SerendipityPapers
Serendipitous points are another opportunity you have to participate in biology-related events outside of class. There are various science seminars and forums held at BYU during the semester. These events should have some connection to biology and what we have discussed in class. Attend at least 3 and respond with a .5page write-up. Only one of the events attended can be a campus devotional, but as many as you choose can be a campus forum.
Each paper must contain two parts. The first section should be a short summary of what was talked about and the second should be your thoughts on how it relates to biology or some principle we have been discussing in class. Bring a copy to class and give it to a TA. Serendipity assignments are worth 10% of your grade in the class.
Feel free to find other lectures outside of BYU that would still fit the criteria. If you find out about anything on or off campus, please email so we (the TAs) can announce it to the whole class. However, it would probably be a good idea to check with your TA first to see if it will work. Following, is a general outline of what will be expected:
Name:
Lecture Date:
Lecturer:
(This is where you write about what you learned during the lecture) Last Thursday I was able to go to a guest lecture discussing the peregrine falcons. By the 1800’s humans saw any predator as a competitor and started putting lots of money into killing these beautiful creatures. During the war messenger-pidgins were used but the flacons would eat the pidgins so people killed them until there was only 30% of the original number. After WWII scientists came up with DDT to stop malaria, but the structure is such that it dissolves in fat. That means it goes from your fat to your bloodstream, and then to the brain. There will always be deposits of it in your brain because we all have probably eaten pesticide-inflicted food. In falcons it causes the bird to lose its ability to put calcium in their eggs and they aren’t able to recognize sex hormones. These factors cause the birds to have trouble reproducing.
Falcons are philopatric which technically means love of homeland. This means that they will usually go back and live in the place that they feel most comfortable or the place where they grew up. Nests can usually be found on cliff ledges or in trees where they are white deposits. Peregrine falcons don’t make their own nests but find varieties anywhere. They aren’t afraid of helicopters either because the falcons don’t view them as a threat yet.
(This is where you are able to apply it to the class and biology in general) It was really interesting to listen to that speaker because he was talking about helping out and studying this creature that he obviously has a lot of feeling for. I have been interested in a job that works with animals and studies them so this was interesting to see.
Sometimes it is so hard to see what will affect different species and ecosystems. This was interesting to hear about because we have been studying ecosystems and the importance of species diversity. If we don’t take care of every species then the balance of life would be disrupted.