On 12 Nov 1998, Ross Koning wrote:
> >How do we defend our profession?
>> I address this question in my first lecture in
> all my courses...usually rephrased as why study
> botany? When you think about our food, our oxygen,
> fossil fuels (and products), electricity, rubber,
> flavors, fragrances, medicines...well I guess
> you get my drift.
>> My website has a better list.
I don't really disagree with you Ross, but we ask our students to learn
all sorts of things about how organisms evolve, reproduce, make a living
energetically, express genes, solve problems of heat and water balance,
maintain homeostasis, transduce signals from the environment into changes
in gene expression, etc. All organisms do these things _including_
plants. In my mind plants and animals are a whole lot more similar than
they are different. I hope our students don't get the impression that
biology is about animals and the plants that serve them.
Jon
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Jonathan Monroe
Associate Professor
Department of Biology
MSC 7801
James Madison University
Harrisonburg, VA 22807
voice: 540-568-6649 (office)
540-568-6045 (lab)
fax: 540-568-3333
e-mail: monroejd at jmu.edu
csm.jmu.edu/biology/monroejd/jmonroe.html
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