Spring 2015 Field Meeting

The Oklahoma Academy of Science had its spring field meeting this past weekend at Sequoyah State Park near Muskogee. If you missed it, this essay will help you regret it. Fortunately we missed the torrential rains that started falling today. It was gently cool, and softly overcast—which made the green of the new leaves very intense. On Saturday morning and afternoon we had field trips. I accompanied Gloria Caddell for the botany hikes.

We saw beautiful and interesting plants. Examples include the mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum in the Berberidaceae):

And spiderwort (Tradescantia ernestiana in the Commelinaceae):

We also saw the mycotrophic orchid Corallorhiza wisteriana. It does not have chlorophyll. It gets its nutrition from decaying wood. But not directly. It is mycotrophic rather than saprophytic because mutualistic fungi absorb the nutrients from rotting wood and provide them to the orchid.

On one of our hikes we visited a nearby Boy Scout camp owned and operated by the family of Andrea Blair, a graduate student at Oklahoma State University Tulsa campus. Here, Andrea is talking with Ken Hobson, former president of OAS and professor of biology at OU.

We saw a magnificently blooming buckeye (Aesculus glabra in the Hippocastanaceae). But it was on the other side of the creek so I had to wade across to get photos of it. This would have been a simple matter except that the rocks were just the right size to hurt my tender old feet.

Among the student participants was John Williams and his sons and nephew from Southeastern Oklahoma State University. Mia Revels of Northeastern Oklahoma State University and Gloria Caddell of University of Central Oklahoma brought their classes (ornithology and systematic botany, respectively). The photo shows John's young son soaking up the wonders of the forest.

Especially in the afternoon, the field trips combined forces to gain a multi-disciplinary view of nature. Liz Bergey of OU found a slime mold. And we all wished for a competent paleontologist when we found abundant fossils near the lake shore. In this photo, you can see many crinoids (a kind of echinoderm, with stalks that look like stacks of coins), corals, and bryozoans (now known as ecoprocts). The bryozoans were of the genus Archimedes and looked more like a fish backbone. That’s what I thought they were at first, but I never saw any “fish ribs” with the “backbones,” which meant I had to be wrong.

On Friday and Saturday evenings, guest speakers provided fascinating presentations. On Friday, Charles Brown of University of Tulsa told us about his over three decades of research into the costs, benefits, and evolution of colony behavior in cliff swallows. You think you’ve had bedbugs? But a single little swallow nest can have hundreds of them. On Saturday, Ron Bonett of University of Tulsa told us about salamanders in Oklahoma, and about the repeated evolution of species in which juveniles become sexually reproductive. In the photo, field meeting organizer Connie Murray (of Tulsa Community College Metro campus) talks with Charles Brown.

Every spring and fall, OAS has wonderful field meetings. There are always lots of interesting things to see, and wonderful people to explore with. My thanks to everyone who made the meeting a success, including our Executive Director David Bass who had to make sure everything happened.

Stan Rice, president

Encourage your students to come to the spring field meeting!

Hi everyone,

The spring field meeting is coming up, April 10-12 at Sequoyah State Park. Information will be available soon on the OAS website. Some of you may already be planning on bringing a lot of students as part of your classes. But if not, I suggest an alternative, one that I have used for many years in the past.

I offer extra credit to students for participating in the field meetings. I am usually unable to offer them a ride, so they have to get themselves to the field meeting site and back. Quite a few of them have managed to do so. I require them, for extra credit, to participate in a morning or an afternoon field trip on Saturday. For distant locations, I offer a little more extra credit. How much? You can figure that out.

Of course, there is the concern that students may show up and not pay attention. It is conceivable that a student might show up and just stand around and spit tobacco. (I wish I were making this up. It has happened on required class field trips.) Also, there is the concern that I have some evidence to show that the students fully participated in the trip. To accomplish these things, I have each student write a unique one-page summary of what they learned. This gets them to be fully engaged and gives me documentation. Since, nearly without exception, my students who have come to OAS have been highly motivated, they are happy to do this.

This is something to think ahead about as the date gets closer and closer.

Stan Rice, president

Science is Alive and Well in Oklahoma, part one.

The Oklahoma Academy of Science held its 2014 Technical Meeting at Northeastern Oklahoma State University (Broken Arrow campus) on November 7, preceded by the Executive Council meeting on November 6.

As president, I am happy to report that your Executive Council will begin to address an important issue we have not taken seriously enough in the past: marketing. A lot of scientists and science educators in Oklahoma simply do not know that OAS exists, or that it is active. We are working on ideas to get the word out in Oklahoma, and will also be soliciting input from all members.

