History of the Department
The field of Biological Control was born in Riverside and the rest of Southern California in 1887-1889, with the successful introduction of the Vedalia beetle for the control of the cotton cushiony scale, an insect pest on citrus. Many point to this event as the start of entomology here as well. This technique saved the infant citrus industry in this region, and over 100 years later, the beetle still controls these former citrus pests.
The University of California began entomological research in southern California in 1906 when Professor Henry J. Quayle was appointed to the staff of the Southern California Pathological Laboratory at Whittier. In 1915, after the closing of the Whittier Laboratory, Professor Quayle was transferred to the Citrus Experiment Station, then located near Mt. Rubidoux in Riverside, where he was appointed first Chairman of the Department of Entomology.
In 1917, the Department moved into the Citrus Experiment Station main building that was newly constructed as part of an expanded agricultural experiment station and Graduate School of Tropical Agriculture. In 1932, separate quarters were provided for the Department in a newly constructed Entomology Building. Under Henry Quayle's leadership up to his retirement as Department Chairman in 1943, much of the basic knowledge on the biology and control of citrus and other subtropical fruit pests was developed. In 1949, an Entomology Annex Building was completed during the chairmanship of Professor Alfred M. Boyce.
In 1961, a teaching program leading to a B.S. degree in agricultural sciences with specialization in Entomology was established. A graduate program in Entomology was also inaugurated for which nine students were enrolled. Added to the complex of buildings for Entomology were the Insecticide Compounding Building in 1954, the Stored Products Laboratory in 1958, the north wing of the Entomology Building in 1960. Later building additions include the Entomology Research Museum in 1994, and the new Insectary and Quarantine Facility and a new Entomology Building which were both completed in 2002.
We currently have 35 faculty that bring their individual and collective expertise to bear at the molecular, cellular, organismal and population levels. Our current research specializations include: arthropod vectors of plant pathogens, biological control, insect behavior, chemical ecology, ecology, morphology, pathology, pest management, physiology, insect-plant interactions, systematics, toxicology, insecticide resistance, medical/veterinary entomology, molecular entomology, neuroscience, and urban entomology.
In early 2002, the Department moved into the new Entomology Building, a $22,000,000 state of the art building which contains 39,000 ft2 of office and laboratory space. This building houses 20 research groups spanning a range of interests from molecular entomology through population biology to systematics. This new building also houses the Department's administrative space and conference rooms for meetings and some class instruction. The Entomology Research Museum provides space for medical entomology and urban vector ecology, the 3-million-specimen insect collection, and a teaching laboratory classroom. Currently, the Department is housed in seven buildings, including Boyce Hall, Chapman Hall, the Stored Products Insects Building, Boyden Laboratory, and College Building North.
A unique and indispensable facility to the research mission of the Department, is the new Insectary and Quarantine Facility. It permits us to process, study, characterize, and propagate foreign parasites and predators that have been collected abroad and sent to California for the purpose of releasing them to control introduced exotic insect pests. This unique building has receiving rooms, five research labs, 10 greenhouses and 52 rearing rooms at Biosafety Levels 1, 2 and 3. The physical containment facilities enable scientists to safely investigate exotic parasites, microorganisms and predators, as well as genetically engineered organisms such as more potent microbial insecticides.
With three new buildings completed in the past ten years, the Department of Entomology at UC Riverside has one of the most modern research facilities worldwide.
History of the College
The College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences (CNAS) is unique among land grant universities nationwide in integrating the biological, agricultural, and physical sciences into one organizational framework. CNAS is the oldest of five colleges and professional schools at UCR.
The teaching and research traditions of the College go back to the founding of the Citrus Experiment Station in 1906, predating the establishment of Riverside as a general campus of the University of Califomia by almost 50 years. Within two decades, the experiment station achieved a reputation as the world's leading research institution in studies of citrus and subtropical horticulture. The establishment of a College of Agriculture in 1960 was followed by steady growth and a series of mergers with other disciplines leading to the 1974 formation of the present College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences.
