Biology Department Newsletter

Volume 8    Number 4    October 7, 2004

Letter from the Editor(menu)

I hope that you had an opportunity to attend one of both of the "dino" events last week that were presented by Dr. Robert Bakker.  Both events were well attended and very interesting and entertaining.  On Friday evening Dr. Bakker displayed some of his excellent dino-artwork (see images below; click on thumbnails to enlarge) and whoever knew the answers to his rather esoteric questions were able to take one home.  Sadly, I didn't win one of his hand-drawn dino-posters, but I was awed by the depth of knowledge of the kids about dinosaurs. 

images (click to enlarge) by Dr. L Davis

See you next issue.  If you have any contributions, please submit them to S Saupe or W Lamberts. 

Student News(menu)

Eric Kraus (SJU '98), an ecologist/research scientist for AquaBlok, Ltd (Toledo, OH) stopped by during Homecoming weekend to say "hello" and share some news about a new project he is involved with called SubmerSeed.

Faculty News (menu)

Curriculum News  (menu)

Advisors for Pre-Professional Programs

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Calendar of Events (menu)

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Biology Club News(menu)

Biology Club Officers:

Co-Presidents

• Jen Tarmann

• Jeremy Eisenschenk (fall)

• Ryan Kroschel (spring)

Treasurer:

• Lindy Watanaskul

PR-Secretary:

• Jake Theis

Scholarships/Graduate Study ( menu)

Graduate School Plant & Environmental Symposium
On Saturday Nov 13, 2004 there will be a symposium about research activities and graduate opportunities in plant biology and environmental biology at the University of Minnesota.  Dr. Saupe will be attending and is willing to transport interested students to this program that runs from 10 am to 2:15 pm.  We will leave SJU at 800, pick up at CSB at 815, and plan to arrive by 930ish.  (you may also travel on your own if you prefer).  For more information, to register, or to reserve a seat on “the bus” please contact Dr. S Saupe (x2782).  This is a FABULOUS OPPORTUNITY for anyone considering graduate studies in an area of plant or environmental biology.  Plus, lunch is included!

Landscape Architecture Graduate Program
Dr. M Reagan reports that a prof from the UM came by recently to alert students and faculty about the Architecture/Landscape Architecture Fall Open House on Friday, Oct. 29 starting at 9AM at the HGA Gallery in the Ralph Rapson Hall, 89 Church Street SE at the U.  Many students in the Landscape Architecture Master’s program come in with undergraduate degrees in Biology.  He also told me that they really like to have graduates of liberal arts schools because of the breadth of experience and coursework that they bring, so they would love to have our Biology majors come and check the program out.  People should RSVP by Oct. 15 if possible to calainfo@umn.edu or calling 612-624-5251. 

Applied Ecological Services Graduate Student Research Assistance Program
Offers support to students in a graduate program related to ecology.  For more information, contact info@appliedeco.com.

Scholarship Opportunities (contact the External Scholarships Office, HAB - 103, for more details)

• Floyd Forsberg Environmental Scholarship

• The Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship

Links for Scholarships/Grants/Fellowships for Graduate Study

• CSB/SJU Career Services Links

• External Scholarship Program Office

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Jobs/Volunteer (menu)

Interviewing and Networking Tips
     There will be a program at St. Ben's on Tuesday October 12th.  Contact the CSB Career Resource Center for more information.

Preserve Management Assistant - The Nature Conservancy
     Cross Ranch Preserve (ND), full-time, applicatin deadline Oct 22.  For more information, contact Sonia Winter, THC, 15337 28th Ave. S, Glyndon, MN  56547

E-Link
    E-link is an on-line career tool available to CSB/SJU students and alums.  It is a service of the Career Resource Office and can help you find a job, info on a major, access the career calendar of events and lots of other cool stuff.  For more information, email the Career Resource Office.

