Judy Stone’s Researching in Costa Rica
Witheringia Solanacea Pollen Sample
Witheringia Solanacea in nature
When Professor Stone was hired as a Biology professor in 1999, the job advertisement described the preferred candidate as, ?someone who could teach about evolution, ecology, and plants.” (Stone, Personal interview) Before arriving at Colby, Bruce Fowels had been teaching about evolution, and in a typical year, only two to three students were in these classes. Upon Stone?s arrival at Colby, all students were required to take a class in either evolution or ecology, which led to over forty students taking this class per semester. Stone believes that the biggest challenge with teaching a course in evolution is that there is often a disconnect between what students think the course is going to be about and what the course actually is about. She argues that every species is a great example of evolution, and that the course is so difficult because evolution is a very abstract concept. The evolutionary analysis course at Colby is focused on what evolutionary biologists do, specifically studying variations within a species and population genetics. As seen in the images above, Stone?s main species of study since 1999 has been the Witheringia Solanacea. In a long term project of the Witheringia Solanacea, a species of the tomato plant, Stone has been, ?investigating the role of colonization and gene flow on the mating system of populations of this tropical shrub in Costa Rica.? (Stone, Research) Stone?s research focuses on sex life in plants, particulary looking at the breakdown of self incompatbility. With the Witheringia Solanacea as her model, Stone has found that some of the plants can self-fertilize while others cannot. In her 2014 E?olution paper, Stone demonstrated that, ?the evolution of self-fertilization in small populations was promoted more by siring success than by enhanced capacity to set fruit when pollinators were scarce.? (Stone, Research) It is through this research that Stone has been able to target the evolutionary effects of self fertilization in the Witheringia Solanacea. Today, Stone feels as if evolutionary science is a thriving science worldwide and is less controversial than in past centuries, but she still believes that schools are hesitant to teach courses in evolution because it can be controversial at times. Since arriving at Colby, evolution has been changed from a 200 level course to a 300 level course, and she feels that it rewards students for making it to 300 level courses. Today, evolution at Colby is studied under the course name ?evolutionary analysis.?
Curated by Jack Vanderhorst