Four faculty from the University of California, Davis, have been elected as Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, class of 2025. They are among nearly 500 scientists, engineers and other innovators that the society recognized this year for their scientifically and socially distinguished achievements.
Here are the new fellows, with their fellowship citations:
Joanna Chiu
Department of Entomology and Nematology, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
Monarch butterfly populations have been declining since the 1990s, driven by several factors, including a changing climate. New research from the University of California, Davis suggests rising temperatures may be altering the behaviors monarch caterpillars use to survive, sometimes in ways that increase their risk of death.
Scientists at the University of California, Davis, have discovered a new species of trapdoor spider lurking in California’s coastal sand dunes. The newly identified Aptostichus ramirezae is a close relative of Aptostichus simus, a species found along the coast from Monterey to Baja California, Mexico.
As climate change drives up temperatures around the clock, warmer nights may be especially dangerous for caterpillars – causing them to grow fast but die young. University of California, Davis, researchers used hand warmers, a novel approach to warm field plots, to test the effects of higher temperatures at night.
The plants in our backyards do more than add beauty – they support local insects and thrive, or struggle, depending on the climate. As temperatures shift and rainfall patterns become less predictable, the timing of when plants bloom and insects emerge is changing.
Using long fruit pickers, a UC Davis research team fans out along Putah Creek, plucking the tiny homes of gall wasps from the branches of oak trees. These small, round growths, created by California oak gall wasps, protect their larvae. In the lab, researchers are raising the insects and searching for clues about this cryptic species that’s all around yet rarely noticed.
Distinguished Professor of Entomology Jay Rosenheim noticed a trend during his office hours a few years ago: Many of his undergraduate students wanted research lab experience but were unsure how to get started. Alongside colleagues Louis Yang and Joanna Chiu, they collectively decided to try something different in 2011.
“Our basic idea was to get students into the labs really early in their undergraduate programs,” Rosenheim recalled. “There’s a whole new set of skills that are very different from what students are typically working on in their formal coursework.”
Professor Jason Bond starts today (Feb. 1) as the new director of the UC Davis R.M. Bohart Museum of Entomology, which houses the 7th largest insect collection in North America. Bond succeeds Lynn Kimsey, distinguished professor with the Department of Entomology and Nematology, who retired last month after serving as the museum’s director and curator since 1990.
UC Davis Professors Joanna Chiu and Andrew Whitehead have been appointed as the new chairs of the Departments of Entomology and Nematology and Environmental Toxicology, respectively. Mary Delany has also been appointed as interim chair for the Department of Human Ecology. As the academic year gets underway, these visionary leaders are set to steer their departments toward groundbreaking research, interdisciplinary collaborations and exceptional experiences for students.
Sometimes it’s easy to spot the iconic Monarch butterfly perched on a thick leaf of a milkweed plant. But there are other species of wildlife living in our backyard that aren’t as easy to find.
