University of California, Davis Archives - California Agriculture News Today

ESGA Wants to Bug You

The UC Davis Entomology Graduate Student Association (EGSA) is gearing up for the holiday season with items to “bug” you.

EGSA members design and sell insect- and arachnid-themed T-shirts and hoodies, as well as stickers. They can be ordered online at https://mkt.com/UCDavisEntGrad/.

Doctoral candidate Lexie Martin of the lab of community ecologist Rachel Vannette, associate professor and vice chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, serves as EGSA president.

Treasurer Iris Quayle of the arachnology lab of Professor Jason Bond coordinates the EGSA store.

Popular T-shirts include “The Beetles” (featuring four beetles mimicking The Beatles walking across Abbey Road) and “Bugbie” (a take-off of the Barbie movie craze but spotlighting a pink insect, a rosy maple moth, Dryocampa rubicunda.)

Among the many EGSA t-shirts:

“Here for a Good Time, Not a Long Time” (female praying mantis eating the head of a suitor)
“Would You Love Me If I Was a Worm?”
“Hang in There: (a pseudoscorpion hanging onto a fly leg)
“Bee Haw” (honey bee as a cowboy)
“They See Me Rollin'”: (dung beetle)
“Cicada Amp”
“Whip Scorpion”

“We now have hoodies in the Bee-Haw, Whip Scorpion, and Worm designs and tank tops in the Cicada Amp and Dung Beetle designs,” Quayle says.

This is one of the T-shirts designed and offered by the UC Davis Graduate Student Association.

California Ag Today2024-12-02T08:04:44-08:00December 2nd, 2024|

Smoke From Megafires Puts Orchard Trees at Risk

Effects Last Months, Reducing Nut Crop Yields

By Amy Quinton | October 2, 2023

Long-term smoke exposure from massive wildfires lowers the energy reserves of orchard trees and can cut their nut production by half, researchers at the University of California, Davis, found. The smoke can affect trees for months after a megafire, depressing their bloom and the next season’s harvest. This finding reveals a new danger from wildfires that could affect plant health in both agricultural and natural environments.

Nature Plants published the study today (Oct. 2).

“A lot of research focuses on the impact of smoke on humans but there is less study on the effects of smoke on plant health,” said lead author Jessica Orozco, a postdoctoral researcher with the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences. “Our study suggests that trees are just as vulnerable as humans.”

Wildfire smoke blocks sunlight

Scientists studied almond, pistachio and walnut trees at 467 orchard sites in California’s Central Valley from 2018 to 2022. In 2020, megafires scorched more than 4.2 million acres in California, filling the skies with smoke and ash. At the time, researchers were studying how trees store energy, in the form of carbohydrates, to cope with heat and drought. But Orozco said the team saw an opportunity to study how smoke affects carbohydrate levels.

“Photosynthesis produces carbohydrates, which are critical elements for tree survival,” said Orozco. “Trees need carbohydrates not just to grow but to store energy for when they’re under stress or when photosynthesis isn’t happening.”

Photosynthesis changes under smoke-filled skies. Smoke particles block some sunlight but also reflect light, creating more diffused light. The diffused light can help trees make more carbohydrates. However, Orozco said the study found that while diffused light increased, the smoke was so thick that it likely didn’t compensate for the loss of direct light.

Megafires have lingering effects on tree health

The team found that megafire smoke not only reduced the amount of carbohydrates in trees but also caused losses that continued even after the fires were out. This led to nut yield decreases of 15% to as much as 50% in some orchards. The most active time for wildfires also coincides with the time trees start storing carbohydrates to sustain them through winter dormancy and spring growth.

“We were expecting to see some impact especially in the months when the smoke was really dense, but we weren’t expecting the smoke to have such a lingering effect and result in a significant drop in yield,” Orozco said.

Orozco said researchers still don’t know what components in megafire smoke caused the decrease in tree carbohydrates. During the 2020 megafires, the smoke reduced light and increased both ozone and particulate matter levels, all of which affect photosynthesis. One or a combination of these factors could have led to the drop in tree carbohydrates.

