Bee santuary established

Bee-friendly garden, pollinator paradise, planned at UC Davis

How cool is this:

...Häagen-Dazs has announced that it is making a $125,000 donation to the UC Davis Department of Entomology to launch a nationwide design competition to create a one-half acre Honey Bee Haven garden at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility at UC Davis....The garden will include a seasonal variety of blooming plants that will provide a year-round food source for honey bees. It is intended to be a living laboratory supporting research into the nutritional needs and natural feeding behaviors of honey bees and other insect pollinators...

If you are interested in donating to the project directly, go here. If you want to find our more about the UC Davis project, check out the entomology dept's website.

Häagen-Dazs has committed to donating $250,000 to bee research. You can check out the company sponsored educational website HelpTheHoneyBees. They've introduced a new flavor "Vanilla Honey Bee".

I could not find "Vanilla Honey Bee" when I went shopping tonight. But I picked up a pint of 'Rum Raisin' and 'Vanilla Bean'. Thanx, Häagen-Dazs.

Critters of the Night

A Taste for Blood

Great article about creatures that survive by drinking blood and a recent book ("Dark Banquet") by Bill Shutt. It starts in the office of a friend of mine, Lou Sorkin:

...With his soft voice and friar’s manner, Louis Sorkin hardly seems the type to flout the sensible advice of a nursery rhyme. Yet on a recent afternoon at the American Museum of Natural History, Mr. Sorkin, a renowned entomologist, did precisely, luridly that...He took a glass jar swarming with thousands of hungry specimens of Cimex lectularius, better known as bedbugs. The small, roachy-looking bloodsuckers have been spreading through the nation’s homes and hotels at such a hyperventilated pace that by next year they are expected to displace cockroaches and termites as America’s leading domestic pest insect. To better understand their habits, Mr. Sorkin has cultivated a personal bedbug colony — very personal...

Lou keeps a jar full of bedbugs that he feeds with his own bug. As described in the article, the jar is capped with a fine meshed screen fine enough to keep the infects entrapped, but open enough to allow them to poke their beaks through to feed. Lou, being a dedicated entomologist offers them his arm.

Shutt points out features that blood drinking organisms have in common:

...the hatpin teeth, the natural clot busters and pain deadeners...Blood feeders must also be stealthy and wily and good at escaping the swats and fury of their often much larger hosts...

As blood is a poor source of nutrition, most vampiric animals are arthropods, who can subsist on small meals.

There's a lot on the famous and legendary vampire bats in the article, but perhaps the most nightmarish beast is the Candiru fish of the Amazon. If you're visiting the Amazon--whatever you do--don't pee in a stream:

...The only other vertebrates known to subsist solely on blood are certain types of candiru, a poorly studied but floridly feared group of inchlong catfish found in the Amazon and Orinoco Rivers. A hematophagous candiru’s usual modus is to parasitize a larger catfish, infiltrating the host’s gill slits, grasping onto the flesh inside, rupturing blood vessels, pumping out the blood with its highly mobile jaws and then, after a minute or two, darting out again. Yet for at least a century, the fish have been reputed to target the human urethra as well, supposedly enticed by the scent of urine: fish, after all, urinate through their gills. Despite the antiquity and persistence of the legend, there is only one confirmed case, from 1997, of a candiru making its way into a human urethra, where it probably had no time for a blood meal before suffocating to death...

Ouch!

(Image: Temple of the Fluke Man)

Butterflies vs Moths

Q. People find moths in closets but never butterflies. Why?


How come I find moths flying around in my home from time to time, but never butterflies? It would be nice to have butterflies as house guests. Lou Sorkin of the American Museum of Natural History mentioned a few factors for the lack of butterfly tenants:

...The answer has to do with the paucity of nectar-bearing flowers in the average home, compared with the rich supply of food for larvae that become moths...

In addition, Lou points out that a number of species of moths are pests on household items, like grains, spices, and wool. So we have food to attract some species of moths. Lou also reminds us that butterflies and moths fly at different times:

...(most butterflies) fly during the day, and most moths at night. This results in moths being attracted to inside lights...Moths, on the other hand, might be outdoor species attracted by the lights of the home in the evening hours, or more probably, they might be the adults of species whose caterpillars chew on fabrics or stored foods...

Invite the Bees II

In my post "Invite the Bees", I discussed making a simple beehive for solitary bees. I hobbled together such a beehive from pieces of scrap 2x4's. 4 wood screws hold the three pieces together nicely.

As recommended by the Xerces society, I drilled holes of several diameters, as different species tend to be fussy concerning the size hole they choose for depositing their eggs. Each species seems to prefer different materials for sealing up the nests once eggs are deposited, such as wax, mud, or plant material.

That is born out by the bees that found a home in my hive! Yes, I have bees!

Here is a pic of my do-it-yourself hive:

A close-up of some of the holes:

In the upper left, you see one hole filled with a brownish material. You also see that in the hole in the extreme lower right. At first, this substance was green, appearing to be chewed-up plant material, but over time, it turned brown. Underneath that hole, the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th are plugged with a waxy polymer sort of substance. The 3 holes starting from the upper right are plugged with mud. If you look carefully, you'll see the 3rd hole has a tiny opening. Bees have natured their and burrowed out.

