昆蟲和植物撞名

為什麼植物學家和昆蟲學家不事先溝通講好？
教授說因為植物和動物的分類是不同的系統，可是分類學家不是應該讓人們(或至少生物學家)方便、清楚，避免重複嗎？

Anisoptera是

也是

 

Cecropia是

 

也是

紫色洋金花

今天我穿著我的紫色洋金花(Datura metel)的萬聖節裝扮上了一整天的課。念過植物學的人看得出來我是某種茄科植物。有些人猜錯，以為我是牽牛花(這個是另外一科的)。

Ethnobotany的老師愛死我的裝扮了。她猜是Brugmansia(木曼陀羅)，我說不是，但非常接近了！經我一番提示，Brugmansia花往下開，什麼往上開？她終於猜對了。

植物分類學教授一看到我就說，"You are a Datura."　呵，薑還是老的辣！不過聽說今年只有兩個學生（包括我）萬聖節裝扮成植物，大家怎麼這麼不給教授面子？

Crayfish

My ecology class went on a field trip to sample invertebrates in Otter Creek. It was tons of fun! I got too excited with all the insect nymphs and larvae that we caught under the rocks. There were also many crayfish. It was my first time capturing crayfish with hands. I found they don't really pinch. It might be because the crayfish we caught were not very big.

The other species we found include mayfly, stonefly, caddisfly, dobsonfly, snail, and midges; they indicate that Otter Creek has good water. Well, too bad that we had to release them afterwards so I didn't have crayfish for dinner. I didn't have the chance to take a picture, so here's a picture from the Internet to show you what a crayfish looks like.

剛開始看怪異，看久了可愛的龍膽

上次在植物園的戶外教學，我看到一些長著怪異紫色花苞的植物，問TA，TA說不知道是什麼。(照片不是我拍的)

回家查資料發現是龍膽的一種，bottle gentian (Gentiana andrewii)，紫色的是花，不只是花苞。Wisconsin有紫的和白的近似種，紫的較常見，兩種還會雜交。我們很幸運地遇到它的開花期(8-10月)。緊閉的花瓣其實是植物的詭計，因為蜜蜂必須擠進去取花蜜，難免弄得滿身花粉！

If I Have a Garden (Psychoactive Plants That I Want to Own)

If I have a garden, those are some beautiful or useful legal psychoactive plants that I'd love to have. I hope all of them will still be legal when I get a garden. (Of course I'd love some illegal ones too, but they are illegal.)

1. Datura spp. (angel's trumpet; jimson weed)

Major active chemicals: atropine, scopolamine (anticholinergic deliriant)

2. Papaver spp. (poppy)
 
Major active chemical: morphine (analgesic)

3. Echinopsis peruviana (Peruvian torch cactus)
 

Major active chemical: mescaline (psychedelic)

4. Nicotiana spp. (tobacco)

Major active chemical: nicotine (stimulant??)

5. Ipomoea tricolor (morning glory)

 

Major active chemical: ergine (aka LSA, psychedelic)

6. Passiflora spp. (passion flower)

Major active chemicals: chrysin and other flavones (sedative), harman (MAOI)

 

7. Psychotria viridis

Major active chemical: DMT (psychedelic)

8. Coffea spp. (coffee tree)

Major active chemical: caffeine (stimulant)

9. Scutellaria spp. (skullcap)

Major active chemicals: baicalein and other flavones (sedative)

兔子還敢吃嗎？

這是我以前留下來的和最近種的花：從一年級陪我到現在的和平百合，去年種的非洲菫、red prayer和lipstick plant，今年種的新幾內亞鳳仙、菊花、變葉草、香菜、和泰國辣椒。

 

兔子不吃番茄樹，因為有微毒性。番茄苗本來好好的，最近快死了，不知是生病還是前一陣子天天下雨被淹死了？讓我心疼不已。家附近野兔、松鼠多，不停地破壞我的小花園。先是謀殺了常春藤，今天早上我又氣急敗壞地發現泰國辣椒半顆不見了。難道兔子不覺得辣嗎？和平百合、鳳仙、和其他的植物也不時慘遭毒手，這些鼠輩好像就算不吃，也喜歡把葉子啃幾口，拉扯到地上，或是亂挖盆栽裡的培養土。

我決定把菊花送給Madison Children's Museum，不然那一盆永遠都沒機會長大，一長葉子就被兔子吃掉。我今天去市場抱了一個曼陀羅花(Datura)回來。市場也有賣白花，這一個是淡紫花復辦，還有古怪的香味。跟台灣花是向下垂的品種不一樣，它的花是向上長的。

希望這棵可以長大，開很多花，最好還結一些種子讓我留下來。還敢吃？毒死你，要不然就享受Datura有名的精神錯亂幻覺吧！

My First Scholarship

Me at the Undergraduate Award Ceremony (May 9, 2013) receiving my Hilldale Award (the first scholarship in my life), with the chancellor, Mr. David Ward. I received the scholarship for my research project on the Manduca juvenile hormone binding protein.

 

 

Me and my two friends from the Department of Entomology.

The Two Assumptions of Heritability Studies

Evolution cannot occur without at least some traits being heritable. Heritability is a measure of parent-offspring resemblance; so a trait with high heritability has a high genetic component to it, right?
No.

This is one strange and paradoxical thing about heredity studies: heritability is defined as something specific to a certain population in certain circumstances. It is neither a property of an individual nor a property of a trait.

In parent-offspring correlation studies, heritability is simply the slope that measures the resemblance between the average trait value of the two parents and the trait value of the offspring. In twin studies, heritability is the correlation between the trait values of the twins.

From my reading about scientific and philosophical articles on heritability, I figured that two assumptions are implied in those studies without even being mentioned:
(1) Parents and offspring always resemble, instead of differ from, each other. (In other word, the slope of heritability on the parent-offspring graph is always positive.)
(2) Heritability can never equal to zero. This is because of how the math works out. Heritability is a correlation: a covariance over the product of two standard deviations. Covariances and standard deviations are always positive numbers.

Think about it: pick any measurable trait, its heritability will be a non-zero positive number, even if in reality it does not have genetic component. So what does heritability really tell us?

What would our evolution looks like if parents and offspring always tend to differ, not resemble, each other? Would we evolve backwards? Within one generation, the evolutionary response in the offspring will shift in the opposite direction as the selective pressure; however, the response will be cancelled in the grand-offspring generation under the same selective pressure. Just thinking about this weird scenario gave me a giggle fit in my philosophy-biology class.

Dumpling Making (Chinese New Year)

I posted those photos on Facebook, but they could only be seemed by group members so I'm posting them here so other people can see them. Those are not all the photos, though.

February 16, 2013: Chinese New Year celebration - dumpling making with oSTEM

It took a long time just to cut the pork and the cabbage.

We enjoyed it. One of the girls said, there is not a thing we added in the dumpling that I don't like.

I was so prepared in my Chinese shirt. I was teaching ancient Chinese secret! LOL

I think he really had fun chopping the pork.

Good arm exercise. :D

Why that expression? LOL

My friends were amazing. We made about a hundred dumplings. It was their first time making dumplings, they learned it by just watching me once, and none of the dumplings broke after boiling.

"My mind just had a little imploding (when I saw how a dumpling is folded)," he said.

It was so delicious! I was so happy and proud! :D

I let them try different sauces. I had soy sauce, white vinegar, sesame oil, chili oil, and spicy bean sauce. They love it, even the spicy bean sauce. It must be a very different taste to them.

She was vegetarian, so she made a batch of vegetarian dumplings.

I think dumpling making is a great New Year tradition to carry on, isn't it?