Additional authors on the study are Professor Maciej A. Zwieniecki and postdoctoral researcher Paula Guzmán-Delgado of the UC Davis Department of Plant Sciences.

The Almond Board of California, the California Pistachio Research Board, the California Walnut Board and the California Department of Food and Agriculture supported the research.

California Ag Today2024-10-02T08:04:22-07:00October 2nd, 2024|

UC Davis Enters New International Strawberry Licensing Agreements

Courtesy of the UC Davis News and Media Relations

The University of California, Davis, has reached new agreements to license more than a dozen of its world-renowned strawberry varieties to growers in countries across the world.

The agreements ensure that nurseries and fruit growers in Mexico, South America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East have access to all available varieties developed by the UC Davis Public Strawberry Breeding Program.

Strawberry plant varieties developed at UC Davis produce about 60% of all strawberries consumed around the world.

UK-based Global Plant Genetics, or GPG, will add 15 legacy varieties of UC Davis strawberry plants to its existing portfolio in China, South America, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. GPG, which has been a UC Davis master licensee since 2018, already oversees licensing of a dozen of the more recently developed UC Davis varieties in those markets.

Fresa Fortaleza, or F2, is the new master licensee for the legacy varieties in Mexico. Since 2020, the San Diego-based company has been the master licensee in Mexico for the more recently developed UC Davis varieties.

Earlier this year, UC Davis severed ties with former master licensee Eurosemillas as to these legacy varieties.

“We are pleased to have expanded our agreements with GPG and Fresa Forteleza,” said Helene Dillard, dean of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. “We appreciate the shared commitment to maintaining outstanding relationships with our nurseries and growers and providing vigorous support for the UC Davis Public Strawberry Breeding Program.”

The new agreements cover:

The European Union, Switzerland and the United Kingdom
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay
China
Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Morocco and Turkey.

The UC Davis Public Strawberry Breeding Program seeks to address the needs of growers by developing strawberries for positive characteristics including greater yield, flavor, disease resistance, and adaptation to different growing conditions. The university directly licenses strawberry varieties to nurseries in Canada and the U.S. and offers California strawberry growers a competitive advantage through exclusive access to new varieties for two years and reduced royalty rates.

The program, funded primarily by revenue from licensing strawberry varieties, also trains students and postdoctoral researchers to be leaders in the field.

California Ag Today2024-09-24T10:41:18-07:00September 24th, 2024|

UC Davis Ends Strawberry Licensing Agreements With Eurosemillas

Courtesy of Bill Kisliuk with the UC Davis News and Media Relations

The University Will Continue to Work With Nurseries and Growers in 20-Plus Affected International Markets

The University of California, Davis, a leader in the development of world-class strawberry varieties for the California and global markets, is terminating all strawberry licensing agreements with Eurosemillas S.A., which has been a master licensee for older UC Davis strawberry varieties in countries outside of the United States.

The decision to terminate the UC Davis Public Strawberry Breeding Program licensing agreements with Eurosemillas does not come lightly. The University of California provided due notice to Eurosemillas of the university’s position that Eurosemillas had defaulted on its agreements, and the university’s concerns were not addressed.

The university is taking steps to provide stability for nurseries and fruit growers during this transition period, and ensure continued access to older UC Davis strawberry varieties. Newer UC Davis strawberry varieties continue to be available throughout the world per licensing agreements with other partners, Fresa Fortaleza and Global Plant Genetics.

“The UC Davis Public Strawberry Breeding Program has been a huge success for consumers, growers, California’s agricultural economy and the global strawberry market,” said Helene Dillard, dean of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. “The step the university is taking today is necessary to support our growers and our program, and to ensure the scientific breakthroughs at UC Davis and resources provided by the state of California are cared for, managed and marketed properly.”

UC Davis holds active patents on 20 strawberry varieties, all of which have been licensed to nurseries to sell to strawberry growers.