I enjoyed watching and occasionally coordinating the good and enthusiastic work of so many students and faculty from around the state at the meeting on November 7. Nobody had to be there. It was sheer enthusiasm for science that made the meeting a success.

I wanted to mention one paper that really got my attention. Lois Ablin, a chemist at Oral Roberts University, talked about advances in “green chemistry,” particularly in student organic chemistry laboratories. I took organic chemistry in 1976 and it has been downhill from there. Back then, we poured toxic chemicals all over the place (including benzene on our hands), and all of them ended up down the drain and probably out in the ocean (I was at UC Santa Barbara). Today, thankfully, we have many rules that preserve personal and environmental safety. One of the easiest ways to reduce the amount of waste produced by student labs is simply to use small-scale reactions. In my day we used whole flasks and beakers of toxic chemicals. But in green chemistry, the same reactions can be performed in small vials, heated in a microwave oven instead of over a burner or in a hot glove. It saves time, too: you can microwave a reaction for eight minutes with the same result that you would get with an hour-and-a-half reflux. Some universities have even gone so far as to carry out reactions on filter paper, rendering fume hoods unnecessary.

There were lots of student posters. This is an time for faculty to see the excellent work done by students at other universities. I barely had time to glance at them and take a few grainy photos. I got to stop and look at a poster from a student at Cameron who had studied the stomach contents of a mammoth that had lived in what is now southern Oklahoma during the last ice age (in case you didn’t know there were mammoths here). The mammoth had eaten horsetails.

Bruce Carnes, from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, gave the luncheon presentation about the evolution of aging. What an interesting topic, especially for people who might have wondered what evolution has to do with medicine. For those who might have thought that aging is simply a problem that can be solved by some magic medical bullet, Bruce (who described himself as a disappointed optimist) had some bad news. Natural selection has indeed produced a human species that is guaranteed, in the absence of intrinsic and extrinsic accidents, to live for about 55 years, which is enough time not only for nearly all reproduction to be completed but for a person in tribal society to discharge their grand-parental duties as well. Fifty-five years, then, is our “warranty period.” After age 55, the body starts to break down in multiple ways. There’s no way to stop it, even though we try very hard to prolong our lives as much as possible. It makes more sense, Bruce indicated, to try to have a healthy old age rather than simply a long one. Once the “expiration date” has passed, a car or a person might keep running for a long time, but will require more and more intervention. Old age is not a problem to be solved but a process to be managed.

In the next entry, I will write about the symposium about science-related issues in the afternoon. It was one of the most exciting things the Oklahoma Academy of Sciences has ever done, I think.

This is the first of a series of essays about the Fall 2014 Field Meeting at Black Mesa. This essay is by Marco Micozzi of East Central University, who organized the whole field meeting. President Stan Rice will also post some essays in upcoming days. Field trip leaders, feel free to send Stan essays and photos (srice@se.edu; not too many photos at one time) or else (for council members, if you still have the logon information) post it yourself.

Dear All,

As field trip leader, I want to thank you for a wonderful time at Black Mesa State Park and for all the students you brought with you. I believe they have some great experiences that they will carry with them forever. For most, this was their first time to the area so I am sure they are happy they came with your support. I am also happy that the weather cooperated and the stars were out. Even without a telescope, it was impressive! To the speakers and field trip leaders, it was a delight to have so many students talking about their experiences when I walked by them during the meeting. You made an impact. I thank you for your quick email responses during the planning stages and hope you will return the favor to the next field trip leader. I hope you consider grabbing hold of a state park in the future and being the field trip leader in the future. It is a pleasure working with David and getting to know all of you a bit more. If you know of more passionate teachers to help lead trips, please bring them aboard. In addition, please have your friends check their email and send any updates to David. There are many incomplete email addresses floating around out there.

The group photo (above) is for those teachers that had students hike to the top. If I count the five students from ECU that are not in the photo, I believe this is the largest group we had. For that matter, this was the largest group we ever had at this State Park for a field meeting (compared to 2003 and 2008). Please promote the next meeting in the Spring and help get students to the Technical Meeting in November. Check the website for details.

I am sure not everyone is “bright-eyed” and “well-rested” to start the week, but is was sure worth it!

All the best,

Marco

Coming Right Up! The Second Annual Oklahoma Evolution Road Trip!

Posted by Stan Rice, President

Last summer we had the First Annual Oklahoma Evolution Road Trip, with ten participants and two instructors. Well, we have a Second Annual Oklahoma Evolution Road Trip scheduled for April 26-27 in Tulsa.

