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 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 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. trying. -J. Whiston & B. White, Fleet Street Publishers John Clark made a stab at business after he John Clark had read and studied Bartram's graduated. He created a corporation called The Travels in Pensilvania and Canada as another Wetlands Advisory Group, a venture that cost source about the primal nature of central him much time and was only marginally Pennsylvania. He and I had often talked about successful as a moneymaker. Still, it was clear to following the journal left by John Bartram and me that John had other measures of success and trying to find some of the sites described therein. his monetary needs were quite modest. The book was Bartram’s personal journal of a trip from his farm up through the Susquehanna THE BOTANISTS' EDUCATIONS Valley and on to Lake Ontario in 1743, and it One cannot abstain when in the sight of the rich was never intended for publication. Peter Kalm, treasures scattered so freely over this fertile land, a student of Linnaeus, visited Bartram and asked from a feeling of pity for those gloomy indoor to take the journal to show to some scientists in theorizers who pass their lives in hammering out Europe. Once there, a copy found its way to vain systematics. -Phillip Commerson Fleet Street Publishers J. Whiston and B. White Both John Clark and John Bartram studied who printed the journal without Bartram's plants incessantly. Their studies took them to the permission and then gently chided the author in a field and to the books. Indeed, both of them preface for his rough style. Still, the action of learned their botany by doing it. Peter Collison Kalm (after whom Linnaeus named Mountain sent books and suggestions to Bartram about Laurel, Kalmia) has given us a very early how to study and how to check his description of Pennsylvania, as well as people of Nations of the Iroquois. Bartram and his the Iroquois and Delaware nations. companions were plagued with mosquitoes and Bartram left his farm on July 3, 1743 with rain. At first, the insects and weather kept Lewis Evans who would later produce a map of Bartram from sleeping for several days. Finally, the northeastern region (Figure 7). They went to he gave up and described sleeping in the rain the home of who joined them and without shelter. He wrote about most hardships traveled to the north to meet with the Five without grumbling in his journal.

FIGURE 7. Part of a map produced by Lewis Evans after the trip to Lake Ontario. The dotted line represents the approximate route that the Bartram-Weiser party took to Lake Ontario. The heavy underscore lines are (in order from the south) Conrad Weiser's home, Shamokin (now Sunbury), Onondoga, Oswego. He described coming into Shamokin to have found almost no plants worth collecting (present-day Sunbury), a Delaware town. The and his descriptions are almost cursory. description is brief but almost certainly refers to Twice on the trip he writes about encounters a path that exists today on the southeast part of with rattlesnakes (see Figure 9 for an example of the city of Sunbury (Figure 8). The path lies on a an Eastern Timber Rattlesnake), both of which steep hill with an almost unique collection of were killed. Bartram does observe that the scales, understory plants, the diversity of which so iridescent in the living snake became dull suggests that the area, if logged, was cut very after the animal died. Such accounts of snakes long ago. and native Americans thrilled European audiences. This book, although not sanctioned by the author, sold fairly well and helped to establish John Bartram's reputation.

FIGURE 9. A Pennsylvania rattlesnake that I encountered while on a hike with a descendant of Conrad Weiser.

EXTINCTION For people who hate to learn the names of things, the earth is getting better every day. -Charles Bowden John Bartram stood at the beginning of the great Linnaean revolution. Then, the continent was a new place with many new species. Now, almost all of the plants in the U.S. and Canada have been identified, described and catalogued. On a foray through the southern colonies in 1765, FIGURE 8. The bottom of this descent is John Bartram and his son William came across a washed by Shamokin Creek three rods wide, this small stand of "very curious plants" that grew we forded to a fruitful bottom half a mile wide, along the Altamaha River in Georgia. They beyond which, two miles of good oak land collected small plants and seeds of the camellia- brought us to the town of Shamokin. The path as like plant and returned to Philadelphia. There, described by John Bartram outside of Sunbury: Bartram suggested that the new plant be named after his friend . He left it to There, the group met Shickellamy, a chief his cousin, another nurseryman named and liaison with the five nations, and prepared Humphrey Marshall, to provide the Latin for the journey northward. From there on, description of Franklinia (Figure 10). Bartram occupies most of his journal with habits King George III named John Bartram "The and characteristics of the Iroquois and Delaware King's Botanist" upon his return from the who guided them to their destination. He seems southern trip. This was more than an honorary title, as King's Botanist, he received a stipend of time looking for them. He documented locations ₤50 for the rest of his life. for the native shooting stars (Figure 11) and lupines. He spent much of his time teaching those with rare plants and wetland areas about their special natures. He was especially successful in working with progressive landowners in central Pennsylvania where he managed to create sites for long-term ecological study.