The university directly licenses strawberry varieties to California nurseries, offering state strawberry growers exclusive access to new varieties for two years and reduced royalty rates to give them a competitive advantage. The university also directly licenses varieties elsewhere in the United States and Canada.

In markets outside North America, the university contracts with master licensees to work with nurseries, farmers and growers. International markets where UC Davis strawberry varieties are grown include the European Union, the United Kingdom and Switzerland; Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay; China; Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Morocco and Turkey; South Africa; Canada; New Zealand and Australia.

UC has been and will continue to be vigilant about supporting the UC Davis Public Strawberry Breeding Program and honoring its obligations to farmers and growers to ensure access to high-quality, affordable varieties in California and elsewhere. As a public research institution, UC diligently protects and promotes its intellectual property to maximize public value, support thriving agricultural economies and ensure reinvestment in university research and education.

About the UC Davis Public Strawberry Breeding Program

Strawberry varieties developed at UC Davis produce about 60% of all strawberries consumed worldwide.

Varieties developed at UC Davis have made California a leading producer, with the state growing more than 87% of North American strawberries.

The UC Davis Public Strawberry Breeding Program is funded primarily by revenue from licensing strawberry varieties. Licensing funds also support patent expenses, campus inventors, the UC Office of the President and UC Davis.

Annually, the University of California generally receives between $8 million and $9 million in licensing revenue from the strawberry breeding program.

UC Davis develops strawberry varieties for greater yield, disease resistance, flavor, adaptation to different growing conditions and other positive characteristics.

UC Davis breeders work collaboratively with industry leaders to produce fruit that meets the market demand and address the needs of growers.

The program also trains students and postdoctoral researchers to be leaders in this vital industry.

Media Resources

Media Contact:

Bill Kisliuk, News and Media Relations, 530-760-9726, bkisliuk@ucdavis.edu

California Ag Today2024-05-21T10:26:02-07:00May 21st, 2024|

Harvesting Light to Grow Food and Clean Energy Together

By Kat Kerlin, UC Davis

Different Light Spectra Serve Different Needs for Agrivoltaics

People are increasingly trying to grow both food and clean energy on the same land to help meet the challenges of climate change, drought and a growing global population that just topped 8 billion. This effort includes agrivoltaics, in which crops are grown under the shade of solar panels, ideally with less water.

Now scientists from the University of California, Davis, are investigating how to better harvest the sun — and its optimal light spectrum — to make agrivoltaic systems more efficient in arid agricultural regions like California.

Their study, published in Earth’s Future, a journal of the American Geophysical Union, found that the red part of the light spectrum is more efficient for growing plants, while the blue part of the spectrum is better used for solar production.

A door opener

The study’s results could help guide global interest in agrivoltaics and identify potential applications for those systems.

“This paper is a door opener for all sorts of technological advancements,” said corresponding author Majdi Abou Najm, an associate professor at the Department of Land, Air and Water Resources and a fellow at the UC Davis Institute of the Environment. He conducted the study with first author Matteo Camporese of the University of Padova in Italy, who came to UC Davis as a Fulbright visiting scholar. “Today’s solar panels take all the light and try to make the best of it. But what if a new generation of photovoltaics could take the blue light for clean energy and pass the red light onto the crops, where it is most efficient for photosynthesis?”

For the study, the scientists developed a photosynthesis and transpiration model to account for different light spectra. The model reproduced the response of various plants, including lettuce, basil and strawberry, to different light spectra in controlled lab conditions. A sensitivity analysis suggested the blue part of the spectrum is best filtered out to produce solar energy while the red spectrum can be optimized to grow food.

This work was further tested this past summer on tomato plants at UC Davis agricultural research fields in collaboration with UC Davis Assistant Professor Andre Daccache from the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering.

Guiding light

In an era of shrinking viable land, understanding how plants respond to different light spectra is a key step toward designing systems that balance sustainable land management with water use and food production, the study noted.

“We cannot feed 2 billion more people in 30 years by being just a little more water-efficient and continuing as we do,” Abou Najm said. “We need something transformative, not incremental. If we treat the sun as a resource, we can work with shade and generate electricity while producing crops underneath. Kilowatt hours become a secondary crop you can harvest.”

