Rangelands

As Californians prepare for another year of drought and an anticipated intense fire season, landowners and organizations across California have been working to reduce forest fuels flammable woody material that can endanger their properties and communities.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, what are a series of photos taken at an open house showcasing spiders and other arachnids worth? Photos, that is, of children's candid expressions? Priceless.

Those who know that spiders have eight legs know exactly what's being showcased at the UC Davis Bohart Museum of Entomology open house, "Eight-Legged Encounters," on Saturday, June 25. Spiders and other arachnids. And you're invited.

UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology undergraduate students swept all three awards in the Science, Engineering and Mathematics (SEM) category of the sixth annual campuswide Norma J. Lang Prize for Undergraduate Information Research.

"For some people, spiders can be at the same time fascinating and frightening. The helpful friend who caught that fly buzzing around your kitchen, and the pest that scared you in the shower.

Ever seen a crab spider hanging out on a flower? Yes? Ever seen a crab spider hanging out with two male longhorned bees that are sleeping overnight on a flower? No? Such was the case last night when a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola, drew two Melissodes agilis and one crab spider.

So here's this Gulf Fritillary, Agraulis vanillae, nectaring on a Mexican sunflower, Tithonia rotundifola. It's National Pollinator Week. All's right with the world. The butterfly had visited a passionflower vine, Passiflora, its host plant. Now for a little fuel. The nectar is enticing.

Un grupo de 120 estudiantes de quinto y sexto grado de la Escuela Primaria Cherryland, localizada en la Ciudad de Hayward, participaron recientemente, en el taller de 11 semanas del programa 4-H Water Wizards que incluy adems un viaje de aprendizaje al Centro de Educacin Ambiental UC Elkus Ranch, en...

Broomsedge Bluestem (Andropogon virginicus L.) is an increasingly problematic weed in irrigated pastures in the Sierra foothills. We've grazed several pastures with fairly significant infestations - and we're seeing it spread.

(Editor's Note: Forest entomologist Malcolm Furniss of Moscow, Idaho, researched the life of noted scientific illustrator Mary Foley Benson, 1905-1992. In her later years, she served as an illustrator for the UC Davis Department of Entomology.) By Malcolm M.