Backyard Orchard News
Find the Praying Mantids in the Milkweed
It's 6 a.m. Do you know where your praying mantids are? Well, yes. Two of them. Just before dawn...
Early morning silhouette: Find the two praying mantids. There's a female and a male clinging to the milkweed. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
As morning dawns, a female praying mantis,Stagmomantis limbata, checks out what's below. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A male praying mantis, Stagmomantis limbata, clings to a milkweed stem. Just above him: a female, not seen in this photo. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Hmm...where are you, my little buddy? The female praying mantis looks around for the male. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The next morning, the female praying mantis ambushes and eats a honey bee. The male? Nowhere in sight. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Intriguing Topic: Social Evolution in Social Insects
Intriguing topic: social evolution in social insects... The UC Davis Department of Entomology and...
A close encounter between a honey bee and a velvety tree ant (Liometopum occidentale) on a lavender blossom; both are social insects. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Handing Over the Bees!
Beekeepers circled biologist Randy Oliver, commercial beekeeper, scientist, writer and educator, as...
Beekeeper-scientist Randy Oliver of Grass Valley gestures during his presentation. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Randy Oliver hands over bees to beekeeper Ettamarie Peterson of Petaluma, a member of the Sonoma County Beekeepers' Association and the Western Apicultural Society. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Beekeeper Etta Marie Peterson displays a handful of bees as a cell phone photographer captures the moment. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
If a bird in the hand is worth two in a bush, what's a handful of bees worth? Ettamarie Peterson, Petaluma beekeeper and member of the Sonoma County Beekeepers' Association and the Western Apicultural Society, displays a handful of nurse bees. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
California Red Scale Workshop on Biology and Management
On Sept 28, Dr. Beth Grafton-Cardwell led an all-day training on the nitty gritty details of...
IMG 1068
What Attracts Bees to Blossoms? A Surprising Discovery by UC Davis Ecologist Rachel Vannette
You're watching honey bees foraging in a field. They buzz toward a blossom, sip nectar, and...
A honey bee heads toward a lupine blossom. It's not just the nectar she's scented. UC Davis community ecologist Rachel Vannette has just published a paper in New Phytologist journal that shows nectar-living microbes release scents or volatile compounds, too, and can influence a pollinator's foraging preference. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Microbial stains (fungi and bacteria) isolated from floral nectar. (Photo by Rachel Vannette)
This is the electroantennogram (EAG) assay set-up. (Photo by Bryan Smith, USDA-ARS)