BioDivDay is Sunday. March 6 at the UC Davis Conference Center: Can't wait to see you!

That's the message the organizers of the 11th annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day are spreading throughout social media.

The UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day is a free, science-based event that takes place from 11 a..m. to 3 pm. in the UC Davis Conference Center, 550 Alumni Lane. Admission and parking are free, but visitors must adhere to the COVID-19 Campus Ready guidelines. Masks will be required in accordance with campus policies. This year's event is especially geared for undergraduates and other members of the UC Davis community.

Visitors to the Conference Center will see displays from 11 museums or collections on campus in one large exposition in the ballrooms, and be able to ask questions of the scientists from the:  

• Arboretum and Public Garden
• UC Davis Bee Haven
• Bohart Museum of Entomology
• Botanical Conservatory
• California Raptor Center 
• Center for Plant Diversity
• Department of Anthropology Museum
• Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology
• Nematode Collection
• Paleontology Collection
• Phaff Yeast Culture Collection

Admission and parking are free, but visitors must adhere to the COVID-19 Campus Ready guidelines. Masks will be required in accordance with campus policies, organizers said. Visitors can also sign up at the Conference Center for limited tours. Several collections or museums are offering side trips, with registration to take place at the Conference Center.

Latest updates today:

Bohart Museum of Entomology.  At the Bohart Museum booth in the Conference Center,  UC Davis alumnus and Bohart scientist Fran Keller, a professor at  Folsom Lake College, will join Bohart associate Greg Kareofelas in discussing the state insect, the California dogface butterfly, Zerene eurydice, and its host plant,  California false indigo, Amorpha californica. This is the 50th anniversary of the year that the California Legislature named the butterfly the state insect. Keller authored the children's book, The Story of the Dogface Butterfly, with photos by Kareofelas and Keller and illustrations by former UC Davis student Laine Bauer.   Keller and Kareofelas collaborated on a California dogface butterfly poster that's for sale in the gift shop. 

Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum and a UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology, will discuss the Asian giant hornet. Vespa mandarinia (nicknamed "the murder hornet" by the news media), and will show specimens of the hornet, other species of Vespa, and Vespa nests. 

Nematode Collection. The nematode collection will feature mostly root-knot nematodes and Ascaris (roundworm) nematodes, according to coordinator and nematologist Shahid Siddique, assistant professor, and doctoral student Alison Coomer.  The display will include:

• What's in the jar?
• Celery infected with root-knot nematodes
• Tree swallow infected with Diplotriaena
• White-tailed deer eye infected with a Thelazia species
• Peach root infected with root-knot nematodes
• Mormon crickets infected with Gordius robustus
• Lettuce infected with root-knot nematodes
• Garlic damaged by Ditylenchus dipsaci
• Horse stomach infected with three parasites: Parascaris (roundworms), tapeworms, and botfly larvae.
• Grape roots infected with root-knot nematodes
• Sweet potato infected with root-knot nematodes
• Sugar beet infected with cyst nematodes
• Peach root infected with cyst nematodes
• Sugar beet infected with root-knot nematodes
• Ascaris lumbricoides (roundworm) 
• Minke whale infected infected with ascaridoid nematodes
• Heartworm of dog

Nematologist Steve Nadler, professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, explains what a nematode is on this YouTube video presented at the 2021 UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day.

So, let's see--bees, birds, bugs, plants, raptors, fossils, nematodes (aka round worms), and yeast cultures. Bring your camera, your questions to the scientists, your smile, your COVID-19 pandemic approvals and wear that mask. 

And as they say: "Can't wait to see you!"

The UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day is traditionally held on the Saturday of Presidents' Day weekend. However, last year's event was virtual, and this year's event is centrally located in an exposition. For more information, access the UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day website and/or connect with Instagram,Twitter, and Facebook.