Oklahoma Academy of Science is one of the sponsors of this trip. Watch this space also for an announcement about the OAS Spring field meeting!

The Oklahoma Evolution Road Trips are open to anyone who is interested in learning more about evolution and the evidence for it that can be seen right here in Oklahoma. (Last year we included Texas as well.) You don’t need a science background, just a willingness to observe and learn. It is specifically intended for science teachers, who can receive a certificate of professional development credit. Registration cost is $95. Online registration will be available soon through the Oklahoma Science Teachers Association—I will keep you posted! If you are interested, block off these dates in your schedule now!

Because this is a serious learning experience, young children are not encouraged to participate, although there can always be exceptions. This sounds like the kind of trip I would have loved when I was twelve years old, but that few other twelve-year-olds would have appreciated.

The $95 cost covers transportation during the trip, refreshments on both mornings, and lunches on both days. It does not include accommodations (which most participants will not require) or the evening meal for those who wish to participate in it. Participants who need accommodations can let me know as soon as possible and, if there are enough of you, I will try to get a group discount.

Last summer, the trip was longer and more expensive because it was in a location more distant from Oklahoma metropolitan areas. I believe we would have had more teachers in the group had the cost and location been more convenient. Well, we have solved that problem for 2014.

The two instructors will be myself (Dr. Stanley Rice), a biology professor at Southeastern Oklahoma State University, and Cora James, the science curriculum director for Putnam City Schools and a good amateur geologist. I am the author of four nationally and internationally published science books, two of which are about evolution. Both instructors bring a lot of experience with how to make science, and especially evolution, interesting and relevant to the school classroom in such a way as to highlight the positive learning experiences rather than to create tension and conflict.

The Second Annual Oklahoma Evolution Road Trip now has four professional organizations sponsoring it! The sponsors are:

·         Society for the Study of Evolution (Education Committee)

·         Oklahomans for Excellence in Science Education

·         Oklahoma Science Teachers Association

·         Oklahoma Academy of Science

The first of the organizations is one of the leading scientific societies in the world and has sponsored and provided financial support for this trip through a competitive grant. The other three organizations are the major professional organizations for science education in the state.

Here are the things we are going to do on this trip:

Saturday morning, April 26. We will meet at the Martin Regional Library in Tulsa (2601 S. Garnett) for a discussion about what the participants know, and what they want to know, about evolution, including: the rapid evolution that is now going on in viruses and bacteria; the new DNA evidence for the evolutionary ancestry of organisms, including humans; and the ongoing discovery of geological evidence (especially fossils) for evolution. We will also learn about the geological history of what is now Tulsa, right up to the last Ice Age, and how fossils form.

Saturday afternoon, April 26. After a catered light lunch, we will get into vans to go find our own fossils. (Participants can leave their vehicles at the library.) Bring plastic bags for collecting fossils (the instructors will have some for you also). We will go out rain or shine, unless the weather is actually dangerous. Individual vehicles are discouraged because of limited parking in some places. Our destinations are:

1. A location on Highway 51 where Ordovician fossils are washing out of loose rock. You can find mostly crinoids but also an occasional trace fossil (fossilized track). A crinoid is a stalked echinoderm. The traffic can be heavy but where is plenty of space to keep away from the vehicles. This is public easement and you can collect fossils.

2. Lake Skiatook. At one location on this lake maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers, there are numerous fossils of crinoids and brachiopods. Brachiopods have been rare for the last 250 million years but were common during the Ordovician period. They looked a lot like mollusks. Fossil collecting is also allowed here.

Arkansas River. The bed of the Arkansas River, usually mostly dry, contains a lot of things washed in from surrounding places; you can never be sure where they have come from. Most of it is garbage, but once in a while you can find coal, or even fossils such as this crinoids that got washed downstream from some unknown source. Of course, you can keep whatever you find.

For those who wish to continue discussion on Saturday evening, we can meet at a restaurant. (The registration fee does not cover this cost.)

On Sunday morning, April 27, we will meet again at the parking lot of the library (which will be closed at that time), but where participants can leave their vehicles. We will go by van out to Red Bud Valley northeast of Tulsa where we will walk around most of the morning on the bluff trails.

If you know where to look, you can find fossils, such as this amazing brachiopod fossil I found last summer. Collecting is not permitted here, although if you find something interesting the visitors’ center will be happy to get it for their displays.

