Va\SaUR C[ 1 P \Y V YR Z T R R Q N \ P S SPRING : / 2008 V O [ R / _ N Y VOLUME 4 / ` NO. 1 R _ a P ` [ R N V [ P Q A Heart and SOLS 2 Plant Partners 2 2 Puppy Love 2 2 2 2 Contents Views on Twos Table of Contents This issue of the School of Life Sciences Magazine is going to make you see double, but only in the best ways: two book reviews, two tales of alumni, two views of life on earth, for example. We also offer you a new angle on the concept of the “dynamic duo,” in the article Heart and SOLS, which examines how the practice of science has evolved, and how couples, two pairs of scientists, successfully approach and carve Pup out careers and fulsome home lives together. py Lo So often wed to our culture of independent ve LS thought and action, it can be forgotten that SO duality or partnership offers a chance for nd rt a multiple perspectives, new creative avenues, ea rtners or, as with mentors and students, breaking H Plant Pa of new ground in research, thought, application, and art. Speaking of art, graphic artists Jacob Sahertian and his wife, Patricia, also a filmmaker, pair up to make our pages Multitalented Ray Lee, 2 sizzle with their shared creative synergy. So whether you love bugs, dogs, plants or Love Bugs, 4 science in general, we hope you love too (two) what ASU’s School of Life Sciences SOLS Publication Staff Space Views, 6 alumni, students, staff and faculty are Managing editor: Margaret Coulombe Heart And SOLS, 9 contributing through partnership with one Editorial board: Patty Duncan, Charles Kazilek another and our community. and Robert Page Collaborative Arboretum, 14 Writers: Margaret Coulombe, Dave Brown, Faye Farmer, Elaine Finke, Rachel Hayes, Puppy Love, 16 Tate Holbrook, Kate Ihle and Phillip Tarrant Copy editor: Elaine Finke Arizona Natives, 18 Art direction and design: Jacob Sahertian Guest designer: Patricia Sahertian Book Reviews, 20 Design collaborator: Charles Kazilek and Sabine Deviche Second Chances, 22 Photography: Charles Kazilek, Jacob Mayfield, Jacob Sahertian and Tom Story Awards and Recognitions, 24 MARGARET COULOMBE Funding: School of Life Sciences, SOLS Events, 27 Arizona State University Observations, back cover 904/0208/1m SOLS 2008 SOLS | VOLUME 4 NO. 1 NO. 4 VOLUME | 1 Upon leaving ASU in 1980, Ray applied service to the Department was recognized for a position with the Arizona Game when he received a Commendation of and Fish Department. He was hired Excellence in 1999 and was voted State to design and analyze wildlife harvest Supervisor of the Year in 2000. information through mail survey BY DAVE BROWN questionnaires – or, as some wag put it, In addition to being the Game and Fish’s monitoring animal obituaries. Two years “guru” of game, Ray also took on the later, he was promoted to Big Game tasks of serving as chairman of the Management Supervisor – a position he Arizona-Nevada Academy of Science’s would hold until retiring from that agency conservation section and editing the in 2000. During this time he supervised transactions of the Desert Bighorn the department’s big game survey Council. He was named Professional and hunter data collection programs, Biologist of the Year of the New Mexico- advised department personnel on game Arizona Section of the Wildlife Society in management and research projects, and 1989, and the following year he was voted administered a $2 million federal-aid to section president. wildlife restoration budget. His specialty, So involved was Ray with bighorn sheep, however, was trapping and restoring big that shortly after retiring from Arizona game animals to vacant historic habitats, Game and Fish he was appointed director particularly bighorn sheep. and CEO of the North American Bighorn sheep management became his Foundation for North American Wild specialty, and his successes with these Sheep – a 20,000-member organization charismatic animals resulted in his representing wealthy trophy hunters. In receiving numerous awards including, an addition to raising money and lobbying Outstanding Achievement Award (1991) resource management agencies on the and a Presidential Award (1996) from the behalf of bighorn sheep, Ray and his Foundation for North American Wild fellow members are actively involved Sheep, an Outstanding Contributions to in litigation and legislation involving Arizona’s Desert Bighorn Sheep Award their totem animal. As if these activities (1994) from the Arizona Desert Bighorn were not demanding enough, Ray and Few academics can claim to being certified across barren salt flats, not realizing that Sheep Society, a Health of the Land Sue formed their own conservation Open Water SCUBA Instructors and warm pools of water awaited him just out Award (1996) from the Bureau of Land consulting firm, which negotiates wildlife