Environmental Studies

Christie Jackson '97 is a BENV major working in Dr. Carol Folt's lab studying copepods. This is an essay she wrote last month for a contest sponsored by The Collaboration for Equity: Fairness in Mathematics and Science.

Dr. Seuss once said: "Oh the places you'll go! The people you'll meet!" This is how I view science: it doesn't just try to answer questions about nature: it is your ticket to explore areas and places and meet people you never would have thought possible.

Ever since I can remember I wanted to be a fish, or at least to study one. This passion spilled over as I became interested in all marine and freshwater life: if it was born in, contained by, or flourished beneath water, I was questioning it. What lived attached to the jetty rocks and why? What caused the warm seas to have a vivid aqua tint	I wanted to be the female equivalent to Jacques Cousteau. Over the years I have been on a journey to do just that.
compared to the deeper blues of colder water? I wanted to be the female equivalent to Jacques Cousteau. Over the years I have been on a journey to do just that. My adventures have taken me from the Great Lakes, to the oceans of Central America, to the inland ponds of New England, to the deep seas of the Atlantic.

Did you ever think about what lives in water? Not the water you drink, but in lakes and streams, rivers and ponds? A lot of people will answer: "Oh, that's easy, fish!" That is true, but there are a lot more critters swimming around than you might initially think. Creatures that when you look into water you might only see just that, water, but, if you take the water and look at it under the microscope, a circus of organisms explodes!

I started my adventure working in an aquatics lab in Wisconsin during high school, exploring ingestion studies of a protozoan based on bacterial size and shape. I know you are asking: "And what does THAT mean??" Well, it would be like if I gave you a hamburger and hot dog and asked you to tell the difference between them and which one you liked more. (I did this in a slightly more complicated manner though!) At my own bench I zoomed around the lab, sometimes looking vaguely similar to something out of Dr. Frankenstein's lab, with pipettes of solutions from stock chemical bottles strewn around the room, enormous $10,000 microscopes, agar plates full of bacteria in bright pink and white colonies, and dripping beakers of filtering water.

On first glance, the water samples seemed to be void of, well anything; then under the careful eye of the microscope, the water blossomed with life! One shouldn't underestimate the sea's "invisible" lively organisms and chemical components that set the stage for all of life to flourish under the water's surface. Protozoans zoom around like bumper cars frantically waving their cilia for propulsion. Tiny rotifers spinning around like tops. In one small beaker of water, you could have more than 50 different organisms! And they say good things come in small packages. (Never thought you could be able to use that cliche on something aquatic, did you!)

My love of the water has taken me beyond my home in Wisconsin to programs all over the world. One time I remember sailing in Nova Scotia while doing science research. I was on night bow-watch, which meant I had to be on the lookout for ships and other random floating objects. This night, however, was calm; only one light seemed to float on the horizon, sea and sky not distinguishable in the black abyss. The wind was cool against my cheek and the salt water spray from the waves left a gritty film over my eyelashes and rain slicker. As I stood at the bow, I began to sing to keep myself company, as it was dark and quiet. The moon's reflection cast dancing rays of light on the black velvet waves. The ship gently bobbed, in rhythm with the sea.

All of the sudden, as I was half-way through "Cecilia" by Simon and Garfunkel, I heard what I can only describe as high-pitch laughing and the crashing of waves. I gingerly peered over the front of the ship (careful not to fall over). What did I see? Four dolphins playing in the waves hitting the hull of the ship. I was in awe. Now, what happened next

you may call corny, or call me mad, but really what happened can only be described as the magic of the sea. I stopped singing to look at the dolphins and as I did so, they seemed to stop jumping out of the water as before. I sat with an inquisitive brow, wondering why they stopped

What did I see? Four dolphins playing in the waves hitting the hull of the ship. I was in awe.

playing. I shrugged my shoulders and started up my singing again. Almost on cue, the dolphins began leaping out of the water, their slick shiny bodies shimmering like polished silver in the moon's light. Bioluminescent marine organisms sparked liked lightening bugs upon the dolphins backs, fireworks of the sea (bioluminescent organism glow a bright green when the water moves). A light breeze carried their jovial calls and my voice in an intertwined serenade to Neptune's realm. I was so in awe, so happy, that tears of joy ran down my face. Is this where my science love lead me? To be able to explore and admire the sea? Yes! A resounding yes!

Not only did my love of marine biology take me to bask with watchful eye the ocean from above, but also, my passion took me far below to the depths. I became a certified scuba diver in order to be "one with the fish," so to speak. I was able to put my skills to work by studying in Jamaica for a month at a laboratory there. Everyday, we would get to dive

Instead of looking into a fish tank, you are IN the fish tank.

down 40, 50, even 60 feet. When you first dive, the natural reaction is not to breath, face it, we have been taught that humans can't breath under water; yet, with SCUBA you

can! At depth all you hear is the slow steady sucking echo as you inhale, and the gentle bubbling "gurgle" as you exhale. The only other sound is the low-pitch crunching of fish as they gnaw at the coral, capturing organisms living on the surface. How does it feel to dive? Instead of looking into a fish tank, you are IN the fish tank. Jellyfish seem almost poetic in their effortless hovering with tendrils flying behind like kites upon the wind. Flounders lay-low and allude all, sneaky and deceptive in their camouflaged sand-color skin. It's an amazing collage of colors and shapes!

Once I was studying Christmas tree worm, which look like pink, brown, and yellow pine trees, but are small enough to sit on your thumb and close up like an umbrella if you venture too close. I was poking my head in-between a few rocks suspended upside-down just like you would be in space. I stuck my head a little too far into a hole, only to have a moray eel spring out at my nose, which it must have thought was lunch. I jerked back in surprise. I was not scared, but in awe of the mysteries that every coral, every rock, every bit of sand or overhang held. Amazing, simply amazing!

Now, I am working in a more tame setting, in a lab studying copepods which are very small and very frisky aquatic organisms which are at the base of the food chain. Every week I go out sampling in a local pond which is surrounded by the mountains in a grove of pine and maple trees. I especially like it in autumn when the hues of gold, rust, and orange reflect on the calm water's surface, almost like a Monet painting. I go out and take measurements of temperature, oxygen levels, visibility, and the creatures that lurk

My philosophy for science has taken me far: for each question that you can study there is an opportunity for you to explore and answer it, you just need to reach out.

below the surface. Besides almost occasionally falling out of the rowboat or the occasional fish flopping out of the water, its peaceful and serene. I then go back to the lab and quantify the organisms in the samples. Even a small pond has a delicate balance of biological and chemical conditions which offers more wonderful research opportunities than you can imagine by the surface. And remember that saying: can't judge a book by its cover? (yes, the cliche strikes again!)

My philosophy for science has taken me far: for each question that you can study there is an opportunity for you to explore and answer it, you just need to reach out. With my experiences, I have been able to reach out for my dreams and take hold: the ride has taken me from the depths of the oceans at 60 feet to the surface lakes, from the limited confines of a small pond, to the limitless expanses of the Atlantic, from creatures that looked at me with fierce eyes to creatures I needed a microscope eye to behold. To borrow the phrase from Dr. Seuss once more, I would like to alter it, ever so slightly and say: "With Science, oh the places you'll go! The people you'll meet!" Explore! There is a great realm of knowledge and adventure waiting for your questions!