We will also learn about tree adaptations. There are many, many different evolutionary adaptations, each one appropriate for its own set of conditions. For cottonwoods, living in flood plains, this means rapid growth, cheap wood, and a short life. For oaks, living in stable forests, this means slow growth, strong wood, and a long life. Tree ranges also shift during evolutionary time, and in Red Bud Valley there are some trees, such as sugar maples, smoke trees, and blue ashes, that were very common in Oklahoma thousands of years ago but have mostly died off—except in this little sheltered spot. You see, evolution is not just something that happened in the past and that you can study with fossils; it is ongoing, and you can see it in the trees around you.

During a catered light lunch in the shaded parking lot at Red Bud Valley, we can discuss what we have seen, and then go back to the library parking lot. Participants will be able to leave by 3:00 at the latest on Sunday afternoon.

A word about next year’s Third Annual Oklahoma Evolution Road Trip: Plans are underway for this trip to be offered for college credit through the Oklahoma Scholar Leader Enrichment Program (OSLEP) during Spring Break 2015, housed (like the 2013 trip) at the University of Oklahoma Biological Station on Lake Texoma. Depending on the success of this year’s trip, we hope to offer the cheap and short version of the trip on alternate years, so the next two-day trip in an Oklahoma metropolitan area should take place in 2016.

Please watch this spot for announcements about online registration, which we hope to begin (along with public radio announcements) about March 17.

How to Celebrate Darwin Day

At least in Oklahoma.

It has become something of an annual ritual. The Bible uses a phrase something like, “In the spring of the year, the time when kings go forth to battle,” (1 Chronicles 20:1). It is as reliable as the opening of tree buds. Every winter, state senator Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma (I am in his district) introduces a creationist bill. It is not worded as a creationist bill, but that is its intent. It is called the Religious Viewpoints Antidiscrimination Act (SB 1765). Its stated purpose is to prevent science teachers from penalizing students for their religious views. Therefore, an evolutionist teacher cannot penalize a creationist student. In literal fact, this would mean that a creationist teacher could not penalize a non-creationist student either. Brecheen claims that evolution is a religion, the establishment of which is unconstitutional.

This bill is a solution to a problem that does not exist. The bill specifically states that the student needs to know the scientific concepts. But I have never heard of a case of a creationist student in Oklahoma getting penalized for creationist viewpoints.

So I celebrated Darwin’s birthday by sending emails to the members of the Senate Education Committee. Those of you in Oklahoma might consider doing this also. Here is what I sent to the chair of the committee. I used my AOL email rather than my university email.

Dear Senator Ford,

I wish to express my opposition to Senator Brecheen's bill, SB 1765. I have written to this committee almost every year in the past about this bill each time it recurs. I am a professor and science writer, but am writing this letter as a citizen and using my private email. I am president of the Oklahoma Academy of Sciences, but my views are my own.

The bill is unnecessary, as its main points are effectively covered by existing Oklahoma curriculum standards. Nothing in the bill explains why we need a new state law specifying what teachers already (are required to) do and have been doing for decades. Teachers already teach strengths and weaknesses as part of inquiry-based learning. The state of Oklahoma faces numerous challenges and I do not believe the Senate needs to take its time to debate and enact unnecessary legislation.

I realize that Senator Brecheen considers evolution to be a religion, but it is not. It is a scientific theory based on a great amount of evidence, which I have outlined in my Encyclopedia of Evolution and other books. When I teach and write about evolution, I never present it as a dogmatic belief and never require my students to agree with me. In fact, my best student in 2012 (she got 103% on the final grade) was our Southeastern valedictorian and a literal creationist. I did not penalize her for her beliefs, just as I do not penalize my atheist students. I consider this bill to be more of a political statement than an attempt to address any real problem. Have any teachers or students brought up cases of discrimination?

Thank you for considering my request.

Stanley Rice

I got the following response, apparently a form letter, from the assistant of one of the senators:

Thank you for your email expressing opposition to SB1765. Senator Jolley welcomes the input from constituents of all backgrounds and opinions. Hearing your perspective based on the combination of your professional expertise and faith is very much appreciated.

Should this bill receive a hearing this Session, Senator Jolley will certainly apply a sense of balance to his deliberations prior to casting a vote. Thank you for taking the time to write and please feel free to contact me any time I might be of assistance.

Now, I have nothing against a sense of balance, but this is often creationist code for creationism.