The study was funded by a U.S. Department of State Fulbright Research Scholarship, UC Davis and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

California Ag Today2022-12-14T11:13:10-08:00December 14th, 2022|

New UC Study Helps Growers Estimate Cover Crop Costs and Potential Benefits

By Pam Kan-Rice, UCANR

Cover crops offer many potential benefits – including improving soil health – but not knowing the costs can be a barrier for growers who want to try this practice. To help growers calculate costs per acre, a new study on the costs and potential benefits of adding a winter cover crop in an annual rotation has been released by UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, UC Cooperative Extension and the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.

Led by UC Cooperative Extension farm advisors Sarah Light and Margaret Lloyd, the cost study is modeled for a vegetable-field crop rotation planted on 60-inch beds in the lower Sacramento Valley of California. Depending on the operation, this rotation may include processing tomatoes, corn, sunflower, cotton, sorghum and dry beans, as well as other summer annual crops.

“This cost study can be used by growers who want to begin cover cropping to determine the potential costs per acre associated with this soil-health practice,” said Light, a study co-author and UC Cooperative Extension agronomy advisor for Sutter, Yuba and Colusa counties.

“Based on interviews with growers who currently cover crop on their farms, this cost study models a management scenario that is common for the Sacramento Valley. In addition, growers who want to use cover crops can gain insight as to what standard field management practices will be from planting to termination.”

At the hypothetical farm, the cover crop is seeded into dry soil using a grain drill, then dependent on rainfall for germination and growth.
“Given the frequency of drier winters, we included the cost to irrigate one out of three years,” said Lloyd.

A mix of 30% bell bean, 30% field pea, 20% vetch and 20% oats is sown in the fall. Depending on winter rainfall, soil moisture and the following cash crop, the cover crop is terminated in mid to late spring. The cover crop is flail mowed and disced to incorporate the residue into the soil.

The study includes detailed information on the potential benefits and the drawbacks of cover cropping.

Another consideration for growers is that multiple programs such as CDFA’s Healthy Soils Program, various USDA-funded programs (EQUIP, the Climate-Smart Commodities, etc.), and Seeds for Bees by Project Apis m. offer financial incentives for growers to implement conservation practices, such as cover crops.

“This study can provide growers with a baseline to estimate their own costs of using winter cover crops as a practice. This can be useful to calculate more precise estimates when applying for some of these programs and/or weigh the costs per acre with expected benefits in terms of soil health, crop insurance premium discounts or other benefits provided by the cover crops,” said Brittney Goodrich, UC Cooperative Extension agricultural and resource economics specialist and study co-author.

“Last year, the USDA’s Pandemic Cover Crop Program gave up to a $5/acre discount on crop insurance premiums for growers who planted a cover crop, and there is potential this will get extended going forward,” Goodrich said.

A list of links to resources that focus specifically on cover crops is included in the study. Five tables show the individual costs of each cultural operation from ground preparation through planting and residue incorporation.

The new study, “2022 – Estimated Costs and Potential Benefits for a Winter Cover Crop in an Annual Crop Rotation – Lower Sacramento Valley,” can be downloaded from the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics website at coststudies.ucdavis.edu. Sample cost of production studies for many other commodities are also available on the website.
This cost and returns study is funded by the UC Davis Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.

For an explanation of calculations used in the study, refer to the section titled “Assumptions.” For more information, contact Don Stewart in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at destewart@ucdavis.edu, Light at selight@ucanr.edu, or Lloyd at mglloyd@ucanr.edu.

California Ag Today2022-10-06T08:30:49-07:00October 6th, 2022|

UC Davis Community Ecologist Louie Yang Shares Expertise at National Monarch Summit

By Kathy Keatley Garvey, UC Davis

UC Davis community ecologist Louie Yang, professor of entomology, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, was one of 12 invited scientists nationwide who delivered a presentation during the two-day Monarch Butterfly Summit, held recently at the Capitol in Washington D.C. and organized by Sen. Jeffrey Merkley of Oregon.

