More Science
~ by Jim Eagleman
When I was newly employed with the Indiana DNR and starting graduate school, a professor put me in charge of collecting those little maple seed“ helicopters” for a class exercise. I put all my classmates to work with bags, rakes, and brooms to gather the seeds outside the classroom.
The twin seeds, called samaras, are attached in the middle with little wings— dried plant tissue— that caused them to flutter to the ground. For several days— stretching into weeks that October— we swept and bagged as many maple samaras as the large sugar maple produced. The bags were placed in the greenhouse coolers so they wouldn’ t mold and brought out during the last half of each class.
I recall getting strange looks from other students going to class as we raked and bagged. One student asked if we worked for the university grounds crew. Another if we were being punished for some campus crime.“ No, this is science,” yelled one student,“ and I’ m studying botany.” The professor smiled and agreed it was indeed science, an investigation into energy levels for seed production.
When the last bag was finally counted, it was into the tens of thousands of seeds. The results were staggering. Nearly all the twin samaras were poorly-formed— a majority with no seeds at all. Those few seeds that appeared viable had poorly formed“ wings.”
After some analysis with graphs on an overhead projector, it appeared our sugar maple would not have many progeny that year. More importantly, we learned this was mostly true of many sugar maples in a mid-western study, and of other“ mast” trees. We counted the hard mast of the maple. Walnut, beech, oak, and hickory nuts completed the list. We learned the soft mast of fruits and berries were also studied each fall by ornithologists and mammalogists. That fall, seed production on our maple was marginal.
Class lectures proceeded on photosynthesis, the Krebs cycle, and how that little energy molecule ATP was made available. If spring flowering is not disrupted by storms or cold weather, and fertilization happens, the stage is set for the following fall. It is a chancy thing to say seeds and nuts in large numbers normally follow a typical summer. So is the likelihood that insect attacks, heat stress, and drought can take its toll. Any kind of production, in light of what is already required for tree growth and maintenance, is secondary. Tremendous energy resulting in seeds or nuts is a difficult aspect to appreciate while trees seemingly grow unaffected, sway in summer winds, and give us shade.
All through our education, we learn from activities and experiments that science is a pretty good way to test what we know— or don’ t know. The scientific method with a presumed hypothesis, a system of trial and error, methods examined and altered, and conclusions drawn, still appears the best way for us to learn what happens and how.
Reinforced by how the Indiana DNR used sound science in its decision-making, I grew confident we were managing our state’ s natural resources the best way possible.
It is with a renewed sense of support for science at all levels( K- 12, academia, industry, etc.) that I heartily endorse recent requests for science funding not to be reduced, but to continue.
One organization, the American Association for the Advancement of Science < AAAS. org > is soliciting more public support to educate us. They plan to continue their briefings of the importance of science to Capitol Hill staffers. They also wish to inspire the next generation by placing retired scientists in classrooms across the nation. They wish to make science accessible to all by bringing scientists, policy makers, and the general public together through one-of-a kind events and workshops.
My first exposure to science was gazing at a solar system model of planets, moons and orbits in the 5th grade. Hand cranked little chains moved planets around the sun, depicted with the most golden glow color. We studied eclipses, orbital differences, and planet conditions on this rather crude model. Could
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52 Our Brown County • Nov./ Dec. 2017