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Incurable Romantic

david.kirby — Tue, 26 Nov 2013 19:01:27 +0000

In his masterpiece Tintern Abbey, poet William Wordsworth describes returning to the banks of the River Wye in southeast Wales and experiencing an odd combination of his present impressions, the memory of a past visit, and the thought of how he’ll look back on this moment in years to come. For 2013 Distinguished Alumnus of the Year Dr. Robert J. H. Morrison (BA ’83), Wordsworth’s famous words have never resonated more deeply.

“That poem’s got it all,” he says as he starts reciting lines from memory in a performance that would captivate even the most dismissive of students.

Dr. Robert Morrison is a world-renowned scholar of 19th century English literature whose clear and thought-provoking approach to his subject matter has earned him international praise.

His playful approach belies the seriousness of his endeavour. Morrison is a world-renowned scholar of 19th century English literature whose clear and thought-provoking approach to his subject matter has earned him international praise. Reflecting on everything that he’s accomplished, he adamantly maintains that none of it would have been possible if he hadn’t enrolled in a first-year English class with Dr. Paul Upton at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge.

“That class changed my life,” says Morrison, who admits he arrived at the U of L in 1979 without much direction. “Upton’s class had a profound impact on me. I’ve been in universities from 1979 until today and have never encountered a teacher like him. He was conversational, impassioned and deeply caring about poetry."

Having discovered his passion, Morrison pursued a degree in English and completed a Bachelor of Arts in 1983.

“The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge was the perfect fit for me,” says Morrison, looking back on his undergraduate experience. “The fact that it was a small, vibrant university in my hometown made all the difference to the student I was back then.”

Heeding the advice of another influential professor, Dr. Bill Lambert, Morrison followed his passion for Romantic literature to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Oxford where he completed a Master of Philosophy under the tutelage of Jonathan Wordsworth, the great, great, great nephew of the poet who captured Morrison’s attention as an undergraduate student.

“It was Dr. Lambert who recommended I read Jonathan and think about Oxford,” says Morrison, who was again grateful for the connections he made at the U of L. “I wouldn’t have got there on my own.”

From there, he returned home and accepted a teaching position at the U of L. He taught full time in the Department of English in 1987-88, and then returned to the U.K. to pursue a Doctor of Philosophy at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Edinburgh, which he completed in 1991. Morrison’s doctoral research examined the life and work of famed English essayist Thomas De Quincey, something he continues to do today.

“I’m always working on De Quincey,” says Morrison with a laugh. His book, The English Opium-Eater: A Biography of Thomas De Quincey, published in 2009, was a finalist for the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Biography, Britain’s oldest literary award, and is recognized as the comprehensive source on the life and work of De Quincey.

“I have always tried to be an academic who took both sides of the job seriously – research and teaching,” says Morrison, echoing some of the same values that remain fundamental to the U of L today. “They cross-fertilize each other and I think that the people who do that make the university experience much more interesting.”

Using his own research interests as a guide, Morrison is helping ignite a passion for literature in the next generation. Currently a full professor in the Department of English at Queen’s ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, he believes that works written hundreds of years ago have the power to shape today’s world.

“I try to impress on every single one of my students that these works are not just something that happened a hundred years ago,” says Morrison. “Literature shapes our consciousness. What Wordsworth wrote 200 years ago matters now.”

His impassioned approach has earned him the respect of both colleagues and students. He accepts the accolades humbly, but remains true to the love of literature that started it all.

“Paul Upton did an enduring job of impressing on me the importance of literature,” says Morrison, reflecting on how what started as a first-year university class evolved into a lifelong passion.

There’s no doubt Morrison’s students will be saying the same thing years from now.

Hurly study explores hummingbird habits

trevor.kenney — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 17:40:53 +0000

By TAMERA JONES, UK (Natural Environment Research Council, with U of L Communications staff and researcher input)

Hummingbirds are a welcome sign of spring, and a colourful reminder that the flowers in your garden are not just nice to look at, but are also an important food source.

But hummingbirds don't rely on taste alone when deciding how much nectar to drink from a new flower. Instead, they wait to see how they feel after their first meal, a new study reveals.

This is unexpected, because scientists know that hummingbirds can detect minuscule changes in nectar concentrations from one flower to the next. This "choice behaviour" research is one result of nearly 20 years of hummingbird study at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Westcastle Field Station by U of L biological sciences researcher Dr. Andrew Hurly, Dr. Sue Healy and numerous colleagues and students from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Edinburgh and the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of St. Andrews.

A hummingbird feeds from a constructed feeder. Photo by Dr. Andrew Hurly.

Hurly and Healy have been studying cognition, behaviour and ecology of rufous hummingbirds since 1992.

Approximately 40 undergraduate and graduate students from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Edinburgh and the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of St. Andrews have been involved in the hummingbird research project.

Like their extraordinary talent for flying thousands of kilometres from Mexico to Canada, taking the right amount of nectar onboard is a bit of an art – especially for such a tiny bird that weighs just three grams.

If they drink too much weak nectar, the extra load makes flying inefficient; if they don't take on enough of the same nectar, they'll have to eat again much sooner. On the other hand, if they drink too much of a rich nectar, they could easily get fat.

"The birds will almost certainly be able to detect the change in taste, but it seems they choose to ignore it until they get post-ingestive information before altering how much they drink the next time," explains Healy from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of St. Andrews, a co-author of the study.

The researchers wanted to see how a group of wild rufous hummingbirds that breed in the Canadian Rocky Mountains responded to changes in food quality.
They dotted feeders containing different concentrations of nectar solution along the Westcastle river valley to be ready for the birds' return to the area from their overwintering grounds in Mexico.

Nectar concentrations in the flowers hummingbirds feed on vary from as low as seven per cent sugar to as high as 60 per cent. The researchers started by filling the feeders with a 14 per cent sugar solution.

Once the birds got used to this concentration, Healy and her colleagues changed to a 25 per cent solution. They found that the birds didn't change how much nectar they drank, sometimes persisting until the fourth meal.

"They take the same volume irrespective of concentration," explains Healy.

When they trained the birds to expect more concentrated sucrose in the feeders and then switched to the weaker solution, they got exactly the same result. Hummingbirds usually feed every 10 or 15 minutes, and only drink for a few seconds at a time. But because they digest nectar so quickly, they don't have to wait long to get the information they need to decide how much to drink for their next meal.

Other researchers have found that other creatures, like molluscs, wolves and cattle also rely on post-ingestive information about food before deciding how much to eat the next time. So even though hummingbirds certainly prefer sweeter nectar, it may not be surprising that taste alone is not enough to make a decision.

This story first appeared in the Legend. For a look at the Legend in a flipbook format, follow this link.

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Incurable Romantic

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