The Buzz Behind the UC Davis Bumble Bee Contest – Bug Squad

UC Davis doctoral candidate Maureen Web page is the co-winner of the 2022 Robbin Thorp Bumble Bee Contest.

The Bohart Museum of Entomology generated a number of buzz when it sponsored its second annual “Robbin Thorp Memorial First-Bumble-Bee-of-the-12 months Contest.”

The open-to-the-public competitors concerned trying to find the first-of-the-year bumble bee within the two-county space of Yolo or Solano; photographing it; and emailing the picture to the Bohart Museum at bmuseum@ucdavis.edu.

The primary bumble bee to emerge on this space is often the black-tailed bumble bee, Bombus melanopygus, however one other bumble bee, the yellow-faced bumble bee,  Bombus vosnesenskii,is out early as effectively.

Each are thought-about “spring bees” as a result of that’s when their inhabitants is the best, based on Thorp. Then their numbers “tail” the remainder of the yr.

Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart and a UC Davis distinguished professor, Division of Entomology and Nematology, introduced Saturday that “we’ve the winners.”

Not one winner, however two. Nobody species, however two.

Horticulturist Ellen Zagory is the co-winner of the 2022 Robbin Thorp Bumble Bee Contest.

UC Davis doctoral candidate Maureen Web page of the Neal Williams lab, UC Davis Division of Entomology and Nematology, photographed B. melanopygus together with her cellular phone digicam, and horticulturist Ellen Zagory, retired director of public horticulture for the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Backyard, photographed B.vosnesenskii together with her Sony digicam.

Coincidentally, they every took their pictures at precisely 2:30 p.m., Jan. 1 within the 100-acre UC Davis Arboretum and Public Backyard because the bees foraged on manzanita.

And fittingly, they each knew and labored with Robbin Thorp (1933-2019), a worldwide authority on bees and a UC Davis distinguished emeritus professor of entomology. 

The occasion additionally marked the second consecutive yr {that a} member of the Williams lab gained. Final yr postdoctoral researcher Charlie Casey Nicholson of the Williams lab and the lab of Elina Lastro Niño, claimed the prize by photographing a B. melanopygus at 3:10 p.m., Jan. 14 in a manzanita patch within the Arboretum. 

Because the 2022 winners, Web page and Zagory will every obtain a espresso cup designed with the endangered Franklin’s bumble bee, a bee that Thorp intently monitored in its small vary on the California-Oregon border. The cup options the picture of the bee specimen, photographed by Bohart scientist Brennen Dyer, and designed by UC Davis doctoral alumnus Fran Keller, professor at Folsom Lake Faculty. 

The tv program, Good Day Sacramento, featured the competition on Jan. 3. (See it right here.)

Worldwide Assortment. The Bohart Museum homes a worldwide assortment of 8 million insect specimens, together with 112 species of bumble bees, Kimsey mentioned. Thorp spend a lot of his time on the Bohart the place he recognized bees and helped colleagues with their analysis. 

Thorp, a 30-year member of the UC Davis college, retired in 1994 however continued his work on bees till his demise at age 85 at his residence in Davis. Referred to as a tireless advocate of pollinator species safety and conservation, he co-authored two books in 2014: Bumble Bees of North America: An Identification Information (Princeton College) and California Bees and Blooms: A Information for Gardeners and Naturalists (Heyday). 

Stated Zagory: “I certainly knew Robbin Thorp, some of the beneficiant and sort folks I’ve ever met. Dr. Thorp invited me to do a web page for his or her e book (California Bees And Blooms: A Information for Gardeners and Naturalists) in regards to the UC Davis Arboretum All-Stars (pages 230 -232) and he edited a publication we created on the UC Davis Arboretum known as Ten Bees and Ten Crops they Love that may be downloaded from the web site at https://arboretum.ucdavis.edu/pollinator-gardening.  

Web page is a 2018 alumnus of The Bee Course, which Thorp co-taught from 2002-2018. The nine-day intensive workshop, geared for conservation biologists and pollination ecologists and thought of the world’s premiere native bee biology and taxonomic course, takes place yearly in Portal, Ariz. on the Southwestern Analysis Station, a part of the American Museum of Pure Historical past, N.Y.   (The 2021 winner–Charlie Casey Nicholson–is a 2015 alumnus of The Bee Course.)

Web page mentioned she was “additionally fortunate sufficient to take part in a “Bumble Bee Blitz” organized by Thorp and the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service in July 2016 on Mt. Ashland, the place we looked for Bombus franklini and Bombus occidentalis– two very uncommon West Coast bee species. We sadly didn’t discover Bombus franklini, which is now acknowledged as an endangered species beneath the Endangered Species Act.” 

Sensible Scientist. “Robbin was an excellent scientist and a devoted advocate for bumble bee conservation,” Web page mentioned. “His demise was a terrific loss and I want extra of my profession might have overlapped together with his time in Davis.” 

As a doctoral candidate in entomology, Web page researches and investigates “whether or not European honey bees compete with native bees for floral sources and the way we are able to use well-planned floral enhancements to mitigate detrimental results of competitors.” 

How uncommon is it discover Bombus vosnesenskii on Jan. 1?

In an electronic mail as we speak, UC Davis doctoral alumnus and Thorp protégé Kim Chacon, mentioned she has seen B. vosnesenskii close to San Luis Obispo since Dec 26. She is a lecturer at California Polytechnic College (Cal Poly). “I feel it’s a very opportunistic species. In my analysis, that was one of many first emergers, the sixth genus really. Robbin Thorp had an attention-grabbing concept about bumble bees coping with a virus or different sickness which was shifting the dominant species to vosnesenskii. I am so completely happy each Ellen and Maureen won– they’re each superior!”

“My congratulations, too,” mentioned bumble bee fanatic/photographer Allan Jones of Davis, a good friend of Thorp’s. “I didn’t even exit contemplating the chilly climate. I anticipated it to be on the second day after we acquired up into the sixties, and with the bottom so damp and chilly, too. Hats off, brrrr.”

Each bumble bee species have additionally been sighted and photographed lately on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 in Benicia, Solano County.