seedjar
Let's positive thinking!
So, I'm trying to come up with a list of topics for a short presentation on CPs (15-30 minutes I'm guessing) aimed mostly at those with a high-school level science background or higher. Some of the things I want to talk about are the prehensile movement of Nepenthes tendrils, the mechanism of VFT leaves, contrast of hunting strategies in Drosera and Drosophyllum, and symbiosis of pitcher plants with local fauna (ants and N. bicalcurata, birds and N. lowii, frogs and Heliamphora, spiders and Sarracenia.) I'll also probably go over the standard talking points of cultivation, range, and trapping mechanisms.
For the past month or so I've been poking around the labs at my college, looking for biology and botany professors interested in CPs. I was hoping to start a college club or something after hearing lots of interest from my classmates and friends visiting my home. One of the professors I spoke with actually invited me to come in and speak to her class early this fall. The class is called Introduction to Natural Sciences; it's a 48 credit, year-long program encompassing elementary physics, biology and chemistry. It's designed to be the primer course for students in scientific inquiry (besides weird math people like me) and is basically the must-have class for biology and chemistry studies at my school (both big programs.) It has a reputation as the most difficult and rigorous course that's commonly offered to first-year students. I'm a little intimidated, to be honest, but I feel it would be stupid to turn down such a generous invitation.
Does anyone have any other ideas about bio-science-y topics to throw in? I think it might be interesting to discuss some of the mimicry that goes on with CPs, like the scents of pitcher plants or the inviting appearance of certain Drosera and other plants, but I'm not sure I have enough details to satisfy scientist types on those phenomena. Any recommended reading?
Thanks,
~Joe
For the past month or so I've been poking around the labs at my college, looking for biology and botany professors interested in CPs. I was hoping to start a college club or something after hearing lots of interest from my classmates and friends visiting my home. One of the professors I spoke with actually invited me to come in and speak to her class early this fall. The class is called Introduction to Natural Sciences; it's a 48 credit, year-long program encompassing elementary physics, biology and chemistry. It's designed to be the primer course for students in scientific inquiry (besides weird math people like me) and is basically the must-have class for biology and chemistry studies at my school (both big programs.) It has a reputation as the most difficult and rigorous course that's commonly offered to first-year students. I'm a little intimidated, to be honest, but I feel it would be stupid to turn down such a generous invitation.
Does anyone have any other ideas about bio-science-y topics to throw in? I think it might be interesting to discuss some of the mimicry that goes on with CPs, like the scents of pitcher plants or the inviting appearance of certain Drosera and other plants, but I'm not sure I have enough details to satisfy scientist types on those phenomena. Any recommended reading?
Thanks,
~Joe