Rescue Divers, much less be able to of view beyond the next sand dune. Management, and a Special Recognition management contracts with government Photo by Sue Morgensen navigate the sailboat that got them to (1999) and Desert Ram Award (2000) agencies, conservation groups, universities, the dive site. Add to these qualifications Before earning his Master’s degree in from the Desert Bighorn Council. His and indigenous peoples. a license to fly multi-engine aircraft on 1979, Ray “cooked” endangered trout to A professional member of the Boone and instruments, coupled with a proficiency determine their thermal tolerance, staged Crockett Club and a Fellow with the in biostatistics, and you have Ray Lee gladiatorial battles between competing Explorer’s Club, Ray has visited every – a multi-talented biologist and SOLS’ species of fish, and engaged his colleagues continent (including SCUBA diving in alumnus extraordinaire. in ichthyology with mental challenges that continue to this day. It was also in the Antarctic). Sue will add her seventh When asked which period of his life he his office in the sub-basement of what continent, Antarctica, when they travel found the most enjoyable, however, Ray’s was then the new LSC-wing that he there to celebrate their 25th anniversary. response is instantaneous – from 1969 met his wife, Sue Morgensen, a wildlife What other couple can claim to having through 1980, the years that he was with management graduate. Campus has always spent anniversaries in the hottest and the Department of Zoology at ASU. been a family affair for Ray; nine of his coldest places on earth? Having graduated with a B.S. degree in immediate relatives are ASU graduates, 1974, Ray enrolled in a Master’s program including a nephew who graduated from under Shelby Gerking, studying a SOLS with a degree in conservation diminutive species of pupfish that lived in biology in 2006. It was therefore fitting a secluded spring complex in Death Valley, that Ray and Sue spent their 10th CA. There, more than one tourist gaped anniversary at his former study site in in wonder on viewing a young man in Death Valley. | VOLUME 4 NO. 1 4 NO. VOLUME | SCUBA attire as he purposefully strolled SOLS 2008 2 Pictured from left to right Myrmecocystus mexicanus - honeypot ant Honeypot ants have a specialized worker caste whose members act as storage containers in case there are food shortages in their desert habitat. Photo ©Alex Wild/ myrmecos.net Entomology: the buzz Jürgen Gadau Photo by Adrian Smith behind loving bugs A Colonial Cross-section BY TATE HOLBROOK The three worker castes (minor, major, and supermajor) of the big-headed ant Pheidole rhea, collected in southern Arizona near Nogales. The muscular heads and blunt mandibles of the larger workers are used to mill seeds harvested by smaller nestmates. Specimens were point-mounted by Tate Holbrook and photographed by Adrian Smith. A whole course about insects? Well, they Gadau enthusiastically revived General and life history are illustrated by more insects than manicured urban them to the university – each class former students have continued to work are the most diverse group of animals Entomology from dormancy – the stunning visual aids reminiscent of landscapes (see “Arizona Natives,” page contributes hundreds of specimens for with insects as undergraduate research on Earth, with a million described undergraduate course had been taught a nature documentary. Gadau draws 18). Gadau and his teaching assistant use by future students and researchers. assistants in SOLS. species and possibly 10 million more yet only in brief stints by Steve Rissing extensively from his own research in Rick Overson, a doctoral student in to be discovered, each with a unique set and Michael Douglas since professor insect sociobiology and evolutionary Gadau’s lab, also lead collecting trips Both Gadau and Overson are actively Brendon Mott was inspired even of behaviors and life history. And their emeritus of zoology Mont Cazier retired genetics, along with other recent to Fossil Creek near Payson, AZ, the engaged in community outreach as well, further. He’s pursuing a Master’s thesis ecological and economic importance in the early 1980’s. Also, in response findings, to provide concrete, up-to-date Salt River, Gilbert Water Ranch and offering entomology demonstrations to on the population genetics of harvester is enormous – they pollinate flowering to popular demand, Gadau extended examples. In addition, he invites other the Superstition Mountains, using an local school groups. Gadau emphasizes, ants with Gadau. “Jürgen [Gadau] did plants, including many of our crops, enrollment to graduate students SOLS entomologists (e.g., Elizabeth arsenal of sampling methods including “Insects are everywhere