JASON Project, Chief Rain Forest Scientist

Director of Research at Selby Gardens in Sarasota, Florida

2. Education and Professional Training: I received my B.A. from Williams College in Massachusetts, my M.Sc. from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, and my Ph.D. in botany from the University of Sydney in Australia. After earning my Ph.D., I spent several years as a college professor in Australia and in the United States, and am now working at Selby Gardens.

3. Mission on the JASON Project: I study the interaction between plants and insects in the canopy layer of forests. During the JASON Project, I plan to collect and identify insect herbivores in the canopy of a rain forest. This will assist me in determining how large the herbivore insect population is and how it affects the rate of defoliation of the leaves there. I am trying to compare the rate of herbivore defoliation in different tropical rain forests, not only in the Old World (Australia and Africa) but also in rain forests in the New World (Panama, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Peru, and Belize). This will be the first time that I have worked in Belize, so I am interested in finding out what kinds of insects are there, and the extent of defoliation. Part of my research concerns a question about how the insects eat the leaves: For example, do the insects eat a whole leaf out of every four leaves, or do they eat one-quarter of every leaf? And does this affect the survival of the tree? I will be working with botanists and entomologists to answer this question. In addition, I will be assisting the students involved in the JASON Project in a biodiversity study of the rain forest, to compare this area with other rain forests in the world. For this study, I will be working with ornithologists and herpetologists also. However, I feel my main mission during the JASON Project is to help make a difference in the lives of some young people who might be interested in pursuing science. I hope it might mean that kids will saGeee, I can do that too, because my life is not a whole lot different from what her life was!Ó

4. How much time do you think you have spent in a tree? I have spent about 5 days a month for the last 10 years in trees, which comes out to 600 days. I also spend probably another 10 days a month at the base of the tree looking up.

5. What made you decide to be a scientist? I guess I was probably very small when I was first interested in science. I can remember as a kid collecting everything from rocks to shells to buds on the trees, and I had piles and piles of my stuff in my bedroom, including a bids' nest collection. This collection always brought the mice into the house, and my Mom did not appreciate that very muchÑbut she was kind enough to let me get away with it. So I guess at a young age I developed an interest in nature through those collections and always thought I wanted to pursue that kind of study.

6. You decided to be a scientist at a young age. Was this something you thought about as you went through school? I can remember doing essays on Audubon and Rachel Carson and Marie Curie when I think we probably had a choice of any figure in history. And I can remember being the only kid in my class to enter the state science fair. And everyone else that was in the fair from other schools was doing electricity and I made a wildflower collection. So I think I always was much more interested in that subject and was able to apply it in different ways. Most of the little poems that Mom saved from when I was little in school had something to do with natureÑor snowflakes, when I had to talk about winter or something like that. So it was definitely always on my mind.

7. How did you know what to do, such as collecting and labeling flowers? I got books out of the library a lot. My parents have absolutely no science background, but they were patient enough to encourage me in the ways they could, which was through reading and going to movies that came through town. I liked art and I liked doing things that were artistic. Collecting is kind of an application of art, because you oftentimes are struck with how to display them, so that they can be interpreted by people that look at themÑ and, of course, I had all my brothers and cousins who could come and look.

8. Did you take a lot of science classes in high school? I went to a large public high school in upstate New York that din't have a lot of extras to offer; so in actual fact, I din't really have very much. We had general biology, chemistry, and physics, and that was it. So I did do some funny, weird things. My friends all thought I was quite silly. I joined the Audubon Society in our home town. I think I was the only member under age 60, but I learned a lot of natural history from that group of older people. And I was lucky enough to go to a summer camp that specialized in natural science. The Director of that camp provided more science education than I actually got from my school.

9. When you were growing up, who were your heroes? I guess I really was inspired by Rachel Carson, Harriet Tubman, and John Audubon. Rachel Carson was a pioneer woman in science, and Audubon brought birds alive for me. Harriet Tubman led African Americans moss on the north sides of the trees. Harriet Tubman, in essence, was a pioneer field naturalist. I on't remember at the time being overwhelmed by the number of women, because most of the natural history people were mainly men. I think Charles Darwin is exciting for any kid w's interested in natural history: traveling around the world in a little tiny ship is pretty incredible.

10. Why do you think young people should study science? I think that science is the machinery of the earth. I think is the way things work, and tat is exciting. It is important to understand the bigger picture of our planet and where we live, how it functions, what we do to it, and how that will have an impact. So it seems to me to be a backbone for everything else, such as the humanities or other studies.

11. Why are you involved with the JASON Project? Dr. Lowman has taught students from age 6 through adults.] Because I think it' a wonderful concept and I'm totall devoted to the fact that we need to input more enthusiasm and interest in science at a young age. Having been involved in teaching quite a bit myself, I've seen kids that have already formulated their ideas about science by the time they become teenagers.

12. If you wern't in your profession, what would you be? I used to run a bed and breakfast lodge on a sheep station in Australia. It was challenging, but did not enable me to utilize my energy directly toward my underlying concerns for conservation of our rain forests.

13. Do you think your job is fun? And why? I think my job is great fun. I feel very blessed to enjoy my work. I think my job is never-ending, and full of long hours, but I think the rewards are great becauseI'm totally devoted to the concept of understanding our ecosystem and our planet and to using that understanding to make this planet better for my children and their children.

14. How do your kids describe your job? What do they think of what you do? [Dr. Lowman has two sons, ages six and eight.] My kids think that Mommy will help to save the rain forest, and thy are very proud of that. And even though tht's a fairly daunting task, it gives me a lot of enthusiasm that they are so interested. I enjoy talking in their school classes because I think all kids at that age are very concerned about the environment.

15. If a student wants someday to do what you do, what can he or she do to prepare? I think they should be learning good powers of observation. Every time you look into nature or even walk to school, you get an opportunity to learn how to observe better. Students must also concentrate on their studies, because obviously school provides chances to learn how to see, how to comprehend, and how to process facts. All of this training is really useful when you get out into a treetop and you have to make interesting decisions without anyone else around.

16. If you had one message for students, what would it be? My message for students would reflect what I think are the most important things for them to do and think about in the future. One is to observe, and one is to conserve. They dn't rhyme on purpose. Observation and conservation are two things that students can do, that they can learn from, and that they can use to build upon a future of solid scientific education for themselves and for the world.

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Gene Carl Feldman (gene@seawifs.gsfc.nasa.gov) (301) 286-9428
Todd Carlo Viola, JASON Foundation for Education (todd@jason.org)