When I first placed my hive up, it was shaded under a bush. No bees came. After giving it a couple of weeks, I moved the hive to my porch. There it got a couple of hours of sun, face on. Within just a few days, bees showed-up.

I know you can buy these things pre-made. But all I've seen only have holes of one size, so you will be only attracting bees which prefer that size. You'll be helping bees, which have been under a lot of stress lately. If you have children, have young friends, or are a teacher, this is a great way to encourage and interest in science and entomology.

Few things bring one closer to the Goddess and God, than the study of insects.

EO Wilson, of Ants and Humans

Taking a Cue From Ants on Evolution of Humans

Harvard entomologist EO Wilson just celebrated his birthday. He is in his 80's, yet does not shy away from a fight, although he rarely goes looking for one. But this is an exception:

...The issue is the level at which evolution operates. Many evolutionary biologists have been persuaded, by works like “The Selfish Gene” by Richard Dawkins, that the gene is the only level at which natural selection acts. Dr. Wilson, changing his mind because of new data about the genetics of ant colonies, now believes that natural selection operates at many levels, including at the level of a social group....

Soon after Wilson and co-author David Sloan Wilson published this work, they were attacked by Richard Dawkins:

...Their statement evoked a heated response from Dr. Dawkins in New Scientist; he accused them of lying on a minor point and demanded an apology...

You know you must be on the right track, when you illicit personal attacks from Atheist front-man Dawkins! Wilson's hypothesis basically boils down to this:

...It is through multilevel or group-level selection — favoring the survival of one group of organisms over another — that evolution has in Dr. Wilson’s view brought into being the many essential genes that benefit the group at the individual’s expense. In humans, these may include genes that underlie generosity, moral constraints, even religious behavior. Such traits are difficult to account for, though not impossible, on the view that natural selection favors only behaviors that help the individual to survive and leave more children...

This flies in the face of "selfish gene" advocates (like Dawkins) who at best feel religion and spirituality are archaic traits of no use today (such as our appendix), or at worst dangerous virus-like mutations which need to be immunized against.

“...Groups with men of quality — brave, strong, innovative, smart and altruistic — would tend to prevail, as Darwin said, over those groups that do not have those qualities so well developed,” Dr. Wilson said...“I believe that deep in their heart everyone working on social insects is aware that the selection that created them is multilevel selection,” Dr. Wilson said...

Don't you love that a fellow who studies ants (well, admittedly he is the world's leading authority on the critters) can cause such a ruckus!

I always encourage any new Pagan or Wiccan to immerse themselves in the study of nature. Pick some '...ology' and read all you can on it. Birding is great. So is gardening. How 'bout rocks and minerals? But in my humble opinion, the two most valuable fields to embrace are entomology and astronomy. And both are open to people of limited funds and time, and amateurs are welcome and can even make contributions.

Listen to the little things

Climate change: disease spread fears

In the novel "War of the Worlds" by HG Wells, you'll find one of the most famous quotes in SciFi history. Near the end, the narrator stares in wonderment into a huge dug-out pit, a sort of bivouac for the invading martians and their machines of war, now miraculously stopped in their tracks:

...And, scattered about it, some in their overturned war machines...and a dozen of them stark and silent and laid in a row, were the martians--dead! Slain by the putrefactive and disease bacteria against which their systems were unprepared...slain, after all man's devices had failed, by the humblest things that God, in his wisdom, has put upon this earth...

We should listen to the littlest things. At the 23rd International Congress of Entomology , a dire warning was issued:

"...Today's lifestyles are energy dependent and the increased demand is leading to an increased warming in the atmosphere," said Dr John Githure of the African Insect Science for Food and Health based in Nairobi, Kenya. He told fellow entomologists that the most worrying effect was the spread of vector-borne diseases, such as malaria, on the African continent...

Not only is Global warming bringing about an increase in the populations of insect vectors, it is allowing them to increase their range:

...Githure explained that his study had documented an "intensified transmission to areas that weren't affected before, as parasites were finding new places to breed...The external changes in the temperature have a direct effect on the metabolism and development of parasites," said Githure...

The Beetle God has spoken!

African dung beetles interested in U.S. presidential candidates

Now I'm feeling good that I have a dung beetle (Khepri) tat:

...African dung beetles have been observed rolling dung balls that resemble U.S. presidential candidates, according to entomologists who have been studying the insects...

(Thanx to Bug Girl's Blog for this interesting item)

Giant Freshwater Shrimp of Jamaica

In Remote Valley, a Grim Redefinition of ‘Fishing’

I had no idea there were 'lobster size' freshwater shrimp inhabiting remote streams in Jamaica. Unfortunately, greed has reared it's ugly head to cause ecological destruction:

...in the Blue Mountains and John Crow Mountains here, people go fishing by dumping poison in the Rio Grande. Any toxin will do. Some favor the pesticide used to keep insects off the coffee plants. Others use the potent solution used to rid cows of ticks. When subjected to the poison, the shrimp — large and small — float right to the top. So do the fish. Catching them is as easy as scooping them up before the river washes them and the poison away...

