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| Doctoral students Nate Hardy and Lisa Reimer (right) at the termite trails activity at the 2006 Picnic Day. |
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| Sign at Briggs Hall welcomes all. (Photos by Kathy Keatley Garvey) |
DAVIS—This bug’s for you—termites, ants, cockroaches and maggots.
Entomology graduate students will offer educational, informative and entertaining displays at the 93rd annual UC Davis Picnic Day, a campuswide event set Saturday, April 14.
The insect-related events will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Briggs Hall: in the foyer, in the courtyard and in rooms 122 and 158. Hands-on events include termite trails, maggot art, cockroach races, honey tasting and “build a bee.”
Attendees can ask questions of a “bug doctor”; watch fly-tying demonstrations, and view displays featuring ant colonies, medical and forensic entomology, and integrated pest management.
A popular display is the termite trail activity, said entomology doctoral student Lisa Reimer, a member of the planning committee, which also includes graduate students Tara Thiemann, Ashley Horton and faculty members Robert Kimsey, forensic entomologist, and Eric Mussen, honey bee specialist.
“If you draw a design with a Bic ink pen, such as a circle on a paper and set the termites down on the paper, they will follow the path of the pen,” Reimer said. “There’s a chemical in Bic pens that acts as a pheromone that tells them to aggregate.”
A pheromone is a chemical secreted externally by an organism to send information to members of the same species.
“This chemical is not in all ink pens, so this won’t work with all pens,” she added.
“It’s been said that maybe we could use this inside our homes to keep termites out, like draw a line out the front door and they will follow,” Reimer quipped. “But it doesn’t work that way.”
Entomology graduate student Rebecca O’Flaherty will show how to create her trademarked Maggot Art. Youngsters and adults alike will dip maggots into water-based non-toxic paint, position them on paper, and then watch or guide them with forceps. The result: Maggot Art to take home.
Information on Picnic Day is available at http://picnicday.ucdavis.edu/ |
