Some news from the archives…
June 2023: Danielle and Lexie present at the Pollinator Health Conference at Penn State, and Rachel presents at the Hitchcock Center for Chemical Ecology meeting put on by the Jeffrey Lab at University of Nevada Reno.
May 2023: Jake Francis, Dino and Lexie present at the Yosemite Symbiosis workshop
May 2023: Two graduate students in the lab are awarded competitive fellowships! Lexie Martin was awarded the National Science Foundation GRFP and Dino Sbardellati was awarded a USDA Predoctoral Fellowship. Congrats!
April 2023: Vannette Lab hosts a booth focusing on native bees, flowers and microbes at UC Davis Picnic Day 2023
February 2023: Jake Cecala presents at The Pesticide Stewardship Alliance meeting
February 2023: Rachel and Leta attend the Gordon Conference on Plant Herbivore Interactions in Ventura, CA. Rachel helps out as discussion leader for session on “Microbial mediation of plant-herbivore interactions”
January 2023: Jake Francis presents work from his recently submitted preprint at the AmNat meeting in Asilomar and wins an award for the best Postdoc Talk!
November 2022: Many lab members visit Vancouver for the EntSoc meeting. Danielle, Lexie, Shawn and Rachel present current work and Danielle wins the President’s prize for best talk (for a second time)!!
August 29, 2022: Rachel gives a seminar for the GEMS institute. Thanks for the invitation Irene!
August 2022: Sad to see him go, but Marshall accepts a job at the California DOJ. Best wishes!
July 2022: It’s conference season! Many members of the Vannette lab are headed to the Beneficial Microbes conference , and Rachel presents at Phyllosphere 2022.
July 2022: Rachel named a finalist for the Falling Walls Foundation Science Breakthrough prize, in the Life Sciences division.
June 2022: Marshall McMunn’s paper on Cephalotes ant microbiome changes with temperature is published in FEMS Microbiology Ecology. Congrats Marshall and coauthors!
May 2022: We celebrate many accomplishments this spring!
- Lexie passed her Entomology Area Exam
- Lexie and Danielle received Jastro awards to support their research
- High school student Genna (mentored by Amber Crowley-Gall) presented her results
- Leta Landucci (previous Ralph Lab member) was awarded an NSF REPS fellowship to join the Vannette lab in the fall
- Doug Perry (mentored by Marshall McMunn) will join the Hansen Lab at UCR
- Undergraduate Kt Lynch (mentored by Jake Francis) was awarded the Northern California Botanists scholarship to support her work on flower/seed
- microbes this summer! Congrats all!!
May 2022: Jacob Francis attends the Yosemite Symbiosis Workshop to present his work on microbial communities in flowers.
April 2022: Jake Cecala co-organized and presented at a session of the Pacific Branch of the Entomological Society of America on “Plant-Pollinator Interactions in a Changing World”
April 2022:Rachel gives a seminar for the SEE Seminar series in the Department of Biological Sciences at Louisiana State University. Thanks to Jiaqi Tan for the invitation!
Feb 2022: Rachel gives a talk at the University of Oregon Institute of Ecology and Evolution. Thanks to Lauren for the invitation!
December 2021: Danielle is awarded a USDA Predoctoral Fellowship to study bumble bee-yeast interactions. Congrats Danielle!!!
December 2021: Insect Ecology and Vannette lab chooses some favorite papers from this past year: 2021 papers of the year
September 2021: Rachel gives a talk as the Hagedorn speaker for the Entomology and Insect Science Graduate Interdisciplinary Program at the University of Arizona. Thanks graduate students for the invitation!
July 2021: The complete special issue on plant-pollinator-microbe interactions in Current Opinions in Insect Science, co-organized by Rachel and Robert Junker, is now complete and online, including our editorial. Check it out!
June 2021: Jacob Francis is awarded an NSF PRFB to study secondary metabolites in nectar, and their consequences for microbes and pollinators. We are excited to continue work with him! Congrats Jake F!
June 2021: Jacob Cecala, a recent grad from the Wilson Rankin lab at UCR, is awarded a USDA NIFA Postdoctoral Fellowship to study effects of water availability and pesticide use on bees and bee-microbe associations. We are excited for him to join the lab in the fall. Congrats Jake C!
