Pura Vida!

A Report from the Tropical Ecology Course
By Prof. Valerie Banschbach


{PICTURE OF CHESTNUT MANDIBLED TOUCAN, taken by Jeff Dukette}

Pura Vida! That’s the Costa Rican expression for living life fully, immersed in every moment. That sums up the experience that the Saint Michael's College students (Jake Girard, Ian Sullivan, Emily Ogilvy, Jess Sprague, Corey Dolbeare, Mike Sprague, Bridget Levine, Sara Williams, Jeff Dukette, Chris Lavallee, Jake Withee, and Janel Roberge) and Professors Denise Martin, me, and Jonathan Leonard, had during our winter break trip to study ecology and conservation of the cloud forests and lowland rain forests of Costa Rica.



{PICTURE OF WHOLE GROUP, V. Banschbach’s camera}

As you might guess from our group photo in the lodge, the cloud forest at Monteverde, CR was a little chilly and damp. The cloud forest receives 20% of its rain as “horizontal rain”, i.e. clouds. The hummingbirds and the plants thrive on it and we saw plenty of super-sized examples! Students researched pollination biology of a hummingbird pollinated member of the plant family Acanthaceae, behavior of the trap-jawed meat-eating ant, Odontomachus sp., and the habitat preferences of bromeliads.


{PHOTO OF VIOLET SABREWING AT FEEDER, V. Banschbach}






{PHOTO OF STRANGLER FIG – JAKE WITHEE, JESS SPRAGUE, PROF. DENISE MARTIN AND PROF. JONATHAN LEONARD—taken by Jess Sprague’s camera}



After our work at Monteverde, we took an interesting full-day road trip down from the mountains to our next study site, the Atlantic slope lowland rain forest at Selva Verde.
{PHOTO Mike Sprague, Bridget Levine and Jake Withee, taken by V. Banschbach}


When we arrived at the lower elevation rain forest site, it was a bit hotter, and like this basilisk lizard, we were ready for a dip in the water.{PHOTO OF BASILISK LIZARD, V. Banschbach}

At the Selva Verde rain forest reserve, students conducted projects on Heliconia sp. pollination, red-eyed tree frog behavior, ant lion prey capture, and bird foraging behavior.

At both study sites, we had excellent Costa Rican naturalist guides that helped us pack an enormous amount of learning about natural history, ecology and conservation issues into our 10-day trip. Of course, we also took a little time just to hang out and enjoy the experience.

{PHOTO OF MANTLED HOWLER MONKEY, taken by V. Banschbach}

And now we are back enjoying the snow.

It's time....

So, here I am, the Friday before classes begin. Trying feverishly to wrap-up the piles of administrative left-overs from last semester and get ready for Monday - the opening of the new semester.

Two of our faculty returned recently from our Department's Costa Rica study tour course, and it sounds as though everything went great. We hope to share some specifics and a photo or two with you in the near future.

We've got a good array of course options for our Bio major and minors this spring semester. In addition to the second semester of Intro Bio (BI 153) and Biological Reading & Writing (BI 205), both of which are required of all Bio majors, we've got Genetics, Molecular Biology, Developmental Biology, Animal Behavior, Human and Comparative Anatomy, Human and Comparative Physiology, and 3 sections of Senior Seminar (each with a different topical focus). For more information about our program check out our website.

For accepted prospective students and their families - please plan to come and visit at one of our accepted student open house dates - February 28, March 7, and March 28. I hope to see some of you there.

A New Beginning

Greetings, and Happy New Year to all. It's been a while since my last entry, but I decided to take a little blog-break over the holidays. I wish I could say that I went away to some exotic and exciting location, but alas, I've been here the whole time. Doing my best to get caught up on the many "left-overs" that were piled high on my desk (literally) and in my inbox (electronically). Administrative planning stuff, reports to complete, manscripts to review, more student recommendations to finish .... And now, even though that isn't done just yet, it's time to get ready for the new semester... supplies to be ordered, classes to plan, syllabi to complete.

We did have some nice lab tech upgrades over the break - new screens and ceiling-mounted projectors in the three teaching labs that didn't already have them. So that will be a nice feature for the future. But other than that, not much new to report at the moment - but in just over a week classes will be back in session. Then we're off and running.

So back to work....

‘Tis the Season....

The Blog tells the tale – it’s been a long time since my last entry. Such is the cycle of academia – at the end of each semester the work piles up for both students and faculty, and there is little time for anything else. But, alas, my grading marathon of the last couple of weeks is done. The grades are turned in (as of yesterday) and I now look forward to the twice annual, end-of-semester clearing of the top of my desk.... (I know that desk is under here somewhere).

At home, that place that I’ve visited briefly from time-to-time over the last couple of weeks, I can now move ahead with holiday preparations. Holiday lights, decorating a tree, purchasing gifts, wrapping, annual greetings to friend and family.... all have been on the back burner. But I’ve still got to get the office cleared and prepped for the next semester – so here I am. Piles and piles of papers, quizzes, exams... all of which I will keep for now so that students can stop by to pick them up when they return in January.

But for many faculty, the “break” is often just a shift in focus. Instead of “time off”, it’s time to put toward other projects, those things that we had to put aside during the semester so that more time and attention could be allocated to students. A time for reports and administrative tasks (if you’re a department chair), for scholarship, for reading, for reflection..... But not too much – I’ve also got to get ready for next semester’s courses! But I think that can wait until next week.

Best Wishes for a great holiday season, and for the coming year.

Talking Turkey...

