The natural world—its wonders and perils—was on full display in the latest George Washington University science-focused conversation hosted by the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences (CCAS).
Three CCAS Department of Biology professors joined moderator CCAS Dean Paul Wahlbeck and an audience that included faculty and students for a tour of their field research sites—from caterpillar colonies in Rock Creek Park to coastal bays along the mid-Atlantic to extreme environments like hot springs, caves and hydrothermal vents near volcanoes and along the ocean floor.
During a wide-ranging discussion that even touched on the scholars’ fantasy time travel destinations, the panelists addressed topics like engaging the public in scientific inquiries and understanding how the environment shapes life—and life shapes it back.
“We all depend on the same ecosystems. There is no planet B,” said Associate Professor of Biology Keryn Gedan, who appeared on the January 21 panel with Professor of Biology John Lill and Assistant Professor of Biology Jimmy Saw. “We’re all living on the same earth.”
The event, titled “Bays, Bugs and Bacteria: The Ecology of Survival,” highlighted each of the professors’ research fields.
Gedan, who specializes in tidal wetland ecology and conservation biology, works primarily along the Chesapeake Bay. She investigates how climate change factors, particularly sea-level rise and saltwater intrusion, are altering natural coastlines. “People depend on those ecosystems and the change is happening right now before our eyes,” Gedan said.
Lill studies the interactions between plants and insects—“an endless loop of ecology and evolutionary biology,” as he described it—that shape diversity within ecosystems. He looks at ecological relationships through a complicated lens where plants and insects rely on each other for food, habitats and evolutionary advancements. “When species interact, they don’t do so in a vacuum,” he said.
Saw explores the diversity, ecology and evolution of microbes in extreme habitats. Often traveling to volcanic sites in Hawaii and terrestrial hot springs across the western United States, he collects microbes that exist in conditions resembling Earth at the dawn of life. “These are environments where it is really difficult for humans to survive yet we see microbes thriving there,” he said.
Throughout years of research, each of the panelists said they’ve continued to see surprising phenomena in their field. Lill, for example, has discovered new insect species in the well-trodden suburbs around Washington, D.C.
Indeed, each new discovery reminds the researchers of the impact of their field on the natural world and its relationship to humankind. As forests are subsumed into marshes, Gedan stressed the devastating effects for stakeholders like farmers, landowners and weekend recreationists from birdwatchers to kayakers. She also underscored that tidal marshes are crucial “carbon sinks”—systems that absorb more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than they release and play key roles in mitigating climate change.
Likewise, Saw said extreme-environment microbes serve as evolutionary models for modern habitats that are increasingly subject to harsh conditions. And Lill noted that the plant-animal interactions he studies form the basis for pest management mechanisms, modern medicine and drug development.
“Medicine, agriculture, forestry—these are all impacted by plant interactions,” he said.
Past and present
Throughout the event, the panelists talked about their passion for their work—from the beginnings of their research journeys to passing on their reverence for science and nature to students, “our next generation of scientists, who are going to be the next pioneers and leaders,” Saw said.
Lill joked that he “got the bug” for ecology as a graduate student leading undergraduates through insect collection field sweeps. “I knew almost nothing about insects at the time,” he recalled. But while viewing his students’ samples under his lab microscope, Lill was awestruck by the tapestry of diversity among specimens. “I was hooked,” he said. “I had to know more about them.”
Gedan began her scientific career by working in marshes and tidal wetlands—settings she described as “buggy, hot and muddy.” But she quickly discovered that she was unbothered by nuisances like poison ivy and mosquitoes. “We have a saying that you don’t pick the marsh—the marsh picks you,” she laughed.
Over time, their fields have seen significant shifts both in the environmental questions they ask and the techniques they use to answer them. Gedan’s students now employ drones and machine learning tools to document the creeping advance of ghost forests—swaths of standing dead freshwater-dependent trees that can’t survive in salty marshes. Likewise, the powerful handheld sequencing devices Saw carries to caves and volcanic terrain are so portable—the size of a USB drive—that they have flown on the International Space Station. “I could have never imagined [this technology] happening in my lifetime,” he said.
Outreach and discovery
From his standpoint, Lill says his students have encouraged him to make human-caused environmental changes a central focus of his scholarship. “They really opened my eyes…and pushed my research in new directions,” he said.
Wahlbeck applauded the panelists’ commitment to “student-faculty interaction” and community outreach efforts. Lill, for example, hosts lectures and field trips for retirees and nature study groups. His “Caterpillar Roadshow,” a 20-year collaboration with area scholars, brings “an entire zoo of locally collected caterpillars to school children,” he said. “It doesn’t take much for kids to get excited. Sometimes [it takes] just one encounter where their imagination is sparked.”
The speakers even revealed their dream time travel sites. Saw speculated on witnessing life originate four billion years ago. Gedan said she’d tour the Last Glacial Maximum—more than 20,000 years ago—to see the salt marshes form as the glaciers receded. And Lill pondered visiting his D.C. field sites in the pre-Colonial era to observe the diversity of insects before human settlers arrived.
But the panelists were most excited about the future—returning to their field studies when the winter snow thaws and their research cycles begin again. “I cannot wait for the spring flowers to start blooming,” Lill said. “Every year [brings] a new field season and new discoveries that my students are going to make. That’s the best part of my job.”