Blobs at Puffer's Pond Enlighten the Search for Early Life on Earth
Professor of geosciences Lynn Margulis presents "Puffer's Pond: What's Happening of Great Scientific Importance" on Monday, October 17, at 6:30 p.m. in the Student Union Ballroom at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The talk is the second in the Honors Faculty Lecture Series sponsored by UMass' Commonwealth Honors College.
Puffer's Pond, a popular site for Amherst locals and visitors alike, offers a range of recreational opportunities including fishing, canoeing, swimming, and nature walking. But when Margulis, a Distinguished University Professor, looks at Puffer's Pond she sees beyond its idyllic setting. For her,Amherst's largest open body of water presents a local example of worldwide environmental destruction.
The trees surrounding Puffer's Pond grow massive sets of blobs which, Margulis explains, carry important lessons in how life is sustained and thrives. The blobs are actually a kind of animal likely supported by a metabolic process that has been occurring for hundreds of millionsof years. The blobs undergo a kind of bacterial photosynthesis that does not give off oxygen. They sometimes appear a bright red color under water.
In her talk, Margulis shows how the presence of these blobs demonstrates utter dependence on the process of bacterial photosynthesis for the food we eat and the oxygen we breathe. In a culture that perceives bacteria as "enemy agents" worthy of total destruction, the concept that bacteria need to be permanently eliminated, she says, displays arrogant and dangerous ignorance.
"We view our environment as a dispensable resource and use it mindlessly, yet it is what supports us for food, energy, and breathable air. Our attitudes toward our environment are killing us and our own ancestors," Margulis says.
Margulis is best known for her theory of symbiogenesis, which challenges central tenets of neo-Darwinism. She is cited for her contribution to the Gaia hypothesis, the concept that the Earth and its living beings function as a self-regulating system. A UMass faculty member since 1988, her publications span topics from cell biology to microbial evolution. Margulis has authored and co-authored many articles and books, including Symbiotic Planet: A New Look at Evolution and Acquiring Genomes: A Theory of the Origin of the Species. Most recently, with UMass alumnus Michael J. Chapman, she has written Kingdoms & Domains: An Illustrated Guide to the Phyla of Life on Earth. Margulis has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences and received the National Medal of Science from US President William Clinton.
Commonwealth Honors College introduced its Faculty Lecture Series during the spring 2011 semester in recognition of university faculty who have made significant contributions to research or creative activity. Through lectures that highlight academic excellence and scholarship, these faculty share their ideas and insight with honors students in sessions open to the campus community.
Many of the talks in the faculty lecture series relate to themes in "Ideas that Changed the World," the Honors Seminar in which honors students examine books and other works that have profoundly shaped the world we live in. The texts in this class and the related faculty lectures are meant to be exemplary for students who have the potential themselves to achieve outstanding things.
This semester's series continues with two additional lectures:
Sut Jhally, Professor, Communication
"Advertising and the End of the World"
November 7, 2011, 6:30 p.m., Campus Center Auditorium
Nicholas McBride, Associate Professor, Journalism
November 29, 2011, 6:30 p.m., Campus Center Auditorium