It was a gathering of science experts and policymakers to share science and conservation actions to help the declining western monarch population. The scientists discussed the natural history of the monarch (Danaus plexippus), its population status, habitats and barriers to conservation success.

“It was a great group of folks working hard to connect science and policy to improve monarch conservation,” Yang said. “It was a privilege to part of it.’

During the summit, the Department of the Interior announced a $1 million award to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s (NFWF) Monarch Butterfly and Pollinators Conservation Fund, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced a Pollinator Conservation Center.

Last year two bills to support the Monarch Action, Recovery, and Conservation of Habitat (MONARCH) Act and the Monarch and Pollinator Highway Act were proposed; and if passed, these acts would support a variety of initiatives focused on monarch research and conservation.

Sen. Merkley organized the summit in collaboration with the Department of the Interior. Officials attending included Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland; Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon; Sen. Alex Padilla of California; Cong. Jimmy Panetta of California; Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and Parks (USFWS) Shannon Estenoz; and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Martha Williams.

In addition to Professor Yang, three other scientists affiliated with UC Davis gave scientific presentations:

Professor Matt Forister, the Trevor J. McMinn Endowed Professor in Biology, Foundation Professor, at the University of Nevada, Reno. He holds a doctorate in ecology (2004) from UC Davis where he studied with major professor Art Shapiro, distinguished professor of evolution and ecology
Elizabeth Crone, professor and population ecologist at Tufts University and a UC Davis collaborator who recently completed a six-month sabbatical at UC Davis.
Sarina Jepsen, director of the Xerces Society’s Endangered Species and Aquatic Program, who holds a master’s degree (2006) in entomology from UC Davis. She studied with major professor Jay Rosenheim, distinguished professor of entomology.

Others giving scientific presentations were Amanda Barth, Western Monarch and Native Pollinator Working Group; Wendy Caldwell, executive director, Monarch Joint Venture; Ryan Drum, wildlife biologist, USFWS; Wayne Thogmartin, quantitative ecologist, U. S. Geological Survey; Cat Darst, wildlife biologist, USFWS, Cheryl Schultz, professor, Washington State University, Pullman; Sarah Hoyle, pesticide program specialist policy lead, Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation; and Francis Villablanca, professor, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

“Senator Merkley has been a champion for conservation since he entered the senate,” blogged Scott Hoffman Black, executive director of the Xerces Society. “Mace Vaughan and I have worked with his staff in the past on improving pollinator provisions in the Farm Bill, and I have had the pleasure of meeting with him several times. He is also very interested and worried about western monarchs. Sarina, Jennifer Hopwood Emma Pelton, and I worked with his staff on the Monarch and Pollinator Highway Act (which passed but is awaiting funding) and the Monarch Action, Recovery, and Conservation of Habitat Act of 2021 (or MONARCH Act). Sarina also met with him at Pismo Beach to see overwintering monarchs during this past year.”

“The Senator convened the Monarch Butterfly Summit to elevate the conservation issues that western monarchs face, and to include policy makers in work sessions to identify solutions,” Black noted. “Working closely with the USFWS and Xerces, Senator Merkley ensured that issues like pesticides, the availability of early emerging native milkweeds in the spring breeding areas, loss and degradation of western monarch overwintering sites, and other important issues would be highlighted throughout the meeting. Sarina and Sarah did an amazing job representing Xerces – not only in their talks, but in the working groups.”

Black wrote that the event “raised the profile of western monarchs. One participant that came up to me enthusiastically and said, ‘This was incredible. I have been working on monarchs for decades and never expected to come to a meeting where three U.S. Senators [Merkley, Padilla-CA, Wyden-OR] a congressperson [Panetta-CA] and the Secretary of Interior [Deb Haaland] come to talk about western monarchs!'”

