Butterfly expert explains painted lady invasion ...

Millions of painted lady butterflies invaded central California airspace Monday as a massive migration from the desert began to hit its stride. The insects were coming from their winter grounds on the Mexican border to the Central Valley and foothills, where they will breed.

The butterflies were passing at a rate of about one every 10 seconds, said Arthur Shapiro, professor of evolution and ecology, an authority on butterflies.

The insects fly from six to about 12 feet above the ground, rising over obstacles, such as buildings, rather than going around them.

The painted lady winters in the desert along the U.S.-Mexico border and breeds on desert annual plants in late winter. The adults emerge in February or March and immediately take off to the northwest, migrating through the Inyo-Kern area into the Central Valley and foothills. The trip takes roughly three days, because the butterflies hatch with a large supply of yellow fat, which they use as fuel, Shapiro said, noting, "This fat is what makes the yellow splotch on your windshield when you hit one."

When the fat supply is depleted, generally after reaching the Central Valley, they begin visiting flowers to feed and also begin laying eggs. This year's migration is probably more conspicuous than usual because heavy winter rains in Death Valley and elsewhere produced a bumper crop of desert plants, Shapiro said. Butterflies resulting from local breeding will hatch in May and migrate, flying north to breed in the Pacific Northwest.

New faculty directory goes live on campus Web site ...

A new departmental faculty directory is now live at http://www.ucdavis.edu/search/faculty, on the recently-redesigned UC Davis Web site. The directory sorts faculty first by school or college, then by department and rank.

The directory was created at the request of Provost Virginia Hinshaw, "because such information is very helpful to our campus community in a variety of ways, such as locating faculty in specific disciplines, for organizing committees, and in contacting department chairs/members."

Faculty members and management services officers can update entries at any time by sending an e-mail to campusdirectory@ucdavis.edu.

Major gifts fundraising workshop rescheduled ...

The fifth segment of the University Relations development workshops, entitled "Maximizing the Major Gifts Market," has been rescheduled from April 7 to June 28.

The workshop will run 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel Ballroom, 4422 Y St., at the UC Davis Medical Center. It is designed for major gifts officers from all campus academic and program units. It will address issues including how to effectively cultivate, solicit, close, and steward a prospect and who should be involved in the process.