At 8:00 a.m. on 22 April 2004, professor Robert J. ("Skip") Livingston retiring this year after 35 years in the department, taught his last class. His wife Mimi arranged to throw a surprise party at the end of the class period. Everyone in the department (except Skip) was invited, so a large crowd gathered surreptitiously outside room 222 Conradi, then poured into the classroom at the end of the class to celebrate Skip's long teaching career with cake and congratulations.
In July of 2004, the "Pulse of the Planet" section of National Geographic News featured the research of Biological Science graduate student Peter E. Bouwma on the sounds made by spiny lobsters, which may serve to deter predators. Read the article and hear the sound clip at nationalgeographic.com.
In August 2004, Dr. Kenneth H. Roux was on the FSU Headlines radio program for his recent work on new tests to detect nut allergens in processed food. Listen to the audio clip (QuickTime required).
Also in August 2004, Biological Science scholar Felicia C. Coleman was featured in a BBC News World Edition report and widely quoted in the press on the subject of the effects of sport fishing on fish populations.
The cover story in the 12 August 2004 issue of the international journal Nature was a report by Assistant Professor Gregory M. Erickson and his research team on their research into the growth rate of Tryanosaurus rex. Their discovery that T. rex put on 70% of its adult mass in a short teenage growth spurt also merited an FSU press release, an article in the Tallahassee Democrat, and a story on the FSU Headlines radio program (audio clip, QuickTime required) and has been picked up by CNN, Reuters, and other news services.
The summer 2004 issue of FSU Research and Review contains an article entitled "Fish Havens Extended," a follow-up to last summer's cover story featuring the fisheries research of Biological Science Associate Scholar/Scientist Dr. Felicia C. Coleman and her husband, Research Associate Dr. Christopher C. Koenig.
In September of 2004, a new book, coauthored by Biological Science alumni and courtesy faculty members D. Bruce Means and Anne Rudloe, appeared in bookstores: Priceless Florida, by Ellie Whitney, D. Bruce Means, and Anne Rudloe (Pineapple Press, Sarasota, 432 pages, 800 color photos, paper ISBN-1-56164-308-4, hardcover ISBN-1-56164-309-2). According to the publisher, Priceless Florida is about the incomprehensible riches of every kind of natural ecosystem found in Florida from the abyssal plain of the Gulf of Mexico to the highest, driest sand ridge. It is written in a way that will appeal to young and old, laypersons and scientists. A cornucopia of colorful illustrations and exquisite photographs makes you feel you are there. The comprehensive text enlivens with facts and brims with intriguing curiosities while bridging multiple fields in a crisp, readable style that only seasoned science-educators like Drs. Whitney, Means, and Rudloe could offer. Much of Florida has been bought and sold many times over, but this book makes clear how rich is the state's natural biodiversity and just how valuable are the remaining species and ecosystems.
In the 17 September 2004 issue of Science magazine, an article by faculty member Don R. Levitan appeared as an "Editor's Choice" selection, that is, as being one of the most interesting articles to appear that week in the scientific literature. The article is "Density-dependent sexual selection in external fertilizers: variances in male and female fertilization success along the continuum from sperm limitation to sexual conflict in the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus franciscanus" (American Naturalist 164:268).
In the 24 December 2004 issue of Science magazine, an article by faculty member Scott J. Steppan appeared as an "Editor's Choice" selection, that is, as being one of the most interesting articles to appear that week in the scientific literature. The article, by S. J. Steppan, R. M. Adkins, and J. Anderson, is "Phylogeny and divergence-date estimates of rapid radiations in muroid rodents based on multiple nuclear genes" (Systematic Biology 53:533-553).