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office address:
699 Mississippi St, Ste 106
San Francisco, CA 94107
USA

tel 415.648.3390
fax 415.824.6526

All images on LSaul.com are copyright of Leslie Saul-Gershenz 1990-2004 and may not be reproduced or used without permission. For use of images, please contact me for licensing and prices at: lsaul@meer.net.

Current Conservation Research

MELOE-HABROPODA EVOLUTIONARY ECOLOGY
My current research focuses on the recently discovered host location behavior of the blister beetle Meloe franciscanus and its host, the solitary bee Habropoda pallida in the Mojave Desert. The larvae of the blister beetle are female impersonators and they cooperate to mimic the sex pheromone of the female host bee, luring male bees to attempt copulation with them and then grab on to hitch a ride to the next real female bee he mates with. They then transfer to the female and get a ride to her nest where they disembark and begin feeding.

Check out this new paper which reports on this new example of cooperative aggressive chemical mimicry and the first example of cooperative behavior in the family Meloidae.

Saul-Gershenz, L.S., Millar, J. G. 2006. Phoretic nest parasites use sexual deception to obtain transport to their host's nest. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103:14039-14044

For movie clips on the PNAS site http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/0603901103/DC1

My images of this new agressive mimicry system appear in a terrific new 2006 Harvard University Press book "The Other Insect Societies" by James Costa.

I was a scientific advisor for the BBC’s new series “Life in the Undergrowth” with Sir David Attenborough. This series has a wonderful segment on my blister beetle Meloe franciscanus research. Look for the series in the US on Animal Planet. To order the series from the BBC click here.

Jocelyn Millar and I have begun an exciting new collaboration this year with Betsy Arnold from the University of Arizona, to look at the role of fungal endophytes in the Meloe-Astragalus-Habropoda system.

RESEARCH VIDEOGRAPHY FOR NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC In 2006, I worked as researcher and videographer with Harvard-trained ecologist and photographer Mark Moffet on documenting army ant behavior in the Amazon Basin in Ecuador, Dorylus driver ants in the rainforests of Ghana, and Polygerus slave-making ants in the U.S. for his National Geographic series on ants (see the August issue) and for his upcoming book on ants for Harvard Press. For a brief look at video I shot of Mark discussing three species of Eciton army ants go to: http://www9.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0608/feature7/multimedia.html

 

BIODIVERSITY INVENTORY
I spent part of the 2004 field season inventorying the bees of the Mojave Desert in Clark County, NV for with the USDA ARS Bee Biology Lab team in Logan helping to document a staggering 598 species of bees for this bioregion. I was able to locate several new nesting sites for Habropoda and Anthophora species as well to add to those species distribution data.

POLLINATION ECOLOGY RESEACH

Our bee team found a new population of an undescribed species of Panurginus sp. bee during our Springtown Wetlands pollinator study. Robbin Thorp at U. C. Davis is now busy working up a description and survey of its biology for this oligolectic (specialist) crack-nesting species. This species of bee is a pollinator of the very beautiful Downingia pulchella.

Saul-Gershenz L., Fiedler P. L., Barlow M., Rokich D. 2004. Pollinator assemblage of the endangered plant Cordylanthus palmatus at Springtown Wetlands Reserve, Livermore, California. Expanding the Ark: The emerging science and practice of invertebrate conservation Symposium. March 25-26, 2004. American Museum of Natural History Center for Biodiversity and Conservation.

MELOE NATURAL HISTORY
I must be a Meloe magnet. Mandy Heddle and I found two new Pedilus species association records for Meloe strigulosus just above UC Berkeley's campus.

L. S. Saul-Gershenz, M. L. Heddle. 2004. New Records of Pedilus (Coleoptera: Pyrochroidae) on Meloe strigulosus Mannerheim (COLEOPTERA: MELOIDAE. Pan-Pacific Entomologist 80(1-4):18-22.

Selected Publications

Saul-Gershenz, L.S., Millar, J. G. 2006. Phoretic nest parasites use sexual deception to obtain transport to their host's nest. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103:14039-14044

Saul-Gershenz, L. In preparation. Natural history of Meloe franciscanus at Kelso Dunes.

