The Saturday Scientist 14 May 2005 Volume 12, Number 5 BIODIVERSITY Last Time We Went to Sedimentary Outcrops from the Mid Devonian South of Selinsgrove
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The Saturday Scientist 14 May 2005 Volume 12, Number 5 BIODIVERSITY Last time we went to sedimentary outcrops from the mid Devonian south of Selinsgrove. We collected fossils and interpreted features of the strata as folds and faults. Fortunately, the weather cooperated with our plans this time and allowed us more than an hour at the road cut before the drizzle became a steady rain. This time we will concentrate on the living biodiversity around us by traveling to Snyder- Middleswarth State Park, also known as Tall Timbers. This is one of the last stands of primal Eastern Deciduous Forest While we are in the forest, we will compare understory plants under closed and open canopies (TRY THIS!). In particular, we will look for the occurrence of spring ephemerals. We will look at the distribution of trees and try to find the average distance between them (TRY THIS!). Except for some insects, animals are very hard to see in a mature forest. Even birds are much easier to hear that to see. Come prepared to sit quietly and experience the sounds of the forest. Please prepare for the meeting by reading Students of Nature and trying to work through the Questions to Think About (at the end of the essay). Anticipate what we will do in the forest by reading the list of what To Do at the Next Meeting of Saturday Science. We might consider Tall Timbers as an island of primal forest in the center of Pennsylvania. This is based on a theory called Island Biogeography. For background on the theory of Island Biogeography, you may read Islands (on-line only at: http://www.susqu.edu/satsci/Paths-of-Science/Islands-and-Lessons-in- Biodiversity.pdf). This is the last meeting of the Spring Unit. If you would like to enroll in the Fall unit, please fill out the enrollment form and send it to Susquehanna University. Act quickly, we will enroll students on a first-come, first-served basis. A team liberating a Devonian-age fossil from a rock (left). Dr. Elick showing features of the strata: layers, folds, and faults. (right). STUDENTS OF NATURE -Jack R. Holt AN UNCOMMON STUDENT and more. First, he made an effort to understand I am moved by strange sympathies; I say and recognize most common plants. Then, he continually "I will be a naturalist." attacked ferns and mosses. Upon graduation, -Ralph Waldo Emerson John was an accomplished field biologist, and it I had been teaching college for just a few was not long before my former student became years when John Clark (Figure 1), a lanky, my teacher. grizzled man with a large black mustache, plopped down in a seat at the front of the room ANOTHER BOTANIST on the first day of Plant Diversity. John was John Bartram…is the greatest natural botanist in uncommon in many ways. For one, he was older the world. -Carolus Linnaeus than the other students. In fact he was around John and I attempted many joint projects, eight years older than I was. His dress was more some more successful than others. Several like that of a carpenter than that of a college summers running, we taught an Elderhostel student. Right off the bat, he exhibited an course in which we presented general field unabashed curiosity and interest that made some botany in the context of foraging and wild foods. of the other students in the class somewhat In that course, John suggested that we try to find uncomfortable. I found it refreshing to see that the local places mentioned in a journal by an 18th John didn't care one bit. century botanist named John Bartram (Figure 2). He always sat in the front of the room and took notes on a 3X5 inch card (front and back). If I covered more information than he could fit on the card, he just sat politely, interestedly, but took no more notes. I asked him about that later in the semester and John replied that besides the reading assignments, he could not absorb more than he put on an index card each class period. Results of exams at that time suggested that John was not the only one in that situation. FIGURE 1. John Clark at Woods Hole in 1994. FIGURE 2. An "illustration called The Botanist, Through his matriculation at Susquehanna generally based on the appearance of John University, he became interested in plants more Bartram. John Bartram (1699-1777) was born in A FERN GARDEN Darby, Pennsylvania and grew up with a The works of a person that builds begin standard Quaker education. Around 1711 his immediately to decay; while those of him who family moved to a new homestead in the plants begin directly to improve. In this planting Carolinas. Soon, however, the native inhabitants promises a more lasting pleasure than building. rose up