Web Sites:

• CSB/SJU Career Resources Office

• CSB/SJU Financial Aid

• CSB/SJU Student Employment

• SELT

• Science Jobs

• CSB/SJU Career Resource Office - Technical & Science-related Jobs

• MN - DNR Volunteer Activities

• Careers in Botany

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Internships/Research (menu)

Internship Links

• CSB/SJU Internship Office Home Page
       -New Internship Opportunities page 
       -Environmental Internships
       -Science Research
       -Women's Issues

Links for Undergraduate Research

• CSB/SJU Career Resources Office

Links to Summer Research

• University of Minnesota Summer Undergraduate Research Program

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Seminars/Symposia/Field Trips (menu)

A Walk Through Time Exhibit,
This outdoor display consists of 88 information panels covering a one mile course throughout the Saint John’s campus.  It runs from Monday, September 27 through Friday, October 8, 2004.  Starting at Warner Palaestra, these panels are a self-guided tour of the 4.6 billion years of Earth’s history. You can preview the exhibit at www.globalcommunities.org. Click on “A Walk Through Time Online” and choose either of the two versions presented.

Biology Department Seminars
Dr. Chuck Rodell has organized a fantastic set of biology seminars for the fall semester.  All of the seminars will be held in PENGL 373 at 4:00 pm.  Everyone is invited to attend.  The seminars are:

Plant Walks
The St. John’s Community Garden Society, OSB Health At Work, and St. John's Arboretum are sponsoring a series of plant identification walks during the fall.  These walks (see list below) will be led by Dr. SG Saupe (CSB/SJU Biology Dept) and will depart from the Abbey Bell Banner at 12:00 noon (sharp).  For more information, contact Dr. Saupe or Don Neu.

Central Minnesota Audubon Society
The Central Minnesota Audubon Society meets on the 3rd Wednesday of the month in the Unitarian Fellowship Building in St. Cloud (south of Walmart, click here for directions and more info).   Everyone is invited to attend Audubon meetings.  If you need a ride to this, or other, Audubon program, contact Dr. S Saupe.  CMAS presentations for the remainder of the semester include: 

Tropische Insekten, Planzen und Blumen: An eighteenth century naturalist's journey
     A presentation by Dr. J Rith-Najarian on November 9 at 7:30 pm; Pellegrene Auditorium; SJU.  In the early 1700's, Maria Sibylla Merian amazed the world with her prolific scientific publications on tropical plant and insect ecology. A scientific illustrator by training, Maria had been born into a family of mapmakers and bookbinders in Frankfurt, Germany. Having developed a reputation as a skilled naturalist and illustrator in her own right, she was in her fifties when she was asked to serve as ship's naturalist on a voyage to the Caribbean. After reaching the Dutch colony of Surinam, she stayed on for several years to inventory the natural resources of habitats along the the coast and in the interior.

Join us for a "Living History" re-enactment, as Maria herself travels forward in time to tell about her life story and her travels in the Caribbean. She will also demonstrate some techniques of scientific illustration, share advice for going on expeditions, and help you start your own naturalist's sketchbook.

Janet Rith-Najarian, Ph.D., is a biogeographer and teacher-consultant with the Minnesota Alliance for Geographic Education.

Sigma Xi Meeting
     The 2004 Annual Meeting and Student Research Conference of Sigma Xi will be held in Montreal, Canada.  Student events will take place on November 12 and 13 and are primarily aimed at undergraduates, but opportunities for graduate students and doctoral candidates exist.  Students present research; network with career researchers, graduate recruiters and potential employers; and attend workshops on such topics as communicating science, ethics, leadership and career development.  Featured speakers include environmentalist and science communicator David Suzuki, Nobel Laureate in physics Murray Gell-Mann, Young Investigator Award Winner Jason Neih and astronaut Julie Payette.  Click here for more information.   

Sigma Xi Grant-In-Aid of Research Program
     Sigma Xi has been awarding research support to undergraduate and graduate students for 80 years. Most grants range from a few hundred dollars to $1,000.  Vision related or astronomy related research projects may be awarded up to $2,500.  Students apply online: http://sigmaxi.org/programs/giar/guide.shtml 

Posters on Capitol Hill
     CUR, the Council on Undergraduate Research, is now accepting applications from students to present their research at our 9th Annual Posters on the Hill event.  The tentative date for the event is April 19, 2005.  We have selected this date in the hopes that it will make it easier for students who are accepted to both our poster session and the NCUR annual meeting to attend both events, as NCUR's meeting will be in Lynchburg, VA from April 20 - 23, 2005. 

