Posts Tagged: chemical ecology

Breaking News: Zika Virus Found in Wild-Caught Culex

The news is out.  It's what they've been searching for. In a groundbreaking discovery, a scientific team of Brazilians and Brazilian-born...

Culex quinquefasciatus, the southern house mosquito,is known for transmitting the West Nile virus, but now the Zika virus has been detected in wild-caught C. quinquefasciatus in Recife, Brazil, the epicenter of the Zika epidemic. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Culex quinquefasciatus, the southern house mosquito,is known for transmitting the West Nile virus, but now the Zika virus has been detected in wild-caught C. quinquefasciatus in Recife, Brazil, the epicenter of the Zika epidemic. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

UC Davis chemical ecologist and mosquito researcher Walter Leal (front), confers with Constancia Ayres (far right, in black) and Rosângela Barbosa (center), faculty members in the Department of Entomology, Fiocruz-Recife. Both are Leal colloborators.

UC Davis chemical ecologist and mosquito researcher Walter Leal (front), confers with Constancia Ayres (far right, in black) and Rosângela Barbosa (center), faculty members in the Department of Entomology, Fiocruz-Recife. Both are Leal colloborators.

A Touch of Humor

When chemical ecologist Walter Leal, professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis, was elected to the prestigious Brazilian Academy...

The Walter Leal lab wearing matching t-shirts. See caption at end of the blog. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

The Walter Leal lab wearing matching t-shirts. See caption at end of the blog. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Walter Leal (back to camera) talking to his lab members. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Walter Leal (back to camera) talking to his lab members. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Equivalent to an Olympic Gold Medal

Walter Leal isn’t participating in the Olympics, but he medaled just the same. It was not for athletic prowess, but for scholarly...

Chemical ecologist Walter Leal. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Chemical ecologist Walter Leal. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Heaven Scent

Talk about deception. Remember the exciting news article published in November of 2009 in Science Daily about how an orchid species on the Chinese...

Yellowjacket

IF ORCHIDS can trick wasps to pollinate them through a chemical they produce that mimics the scent of their prey, the honey bee, can this type of research be used elsewhere? "Various species of Vespa are problems to beekeepers, because they plunder the hives," said researcher Manfred Ayasse of the University of Ulm in Germany, in discussing his published research (see above). "Besides this, their ravages of fruit crops make hornets a serious pest to man. Our results could be used to develop environmentally responsible traps for pest hornets." This is a photo of a Western yellowjacket (Vespula pensylvanica), a queen, drinking water in May of 2009 at the Harry H. Laidlaw Jr. Honey Bee Research Facility. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

Heaven-Scent

Whew, that stinks! If you've ever smelled a mosquito gravid trap, you know it's not heaven-scent. This isn't about the aroma of summer roses or the...

Culex quinquefasciatus mosquito laying eggs. (Photo by Samuel Woo, UC Davis)

This container of "smelly" water is being used by UC Davis entomology graduate student Tara Thiemann for her gravid mosquito traps. Gravid traps attract blood-fed mosquitoes ready to lay their eggs. (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)

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