All About Pollination

Oct 10, 2013

Pollination--what should we know? How can we attract pollinators to our gardens and agricultural landscapes?

Rachael Long, Yolo County farm advisor and director of the Yolo County Cooperative Extension  program, has lined up a group of outstanding speakers at her Pollination Workshop on Friday, Oct. 11.

Open to the public (no registration required), the event will take place from 8:30 to noon in Norton Hall, 70 Cottonwood St., Woodland.

You'll hear how hedgerows enhance biodiversity and provide crop benefits in agricultural landscapes, how insecticides reduce honey bee visitation and pollen germination in hybrid onion seed production, and why multiple stresses are hard on honey bees. Assisting her in coordinating the workshop is Katharina Ullmann, graduate student in the Neal Williams lab, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.

Those are just a few of the topics.

The agenda: 

8:30 to 8:35?
Introductions and Updates
Rachael Long, Farm Advisor/County Director, UCCE Yolo County

8:35 to 8:55
"Hedgerows Enhance Biodiversity and Provide Crop Benefits in Agricultural Landscapes"?
Rachael Long

8:55 to 9:20?
"Sustainable Pollination Strategies for Specialty Crops"?
Neal Williams, associate professor, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology

9:20 to 9:40
"Insecticides Reduce Honeybee Visitation and Pollen Germination in Hybrid Onion Seed Production"
?Sandra Gillespie, postdoctoral researcher in Neal Williams lab, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology

9:45 to 10:10
"Best Management Practices for Squash and Pumpkin Pollination"?
Katharina Ullmann, graduate student in Neal Williams lab, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology

10:10 to 10:20
Break

10:20 to 10:45
"Native Bee Nesting in Agricultural Landscapes: Implications for Sunflower Pollination"?
Hillary Sardinas, graduate student, UC Berkeley's Environmental Sciences and Policy Management

10:45 to 11:10?
"Restoring Pollinator Communities and Services in California Central Valley"
?Claire Kremen, professor, UC Berkeley's Environmental Sciences and Policy Management.

11:10 to 11:35?
"Maintaining Honey Bee Hives for Hive Health"??
Billy Synk, manager and staff research associate, Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility, UC Davis 

11:35 to Noon?
?"Multiple Stresses are Hard on Honey Bees"
Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen, UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology

For more information, contact Rachael Long at (530) 666-8734 or rflong@ucdavis.edu.

Note that one of the speakers, Sandra Gillespie, will be presenting a UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology seminar next Wednesday, Oct. 16 on “Parasites and Pesticides: Indirect Effects on Pollination Service.” It will take place from 12:10 to 1 p.m. in 122 Briggs Hall.  It will be videotaped for later viewing on UCTV.