June 2021: The quarter ends and field work is in full swing! Various projects are in full force by Shawn and Marshall at Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve, by Shawn, Rachel and collaborators at Bodega Bay Marine Reserve, and we’re gearing up for work in the Sierra, including at Sagehen Creek Field Station in work led by Jake Francis.
May 2021: Shawn is awarded a NRS research fellowship for work at Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve. Congrats Shawn!
March 2021: Rachel gives an invited (virtual) seminar at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology. Thanks for the invitation Jonathan Gershenzon!
March 2021: Rachel gives an invited (virtual) seminar at the University of Cinncinati. Thanks for the invitation Stephanie Rollman and lab!
February 2021: Rachel gives and invited (virtual) seminar at the University of Pittsburgh. Thanks for the invitation Tia-Lynn Ashman and lab!
January 2021: Insect Ecology group at UC Davis chooses favorite papers of 2020 or go to the archives for our picks from 2019, 2018, or 2016
January 2021: New preprints posted: 1) Shawn’s work finding that Acinetobacter germinates (and eats) pollen, and two agricultural flower microbiome papers: 2) management effects microbiome composition in almond flowers and 3) management and landscape composition affect microbiome of pear flowers
Fall 2020: Danielle Rutkowski and Shawn Christensen both pass the QE and advance to candidacy. Congrats you two.
10/30/20 Rachel gives an invited (virtual) seminar to the University of Colorado Denver. Thanks for the invitation Sara Branco!
10/16/20 Rachel gives an invited (virtual) seminar for the Microbiology group at Autonomous University of Querétaro. Excellent discussion. Thanks for the invitation, Etzel Garrido Espinosa!
9/20 New papers from the lab discussing nectar microbiome, its effects on plants and pollinators, and traits that promote dispersal of microbes have been published online.
8/31/20 Jacob Francis joins the lab as a Postdoctoral Fellow, to work on nectar chemistry and pollination. Welcome Jake!
8/28/20 Allie Igwe officially defends and turns in her dissertation. Congrats Dr. Igwe!
6/20: Amber Crowley-Gall and Marshall McMunn receive USDA NIFA Postdoctoral Fellowships to begin independent projects in the lab. Congrats to both Amber and Marshall! Amber will work on Erwinia, volatile cues and pollinator preference. Marshall will work on sunflowers and microbial effects on nectar quality via trait plasticity.
4/20: Allie Igwe is awarded a prestigious NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship to work on soil microbial communities and develop novel online tools to increase interest in ecology. Congrats Allie!
2/10/20: Rachel participated as a lecturer in the Chemical Communication Winterschool in Ede, Netherlands. It was a great experience with excellent students, organizers and co-lecturers.
1/10/20: Paper on microbial community assembly and function in nectar published in FEMS Microbiology Ecology with first author Megan Morris, lab alum who recently started new job at LBL.
12/11/19: Lab members participate in the annual “Favorite papers of 2019, insect ecology edition”
10/19: Lab hires Tobias Mueller as new Junior specialist. Welcome Tobias!
7/17/19: Vannette lab attends the International Pollinator Conference! Check out Danielle’s poster on bumble bees and yeasts; Shawn’s poster on bacteria and pollen, and Rachel (V) talks about hummingbird gut microbes.
7/10/19: The National Science Foundation funds Rachel’s CAREER grant on “Nectar chemistry and ecological and evolutionary tradeoffs in plant adaptation to microbes and pollinators”. We are excited to investigate why plant species vary in microbial growth in flowers, and its causes and consequences
6/23/19: Rachel moderates and speaks in ASM Microbe session on Rules and Randomness in microbial community assembly
6/10/19: Rachel returns from a fun and productive ISCE meeting in Atlanta.
5/31/19: Graduate and undergraduate students earn fellowship awards this quarter: Maddie earns a Provost’s Undergraduate Fellowship; Allie is supported by the Davis Botanical Society and Danielle is supported by the Vansell Award for the study of bees (and their microbes, of course). Thanks to these organizations for the financial support!
5/17/19: Welcome Amber Crowley-Gall as a postdoc in the lab! We are excited for you join the lab and bring your expertise in insect olfaction to the almond project.
3/6/19: Study on hummingbird microbes published in Proceedings B. Congrats to Casie Lee!
