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New to science
Graduate students get to do something never done before.
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Lynn Clark and Greg Courtney admit that they made a mistake the first
time around in their team-taught Advanced Systematics course.
A fundamental aspect of the course is the "nitty-gritty" details
of plant and animal classification and taxonomy. That first class was
comprised primarily of botany graduate students. Clark and Courtney thought
it would be best if those students described a previously identified species
in a different group of organisms than they were used to researching.
The two professors say the best way to gain an appreciation for what goes
into a description is to actually complete one. The students were required
to pick a species and describe it complete with an illustration.
But it didn't work out like they thought it would.
"The assignment was extremely frustrating for the students,"
said Clark, professor of ecology, evolution and organismal biology.
So when it came time for Clark and Courtney, professor of entomology,
to teach the course again this semester, they decided to try something
a little different.
"We wanted to take a different approach with this year's class,"
Clark said. "One of Greg's students had this ‘new' species that wasn't
related to their thesis but thought it needed to be described."
World authorities on bamboos and aquatic dipterans respectively, Clark
and Courtney decided to use species they had readily at hand.
"Lynn and I both have species in our collections that have not been
previously described," said Courtney. "So we thought ‘why not
come up with real new species for each of them to describe?' We thought
this would give the students something a little more challenging. Plus
it would give them an appreciation of what samples we collect."
This year's Advanced Systematics course consists of seven graduate students
- four in entomology, two plant ecologists and one plant pathology student.
Clark supplied two unknown bamboo species from South America in the Ada
Hayden Herbarium collection while Courtney had four aquatic flies he had
collected in Nepal and Thailand for the entomology students. Thomas Harrington,
professor of plant pathology, contributed two undescribed fungi species.
The students are expected to submit a species description that includes,
among other things, a brief diagnosis (in Latin for plants and fungi),
a summary of the geographical information, a brief taxonomic discussion,
and a plate or set of illustrations of the species.
The students will also name the new species.
It's not an easy task according to the students in the course.
"Putting things in your own words can be difficult," said Greg
Curler, an entomology graduate student. "You have to be concise yet
descriptive while choosing your words carefully."
The result will be a set of material that should lead to publications
for the students, according to Clark and Courtney.
"That's a part of the class we've added," Clark said. "Several,
if not all of the students, will be able to shepherd a paper right up
through to publication."
"There are so many aspects of this that are educational," Courtney
said. "For many of our students this will be the first time they
will have written a paper for publication."
The project is also a unique classroom activity.
"I'm struck by the fact that the graduate students in this class
are having the great good fortune of having a lab exercise where they
actually are describing species that are new to science," said Jonathan
Wendel, professor and chair of the Department of Ecology, Evolution and
Organismal Biology. "This really is quite extraordinary, and I can
think of no other institution where this might be happening."
And it appears this practice could go on for semesters to come.
"Between Greg and me, we could come up easily with another set of
species in our collections that haven't been described yet," Clark
said. "We both have a backlog of new species. This really helps both
of us out."n
Around LAS
March 28 to April 10
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