Irene Moon at Cafe OTO, London

At the wonderful Cafe OTO! Café OTO

PEOPLE LIKE US – THREE-DAY RESIDENCY:

HEARTY WHITE (COMPÈRE) + IRENE MOON + PEOPLE LIKE US / ERGO PHIZMIZ / GWILLY EDMONDEZ (TRIO) + MAGGIE NICOLS

https://www.cafeoto.co.uk/.../people-like-us-three-day.../

 

New publication about bees from Santa Cruz Island and UCSB

Happy to announce a new publication from our research group!

Phenotypic divergence in an island bee population: Applying geometric morphometrics to discriminate population-level variation in wing venation

Phenotypic divergence is an important consequence of restricted gene flow in insular populations. This divergence can be challenging to detect when it occurs through subtle shifts in morphological traits, particularly in traits with complex geometries, like insect wing venation. Here, we employed geometric morphometrics to assess the extent of variation in wing venation patterns across reproductively isolated populations of the social sweat bee, Halictus tripartitus. We examined wing morphology of specimens sampled from a reproductively isolated population of H. tripartitus on Santa Cruz Island (Channel Islands, Southern California). Our analysis revealed significant differentiation in wing venation in this island population relative to conspecific mainland populations. We additionally found that this population-level variation was less pronounced than the species-level variation in wing venation
among three sympatric congeners native to the region, Halictus tripartitus, Halictus ligatus, and Halictus farinosus. Together, these results provide evidence for subtle phenotypic divergence in an island bee population. More broadly, these results emphasize the utility and potential of wing morphometrics for large-scale assessment of insect population structure.

Ostwald, M.M., Thrift, C.N. & Seltmann, K.C. (2023). Phenotypic divergence in an island bee population: Applying geometric morphometrics to discriminate population-level variation in wing venation. Ecology and Evolution, 13(5), e10085. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10085

Big-Bee

Scientifically Speaking with Irene Moon performing in Los Angeles for Touch 40

Scientifically Speaking with Irene Moon will perform Lovely Moth as part of the Touch 40 (https://touch40.net) festival. Touch, the UK-based imprint and publisher, will celebrate forty years of activity (1982-2022). Touch has grown organically and independently and continues to make ideas-based decisions in a world of changing technology, tastes, and digital freedoms. Irene has appeared on Touch Radio performing "My Queen and I," a recorded lecture about bees. She also performed in a fantastic Touch event at Rymar Auditorium that included the Bee Symphony where humans sang with bees. The Bee Symphony, consisting of recordings of bees by Mike Harding (Touch) and Chris Watson (‘The Life of Birds’, ‘The Life of Mammals’, ‘Life in the Undergrowth’ and ‘Life in Cold Blood’) and a vocal score by Marcus Davidson (Spire) will be performed live by Chris Watson and five singers from the University of York, conducted by Marcus Davidson. The Symphony was originally commissioned as part of the Festival and performed in Queen Elizabeth Hall, London.

 

A 5-Minute Hour

Irene Moon and the Begonia Society are part of the 2nd episode of GX Jupitter-Larsen's new online variety show, A 5-Minute Hour. We include a 1-minute Microtheter on various insects and other invertebrates. These are coming once a week from his studio and Irene Moon will be part of the next four (and hopefully more)!

The Macroptheter is small theater, generally filmed under a microscope and the actors are those that are more difficult to see.

Art of the Insect Collection

As part of the recent exhibition "In Collaboration with Earth" at the Glass Box Gallery (UC Santa Barbara),  I presented a series of museum specimens with related artifacts. The first drawer of insects is all regional bees to Santa Barbara, California. The second drawer focuses on the Western Monarch. Discussion and Microtheater about the insect boxes were performed live during the exhibition and can be revisited on Facebook. In short, the insects are the stars!

Extending Anthophila research through image and trait digitization (Big-Bee)

 I am pleased to announce a new collaborative project called Big-Bee for the exploration of bee natural history traits via images and morphology. This three-year National Science Foundation funded project is a collaborative effort across thirteen US institutions and we will be digitizing bees from all over the world. Love bees, keep an eye on this project to see many lovely images. 

Big-Bee is also supporting a few new arts research projects, including a radio series called The Buzz, inspiring new Irene Moon performances and video collaborations.  Please keep in touch and find out more via the Big-Bee website at http://big-bee.net/. Buzz to you!