Gearing Up For Winter
     The Minnesota Naturalist's Association is sponsoring a conference, Nov 5 -7, 2004 entitled, Gearing Up for Winter.  This conference will be held at Deep Portage Conservation Reserve and will feature a variety of interesting presentations including one by Dr. Peter Marchand.  For more information visit their web site email. 

Nutrition Career Session
Amy Johnson and Tony Nicoli, two alums, will present a session on nutrition careers on Nov 9 in the late afternoon.  Tuned for more information.  Amy is a Public Affairs Specialist with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in Minneapolis and has a master’ in Public Administration (undergrad Biology).  Tony is a SJU Biology alum, working as a Consumer Safety Officer dealing with import issues.

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Miscellaneous  (menu)

Sabbatical Update -from Dr. Larry Davis
     Last week we went out to a track site on the Utah-Arizona border.  It was a beautiful day and the scenery was spectacular.  The tracks were preserved in the Navajo Sandstone, a Jurassic age deposit of wind-blown sand.  If one could travel back into time about 160 million years to this spot, it would be like being dropped into the middle of the Sahara Desert (that's in North Africa for the geographically challenged).  In places the Navajo Desert reached down to a vast inland sea.  Dinosaurs and other Jurassic-age dinosaurs frolicked about the dunes (probably on vacation).  Obviously these dinosaurs knew this area would be set aside as a U.S. national monument during the waning stages of Clinton's last term as President and followed the policy of "take nothing and leave only footprints."  Below are some images (click on thumbnails to enlarge) from this trip.

Capital dome butte in Navajo Ss:  This large dome-shaped feature is a typical feature formed in the Navajo Sandstone.		Cross banding patterns in Navajo Ss:  The Navajo Sandstone was deposited as a large sand sea (e.g. Sahara Desert) during the Jurassic Period.  In this photo, you can see the cross-bedding associated with eolian (wind-blown) deposition.  Two different dune sets are visible in this photo.
Navajo Ss Trackway 042:  This photo is ove the skyline just north of the track site.  The biscut-like surface in the forground is do to the weathering of intersecting joints and cross-bedding planes.		Reptile track in Navajo Ss:  This is a single tridactyle track impression.  It's about 6 cm long.  It's possible this track was made by a small, theropod (meat-eater) dinosaur.
Reptile tracks 1-6:  This is a partial trackway of a small reptile, possibly a pterosaur.  There were a total of 15 tracks in this sequence and were among over a 100 tracks in an area of about 10 x 6 meters.

Library News - New Additions to JSTOR!
     JSTOR is an electronic archive of scholarly journal literature that contains over 600 journals in a variety of disciplines, with nearly all titles available from volume 1 to the last few years.  The CSB/SJU libraries are charter members and now subscribe to all JSTOR collections as the result of this acquisition.  Jim Parsons, from the CSB/SJU Library reports that we can now access the "General Science" collection which contains a variety of titles including Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America; Science; and Scientific Monthly.   Click here to browse some of the newer titles to which we have access.

     One of the coolest things is that images of articles written by Darwin and his contemporaries up through major publications in the 20th century are available. 

Nobel Prize in Physiology & Medicine - submitted by Dr. M Reagan
     The 2004 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded on Monday to Richard Axel and Linda Buck for their studies on the molecular basis of smell.  The Nobel web site has great short and long summaries about their work over the past ten years or so.  This is a fascinating site to poke around in.  The list of award winners and summaries of their work will be familiar to anyone who has taken or is taking Concepts. 

Woodland Wildflower Ecophysiology - by Katie Pokorny, CSB Sophomore
     Earlier this semester I attended a seminar entitled “The Natural History of Woodland Wildflowers,” that was presented by Dr. Saupe. Here is a brief summary of what I learned from this lecture.

     Woodland wildflowers can be defined as a type of herb that grows after the canopy closes, which happens around Memorial Day. Because of this closure, woodland flowers grow in a different environment than that of spring wildflowers. One of the most important differences is the decrease in sunlight these plants receive. This causes woodland flowers to photosynthesize slower than spring wildflowers, but they are more efficient in completing this process because of their lower light saturation point. As a result, woodland wildflowers also tend to grow more slowly, but are taller than spring wildflowers because they have to compete more for light. A long bloom period (over 4 weeks) and quicker wilting time are other characteristics of these herbs.