2/20/19: Preprint posted on how microbial metabolites are detected by and influence bumble bees. Great work Robert, Caitlin and Isabelle!
1/4/19: Page on our Epilobium canum work added. Check it out, and watch for more updates someday.
12/14/18: Insect Ecology Joint lab meeting chooses our “top papers of the year”
12/7/19: Preprint posted on rhizosphere microbes in serpentine indifferent plants. Great work Allie!
8/5/18: Vannette lab does ESA in New Orleans:
Monday: Rachel on nectar microbes and volatiles at 3:20 pm in Plant-Animal Interactions I
Tuesday: Allie on plant-microbe interactions in serpentine soils at 9:20 am in OOS 10
Wednesday: Robert on using priority effects to improve biocontrol of floral pathogens, 8:20 am in Disease & Epidemiology
7/5/18: Visit by Fukami lab and friends to develop some MALDI-TOF methods and build the library!
6/25/18: New Junior specialist Ivan Munkres starts in the lab. Welcome Ivan!
4/25/18: The Vannette lab, with PIs Beck, Lindow and Schaeffer, receive funding from the California Pear Board to work on microbial antagonists of Erwinia.
4/9/18: We are very excited to welcome Danielle Rutkowski as a new PhD student interested in plant-microbe-insect interactions, who will begin fall 2018! Congrats to Danielle on receiving the prestigious Cota-Robles Fellowship and an honorable mention on the NSF-GRFP!
4/9/18 We are very excited to welcome Marshall McMunn as an NSF postdoctoral scholar studying ant gut microbiomes, coadvised with Stacy Philpott at UCSC.
2/19/18 Paper “Contrasting effects of yeast and bacteria on floral nectar traits” accepted to Annals of Botany.
1/16/18 Lab alum Griffin Hall shares some of his travel adventures and experiments with natural coffee processing in Guatemala.
12/14/17 Allie Igwe and Megan Morris pass their Qualifying Exams! Huge congratulations to both of them on advancement to candidacy and on great project proposals!!
11/24/17 Lab gains its new (youngest) member!
11/4/17 John’s last day in the lab. We wish him the best with his new job in biotech!
10/4/17 Griffin’s last day in the lab. We will miss him and his expertise, but are excited to follow his next adventures!
9/28/17 First day of ABI 50A! We are excited to welcome a new cohort of incoming students to study the floral visitors and floral traits of Epilobium canum.
9/27/17 First day of classes. Vannette lab is excited to partner with Jonathan Eisen, Ashley Vater and David Coil on a new Freshman research seminar called “The Nectar Microbiome – for the Birds and the Bees.”
8/23/17 Megan Morris, a JDPE student in the Dinsdale and Vannette labs, was just awarded a ARCS fellowship to support her graduate work. Congrats Megan!
8/21/17 Paper on microbial volatiles and pollination accepted for publication in New Phytologist! We are very excited about this product from the collaboration between the Vannette lab at UC Davis and Beck lab at USDA-ARS! Link to New Phytologist website; Full text
8//20/17 Caitlin Rering presents at the American Chemical Society meeting in Washington DC on “Do volatiles produced by nectar-dwelling microbes affect honey bee preferences?” She is also a finalist for the New Investigator Award. Congrats, Caitlin!
8/5/17 We are excited to head to the Ecological Society of America meeting in Portland! Don’t miss the OOS on the extended phenotype of microbes (organized with Stephanie Porter). And check out the Vannette lab talks (or co-authored talks) this year:
Rachel Vannette on among-plant variation in nectar microbes, Tuesday Aug 8 in Plant-Insect interactions
Ash Zemenick on how floral visitor networks shape microbial composition on flowers, Wednesday Aug 9 in Plant-Insect Interactions II
7/18/17 Vannette lab is recruiting! Seeking 1-2 graduate students to study the ecology or chemistry of plant-microbe-insect interactions, to start in summer or fall of 2018. Topic areas are flexible, and funding is available through the Entomology graduate group. See the ‘Join the lab’ page for more details and please email Rachel if you are interested.
