Profile

• Time Zone

  Eastern

  
  
• Organization

  RJ Burnside & Associates Limited

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  I am interested in plant ecology and terrestrial vegetation ecosystems. In particular I am interested in wetland ecology and in plant-pollinator interactions.

  
  
• Profile Question 1

  Do you have advice for students about preparing for a science career?

  
  
• Answer the question you selected for profile question 1 here (300 words):

  My advice for students preparing for a science career is to truly love your work and make it a part of your life. Science careers are demanding on your time and of your mind, and are not always immediately rewarding. If you love what you are doing, and don't see it as just a job or a way to make money, it won't feel like difficult work and you will reap the rewards of a science career.

  
  
• Profile Question 2

  What is the coolest thing you have discovered or learned about plants?

  
  
• Answer the question you selected for profile question 2 here (300 words):

  I have to say the the coolest things I have learned about plants have always been the various and creative ways that they reproduce. From wind pollinated plants that have morphologies to create a vortex to "suck" in pollen, to traps to attach pollen packets to insects, to hooks and barbs to have seeds hitch a ride on passers by, plant reproduction is truly fascinating.

  
  
• Profile Question 3

  When and why did you decide to go into a science career?

  
  
• Answer the question you selected for profile question 3 here (300 words):

  I think I always knew I would be a scientist, I just didn't know what kind. As a young child I was fascinated with rocks, plants, dinosaurs, clouds, bugs...you name it. I knew I wanted to be at botanist/ecologist when I took botany in 2nd year of University. It was so interesting, easy and enjoyable to me, it didn't feel like work.

  
  
• Availability

  I am NOT available, please temporarily remove me from the available mentor list

  
  
• Capacity: How many teams at a time are you comfortable working with?

  1

  
  

Recent Posts

smsramigfall2017 project 13 Lorraine Adderley Nov 9, 2017

Hi Team,

Wow, it looks like your plants really took off! Too bad the treatment D plants died :(

Did you end up figuring out why?

It looks like you guys are having a lot of fun.

What sources of error do you think your experimental design…

more

Hi Team,

Wow, it looks like your plants really took off! Too bad the treatment D plants died :(

Did you end up figuring out why?

It looks like you guys are having a lot of fun.

What sources of error do you think your experimental design had and how would you control for that in the future?

shszemcikfall2017 project 4 Lorraine Adderley Nov 9, 2017

Hi Team,

Your experiment seems to have been really well designed. Why do you think the leaves in the water cup floated? What kind of water did you use? Is there any potential that there was dissolved CO2 in the water?

I know that where I live,…

more

Hi Team,

Your experiment seems to have been really well designed. Why do you think the leaves in the water cup floated? What kind of water did you use? Is there any potential that there was dissolved CO2 in the water?

I know that where I live, the tap water has a lot of calcium carbonate in it, because it comes from an aquifer underneath limestone rock. As the water passes through the rock, it picks up that calcium carbonate. The carbonate may be providing that C02 for the leaves?

Another possibility is that if the leaves were in an open cup, not in a vaccuum, that they may already have air in the many air pockets in the leaf. The air would have C02 in it.

Good job on spotting that the light was not evenly distributed. Providing exactly the same conditions to each treatment in an experiement is critical at controlling the variables, so that you only measure the effects of the variables that you want to know about. It can be really hard to do this in a school or home environment. That's why research labs have so much technical equipment and are so expensive to create. 

I really hope you enjoyed your experiment. Great job!

smsramigfall2017 project 13 Lorraine Adderley Nov 1, 2017

Are you watering all plants the same? Too much? Too little?