against the encroachment of the settlers -William Bartram and in a raid, killed John Bartram's father and John Clark had become interested in local took his family captive. Surviving that, John, his native ferns and attempted many experiments stepmother and siblings returned to Philadelphia with germinating spores and propagating plants. where the property settlement and disposition of He and I advised a student project called the his father's will became entangled in a morass of campus arboretum project. Among other things, claims. Finally, when he was 21, John Bartram we tried to create an area in the middle of the inherited a small amount from the liquidation of Susquehanna campus that would house most of his father's Pennnsylvania property. After the the native ferns and fern-allies in Pennsylvania. death of his grandmother, John Bartram inherited He spent an enormous amount of time making a 200-acre farm on the banks of the Schuylkill pockets of earth and rock outcrops that River in 1722/23. He purchased some additional corresponded to the requirements of particular land, lived there, and farmed it for the rest of his fern species. In the mean time, he filled his life. In 1730 he designed and built a somewhat rooms with small terraria and pots with different eclectic house that he added to over the years soil mixtures, humidity variations, and light (Figure 3). exposures. Within a year, he began to supply a trickle of plants. Then more and more until he had created an island of native plants in the middle of the campus (Figures 4 and 5). FIGURE 3. The front of the Bartram house. Bartram quickly developed into an enthusiastic farmer and made quite a name for himself as an amateur naturalist. At this time, Peter Collison, a London weaver, avid gardener, and fellow Quaker, had been looking for sources of exotic plants. Disappointed by others whom he had engaged to send back plants and seeds, Collison learned of Bartram and thus began a successful partnership. Collison provided Bartram with other patrons, books, and scientific contacts, including Linnaeus. John Bartram just as enthusiastically began to collect all types of specimens. As expected, he collected seeds and plants of many North American plants a well as bird skins, butterflies turtles, etc. All of these found ready buyers in England and other parts of Europe. He began to go on extended collecting trips through the FIGURE 4. Northern Maidenhair Fern in the northeast and into the south. Bartram brought Fern Garden. back plants and seeds and experimented with their cultivation and germination to which he John Bartram, too, created a working garden devoted much time and land. of native plants. To many, however, it seemed messy. Indeed, George Washington wrote that Bartram's garden was little more than a weed identifications. Bartram struggled with the Latin patch. Today, Bartram's Garden is a garden spot descriptions and learned the Latin names. in Philadelphia (Figure 6). John Bartram together with his son William discovered and delivered about 200 new plant species to Europe by way of Peter Collison. Unfortunately, Bartram did not take the time to describe and name the new plants and left that chore to others. John Clark too, struggled to learn academic botany often staying up all night to key out and confirm identifications of sedges and other troublesome plants. Through this kind of self- teaching, John quickly became one of the most competent field biologists in Pennsylvania. He then began to work with the local universities on FIGURE 5. In the Fern Garden. at Susquehanna a variety of research projects and with University. environmental groups as a professional volunteer. John Clark often queried local landowners and other amateur naturalists about plants, their habits and locations. His disarming way and easy conversation quickly put others at ease. Often disappointed, he occasionally ferreted out information locked away from the more academic types. More importantly, he used this method gently and firmly to teach the common FIGURE 6. In Bartram's Garden. person about the intricacies of nature. John Bartram was a farmer, a collector, a TRAVELS IN PENNSYLVANIA horticultualist, and botanist. Also, he had a very It is a misfortune to the publick, that this good business sense and remained prosperous ingenious person had not a literal education, it is through his life. Unfortunately, John's third son, no wonder therefore, that his stile is not so clear William (called Billy by his father), shared his as we could wish, however, in every piece of his, father's love of nature, but failed at almost there are evident marks of such good sense, everything else. John bailed out his son from one penetration and sincerity, join'd to a failed venture to another until William stopped commendable curiosity.