“We hope will lead to additional focus on key priorities for recovering the western monarch population, such as the essential need to protect overwintering sites and invest in their restoration, and the need to scale up the production of early-emerging native milkweeds, such as Asclepias californica, to support the first generation of monarchs in the Priority 1 Restoration Zone and a focus on protecting habitat from insecticides that can harm monarchs.”

In a news release, the U.S. Department of Interior noted: “In the 1980s, more than 4.5 million monarchs overwintered along the California Coast. Currently, the western overwintering population has declined by more than 95 percent. In 2020, western monarch numbers dropped to all-time lows when only 1,900 overwintering monarchs were observed. In 2021, biologists and the public alike were greeted with the news that monarch numbers were heading in the right direction with approximately 250,000 monarchs estimated at overwintering groves along the coast of California.”

“There is no single cause for the extreme multi-decade drop in the western monarch butterflyoverwintering population numbers,” according to the Department of Interior, which aims to play “a central role in how the United States stewards its public lands, increases environmental protections, pursues environmental justice, and honors our nation-to-nation relationship with Tribes.

“Multiple factors have contributed to the long-term decline, including habitat loss and degradation in overwintering groves and breeding areas, pesticides, and the effects of climate change, including drought, increased storm frequency and severity, and temperature extremes,” the news release related. “As with many insects, monarch populations likely fluctuate in response to changes in temperature, precipitation, and other environmental factors. Conservation efforts are focused on an all-hands-on-deck collaborative approach, engaging a broad array of partners to enact large and small-scale conservation efforts for the benefit of monarchs and their habitats. Outcomes from this week’s summit will further contribute to the conservation of this iconic species.”

On July 21, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which works in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources, listed the migratory monarch on its Red List of Threatened Species (Endangered). It is not yet listed as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, but is listed (as of Dec. 15, 2020) as a candidate. (See more on the monarch butterfly on the USFWS website.)

Monarch-Milkweed Interactions.

Professor Yang recently authored newly published research investigating wild monarch-native milkweed interactions in rural Davis over a three-year period that yielded three key findings in the search for what factors constrain monarch development.

“First, we documented early and late seasonal windows of opportunity in the wild, migratory western monarch population,” the UC Davis professor said. “Second, our data suggest that early and late seasonal windows were constrained by different factors. Third, climatic and microclimatic variation had a strong effect on the timing and importance of multiple factors affecting monarch development. Broadly, we hope that this study contributes to a more temporally detailed understanding of the complex factors that contribute to year-to-year variation in monarch breeding success.”

The project, funded by two of Yang’s National Science Foundation grants, involved UC Davis, Davis Senior High School and the Center for Land-Based learning. Among them were 107 high school students and a K-12 teacher, 18 UC Davis undergraduate students, three graduate students and two post-graduate researchers.

“This study collected a high-resolution temporal dataset on milkweed-monarch interactions during the last three years prior to the precipitous single-year population decline of western monarchs in 2018,” Yang said. He organized and led a 135-member team, all co-authors of the paper, “Different Factors Limit Early- and Late-Season Windows of Opportunity for Monarch Development,” published in the journal Ecology and Evolution. (This document is open access at https://bit.ly/3volFaI.)

Other monarch research from the Yang lab is pending publication.

California Ag Today2022-08-10T08:36:26-07:00August 10th, 2022|

UC Davis Distinguished Professor Walter Leal Inducted as Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors

By Kathy Keatley Garvey, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology

UC Davis distinguished professor Walter Soares Leal of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology and a former chair of the Department of Entomology, was inducted as a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) at a June ceremony in Phoenix, Ariz.

A leading global scientist and inventor in the field of insect olfaction and communication, Leal was elected an NAI Fellow in 2019 for his impact in the fields of molecular, cellular biology, and entomology, but due to the COVID pandemic, the organization cancelled the 2020 Phoenix ceremony. Travel restrictions prevented him from attending the 2021 ceremony in Tampa, Fla. Elected Fellows are required to attend the induction ceremony within two years of election in order to receive their award.

