Semester 4- Week 13- The End.

Hello! And welcome to this, my final edition of this blog.

It has been an amazing ride these last 4 semesters in S-STEM. I have learned an incredible amount about science, but more importantly, I have made a number of great, soon-to-be-lifelong friends.

I will never forget the day I first interviewed for S-STEM. Anil Kapoor had recommended me for the program, but despite the endorsement of such a brilliant instructor, I was nervous. I felt out-of-place, and I was certain that I did not belong in such a prestigious program. My nervousness was only compounded when Matt Haberkorn inexplicably left the room during my interview, leaving me alone with Josh James. I thought for certain that I had screwed up somehow, and that Matt leaving the room was somehow a dismissal of my application.

Little did I know that Matt would turn out to be the kindest, gentlest person I would ever meet, and that he was incapable of that kind of insensitivity.

So there I was, face-to-face with Josh and his poker face. He asked me a question: "Who would you most like to have dinner with?" In a flash, I said. " I know a lot of people would say Jesus, but I want to meet .....". Josh's face was inscrutable, and again I thought I had flubbed the interview.

After what seemed like hours and a thousand other questions from Josh, Matt walked back into the room. Josh turned to him, and with that mischievous grin that I have seen a million times since, he spoke two words: "Jane Goodall." It was my answer to his question.

I then watched as these two guys silently communicated in the way that only two people who have known each other for years can do, with mouths silent but their eyes full of knowing; and I suddenly realized that I hadn't screwed up. In fact, I realized I had just met two people who understood me, for possibly the first time in my life.

In that moment I realized that I not only belonged, but that I had found a home. And the lab has been my home ever since- through good and bad, easy times and tough, even after I had my stroke and became a real pain in the ass, the Biosciences team has been there for me every step of the way. We have laughed together, expressed frustration, then laughed together some more-and through it all, I have felt love.

Thank you Josh, Matt, Dijana, Amanda, Cori, Ana, Kim, and Anil, along with all of the scholars that have befriended me along the way. My life has been forever changed for the better because of the home you have given me.

Live long, and prosper.

Paul.

Photo credit: Paul C. Selfie the day I got my shirt.

Semester 4-Week 12- Field Trip!

Hello all! Welcome back.

I am currently taking BIO 182, as apparently it was the only biology course I have NOT taken at Phoenix College, and it is required for my major. It is an interesting course, made even more so by the fact that I have an excellent instructor, John Schampel.

Recently, we were able to take a field trip to the Phoenix Mountain Preserve, aka the location of Piestewa Peak, and do some field work surveying dispersal patterns of ambrosia deltoidea. This lovely little shrub is commonly known as triangle-leaf bursage, and is an important Sonoran Desert native species that is related to sunflowers. See below.

 Photo credits: biohere.org. Bursage plants.

One of the benefits that this plant provides to the desert is its status as a microbiome. Bursage prefers to grow in open areas that receive a lot of sunshine, and therefore is one of the first plants to colonize hot, open spaces that are too hot for other plant seedlings. Its dense branch canopy also prevents herbivory. Bursage thus acts as a "nurse species" for other plant varieties. Over time, seeds from other species will germinate in the shade of a bursage shrub; this leads to a variety of plant species colonizing formerly open areas after bursage has taken root.


The purpose of our field trip was to survey the number of bursage plants in 81 square-foot plots, the distance from each bursage to its nearest neighbor, and the species of that nearest neighbor. To do so, we marked off the plot with flags and hand-counted/measured distances between the applicable plants. Our hypothesis was that bursage would be found to be predominantly sheltering other plants, rather than be the sole organism in its root zone, and that those plants would likely be another species.

My plot happened to be on a hillside with a lot of loose shale, so it was a little tricky to keep my footing and not pitch off into a ravine, but with the assistance of my lab partner we were able to get the survey done fairly quickly. After analyzing the results, we determined that we had 21 bursage plants in the measured plot. Of those 21 plants, 17 of them were found to be adjacent to another plant, which is an 81% rate of adjacency. Of those 17 plants,  5 were found to be another species that appeared to have germinated within the bursage canopy, which is a 24% sheltering rate. That sheltered species was exclusively creosote bush. This low sheltering rate did not support our hypothesis, yet procedural error cannot be ruled out as a factor in this result.

Above photo credits: Paul Cattelino. Phoenix Mountains preserve.

The dominance of bursage in the adjacency rate may be an indication of an inaccuracy in the count procedure and may have resulted in a conclusion error regarding our hypothesis. We counted each distinct crown of bursage leaves as a separate plant; however, we could not determine with 100% accuracy if each plant was a unique individual without removing the plants and conducting an analysis of the root zone(s). Thus the rate of bursage-to-bursage adjacency may be inaccurate. However, as it is already known that bursage has a distinct alleopathic root zone that prevents other plant growth when it is found to be sheltering creosote, the creosote adjacency rate appears to be accurate.

Further data is required to make an informed conclusion. Unfortunately for our lab group, only five of us showed for the field trip, so we could only make two groups and survey two plots. This makes the data we collected statistically insignificant. Nonetheless, it was fun. I enjoyed being out of the classroom for the afternoon and getting a taste of fieldwork.

That's all for now. Have a Great Week!

P.S. According to some web sources (indicated below), bursage can be used to relieve menstrual cramps and allergies. Creosote has applications, as well; it can be used as an anti-oxidant, antiseptic, and an anti-bacterial for use in minor cuts and scrapes.

Website sources to check out:

United States Bureau of Land Management

United States Department of Agriculture: Plants

Desert Eye Education

PVCC publication