Backyard Orchard News
What's Going On with the Monarchs?
What's going on with the monarchs? Our little pollinator garden in Vacaville, Calif., usually...
A male monarch on Mexican sunflower (Tithonia) on Aug. 30 in a Vacaville pollinator garden. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A male monarch butterfly nectaring on Mexican sunflower (Tithonia) in Vacaville, Calif. on Aug. 30. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A male monarch perches on the top of a Mexican sunflower in an image taken Aug. 30 in Vacaville, Calif. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
The Incredible Aphid-Eating Machines
Just call them the "incredible aphid-eating machines." That would be the lady beetles, commonly...
Lady beetle larva dining on aphids on milkweed, UC Davis campus. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A lady beetle, aka ladybug, tracks down more prey. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A Two-Headed Butterfly?
There's an old joke circulating among entomologists about excited novices contacting them about...
Gulf Fritillaries (Agraulis vanillae) on their host plant, Passiflora, doing what nature intended. At the far right is a Gulf Frit caterpillar. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Photo Two: The Gulf Fritillaries begin to spread their wings. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Photo Three: The reddish-orange wings of the Gulf Fritillaries are stunning. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Photo Four: The coloring and contrast of the silver-spangled and reddish-orange wings make it one of the showiest butterflies in California. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Photo Five: These butterflies engaged for about 10 minutes, while the photographer was there. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Photo Six: After the photographer captured this image, the butterflies separated and flew their separate ways. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
High Honor for Emily Bick: ESA Student Certification Award
It's a high honor. Doctoral candidate Emily Bick of the Christian Nansen lab, UC Davis Department...
A crab spider snares a Lygus bug. Emily Bick, for her doctorate, is behaviorally manipulating a pesticide-resistant insect (Lygus spp.) away from high-value horticultural crops using a push-pull strategy. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
UC Davis Scientists Heading to Entomology Conference in Brazil
Three faculty members from the University of California, Davis, will be among those sharing the...
Spotted wing drosophila on a raspberry. Both Frank Zalom and Joanna Chiu of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology faculty, research collaborators, will speak on this pest. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)