A frame of bees at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility. Richard Martinez of the E. L. Nino lab will present his exit seminar at 12:10 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 3 in 122 Briggs Hall. He received his master's degree in entomology in June 2025.

UC Davis Alumnus Richard Martinez to Present Exit Seminar

Honey Bee Specialist from E. L. Niño Lab to Speak Dec. 3

by Kathy Keatley Garvey
November 25, 2025

UC Davis alumnus Richard Martinez of the E. L. Nino lab will present his exit seminar on Dec. 3. — Richard Martinez of the E. L. Niño lab, who received his master's degree in entomology in June 2025, will present his exit seminar on Dec. 3. Now a resident of Maui, he is the Invasive Ant Program coordinator for the Maui Invasive Species Committee.

Honey bee specialist Richard Martinez of the E. L. Niño lab will present his exit seminar, hosted by the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, on Wednesday, Dec. 3 in Room 122 of Briggs Hall.

Martinez, who received his master's degree in entomology in June 2025, will speak on "Characterizing the Effects of Phytochemical Diet Supplementation on Western Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) Colonies in California" at 12:10 p.m. His seminar also will be on Zoom. The Zoom link: https://ucdavis.zoom.us/j/95882849672.

"Honey bees, crucial agricultural pollinators, are facing severe declines, with average colony losses surpassing 60 percent nationally in the 2024-2025 season, exacerbated by multifactorial stressors like pesticides, pathogens, parasites, and poor nutrition," Martinez writes in his abstract.

"As natural forage diminishes due to climate change and land development, understanding and improving honey bee nutrition is paramount for colony survival and productivity," he relates. "Previous studies have shown that dietary phytochemical supplements confer a host of benefits to caged honey bee workers which includes increased life span, increased tolerance to xenobiotics, and increased tolerance to pathogens. The goal of this research is to further investigate the effects of these dietary phytochemicals at the colony-level, using field based assays."

Martinez, who describes himself as "from southeast Los Angeles and a product of the California community college system," has traveled throughout California studying a variety of insects, including honey bees, aquatic insects, desert harvester ants, parasitoids, mealy bugs, and numerous crop pests. He received his undergraduate degree from UC Riverside, under the guidance of bee scientist Elina Niño, then an associate professor of Cooperative Extension, Apiculture, and now a professor and member of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology faculty.

"I'm now facing the dreaded Little Fire Ant (Wasmannia auropunctata)," Martinez commented. "As the new Invasive Ant Program coordinator for the Maui Invasive Species Committee, I am to support the decades-long eradication effort on the island of Maui while avoiding getting stung."

Seminar coordinator Marshall McMunn may be reached at msmcmunn@ucdavis.edu for any Zoom issues.