UC Blog
UC scientists study Peruvian avocado pest
The avocado seed moth, Stenoma catenifer, could wreak havoc on California's avocados should the pest make its way to the state, according to UC Riverside entomologist Mark Hoddle.
Hoddle is in Peru until July to study pests of avocados in the South American country, according to a UC Riverside press release written by Iqbal Pittalwala. The avocado seed moth is native to Peru, and is particularly destructive in avocado-growing areas in the Chanchamayo region of the Junin District – a warm, humid jungle zone, the release said.
"As part of the Stenoma survey, we are prospecting also for unknown species of avocado fruit pests – those that have not been recorded attacking avocados before," Hoddle was quoted. "These would be the wild cards in invasion biology because we don't know what they are and we don't know how to look for them, or what their tell-tale damage signatures are. This type of information collected in collaboration with overseas trade partners will help us to more confidently identify risky invasive pests."
Hoddle said he and other scientists want to be fully prepared should this pest become established in California and threaten the state's $320 million avocado crop.
"We want to get ahead of the curve by proactively identifying any new pests, should they exist, and documenting in detail what damage they cause," he was quoted. "We also want to identify any natural enemies they may have and how effective these biocontrol agents are."
An avocado ruined by avocado seed moth.
4-H kids step up for the community
Murrieta Mustangs raise $5,500 to build a new, covered bus stopBy: Jim Rothgeb, 951-676-4315, ext. 2621
North County Times
MURRIETA, Calif. -- From her vantage point just inside the front doors of the Murrieta Senior Center, Betty Campos couldn't contain her appreciation.
"I don't ride the bus very much, but I think it's pretty neat what those kids did," Campos said Wednesday. "This is something very positive."
Those kids are the Murrieta Mustang 4-H Club. In the last 10 months, the 40 youths, ages 5 through 18, raised $5,500 to have a covered bus stop built on Juniper Street, about a half-block from the senior center. Where there was once nothing but a pole with a schedule posted for Riverside Transit Agency's Route 23, there is now a metal bench underneath a metal shelter the blocks the sun's rays.
It may not sound like much, but to transit agency officials that bus stop, between Jefferson and Adams avenues, is a pretty big deal. That's why many of them gathered there Wednesday to honor the 4-H club and officially dedicate the new shelter.
"This may not be the biggest project we've ever done, but it is certainly the most noteworthy," said Larry Rubio, chief executive officer for Riverside Transit Agency. It's the system's first bus shelter ever built through fundraising efforts of a local youth group. And it's one of only a handful of covered stops along RTA routes in Murrieta.
Sheyanne Stewart, a 4-H alumna and current adviser, suggested the idea that club members approved last September. The money came from bake sales, snack bar sales, three anonymous donors and two other sources that Stewart singled out.
One was a grant for $3,000 from the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Foundation, named after longtime supporters of 4-H whose estate honors worthy club projects throughout California. They also received $1,500 from Kohl's of Murrieta, who worked with the Mustangs on a recent creek cleanup in Murrieta's Los Alamos Hi
lls Sports Park.
Eleven-year-old Carleigh Campbell estimates she either baked or sold 45 cupcakes in her effort to help raise money, and Wednesday she made it sound as though every one of them was well worth it.
"I've always wanted to do a big community project like this," she said. "And I feel good about it."
A small plaque will hang in a corner of the bus stop, honoring the Murrieta Mustangs for their contribution.
In the words of Murrieta Councilman Doug McAllister, who currently sits on the Riverside Transit board of directors, the club members "found a need, moved forward to meet it, and became part of the solution."
And using the Mustangs as an example, Rubio added that the challenge has been made.
"We'd love to see other groups step forward and also be part of that solution," he said.
Olive Oil Times touts UC Davis Olive Center
An industry blog on the website Olive Oil Times devoted a lengthy post to the UC Davis Olive Center this week. The center, established two years ago, is part of the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science.
In the post, writer Sophia Markoulakis noted that acreage of California olive trees for oil has increased from 6,000 in 2004 to 22,000 in 2009.
"And with California producing 99 percent of the nation’s olive oil, the UC Davis Olive Center is ground zero for ongoing olive industry research and outreach," Markoulakis wrote.
The post included comments from the center's executive director Dan Flynn, who told the writer he is pleased with consumers’ growing enthusiasm for olive oil and growers' dedication.“Being out there with those in the industry to find out their needs and how the university can help better serve them is a unique position that the Olive Center is in," Flynn was quoted. "We are the conduit between the university and the industry."
In the future, Flynn plans to develop a collaboration between table olive and oil olive growers.
“Up until now they have operated separately and I think they realize that they have to work together. They are both facing overseas competition”, the post quoted Flynn.
Dan Flynn
Scientists help clean lake in Guatemala
Armed with decades of knowledge gleaned from research on Lake Tahoe, scientists from UC Davis, University of Nevada-Reno and Arizona State are helping tackle pollution on a remarkably similar body of water in Guatemala, according to a UNR news release.
The water in Lake Atitlan is contaminated with waste water and watershed runoff, spurring algae growth and providing suitable conditions for bacteria and pathogens.
UC Davis wetlands ecologist Eliska Rejmankova initiated the project, aimed at training Guatemalan students to protect the water in what Global Nature Fund in 2009 designated its "Threatened Lake of the Year.""We want to work with these groups and help train Guatemalan students to develop local capacity to conserve one of the most beautiful highland tropical lakes in the world," Rejmankova was quoted in the release. "We want to work with local scientists to develop alternative strategies, based around the idea that the solution to the algae problem is to address the sources of nutrient loading into the lake, so water going into the lake will be as clean as possible."
The UC Davis members of the team, lead by Rejmankova, conducted near-shore sampling of invertebrates, algae, water, sediments, and plants, the news release said.
The environmental blogs Treehugger and Red Orbit picked up the story.
Researchers and students examine a sediment core sample from the bottom of Lake Atitlan.
SNE Strategic Initiative Draft Plan posted for review
SNE Strategic Initiative Draft Plan posted for review
The Sustainable Natural Ecosystems Strategic Initiative Draft Plan is now available for review at http://ucanr.org/sites/NRCC_2010/.
People who plan on attending the ANR Natural Resources Coordinating Conference (NRCC) on June 28 – 30 should read the draft plan and come prepared to give input about it. The conference will bring together members of workgroups and special projects and Agricultural Experiment Station (AES) and Cooperative Extension (CE) academics working in the broad area of natural resources to determine how the Sustainable Natural Ecosystem (SNE) Initiative can best implement its part of the ANR Strategic Vision.
To register for the NRCC, go to http://ucce.ucdavis.edu/survey/survey.cfm?surveynumber=3677.
View or leave comments for the Executive Working Group
This announcement is also posted and archived on the ANR Update pages.