The 15th Annual UC Davis Biodiversity Museum Day will take place on Saturday, Feb. 21, featuring a speaker series and activities across 12 campus museums and collections. The event is free and open to the public, with programming scheduled from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The speaker series will be held from 4 to 5 p.m. in the Silverado Vineyards’ Sensory Theatre at the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science. Four speakers are scheduled, each giving a 15-minute presentation on topics ranging from nematodes to pollinator gardens, dinosaurs, and yeast.
Pallavi Shakya, a doctoral candidate in the lab of nematologist Shahid Siddique at the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology, will present “Into the Nematode World” at 4 p.m. At 4:15 p.m., Samantha “Sam” Murray, education and garden coordinator of The Bee Haven and member of the Elina Niño bee lab, will discuss “Creating Your Own Pollinator Haven.” Tracy Thomson, research assistant in UC Davis Earth and Planetary Sciences, follows at 4:30 p.m. with “Hobnobbing in the Cretaceous: What’s Up With Dinosaur Forelimbs?” Kyria Boundy-Mills, collection curator and research microbiologist at the Phaff Yeast Collection, concludes at 4:45 p.m. with “Creative Uses of Yeasts.”
Thomson’s talk will address recent findings about alvarezsaurid dinosaurs’ forelimbs. “The Alvarezsauridae are a family of theropod dinosaurs characterized by relatively short and highly modified forelimbs. The recent discovery of a new species from Mongolia with unusual spikes and an enlarged claw on its hand prompted the speculative interpretation that it was an egg-eater using its forelimbs for handling and opening hard-shelled eggs. However, animals that eat eggs today do not require specialized limbs or claws to open and eat the contents and the only animals specialized for eating eggs are a few species of snakes which lack limbs altogether,” said Thomson.
“I view the egg-eating hypothesis as a ‘just-so’ story seeking to explain the admittedly enigmatic forelimbs possessed by alvarezsaurid dinosaurs and propose an alternative hypothesis for their function: to facilitate social interactions. Today, many organisms possess specialized and unique biological structures that function to produce, send, and receive signals that communicate specific messages to members of their own species,” Thomson continued.
“For example, several species of pond turtles possess elongated foreclaws which are used to stroke or ‘titillate’ females during courtship rituals. Birds of prey engage in cartwheeling where two individuals lock talons and freefall through the air. There are countless examples of such social behaviors associated with signaling found throughout the animal kingdom, many of which are facilitated by unusual or specialized biological structures. Perhaps the enigmatic forelimbs of alvarezsaurids, and structures observed in other fossil organisms, were simply used to communicate and/or receive the signals required for successful social behaviors,” Thomson added.
BioDiv Day committee chair Tabatha Yang advised attendees that space is limited for talks: “Space is limited in,” said BioDiv Day chair Tabatha Yang, education and outreach coordinator of the Bohart Museum of Entomology, “so it’s best to arrive early.”
BioDiv Day activities include watching carnivorous plants feed on insects, petting stick insects, viewing raptors up close, learning about pollinator gardening techniques or flintknapping skills, engaging with yeast-related displays or science jokes, sampling seed cookies made for pollinators—and more.
Participating museums include Anthropology Museum (Wickson Hall), Arboretum Habitat Gardens (Environmental GATEway), Bee Haven (1 Bee Biology Road), Bohart Museum of Entomology (Academic Surge Building), Botanical Conservatory (Kleiber Hall Drive), California Raptor Center (Equine Lane), Center for Plant Diversity Herbarium (Katherine Esau Science Hall), Design Museum (Cruess Hall), Museum of Wildlife & Fish Biology (Academic Surge Building), Nematode Collection (Katherine Esau Science Hall), Paleontology Collection (Crocker Lane) and Phaff Yeast Culture Collection (Robert Mondavi Institute Brewery).
More than 300 faculty members, students and staff will support displays across campus locations. Maps can be downloaded from https://biodiversitymuseumday.ucdavis.edu/ or obtained onsite; food trucks will be stationed near Katherine Esau Science Hall.
UC Agriculture and Natural Resources enhances lives statewide by sharing science-based practices through research facilities in every California county as well as nine Research and Extension Centers serving diverse ecosystems (source). The organization delivers University of California expertise via outreach initiatives supporting communities across farming practices, environmental conservation efforts—including wildfire protection—and youth education programs (source). Glenda Humiston serves as vice president (source).
For more information about BioDiv Day events or museum activities visit https://biodiversitymuseumday.ucdavis.edu/ or see planned activities listed by site at https://tinyurl.com/y8a9wf2s