Bohart Museum Open House Set May 19 on 'Bees, Wild and Managed'

UC Davis bee researchers will be featured when the Bohart Museum of Entomology hosts an open house themed "Bees: Both Wild and Managed" from 1 to 4 p.m., Sunday, May 19 in Room 1124 of the Academic Surge Building, 455 Crocker Lane.

“It should be a great event!” said Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator. “There is a lot of interest in bees this time of year. The format will be tabling with direct conversations with visitors.” The event is free and family friendly. Parking is also free.

Among those participating will be the laboratory of community ecologist Rachel Vannette, associate professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology.

"At the Vannette Lab booth, you will be able to look into the life of a bee -- both in terms of where they live and how they develop!" said doctoral candidate and researcher Lexie Martin. "A live bumble bee nest and solitary bee nests will be available, so you can peer inside a bee's house! Additionally, there will be live bee larvae to observe under a microscope and interactive displays on the bee life cycle."  

Vannette describes her lab as "a team of entomologists, microbiologists, chemical ecologists, and community ecologists trying to understand how microbial communities affect plants and insects (sometimes other organisms too). We often study microbial communities in flowers, on insects or in soil. We rely on natural history observations, and use techniques from chemical ecology, microbial ecology and community ecology." 

Vannette, who joined the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology faculty in 2015, is a UC Davis Chancellor's Fellow, 2023-2027; a National Science Foundation Career Awardee, 2019-2024; a Hellman Fellow, 2019; and a Life Sciences Research Fellow, 2012-2015. Vannette received her bachelor of science degree in biology with honors in 2006 from Calvin College, Grand Rapids, Mich., and her doctorate in ecology and evolutionary biology from the University of Michigan, in 2011.

In addition to Vannette, participants from the Vannette lab at the open house will be:

Lexie Martin,  doctoral candidate in the Entomology Graduate Group. She is interested in the impact of microbes on bee health. She received  her bachelor's degree in biology (focus evolution, ecology, and behavior) and a BSA in chemistry from the University of Texas, Austin. As an undergraduate, she investigated the spatial distribution of bacteria within the guts of bumble bees and the gut microbiota of the Mexican honey wasp. In the Vannette Lab, she studies how microbes acquired socially and environmentally affect the health of bumblebees and blue orchard bees.

Dino Sbardellati, doctoral student in the Microbiology Graduate Group. He is a microbiologist interested in understanding how microbial ecology shapes macroscale ecology. He received a bachelor's degree in biology from Sonoma State University and an master's degree in vacteriology from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.  His work in the Vannette lab deals with studying the bacteriophage (viruses which target bacteria) communities associated with the bumble bee gut and how phages shape gut microbial communities. 

Leta Landucci, a junior specialist and biochemist. She is inspired by chemical ecology, and broadly interested in exploring chemically mediated plant-insect-microbe interactions. She obtained her bachelor's degree in biochemistry from the University of Wisconsin,Madison, where she studied poplar acyltransferase enzyme involved in the biosynthesis of the crucial plant polymer, suberin. She also did research on the dynamic between physical and chemical plant traits and Japanese beetle herbivore behavior. As a member of the Vannette lab, she researches how the production of peroxides secreted by nectarin proteins in floral nectar shapes microbial growth in nectar. She also aims to understand how this chemistry 

Others scheduled to participate are Bohart Museum scientists and bee specialists Thomas Zavortink and Sandy Shanks;  doctoral student Sofía Meléndez Cartagena of the Stacey Combes lab, Department of Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior (she will focus on local bee diversity); Chancellor's Fellow  Santiago Ramirez, associate professor, Department of Evolution and Ecology, who studies orchid bees; doctoral student Peter Coggan of the Ramirez lab (Coggan studies the neurological and genetic basis of orchid bee courtship behavior and evolution); and Richard Martinez, entomology graduate student researcher in the lab of apiculturist Elina Niño, associate professor of Cooperative Extension, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology. 

Martinez says that the  E.L Niño Lab booth will display an observation hive and offer honey tasting from a variety of floral sources. He will be sharing recent projects aimed at improving honey bee health via dietary supplements.  He also plans to showcase beekeeping suits and hive tools. 

UC Davis distinguished professor emerita Lynn Kimsey, who directed the Bohart Museum for 34 years, is also scheduled to participate. She is known as "wasp woman," but she did her dissertation on orchid bees in Panama.

The Bohart Museum houses a global collection of eight million insects, plus a live petting zoo,  and a gift shop.  Professor Jason Bond directs the museum as of Feb. 1, succeeding Kimsey, who served 34 years. Bond is the Evert and Marion Schlinger Endowed Chair of the Department of Entomology and Nematology, and the associate dean, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. He also serves as president-elect of the American Arachnological Society. 

For more information, access the website at https://bohart.ucdavis.edu or contact bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.