Saul-Gershenz, L. In preparation. Natural history of the solitary bee, Habropoda pallida.at Kelso Dunes.

Saul-Gershenz, L. In preparation. The phenology and invertebrate fauna of Astragalus lentiginosus var. borreganus at Kelo Dunes in the Mojave Desert.

Saul-Gershenz L. S., Heddle M. L. 2004. New Records of Pedilus (Coleoptera: Pyrochroidae) on Meloe strigulosus Mannerheim (COLEOPTERA: MELOIDAE. Pan-Pacific Entomologist 80 (1-4): 18-22.

Saul-Gershenz, L., Fiedler, P. L., Barlow , M., Rokich D. 2004. Pollinator assemblage of the endangered plant Cordylanthus palmatus at Springtown Wetlands Reserve, Livermore, California. Poster. Expanding the Ark: The Emerging Science and Practice of Invertebrate Conservation Symposium. March, 2004. American Museum of Natural History Center for Biodiversity and Conservation.

Saul-Gershenz, L. 2003. Insect Zoos. Encyclopedia of Insects. Eds. V. Resh and R. Cardé. Academic Press, Berkeley, California. 2nd Edition in preparation.

Saul-Gershenz, L Hafernik, J. 2000. Beetle larvae cooperate to mimic bees. Nature, 405:35

Saul-Gershenz, L. 2000. "Pollination Partners: the chemical attraction between plants and insects." California Native Plant Society. May-June, website and newsletter.

Saul-Gershenz, L., Hafernik, J. 1999. Bees, beetles, and plants: the importance of ecological interactions to conservation and restoration efforts. Mojave Desert Science Symposium. Available from: USGS, Western Ecological Res Center. Sacramento, California.

Saul-Gershenz, L., Mark Scriber, and R. Arnold. 1995. "Design of Captive Environments for Invertebrates". In Conservation of Endangered Species in Captivity: An Interdisciplinary Approach. SUNY Stonybrook Press. pp. 51-71.

Saul-Gershenz, L. 1996. Management of Terrestrial Arthropod Exhibits. Terrestrial Invertebrate Taxon Advisory Group Workshop Agenda. AAZPA Western Regional Conference, Denver, May 19, 1996.

Saul-Gershenz, L. 1996. Laboratory culture techniques for the Goliath tarantula Theraphosa blondi (Latreille, 1804) and the Mexican red knee tarantula, Brachypelma smithi (Araneae: Theraphosidae). AAZPA Annual Conference Proceedings: pp. 3-7.

Saul-Gershenz, L. 1993. Notes on the captive life history of the carnivorous katydid, Lirometopum coronatum Scudder (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) from Costa Rica. American Zoologist, 33:139-143.American Zoologist, 33:139-143.

Fiedler, Peggy, Robert A. Leidy, Richard D. Laven, Norman Gershenz and Leslie Saul. 1993. The Contemporary Paradigm in Ecology and its Implications for Endangered Species Conservation. Endangered Species Update. University of Michigan. Vol 10, Nos. 3 & 4:7-12.

Saul-Gershenz, L. 1992. Species Selection and Culture of Beetles (Coleoptera) for Public Educational Exhibit: A Brief Overview. Proceedings of the American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums Annual Conference.

Saul-Gershenz, L. 1992. Captive Husbandry of Selected Species of Orthoptera for Public Exhibit. Proceedings of the American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums, Western Regional Conference. pp. 280-287.

Saul, L. 1991. Conservation Strategies for Invertebrates: Thirty Million to Choose From. American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums Annual Conference Proceedings. pp. 314-320.

Saul-Gershenz, L., R. Thorp. In preparation. The function of hair baskets in Osmia glauca (Megachilidae).

All images on LSaul.com are copyright of Leslie Saul-Gershenz 1990-2004 and may not be reproduced or used without permission. For use of images, please contact me for licensing and fees at: lsaul@meer.net.

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