NAI singles out outstanding inventors for their “highly prolific spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on the quality of life, economic development, and welfare of society.” Election to NAI Fellow is the highest professional distinction accorded solely to academic inventors. The NAI Fellow program has 1,403 Fellows worldwide representing more than 250 prestigious universities and governmental and non-profit research institutes.

“I attended with my wife, Beatriz, and daughter Helena and son Gabriel – both have co-authored papers in the lab, so they represent all visiting scholars, collaborators, postdocs, project scientists, graduate students, and undergraduate students in my lab,” Leal said.

UC Davis chancellor emerita Linda Katehi, an NAI fellow inducted in 2012, nominated Leal for the honor for his “novel, sustainable and continued contributions to the field of entomology and for their greater implications in molecular and cellular biology and the understanding of disease and prevention.” At the time, Leal held 28 Japanese and two U.S. patents.

Leal is the second faculty member affiliated with the Department of Entomology and Nematology to be selected an NAI fellow. Distinguished professor Bruce Hammock, who holds a joint appointment with the Department of Entomology and Nematology and the UC Davis Comprehensive Cancer Center, received the honor in 2014.

Leal, an expert in insect communication investigates how insects detect odors, connect and communicate within their species; and detect host and non-host plant matter. His research, spanning three decades, targets insects that carry mosquito-borne diseases as well as agricultural pests that damage and destroy crops. He and his lab drew international attention with their discovery of the mode of action of DEET, the gold standard of insect repellents.

Leal was recently elected chair of the International Congress of Entomology Council, which selects a country to host the congress every four years and which supports the continuity of the international congresses of entomology. Leal succeeds prominent entomologist May Berenbaum of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, editor-in-chief of the journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and a 2014 recipient of the National Medal of Science.

“I have big shoes to fill,” he said.

Ironically, COVID derailed the 2020 NAI ceremony, and Leal–recipient of the Academic Senate’s 2022 Distinguished Scholarly Public Service Award for his series of four global webinars educating the public about COVID-19–contracted the disease while in Phoenix for the 2022 ceremony.

“I was treated with Paxlovid, rebounded, and am now fully recovered,” Leal said.

Leal’s name is currently on the ESA ballot to become an Honorary Member, the highest ESA honor. The Royal Entomological Society named him an Honorary Fellow in 2015.

A native of Brazil, educated in Brazil and Japan, and fluent in Portuguese, Japanese and English, Leal received his master’s degree and doctorate in Japan: his master’s degree at Mie University in 1987, and his doctorate in applied biochemistry at Tsukuba University in 1990. Leal then conducted research for 10 years at Japan’s National Institute of Sericultural and Entomological Science and the Japan Science and Technology Agency before joining the faculty of the UC Davis Department of Entomology in 2000. He chaired the department from July 2006 to February 2008.

Leal co-chaired the 2016 International Congress of Entomology meeting, “Entomology Without Borders,” in Orlando, Fla., that drew the largest delegation of scientists and experts in the history of the discipline: 6682 attendees from 102 countries.

Among his many other honors, Leal is a Fellow of ESA, the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences and the California Academy of Sciences. He is a past president of the International Society of Chemical Ecology and corresponding member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. In 2019, ESA selected him to present its annual Founders’ Memorial Lecture, the first UC Davis scientist selected to do so.

California Ag Today2022-07-13T10:20:22-07:00July 13th, 2022|

Advances in Pistachio Water Management Workshop July 7

Join UC Nut Crops Advisor Catherine Mae Culumber, Irrigation Specialists Daniele Zaccaria and Khaled Bali, Irrigation Advisor Blake Sanden, Professional Researcher Elia Scudiero, and other University of California experts in this in-person Water Management Workshop on July 7, 2022 at the International Agri-Center in Tulare, CA to learn about the latest research and advances in Pistachio Water Management and Irrigation. CEU credits for Soil & Water Management have been approved for this workshop.

This workshop will be held at the International Agri-Center in Tulare, CA on July 7, 2022.

Registration includes participation fee, coffee breaks, lunch, and access to workshop presentations.