Today, college faculty are renowned not only for agricultural research, but also for their contributions in their biological physical sciences. Riverside's biomedical scientists are widely recognized for elucidating the role of vitamin D in human metabolism, leading to new and effective treatment of diseases of the bone and kidney. The x-ray crystallography group has gained international recognition for its three-dimensional analyses of biological molecules, a technology vital to rational drug design. In analytical chemistry researchers have pioneered methods for the detection of metabolites in biological fluids and in intact cells by magnetic resonance. High energy particle physics research conducted by College physicists, as part of an international collaboration, led to discovery of the long-sought "W" and "Z" particles -- key factors in the quest to understand the forces of nature and the origin of the universe.
Researchers in the College continue to explore new frontiers in agriculture. Tissue culture techniques developed by College faculty laid the foundation for modern plant biotechnology and are now used around the world. Environmental scientists have developed novel strategies for toxic waste cleanup using microorganisms that degrade synthetic and natural compounds. Entomologists have applied genetic engineering to develop new, environmentally safe microbial insecticides. Three College departments -- Entomology, Plant Pathology, and Soil and Environmental Sciences -- have consistently ranked among the nation's top five in their fields.
Agricultural and Natural Resources of California
California has one of the most diversified economies of any state in the nation. Important industries include aerospace, computers, mining, manufacturing, entertainment, tourism, forestry, and agriculture. Forests cover approximately 30% of the state and the production of timber and wood products is critical for the many local economies. Farms and ranches use another 30 million acres of California's 1200 million acre total. Of this, 7.7 million acres are in crop production and the remainder is in rangeland used for animal production.
The 83,000 farms in California average 368 acres in size and produce an average net income of $82,710. Despite being almost 100 acres smaller than the national average farm size, California farms produce nearly four times the national farm average of $23,748. The net income is only a small part of the contribution of agriculture to the state economy. Total farm receipts for 1992 amounted to $18.23 billion, or 10.6% of the national total of $171.17 billion. However, farms in California generated $58 billion in personal income (9.5% of the total state income) and $63 billion in value to the state economy (9% of total value added by all California businesses). Although there are 285,000 farm jobs in the state, the 1.4 million jobs in total supported by agriculture include farm service, farm chemical, transportation, manufacture, and sales positions. Surprisingly, the farm-related employment in southern California is double that of any region of the state.
As it has every year since 1948, California farms lead the nation in farm production. If the top five counties were states, they would place 27, 29, 33, 34 and 37th in the national rankings for cash receipts. Despite being the leader in national agricultural production, California's farmers collect only 4.6% of the government agricultural support payments. This is probably a function of the tremendous diversity in high value commodities produced in the state. Among the 250 recognized crops grown in California, the state leads the nation in production of at least 66 of them. Important grouped commodities include vegetable crops ($3.66 billion), fruit and nut crops ($5.28 billion), field and seed crops ($2.72 billion), nursery and flower crops ($1.88 billion), and livestock, dairy, poultry, and apiary products ($5.08 billion).
California has the largest population of any state in the nation and it continues to grow at a rapid rate. The expanding population of urban areas also puts tremendous pressure on agricultural lands and natural landscapes. Over the last 30 years, approximately 7 million acres of farmland have been lost to urbanization. Most of this loss has been from rangeland. Much of the cropland lost has been replaced by conversion of other lands to crop production; although the total crop acreage has remained stable, much of the land lost to urban growth was highly productive. One of the consequences of urbanization is the increased social, political, and economic interactions at the urban and agricultural interface. Similar interactions are occurring at the urban and wild-lands interface with competing interests attempting to resolve issues that bring them into conflict.
The mission of the Agricultural Experiment Station is to serve the various clientele to solve problems arising in the urban, agriculture, and natural resources environments. This presents an important challenge because of the environmental, economic, and cultural diversity of the state. However, through effective communication among the campus-based staff, county Cooperative Extension staff, and the concerned interest groups, research programs can be initiated and results implemented to solve problems that are important to the citizens of the state.