So, it’s been a week since Thanksgiving. Still working on any leftovers? We froze much of ours, and most of the rest became a turkey pot pie and turkey-noodle soup this past week. For those of you who prepared some traditional turkey dinner – which parts were most preferred on Thanksgiving day and which were left for the days that followed? ... the “dark meat” (legs and thighs) or the “white meat” (breast)? And what makes them different?

Time for some muscle biology. “Dark” muscle, also often called “red” muscle or oxidative muscle, has a dark color and stronger flavor due to high concentrations of myoglobin (an oxygen storing protein), more blood vessels (to provide more oxygen and remove more carbon dioxide), and more mitochondria in its cells (which can generate more energy in the form of ATP). This type of muscle, therefore, is very well suited for extended use without getting fatigued. It just doesn’t tire out as quickly as the other type of muscle – the “white” muscle (also call glycolytic muscle). This rather pale type of muscle lacks the biochemical mechanisms for long periods of sustained use, and therefore is used for quick bursts of activity – but tires out pretty quickly.

So what do you know about the life style of turkeys and their relatives such as chickens, partridge, grouse, and other related birds? Well, they walk and run a lot, and only rarely fly – and if they do fly it’s only for short distances because the flight muscles (in the breast) can’t sustain long periods of activity. Compare that with another type of bird that is a holiday favorite for some – goose, or perhaps duck. These birds fly long distances during annual migrations, and hence have lots of “red” muscle in the breast – necessary for sustaining flight for long periods of time. If you’ve ever had duck or goose you know that the taste is quite different than that of turkey or chicken; this is partly due to the difference between the “red” and “white” muscles.

If you prefer fish for your holidays you can see similar patterns – lots of strong-flavored dark muscle in open ocean long-distance swimmers like tuna, swordfish, and some sharks, but lots of light-flavored white muscle in less active fishes such as cod, haddock, flounder, and halibut.

Humans, and other mammals, also have different types of muscle cells, but they are interspersed with one another within our muscles – so we don’t have distinct regions of “dark” or “light” muscle. The way that we exercise, however, does influence which types of muscles cells get larger. More aerobic activity favors the darker “red” muscle cells, whereas short periods of anaerobic exercise helps the lighter “white” muscle cells.

Want to learn more? Come to St. Mike’s and take a course in physiology......

Guest Blogger - Professor Mac Lippert

I've asked other members of our Biology Department to write some blog entries to help provide a broader view of our programs. This is from Mac Lippert:


Prof. Mac Lippert at the airport with former students Michelle Miaskiewicz, Jessica Mollmark, and Maggie Holmes as they prepare to fly to Orlando, Florida to present their research posters at the annual conference of the American Society of Microbiologists.

Hello,
I've been a member of the Biology Department at Saint Mike's since 2000. My upper-level teaching responsibilities are Genetics and Microbiology. In addition, I teach another course: General Biology, Biological Reading & Writing, or Senior Seminar. Our department chair, Doug Facey, has asked me to contribute some guest blogs, so I decided to blog about research students that I've had the pleasure of mentoring in the past and currently. I will focus on students attending scientific conferences where they presented results from their summer and/or academic year research projects. Today, I'm introducing myself and this series of guest blogs that will show up here on Doug's blog site. I first performed research as an undergraduate researcher with Jim Gentile at Hope College. Jim inspired me to become a college professor. I explored the activation of non-mutagenic chemicals into mutagens by an algal species, Selenastrum capricornutum. I took over the project from a senior who graduated the year before, Tim Shafer; another student, Pete Johnson, took over the project when I graduated. Jim wrote a paper describing our work which was published in the Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology in 1990, volume 44, pages 729-736. The article is titled, 'Activation of chemical promutagens by Selenastrum capricornutum in the plant cell/microbe coincubation assay'. I presented my research results at a national scientific conference, the Annual Meeting of the Environmental Mutagen Society, which was held in San Francisco in 1987. Now I mentor undergraduates performing independent research projects. Rather than algae, we use yeast as our experimental organism, but I'm still interested in mutations. In future blogs, I'll introduce you to some of my students who have had the opportunity to perform research and attend scientific conferences.

On Advising...

Over the last week or so we’ve completed our fall academic advising sessions, during which we discuss with students their plans for the spring semester and beyond. We take our role as advisors quite seriously at St. Mike’s – it is officially considered an extension of our role as teachers, which is the most important aspect of our jobs. Advising isn’t just about keeping students on-track for graduation, although that certainly is part of our role. We take these opportunities to find out what students plans are for the future, and how we can help. The possibilities for the future are vast, but reaching them takes planning.

So we ask questions beyond the basics of meeting graduation requirement. Questions such as – Would you like to do an internship, study abroad, or fit in a research project during the next academic semester or year? How about applying for funding to stay and do research during the summer? What about doing a minor or second major in another field? What are the plans for after St. Mike’s? Grad school, med school, maybe physical therapy or pharmacy programs (just to name a few)? If more education is in the plan, then when to take the GRE, MCAT, DAT, or similar grad program entrance exams? How to find a good fit for a Master’s or PhD grad program? Or are you seeking immediate employment? What course selections will give you the skills needed to get that job after you graduate? What are your plans for the summer, and how will those help you toward your eventual goals? Where have you been looking for opportunities? Have you been working on your letter of application and resume? What have you done to boost your resume? Have you visited the Student Resources office for additional advice? ..... and the list goes on.

These are not questions that can typically be answered in only one session. It takes time for students to consider options, try some things out, come back to bounce off some more ideas. This is why advising is not just about keeping on-track for graduation. It’s about developing a relationship with students over time, based on many meetings and discussions, and focusing on what we can do to help our students reach their goals.