Topics Include: Pistachio soil-plant-water relations, stress physiology, evapotranspiration and crop coefficients, soil-water budgeting, soil characterization and salinity mapping, tree water status, irrigation scheduling, and strategies for Pistachio irrigation management under limited and impaired water supplies. A set of irrigation-related methods, technologies, and products to help growers schedule and manage irrigation will also be presented during the Workshop.

Who Should Attend: Pistachio growers and farm managers, representatives from the pistachio production industry, irrigation consultants and practitioners, CCAs, CPAs, water resource managers, water conservation districts’ personnel, irrigation districts’ managers, extension specialists and advisors, professional researchers, university students, and representatives from state agencies.

To register, click here.

California Ag Today2022-06-22T09:55:46-07:00June 22nd, 2022|

Pest Variability Poorly Understood

UC Davis Ecologist Daniel Paredes: Understanding Pest Variability Key to Managing Pest Outbreaks

Newly published research led by UC Davis ecologist Daniel Paredes suggests that pest abundances are less variable in diverse landscapes comprised of multiple crop types and patches of natural habitat.

“As a result, pest outbreaks are less likely in diverse landscapes,” said Paredes, who analyzed a 13-year government database of diversified landscapes encompassing more than 1300 olive groves and vineyards in Spain. The database documented pests and pesticide applications.

The paper, “The Causes and Consequences of Pest Population Variability in Agricultural Landscapes,” appears in the Ecological Society of America journal, Ecological Applications. Co-authors are UC Davis distinguished professor Jay Rosenheim of the Department of Entomology and Nematology, and Daniel Karp, associate professor, Department of Wildlife, Fish, and Conservation Biology. The research is online at https://bit.ly/3a64WRN.

Pest variability: an understudied but critical topic
Although population variability is often studied in natural systems, the need for long-term pest population data collected across many farms has largely prevented researchers from studying pest variability in agricultural systems, said Paredes, a postdoctoral fellow in the Karp lab.

“However, understanding variability in agriculture is key to understanding when pest outbreaks are likely to occur,” Paredes said. “Farmers are really risk averse, with fear of very rare but severe pest outbreaks driving their decisions. But huge datasets are needed to understand when outbreaks are likely to occur and better inform management.”

“We found that more variable pest populations are more likely to downgrade crop quality and induce catastrophic damages,” Paredes said. “For example, the likelihood that olive flies consume more than 20 percent of olive crops doubled when comparing the most versus the least volatile populations.”

What causes a pest population to be variable?
Having shown that more pest-population variability is more likely to cause problems for farmers, the researchers then set out to discover what farmers could do to manage variability.

One key factor that emerged was the type of landscape the crops were grown in, specifically whether the landscape was dominated by vast fields of a single crop variety or more diversified. Pest populations were both more abundant and more variable in crop monocultures.

However, while landscape type influenced both pest population sizes and variability, this was not always the case for other variables. “This research shows that the factors that promote high overall mean pest density are not necessarily the same factors that promote high variability in pest density,” Rosenheim said. “So, mean densities, which is what researchers have been studying for decades and decades, are only part of the story. Variation in density, and in particular unpredictable severe outbreaks, need to be studied separately.”

The take-away message?

“In Spain, planting multiple crops and retaining natural habitats would help stably suppress pests and prevent outbreaks,” said Paredes, a native of Spain who holds a doctorate in environmental sciences (2014) from the University of Granada. “Diversifying agricultural may be a win–win situation for conservation and farmers alike.”

“Therefore, we encourage agricultural stakeholders to increase the complexity of the landscapes surrounding their farms through conserving/restoring natural habitat and/or diversifying crops,” the researchers wrote in their abstract.

Tapping into other large datasets such as this one, will be key to understanding whether diversified landscapes also help mitigate pest variability and outbreaks in other areas, they said.

This project was funded by the National Science Foundation with funds from the Belmont Forum via the European Biodiversity Partnership: BiodivERsA. It was also supported by the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

California Ag Today2022-05-19T13:47:29-07:00May 19th, 2022|