Insecto-rama

Mothra of All Heroes Stars in Japanese-themed Insect Fear Film Festival

SciFi movies about insects teach us good family values:

...What most attracts University of Illinois entomologist May Berenbaum to Japanese culture, however, is its cinematic insects. Berenbaum, the head of the entomology department at the Urbana campus, will showcase Japanese insect movies at the 24th annual Insect Fear Film Festival on Feb. 24...

Many of the films feature insects in a good light, like the "The Ultimate Teacher", where the main character is a human-cockroach hybrid, who fends off bullies in a tough highschool. In the film "Mothra", although she is destructive, the giant lepidopteran's intent is to rescue twin fairy priestesses, and return to their native island. On the other hand, some insects (or entomologists) are caste in an evil light:

...And there are occasional evil entomologists in Japanese anime. In “Read or Die,” the late 19th century entomologist Jean-Henri Fabre is reconstituted from his DNA and recruited into an evil scheme. He commands the insects to do his bidding...

Heh, I read somewhere that Fabre was a Creationist. How ironic! This sounds like a great film series.

THEM!

Rare red ants get a helping hand

Conservationists have been awarded almost £50,000 to help save a rare species of red ant from becoming extinct in mainland Britain..."The ants are quite unusual because they form nests that are either all female or all male," said Emily Brennan, ZSL's native species conservation programme manager.

Habitat destruction is the culprit for this unusual species. Another threat they face is predation by slave making ants:

"What they do is take all the pupae, carry it off to their own nest and bring them up as slave-maker ants - this is what happened at one site in Surrey...So at the sites we are going to be working on, we are going to be making sure these ants are not in the area."

The captive breeding of ants is a major undertaking. The "warm fuzzies" are the animals that tend to grab attention and headlines. So it's great to see this much effort going to the humblest of creatures.

The Scientific Method

Find a moth, win a beer with an entomologist

...Arthur Shapiro, who teaches entomology at UC Davis, has a standing offer: If you bring him the first cabbage white butterfly of the year caught outdoors -- and that part is important -- in Yolo, Solano or Sacramento counties, he'll buy you a pitcher of beer.

The two best fields of study to deepen your appreciation of the Cosmos are Astronomy and Entomology. And Beer! Ah, three things! *Burp*

Science and Religion for 2007

Cosmic resolutions for 2007

A great opinion piece by Howard Smith, a senior astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, past chairman of the astronomy department at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington:

...This year Dawkins, in "The God Delusion," argued for replacing righteousness with a blend of Darwinian personal ethos and rational calculation. Unfortunately, he makes his case while chastising the faithful with boundless hubris. His indifferent reductionist philosophy peremptorily discards the morality of religion. Dawkins' book tries to quantify human attitudes and rationalize human spirit, but in so doing it leaves the creation without an ethical context, and thoughtful religious believers dismayed if not a bit bewildered...

I think this is the problem many people have with Dawkins. But I can understand why so many scientist are upset. They have had to endure years of dim witted, yet rather effective, attacks by members of the anti-science and Theocon crowd. In some ways, it's good to see scientists finally goaded into action. Yet the sharpness of Dawkin's attacks are reminiscent of an overly intelligent enraged child, in love with his words and careless of who he hurts. There are many religious and spiritual people who embrace the findings of science. They don't like what the Theocons and Absolutists are doing--any more than scientists do! To pretend otherwise denies some wonderful and powerful allies, who have considerable experience in this fight. Smith goes on:

...it is possible to appreciate both the insights of religion and the lessons of science... Their perspectives, while different, are not necessarily contradictory. Their moral imperatives can enrich and motivate both rational and righteous behavior...

Smith is right. I find the dialog of scientists such as the entomologist E. O. Wilson to be much more helpful than Dawkins. Wilson explores this technique in "The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth", an effort to get the two camps to join forces in fighting our common enemies. Smith concludes:

...In 2007, I hope that science and religion can cooperate, not clash, to solve social problems. I hope we listen with tolerance to opposing opinions, and replace hostile, defensive rhetoric with thoughtful analyses. And, not least, we need to become better informed about our marvelous, blessed world...

What a nice wish for the coming New Year!

The Insect Wars

An Entomologist's plea: Governor, save that tree!

Grrr! A scientist figures out an ecologically friendly way to battle an insect invasion, yet a Republican Governor does everything he can to screw things up. Why am I not surprised?

"A species of moth is destroying trees in the Northeast US. Joseph Elkinton, professor of entomology at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, says he has the solution but no money. Elkinton breeds the moth's nemesis, Cyzenis albicans, a parasitic fly that has quelled similar infestations in Nova Scotia and British Columbia. Cyzenis eats the caterpillars from the inside out. In June, the Legislature passed a $150,000 initiative to fund a large-scale release of the flies. Governor Mitt Romney vetoed the measure, but the Legislature overrode his veto. Then earlier this month Romney used his emergency spending powers to again slash the funding as part of a $425 million budget cut..."