     There are other ways that woodland wildflowers have adapted to limited sunlight as well. In order to maximize their photosynthesis efficiency, these flowers have a thin leaf thickness and large leaf area. They also have fewer branching and a higher chlorophyll concentration. Overall, woodland wildflowers are very interesting in that they have adapted to their closed canopy environment in many efficient ways.

Bush and Kerry Offer Their Views on Science
Here is some more information to help you select a candidate in November.  Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) has consolidated the debate over scientific policy by inviting each candidate to lay out his views on a dozen important issues. To view the article, click here.  

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News from the Melancon Greenhouse (menu)

The CSB/SJU Biology Department Greenhouse is located in the SE corner of PENGL and is open daily from about 9 - 4.

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News from the CSB/SJU Bailey Herbarium -  (menu) - by Stephen Saupe

The Bailey Herbarium has recently assisted a research group from Washington State University who is looking at the history of cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) dispersal in the Central U.S., including Minnesota. 

Remember, the herbarium is always open from about 8 - 5 daily and is open to anyone to study, relax and/or use the networked computer. 

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Web Sites Worth A Visit  (menu)
(have you visited any cool sites lately?  Send us your suggestions)

Plant Hardiness Zone Map - good thing to think about now that winter is coming!

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Puzzler of the Week (menu)
(Do you know any good puzzlers?  Please send us your ideas)

New Puzzler. 
     In what past issue of the Biology Department newsletter do we learn that....Lorie Warren gave a talk about the revival of metabolism in rehydrated mushrooms at the annual meeting of the Minnesota Academy of Science?

To enter the competition, simply send your answer to Dr. S. Saupe via email or snail mail (c/o Biology Department, St. John’s University, Collegeville, MN 56321), campus mail, or simply slide the entry under my office door, SC335). The winner will be selected randomly from among the correct entries.  The winner will receive an official CSB/SJU bailey Herbarium Magnet. Entries are due Oct 21.

Puzzler from Last Issue:  What is this?
    There were no entries so this one must be too hard.  This is a "lobster mushroom," which is the result of one type of fungus (Hypomyces lactifluorum) parasitizing a mushroom (usually a Lactarius or Russula - in this case I believe a Russula).

(click on thumbnails for larger view)

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Joke of the Week  (menu)
(Have you heard any good jokes?  Please share them with us)

Word Wrangling.
     The following are were created by clever folks taking a word from the dictionary, altering it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and then supplying a new definition. 

1. Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.
2. Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.
3. Bozone (n.):  The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating.  The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.
4. Cashtration (n.):  The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.
5. Giraffiti:  Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.
6. Sarchasm:  The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.
7. Inoculatte: To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.
8. Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.
9. Osteopornosis:  A degenerate disease
10. Karmageddon:  It's like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like a serious bummer.
11. Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.
12. Glibido: All talk and no action.
13. Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
14. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.
15. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.
16. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a grub in the fruit you're eating.
17. Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an ass.

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Frequently Asked Questions  (menu)

Why are they blasting the roots of the trees on campus with compressed air?
     Many of the trees on the inner campus have been planted too deeply and as a result some are beginning to die.  If a tree is planted too deeply it causes the roots to grow in a circle around the stem as they seek air.  As the trunk increases in diameter it eventually reaches the encircling roots, the trunk can't expand any further, and the tree is essentially strangled.  The take-home-message is to be sure that you don't plant new saplings any deeper than the original crown.  Also, you may have noticed that before the air hammer (or whatever it's called) was used that each of the trees had been mulched.  In many of the trees, the mulch was piled up like a volcano.  For reasons described above, this is not good - mulch should always be applied in a ring "like a donut."

Why do leaves change color?
     Check out the essay "Behind the Green Curtain" and some of the references contained in the article.

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For more information, contact:

Dr. Stephen G. Saupe
Professor & Herbarium Curator
Biology Department
College of St. Benedict/St. John's University
Collegeville, MN 56321
(320) 363-2782; (320) 363-3202 (fax); ssaupe@csbsju.edu