February 2011

Feb. 1: Chris Field announced the outstanding news that Anna Michalak has decided to join DGE as a faculty member, beginning around June 1.  Anna will bring an exciting program focused on spatial analysis of carbon and water resources.  She joins us from the University of Michigan, where she is Associate Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Field & Berry Groups

Feb. 7: Matt Colgan led the discussion of these two early papers about the movement of water through plants: Sap Pressure in Vascular Plants. Negative hydrostatic pressure can be measured in plants. P.F. Scholander et al, Science,16 April 1965 pg. 339 and The Measurement of the Turgor Pressure and the Water Relations of Plants by the Pressure-bomb Technique by M.T. Tyree & H.T. Hammel in the J. Exp. Botany, 23, pp. 267, 1972. Terms clarified were water potential, pressure plates, turgor pressure, & the pressure bomb.
Tasting: Matt brought five brands of Coconut Water & a fresh coconut from Whole Foods plus some watermelon slices. We compared the flavor of the five commercial products with the fresh water extracted from the coconut. None were as good, and the coconut was a better buy also ($2.67).
Feb. 8, Chris Field and Joe Berry gave a lecture on plants, water and soil relations followed by a Field Trip to Jasper Ridge.
Feb. 14: Olle Bjorkman (Emeritus Faculty in the Dept. Plant Biology) told us about the beginnings of Plant Physiological Ecology starting with his PhD Thesis work at the Univ. Uppsala, Sweden that was published in Physiologia Plantarum, 16, 1963. The title was Adaptability of the Photosynthetic Apparatus to Light Intensity in Ecotypes from Exposed and Shaded Habitats by Bjorkman & Paul Holmgren. Soon after that Olle moved here to head the Group previously led by Bill Hiesey and including Malcolm Nobs, Joe Berry and later Chris Field.
Feb. 28: Rebecca Hernandez led the discussion of a 1977 paper by I.R. Cowan & G.D. Farquhar titled Stomatal Function in Relation to Leaf Metabolism and Environment reprinted from the Society for Experimental Biology Symposium No. XXXI, Cambridge Univ. Press. Both Chris Field & Joe Berry contributed to the discussion from their personal knowledge of the authors and development of plant science at the time. It was the beginning of the important realization of the roles that stomata play in controlling the movement of water based on economic principles.
Tasting:  Becca’s title for this event was Dark Organic Chocolate Tasting: across a cost and sustainability gradient. She had purchased (online or at Whole Foods Market) seven different brands of chocolate bars including six organic, half Fair Trade, and varying in price from $1.184/oz to $2.152/oz. The Tasting was carried out much as it is with wine; paying attention to appearance, smell & touch in addition to taste. I personally liked the Theo brand best. It is medium in price, 70% Cacao with a rich, dark chocolate flavor (all were slightly sweetened). As Chris pointed out “Chocolate has been a favorite item to taste over the years.” But I don’t recall one that was so professionally done.