For those of you in Oklahoma, here is a list of committee members and contact information:

Name, Room #, Phone, Email
John Ford, 424A, 521-5634, fordj@oksenate.gov
Gary Stanislawski, 427A, 521-5624, stanislawski@oksenate.gov
Earl Garrison, 528A, 521-5533, whitep@oksenate.gov
Jim Halligan, 425, 521-5572, halligan@oksenate.gov
David Holt, 411A, 521-5636, holt@oksenate.gov
Clark Jolley, 519, 521-5622, jolley@oksenate.gov
Susan Paddack, 533B, 521-5541, paddack@oksenate.gov
Wayne Shaw, 513A, 521-5574, shaw@oksenate.gov
Ralph Shortey, 514A, 521-5557, shortey@oksenate.gov
John Sparks, 529B, 521-5553, sparks@oksenate.gov
Ron Sharp, 533, 521-5539, sharp@oksenate.gov

Meanwhile, enjoy celebrating Darwin’s 205^th birthday.

Oklahoma Scientist on Talk of the Nation!

I have just finished listening to a Talk of the Nation Science Friday interview of Dr. Charles Brown, a professor at the University of Tulsa. Scientists in Oklahoma can be proud to be well represented by Brown's creative and valuable work.

The immediate subject of the interview was an example of rapid evolutionary change. It appears likely that populations of cliff swallows have evolved over recent decades as a result of roadkills. Swallows killed by vehicles around the bridges where they live had wings that were, on average, longer than the population average of the survivors. Short wings allow greater maneuverability. The apparent conclusion is that vehicles were a selective force that caused the evolution of shorter wings in cliff swallows. Though not surprising to most of us, it probably came as a surprise to many listeners that evolution happens fast enough that we can measure it.

Charles Brown's study are an excellent illustration of something else. He first began collecting roadkill birds without any clear idea of what he would use them for. Once the hypothesis emerged in his mind, however, he had a couple of hundred specimens on which he could make measurements. Scientific research has a certain amount of serendipity. Also, this hypothesis would never have occurred to Charles Brown had he not studied these animals for decades and come to understand nearly every aspect of the social and ecological lives of these animals. A narrow focus, driven by a single answer to a single question, is a process that many scientists use but would never have led Dr. Brown to make this discovery.

Charles Brown spoke in straightforward, friendly language (with an Oklahoma accent). Immediately after his interview, the host interviewed some scientists regarding Gulf War Syndrome. One of the scientists used the term sequelae. I think we all know what this means but it made me wonder how many non-scientists think that scientists speak a different language and live in a different world. They would not have gotten this impression from Brown and his stories about the curious lives of cliff swallows.

Stanley Rice, President-Elect

Fall Field meeting

The Oklahoma Academy of Sciences had its fall field meeting on the weekend of September 21-23 at Boiling Springs State Park and the Selman Living Lab of the University of Central Oklahoma. Nice weather made the 1.7 billion sandburs tolerable. There were numerous field trips, in addition to the renewal of old, and the making of new, friendships (which is always one of the best parts of a scientific meeting).

I went on the two botany trips led by Gloria Caddell of UCO. Anyone who went on a different trip and would like to write about it, please let David Bass know (dbass@uco.edu) and we can include it in this blog. Photographs are welcome.

The first trip was in the park itself, where Dr. Caddell showed us how to distinguish among superficially-similar composite plants and different grasses. We got to know the forest trees, including soapberry, Kentucky coffee tree, honey locust, black locust, netleaf hackberry, and green ash. I for one was surprised that the small-leaved elms were the same species (American elm) that grows in the eastern part of the state and throughout the eastern deciduous forest. We also saw the Oklahoma champion bur oak tree.

The Selman living laboratory, about twenty miles away, is on shortgrass prairie land with numerous gypsum outcrops. We could clearly distinguish zones (usually between outcrops) that had been grazed in recent decades and the gypsum outcrops. The outcrops had less dense vegetation, which is why the cows had avoided them; these outcrops had different species from the grazed zones, including Phacelia integrifolia, a wildflower mostly restricted to gypsum outcrops. One of the field trip participants cracked open some alabaster (crystalline gypsum) and found some cyanobacteria growing inside the translucent alabaster.

The Selman Lab, and to a lesser extent Boiling Springs, are exactly the kinds of places about which many of my students would say, “There’s nothing out here.” But I find it always inspiring to see how many different species of plants (and animals, which the herpetology group pursued) can survive in a hostile environment, and in so many different ways. Grasses, with thin leaves and deep roots, thrive in the same place as small cacti, with succulent stems and shallow roots.

Don’t forget to register (http://oas.uco.edu) for the Technical Meeting, which will be November 9 at UCO.

Field trip participants learn botany from Gloria Caddell.

Cyanobacteria grow underneath alabaster--inside of a rock.

The largest bur oak tree in Oklahoma.

Gleditsia triacanthos, the honey locust, has formidable thorns.