From UC Berkeley to UC Davis

The arthropod community at UC Davis--and beyond--has circled the date, Wednesday, Feb. 24.

It's not just the last Wednesday of the month.

That's when insect biologist Rosemary Gillespie,  director of the Essig Museum of Entomology, University of California, Berkeley, and chair of the Berkeley Natural History Museums, will be at UC Davis to speak on "Community Assembly through Adaptive Radiation: Spiders on Islands.”

The seminar, set from 12:10 to 1 p.m. in 122 Briggs, Kleiber Drive, is part of the UC Department of Entomology's winter seminar series.  Can't make it to Briggs Hall? It will be Webcast live and then archived on the UC Davis Department of Entomology Web site.

“Remote islands are heralded as 'natural laboratories,' with communities largely comprising species that have evolved within the islands as a result of adaptive radiation,” said Gillespie, who is also the Schlinger chair of systematics and professor of organisms and the environment. “I have been studying spiders to elucidate commonalities underlying patterns of adaptive radiation and how communities are filled in such situations.”

“Overall, this research promises insights into the interplay between selection and the biotic environment in the evolution of species within a community,” she said.

Chris Searcy, graduate student in the Population Biology Graduate Group, Center for Population Biology, will introduce Gillespie.

Ian Pearse, graduate student studying with major professor Rick Karban, is coordinating the winter seminars, which began Jan. 6 and continue through March 10.

All seminars are from 12:10 to 1 p.m. on Wednesdays. On tap March 3 is Moran Segoli, postdoctoral researcher in the Jay Rosenheim lab, UC Davis Department of Entomology. He will speak on The Importance of Predation in Shaping Desert Communities and Trophic Levels."

On March 10, research chemist John Beck of the USDA Agricultural Research Station, Albany, will speak on "The Search for Non-Pheromonal Volatile Organic Compounds Toward Control of Navel Orangeworm, a Major Insect Pest of California Tree Nuts.”

Under a pilot Webcasting program launched by UC Davis entomology professor James Carey,  these entomology seminars are being Webcast by his graduate students, James Harwood and Amy Morice. Not all are Webcast; some speakers requested they not be due to unpublished data.

A Web page lists all the archived seminars. Just click and watch.