Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts

The unit 2 quiz will be given on Thursday 22 March.

Material from chapters 04 – 07 will be covered.

Look for reviews, outlines, etc, before the Wednesday.

The unit 1 quiz was returned in class today. Overall, y’all did well.

The quiz contained 20 multiple-choice questions (@ 2 points) plus 2 essay questions (@ 5 points) for a total of 50 points. Your percentage score is the ((number of correct multiple-choice questions x 2) + points  from essay questions)/0.5

The class average was 77.7% (standard deviation = 8).

score          frequency

> 90              =      3

85 – 89.9       =      5

80 – 84.9       =      6

75 – 79.9       =      6

70 – 74.9       =      5

65 – 69.9       =      4

60 – 64.0       =      2

< 60              =      0

Your first written assignment deals with alternatives to our traditional sources of commercial energy (coal, crude oil. natural gas, and nuclear).

Your first task is to provide me with a proposed topic – your choice – by the beginning of next week (Thursday for the TTH section, Friday for the MWF section). Keep in mind that the paper will run up to five pages of double-spaced text. Don’t overreach! Some topics, e.g., biomass fuels, cannot be covered in their entirety; however, some aspect of biomass fuels, say, ethanol from sugar cane residue, clearly could be.

How much of the world’s fossil fuel or nuclear electricity would be saved by switching to the alternative energy technology? What is the energy return on investment (or net energy ratio)?

How much net CO2 would be produced as a consequence of switching to this alternative energy resource?

Is your proposed alternative viable for the short-term, the mid-term, or the long-term? Is it sustainable? What pollution, health, or other societal costs would be incurred as a result of the switch?

More details about the style of citing sources in the text and in the literature cited sections, the page format, etc. will follow soon.

The assignment will be submitted on or before the end of the week following Spring Break (22 March for TTH sections, 23 March for the MWF section) … first the digital version to turnitin.com (with a similarity score of 10% or less), then the complete hard copy to me (including the attached originality report from turnitin.com).

Ecnomiohyla rabborum, Rabb’s fringe-limbed tree frog, is one step closer to absolute extinction. The species was discovered in Panama in 2005 but had not been observed in the wild since 2007.

I say absolute extinction because, for all intents and purposes, the species has been extinct since 2008. Two males in Atlanta are all that remained of the species.

Unfortunately, Zoo Atlanta announced that the male in its care suffered a decline in health and was euthanized last Friday. The sole surviving representative of this species is housed at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens.

The cause of the extinction was not the destruction of its habitat to supply our lust for timber and paper products. Nor was the tree frog over-harvesting for the pet trade. Rather, the direct agent of its demise was an amphibian-exterminating fungus that goes by the name of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis.

The fungus, specifically a chytrid, arrived in the tree frog’s habitat in 2006. There is some speculation that the fungus has been spread around the globe with the African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis. Forty-three amphibian species in Latin America and 93 amphibian species globally have suffered declines due to B. dendrobatidis infection[1].

Amphibian species across the globe at at risk. As of 2004, 427 amphibian species (7.4%) are on the brink of extinction. By contrast, 179 bird species (1.8%) and184 mammalian species (3.8%) are in similar trouble [2].

[1] Speare R., and L. Berger. 2000. Global distribution of chytridiomycosis in amphibians.

http://www.jcu.edu.au/school/phtm/PHTM/frogs/chyglob.htm

[2] Stuart, S.N. et al. 2004. Status and trends of amphibian declines and extinctions worldwide. Science 306:1783-1786.

Due Thursday 2012-02-24

Reminder : These short write-ups contribute to your class participation grade. If you miss the class that these are assigned then you should not turn them in.

Don’t sweat it if you miss one. There will be plenty of these through the semester and I’ll drop the lowest one.

1) In two pages – maximum – of double-spaced 12-point type, find a mutualism (+,+) or commensalism (+,0) that appeals to your interests. Choose one that is not covered in lecture or in the text.

Describe this interspecific relationship as fully as you are able and explain why it is what it is.

I’d suggest four references sources. No more than one should be a wikipedia entry. Cite your references in the text (so that I know which source(s) provide information to which paragraph(s)). Provide full bibliographic citations on a separate sheet of paper.

2) In one or two sentences, explain the population distribution of the orangutan. I.e., it is randomly dispersed in its habitat? Or is it over- or under-dispersed? Provide a brief – on or two sentences – explanation for the dispersion patttern.

An article by Glaw et al. (2012) in the Public Library of Science reveals the discovery of several of the smallest amniotes yet observed … tiny chameleons in the genus Brookesia.

Madagascar, home to the Malagasy Republic, is considered to be one of the world’s most important biodiversity hotspots. The overwhelming majority of the species there are endemic, i.e., found there and nowhere else.

Unfortunately, The Malagasy Republic is in a serious financial mire. The population of 21.9 million (mid-year 2011) has a per capita gross domestic product (GDP) of $438. 90% of the population lives on less than $2 per day. 69% of the population lives on less than $1 per day (THEIR measure of the poverty threshold).

When your ability to keep your family from starvation is pitted against the national need to preserve the endemic biodiversity, in my experience, eating wins every time.

Jacqueline Jacot, is leading the Green Ambassadors Program in the student residence halls.

The program aims to :

• Educate students about sustainability, especially sustainability initiatives on-campus.
• Empower students with information about the various ways to achieve a sustainable lifestyle.
• Prepare students to become information disseminators and role models to others who wish to live more sustainably.

You are invited to participate in the program. Students from every residence hall are needed. Students interested in this exciting initiative, should contact Jacqueline at jjacot@stedwards.edu by this Friday, Feb. 17 so that she can move forward with the program.

More about the program :

• Green Ambassadors Tentative Meeting Format
• About 30 minutes depending on discussion and activities
• Meetings held every other week
• Location : TBD

Topics for discussion:

• How can I be more sustainable?
• How can SEU be more sustainable?
• Off-campus meetings at local and sustainable businesses
• Sustainable changes to residence halls
• Movies, Music, and Art about environmentalism
• Spreading word about on-campus and local green initiatives

Promotion of the Program :

• Sustainability Blog
• Students for Sustainability Facebook page
• Networking with RDs and RAs

Peck Phillips at the campus bookstore has announced that the inventory of unsold textbooks will be returned to the publishers soon.

If you still in need of a textbook, act accordingly!

Reminder

The Unit 01 quiz will be given at the beginning of lecture on Thursday 2012-02-09.

Bring a SCANTRON form (883-E or equivalent – available at the bookstore) and a #2 pencil. The SCANTRON grader does not recognize ballpoint pen (neither blue nor black). If I have to grade it by hand, there will be a sizeable grade reduction.

Keep up with changes to the Course Documents page for details on what we have covered (or are about to cover) in lecture.

Science, as I have told you, is but another of Life’s many games. Like all games, there is an element of fun if you will simply permit yourself to enjoy it.

I suggest that y’all read the following brief article (if for no other reason than your own self-advancement) :

P.S. Blackawton et al. 2011. Blackawton Bees. Biol. Lett. 7(): 168-172
(first published online 22 December 2010)

There is also an accompanying video podcast that you might enjoy.

Thanks to Jim over at the Confusion Research Center for bringing this article to my attention!