Essays

Moseying: Exploring the Natural World

Angelo State University Biology Department
February 5, 2003

The definition of daytripping keeps expanding for me. Sometimes a chore can become an adventure. I recently visited Angelo State University (ASU) to donate some of my mother’s ornithological papers and her scientific journal collection to the university. I had made an appointment with Dr. Terry Maxwell. As a teenager impassioned with the study of birds, Maxwell drove from San Angelo to Midland a number of times during the early 1960’s to go birdwatching with Midlanders Frances Williams, Anne Lesassier, and Ola Dublin Haynes. The three were among the founding members of the Texas Ornithological Society, and the closest members to San Angelo.

I was in the back seat of the car on those birdwatching field trips of the early 1960’s. In first grade when I talked about watching birds the other kids had laughed at me. Until then I had not realized that not every mom spent hours in the field, carefully taking notes, picking up roadkilled birds for study skins (prepared by then U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service permittee Midlander Jim Henderson,) or even camping out thirty to fifty nights a year. Being laughed at is a terrible thing, and I had become somewhat embarrassed by my mom’s passion. I felt a lot better about it, however, by spending time with a really cool teenager who thought birdwatching was so wonderful he drove 200 miles roundtrip just to wander around for a day with my mother and her friends.

Dr. Maxwell most generously spent over an hour with me. He showed me ASU’s impressive scientific natural history collections. As an ASU brochure explains, “natural history collections are preserved, documented, and curated assemblages that are essential to the documentation of the organisms that impact human activities. They characterize and define the ecosystems on which we depend.” ASU’s collections are the fourth largest in the state, and the bird collection is third in size. Only the Texas A&M and ASU bird collections are actively growing.

The Biology Department of ASU annually receives hundreds of requests for information. “The administration of the university considers outreach important,” Maxwell said. “We receive calls from farmers and ranchers, health officials, Texas and Parks and Wildlife, the National Park Service, interested citizens, and natural resource services employees. We also give tours of the collections to school kids, and often give presentations to civic groups.”

As we toured the collections, Dr. Maxwell introduced me to mammalogist Dr. Robert Dowler. Dr. Dowler is directing research on two species of skunks. One species, the hognosed has been declining throughout most of its range (but not in west Texas.) Spotted skunks have undergone almost no research, as well. “Eleven spotted skunks are wearing our radio collars right now. So little is known about them – we are still working on baseline information – such as the size of their territories. They are 2 a.m. critters, so most folks do not even know they live here.”

I asked, “What determines which species is studied?”

Dr. Maxwell answered. “Our research is often dictated by funding dollars. Money is most often available for species that impact human endeavors, or by endangered species concerns. In the last thirty years we have conducted thorough studies on approximately fifty species of organisms. A master’s student will often conduct two years of field studies, and we encourage other students to follow up on the first set of studies. The more research done, the more questions we develop. We are always discovering something new, something never before understood about a species. That thrill makes biologists impassioned about their work.” Dr. Dowler excused himself, heading to teach a class as Dr. Maxwell pulled out a cabinet drawer.

“Look at this – this is the second hybrid of the painted and varied bunting ever found! It is larger than both of its parent species. Why? How often does this hybridization occur? Why does it occur? Why is the varied bunting’s range moving north? We know the painted bunting has declined in numbers due to the destruction of its winter range – so does that have something to do with the hybridization?”

Dr. Maxwell kept pulling cabinet drawers out, and showing me the collections of different species. “ Look at the variation of plumages in these spotted towhees.” He opened another drawer. “We are finding black-throated sparrows in deciduous shrub mixed with juniper – it is most common in the creosote-bush habitat, and also in catlaw acacia and catclaw mimosa habitat. Is the utilization of the juniper habitat new? Or have we missed it? If it is a new behavior – why? Is it because of the long drought and a lack of food in its regular habitat?”

We wandered through the “catacombs” of the basement of the Raymond Cavness Science Building, to the herpetological collection and to the equipment room for the department. Traps of a dozen different styles filled shelves there. Dr. Maxwell unlocked a door at the back of the room, walked through a small anteroom with more equipment, and unlocked yet another door.

“I wanted to show you our dermestid beetle colony. They are hard at work, cleaning the flesh off of some our most recent specimens.” I sneezed in response to the acrid odor of dried flesh and beetle frass. We continued on, to the specimen preparation room. He picked up a fresh study skin of a green kingfisher from the Devil’s River. “This beautiful guy got hung up on a net. Sometimes there is quite a backlog here. It takes a while for everything to be labeled and catalogued.”

We ended the tour in the herbarium. An undergraduate student held the door open for us, and after introductions, the young man deferentially said, “This room isn’t too exciting – just fifty thousand specimens of dried plants mounted on paper.” Dr. Maxwell’s enthusiastic tour had infected me, so I answered, “For me it’s exciting. I know every one of those sheets tells dozens of stories – the story of the collector, and the day of the collection, it tells stories of where plants grow, and how much variety one species exhibits – an herbarium can tell the story of ecological changes over time.”

I broke off when Dr. Maxwell started laughing. “Mr. Garcia,” he said, “ a biologist is never bored – we are usually the most enthusiastic and positive-minded people around – what can be learned about the natural world is endless. You better watch out, I’ll be convincing you to change your major!”