his term on Nov. 16. Professor James R. Carey and Diane Ullman, professor and associate dean for undergraduate academic programs in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, will be inducted as ESA fellows, an honor limited to 10 persons per year.
Michael Parrella, professor and chair of the Department of Entomology, will receive the Distinguished Achievement Award in Horticultural Entomology and professor Walter Leal, the Nan-Yao Su Award for Innovation and Creativity in Entomology. These are two key professional awards. Michael Parrella represents the Pacific Branch of the ESA on the ESA Governing Board.
Harry Kaya, emeritus professor of entomology and nematology, will be honored at a special seminar titled “Entomopathogenic Nematodes: Their Biology, Ecology, and Application. A Tribute to the Dynamic Career of Harry K. Kaya.” Ed Lewis, professor of entomology and nematology and acting chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology, is one of the coordinators.
Three other faculty members are moderating and organizing symposiums. They are James R. Carey, “Insect Demography: Emerging concepts and Applications”; Neal Williams, “Biodiversity, Global Change and Insect-Mediated Ecosystem Services,” and Walter Leal, “Insect Olfaction and Taste: Identifying, Clarifying and Speaking about the Key Issues.” Each also will deliver a lecture.
Walter Leal is serving on the Presidential Committee on the International Congress of Entomology (ICE), to be held Aug. 19-25 in Daegu, South Korea.
The UC Davis Linnaean Team will participate in the annual college-bowl-like competition about entomological facts. The team of graduate students includes Matan Shelomi, who studies with major professor Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and professor of entomology; Meredith Cenzer, who studies with assistant professor Louie Yang; Andrew Merwin, who studies with major professor and department chair Michael Parrella; Mohammad-Amir Aghaee, who studies with Extension entomologist Larry Godfrey; and Hanayo Arimoto, with studies with major professor Ed Lewis. The team earlier won first place in the Pacific Branch competition.
Another highlight is a student debate: “Identify.. Clarify.. Speak Out !! Land Grant Mission, Organic Agriculture & Host Plant Resistance Programs.” Speaking on the pro side will be the team of five UC Davis entomology graduate students: Matan Shelomi, Mohammad-Amir Aghaee; Andrew Merwin; Meredith Cenzer, and Kelly Hamby (she studies with major professor Frank Zalom).
A video created by UC Davis student Heather Wilson, who works in the Frank Zalom lab, is in the running to win the open division category of the ESA YouTube Contest. It is titled “I Wanna Be an Entomologist,” a parody of the hit song, “I Wanna Be a Billionaire.” Wilson filmed the video in the Zalom lab and the Bohart Museum of Entomology. Later (Nov. 14) she will present her research “Seasonal Movements of Drosophila suzukii (Diptera: Drosophilidae) in a Multi-Crop Setting.”
Other UC Davis participants include:
Faculty:
Robert Kimsey, forensic entomologist, Estimating Medfly Population Age Structure Using the Death Distributions of Live Captures. Towards a Demographic Framework in Forensic Entomology.
Michael Parrella, professor and department chair, “An Analysis of the Floriculture and Nursery Industries’ Struggle with Invasive Pests.”
Jay Rosenheim, professor “Pollen Limitation: How Common Should We Expect It to Be?
Thomas Scott, professor, “Human Heterogeneities in Dengue Virus Transmission.”
Larry Godfrey, Extension entomologist (poster) Validation of spider mite, Tetranychus sp., management techniques in mint under California conditions.
Postdoctoral Scholars and Doctorates
Sandra Gillespie, postdoctoral scholar in the Neal Williams lab; “Honey bee (Apis mellifera) Pollination Affects Onion Seed Set in California Central Valley”
Michal Segoli, postdoctoral scholar, Rosenheim lab, “The Effect of Wolbachia on Lifetime Reproductive Success of Parasitoid Wasps.”
Christine Casey, program manager, Integrated Pest Management Bedding and Container Color Plant Program, “Bedding Plant IPM in California: Successful IPM in a Short-Term Crop.”
Graduate Students/Doctoral Candidates
Jenny Carlson (Anthony Cornel lab), Specificity of Avian Host and Mosquito Vector Infections of Avian Plasmodium in Riparian Southwest Fresno County.
Tara Thiemann (William Reisen lab), will present on “Bloodfeeding Patterns of Culex, Aedes and Anopheles Mosquitoes in an Oak Woodland in Lake County, Calif.
Matan Shelomi (Lynn Kimsey lab), DEET (N,N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide) Induced Delay of Blow Fly Landing and Oviposition Rates on Treated Pig Carrion (Sus scrofa L.).
Ian Pearse (Phil Ward lab): After the Introduction: Predicting Novel Plant-Herbivore Interaction.
Stacy Hishinuma (Mary Lou Flint, Steve Seybold and Richard Bostock labs), Assessing Thousand Cankers Disease Severity in California.
Meredith Cenzer (Louie Yang lab), Home Sweet Home: Induced Plant Preference in Minute Pirate bugs (Orius tristicolor).
Andrew Merwin (Michael Parrella lab), Petal-Feeding Behavior of Liriomyza trifolii in Gerbera Cut-Flower Production
Mohammad-Amir Aghaee (Larry Godfrey lab),To Sweep or to Vacuum: a Comparison of Lygus Bug (Lygus hersperus Knight) Populations inTwo Varieties of Dry Beans.
Kelly Hamby (Frank Zalom lab), Yeast Associations of Spotted Wing Drosophila (Drosophila suzukii) in Raspberries.
Scott McCluen (Plant Pathology), A Phylogeny of the Tanypodinae (Diptera: Chironomidae).
Marek Borowiec (Phil Ward lab), Generic Revision of Dorylomorph Ants.
Andrea Wagner (Plant Pathology), Best Management Practices in California Nurseries for Invasive Species, with an Emphasis on Biological Control.
Danica Maxwell (Parrella lab), Entomopathogenic Nematode Survival on the Leaf Surface: a Novel Gel Application.
Michael Branstetter (Phil Ward lab), From Low to High or High to Low: an Investigation into the Evolutionary History of Mesoamerican Stenamma (Hymenoptera: Formicidae).
James Harwood (James Carey lab), Impairment Affects Mating Costs and Behavior in Male Medflies (Diptera: Tephritidae).
M. Fran Keller (Lynn Kimsey lab), Stenomorpha Solier (Tenebrionidae) Revision and Morphology.
Bonnie Blaimer (Phil Ward lab), Rise and Success of the Acrobat Ants: Phylogeny of Crematogaster Unravels the Evolution of a Cosmopolitan Genus (Hymenoptera: Formicidae).
Bonnie Blaimer (Phil Ward lab), poster, The Crematogaster of Madagascar: systematics and distribution patterns (Hymenoptera: Formicidae).
Andrea Wagner (Plant Pathology), poster display Best Management Practices in California Nurseries for Invasive Species, with an Emphasis on Biological Control.
Soledad C. Villamil (Edwin Lewis lab), virtual poster “Male Olive Fruit Fly Behavioral Responses to Environmental Cues and Female Sex Pheromone.
UC Davis Undergraduate Student
Heather Wilson (Frank Zalom lab) Seasonal Movements of Drosophila suzukii (Diptera: Drosophilidae) in a multi-crop setting.
Extension entomologist Larry Godfrey will serve as the host for the annual UC mixer. The international insect salon will include two photos (flame skimmer dragonfly and a Western tiger swallowtail) by Kathy Keatley Garvey, communications specialist with the Department of Entomology.
See program for additional information.
--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