7/17/17 Casie wraps up sampling for her STAR project on hummingbirds and the microbiology of backyard feeders! with Co-PI Lisa Tell and Hummingbird health project
6/20/17 Ants decrease pollinator visitation and change floral microbial communities in coffee agroecosystems. Paper just out LINK
6/9/17 Early view of paper in Ecology Letters, showing that contrary to the majority of published work, increased dispersal can increase beta diversity in floral microbial communities. See Publications page for links and media coverage.
6/7/17 Aidee Guzman from the Kremen lab at Berkeley visits the Vannette lab to analyze nectar sugars.
3/28/17 Wendy Melendez presents her poster on how carpenter bee robbing affects nectar microbial communities in Epilobium at the UCD Undergraduate Research Conference. Congrats, Wendy!
3/26/17 Allie receives an NRS grant to fund part of her dissertation work on rhizosphere microorganisms in serpentine soils.
3/4/17 Paper documenting positive effects of dispersal on beta diversity in nectar microbe communities, with Tad Fukami, accepted to Ecology Letters!
3/4/17 Tess Grainger visits the lab and shares her research at the Insect Ecology meeting
2/24/17 Rachel gives a seminar at Rice University; thanks for Tom Miller and lab for being great hosts!
2/12/17 Paper on ant effects on coffee flower microbiome with collaborator Stacy Philpott accepted to Basic and Applied Ecology!
2/12/17 Almond bloom is nearly upon us: we are looking forward to getting in the orchards to sample microbes.
2/10/17 Mark your calendar: The ESA session on the “extended phenotype of microbes”, organized by Rachel Vannette and Stephanie Porter, is scheduled for the afternoon of Wednesday, Aug 9. We are looking forward to this organized oral session.
Winter quarter 2017: Rachel teaches Chemical Ecology CRN # 23499
12/13/16 The Vannette Lab and friends discuss our picks for ‘Best paper of the year’. Partial list here
12/5/16 Students in ABI50A present their research on interactions between hummingbirds, bees and Epilobium flowers. Great job, students!
11/5/16 Perspective paper on microbial volatiles in plant-insect interactions with collaborator and coauthor John Beck is published in Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (and chosen as an Editor’s choice!)
10/27/16 Rachel presents on community and chemical ecology of nectar microbes at the HMI Host-microbe interaction meeting at Granlibakken.
9/1/16 Collaborator Robert Schaeffer has been funded by the USDA for his postdoctoral work on nectar-inhabiting yeasts in almond agroecosystems! He will spend part of his time in the Vannette lab. We are excited to continue working with him.
8/8/16-8/12/16 Rachel attends a workshop on teaching metagenomics by Liz Dinsdale, with help by talented grad students, including Megan Morris. We had fun sequencing bee-associated microbial communities, among many others!
5/19/16 Amin, a high school student from Davis Senior High, presents his work on among-plant variation in the abundance of nectar-inhabiting microorganisms at the Biotechnology Poster session. Congrats!
5/16/16 Allie receives a NRS research grant to support her work on plant-microbe interactions in serpentine systems! Congrats!
5/7/16 Rachel presents at the 2016 Bee Symposium, put on by the UC Davis Honey and Pollination center.
3/25/16 Paper on biogeography of plant-associated fungi in Hawaiian kipuka, accepted to Ecology!
3/25/16 Rachel visits University of Louisville to give a talk; thanks to Chris and the Frost lab/family for hosting!
3/15/16 Paper on nectar microbes and secondary compounds in nectar published as a preprint in Ecology!
2/22/16 Rachel visits UC Riverside to talk about how microbes mediate plant-pollinator interactions. Thanks to Quinn and the Melittology lab for hosting!
2/3/16 Rachel presents at the Gordon Research Conference on Plant Volatiles: Effects of nectar microbes on floral rewards and attraction.
1/25/16 Paper on nectar microbes and secondary compounds in nectar accepted to Ecology! Watch for a summary when the preprint is released.
12/4/15 Allie presents VOC data from her rotation in the Vannette lab to the Microbiology Group.
11/9/15 New paper out today! We found that forager bees highly express genes related to antimicrobial activity, immune signaling, and detoxification in nectar-processing tissues. Check out the article here and news coverage here.
11/5/15 Co-authored paper out today, led by Rob Schaeffer! Spatial and temporal variation in nectar-inhabiting yeast abundance in Delphinium nuttallianum and effects on nectar chemistry. Check out the article here.