DIVERSITY To disregard the diversity of life is to risk catapulting ourselves into an alien environment. -E. O. Wilson Currently, those who study species diversity concern themselves with long-term studies in which patterns can be discerned. The Species- Area curve of MacArthur and Wilson was the first such global pattern that ecologists could model. [I described the species-area curve in Islands]. Briefly, this concept says that the larger the area, the more species can be found in that FIGURE 10. Franklinia in flower on the area. This is true of nested or contiguous regions. Susquehanna University campus. For example, Pennsylvania has 3319 species of vascular plants. The northeastern quarter of the Franklinia grew well in Bartram's garden U.S. has 4,666 species. The explanation for this and the Philadelphia area. However, when seems to be obvious: the larger the area, the William Bartram returned to the Altamaha River more different individuals and habitats should be in 1773, he could find no living Franklinia. The contained in that area. Thus, there should be plant had become extinct in the wild during those more species. few intervening years. Today, all of the Other relationships seem to be much more Franklinia plants in the world are descended tentative. Why is species diversity so high near from the plants collected by the Bartrams. the equator and why does it decline as one goes The story of rescue from the brink of th from the tropical to the temperate to the extinction is a rare one for the 18 century. It has subarctic? The pattern has been well established, become an all too common one for our century. but explanations for the pattern are inadequate. Many who study biological diversity now work The fossil record seems to indicate that the to maintain the biological diversity that exists in biosphere has increased its diversity gradually areas that continue to shrink in size. over the past 600 million years. Is this a real change or is it an artifact of the irregular and patchy nature of the fossil record? Also, we still have no idea how many different species live on this planet. Currently, less than two million species have been described and named; however, estimates of real species numbers range from 10 to 100 million. We only know that 2 million is a very low count.

GOOD-BYE Is it possible that humanity will love life enough to save it? -E. O. Wilson John Clark was interested in the long-term FIGURE 11. The native shooting star. questions, their patterns and their explanations. He recognized that the solution to ecological John Clark became interested in the rare degradation lay in education. To John, education plants of Pennsylvania and spent much of his meant sparking interest not sterile speculation. In his view, a student could learn botany only by SOURCES CONSULTED FOR THE ESSAY getting hands dirty and knees stained. That is Bartram, John. 1751. Travels in Pensilvania and why he worked in the field with students of all Canada. Reprinted by Readex Microprint types, backgrounds, and ages whenever he could. Corporation 1966. I never got to go with John on the Bartram Bartram, William. 1791. Travels of William trail though we planned it several times. We Bartram. Edited by Mark Van Doren. talked about Bartram, Shamokin, as well as the Reprinted by Dover Publications, Inc., New past and future of the Susquehanna Valley as he York. lay dying of lung cancer last May. Then, he Berkeley, Edmund and Dorothy Smith Berkeley. implored me to make sure that his plant 1982. The Life and Travels of John Bartram collections, his books, and his notes would be From Lake Ontario to the River St. John. put to good and fruitful use. Florida State University Press. Tallahassee. Both men, John Bartram (1699-1777) and Evans, Howard Ensign. 1993. Pioneer John Clark (1943-1999) touched many lives. Naturalists, The Discovery and Naming of More than that, I can say that both men loved North American Plants and Animals. Henry humanity and the nature that sustained it. Holt and Co., New York. Certainly, the earth is a better place for their Gleason, Henry A. 1963. The New Britton and having been here. I can think of no better epitaph Brown Illustrated Flora of the Northeastern for a naturalist. United States and Adjacent Canada. Vol 1-3. - August 1999 For The New York Botanical Garden by Hafner Publishing Co. New York. Holt, J.R. and P. A. Nelson. 2001. Paths of Science, Explorations for Science Students and Educators. Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co. Dubuque, Iowa. MacArthur, Robert H. and Edward O. Wilson. 1967. The Theory of Island Biogeography. Princeton University Press. Princeton. Paullin, Charles. 1932. Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States. Carnagie Institution of Washington. Plate 26. A. Hoen & Co., Inc. Baltimore. Rhoads, Ann Fowler and William McKinley Klein, Jr. 1993. The Vascular Flora of Pennsylvania, Annotated Checklist and Atlas. American Philosophical Society. Philadelphia. Rosenzweig, Michael L. 1995. Species Diversity in Space and Time. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, UK. Slaughter, Thomas P. 1996. The Natures of John and William Bartram. Alfred A. Knopf. New York. Wilson, Edward O. 1984. Biophilia, The Human Bond With Other Species. Harvard University Press. Cambridge, Mass. Wilson, Edward O. 1992. The Diversity of Life. W.W. Norton & Co. New York. Wilson, Edward O. 2002. The Future of Life. Alfred A. Knopf. New York.

INTERNET RESOURCES USED http://www.libertynet.org/iha/tour/_bartram.html http://www.sunone.com/news/articles/gardens82 298.html

John Clark on Assateague Island. From a scrap of paper in John Clark's weathered copy of Gleason & Cronquist, Manual of Vascular Plants. The rarity and value of scientific knowledge Is too little understood - even as people Who are not botanists find it hard to believe Special knowledge of the subject can add Enormously to the esthetic appreciation of flowers! Partly because in order to identify a plant You must study it very much more closely Than you would otherwise have done, and in the process Exquisite colours, proportions, and minute shapes spring to light Too small to be ordinarily noted, And more than this - it seems the botanist's knowledge Of the complete structure of the plant (Like a sculptor's of bone and muscle) - Of the configuration of its roots stretching under the earth, The branching of stems, Enfolding of buds by bracts, Spreading of veins on a leaf Encircles and snakes three dimensional His awareness of its complex beauty. -Hugh McDrumond

QUESTIONS TO THINK ABOUT

Who were John Clark and John Bartram?

In what ways were their lives similar?

What is meant by the term, Botany?

What is the significance of Collison having introduced Linnaeus to John Bartram?

Where is Bartram’s Garden?

How many species are known? How many more species might there be on Earth?

Why did John Bartram travel through Pennsylvania and New York in 1743?

How did that trip help to secure Bartram’s reputation as a naturalist?

What plant did the Bartrams save from extinction?

Fundamentally, what is the species – area relationship?