March 10, 2009
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| UC Davis Extension Apiculturist Eric Mussen with bee observation hive. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) |
DAVIS—A honey bee exhibit featuring University of California, Davis apiculturist Eric Mussen has just won a top regional honor for its excellence.
The exhibit, housed in the floriculture building at the Dixon May Fair, won second place in the Western Fairs’ Association’s non-competitive exhibit category. WFA represents fairs and festivals in 27 states and Canada.
“The honey bee exhibit was a first at the Dixon May Fair and very popular,” said Ester Armstrong, the fair’s interim chief executive officer. “Dr. Mussen drew large, interested crowds, all wanting to know about the plight of the honey bee.” A record 89,000 attended the four-day fair.
Mussen, a Cooperative Extension apiculturist and member of the UC Davis Department of Entomology faculty for the past 32 years, fielded questions from fairgoers. He also provided educational displays of bees and beekeepers.
Bee breeder-geneticist Susan Cobey, manager of the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis, and research associate Kim Fondrk loaned a bee observation hive, a glassed-in facility showing the queen bee, workers and drones. Kathy Keatley Garvey, communications specialist at the UC Davis Department of Entomology, provided close-up photos of bees. A wedding photo showed Cobey and her husband with a double-beard of bees.
Over the last two years, individual beekeepers have reported losing 30 to 100 percent of their bees due to a mysterious phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder. Honey bees pollinate one third of the American diet.
Another popular UC Davis exhibit at the fair: live insects provided by the Bohart Museum of Entomology, which houses the seventh largest insect collection in North America. Brian Turner, public outreach coordinator at the Bohart Museum displayed Madagascar hissing cockroaches, Vietnamese walking sticks, tarantulas and millipedes. The Bohart Museum, housed in Academic Surge on the UC Davis campus, is dedicated to teaching, research and public service.
Both UC Davis exhibits will return to this year’s fair, to be held May 7-10 on the fairgrounds at 655 S. First St.
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--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
UC Davis Department of Entomology
(530) 754-6894
