PSU Magazine Winter 2003

it lives. Naming the shrew would also benefit the PSU Museum of Vencbrale Biology. ol a museum in the common vernacular with fancy multimedia exhibits and velvet ropes, Lhe museum is more a storehouse of skeletons, pelts, and bouled specimens critical Lo biology sLUdies. The museum does have a curator, Lhough. Along with teaching, trekking the wilds , and wriLing grant proposals, that's Ruedas's job. After this summer, the museum got a whole lot sLronger in the small mammal department. ln Lhree weeks in the Indonesian rain for– est, Ruedas collected over 300 Lypes of bats, rats, and other rodents. PSU now has more shrews Lhan the SmiLhsonian and Lhe largest collecLion anywhere of specimens from Walla ea, the Indone– sian bioregion that includes Sulawesi. Calls for tissue samples are coming in from all over the world. o why would anyone study rodents in the firsL place? And what's the big deal aboUL a new species among Lhe millions of scurrying crea– tures few bm cats love 1 For one Lhing, nol much is known about rodents compared Lo larger mammals like deer and bear. "Small mammals are pretLy exciting-just because Lhey're small they have been a bit neglecLed ," says Ruedas. Another reason to study rodems is disease. Ruedas, a veLeran of the Han– tavirus Learn of the federal Cemers for Disease Comrol and Prevention, has studied the ecology of rodent-borne disease. Usually, he says, rodems native to forests undisLurbed by humans have low rates of disease. When forests are cleared for logging, agriculture, and housing, the small-mammal popula– tion is devaslaLed and its diversity of species plummets. The remaining few species often carry much higher rates of disease, says Ruedas . Humans and diseased rodents in close proximity naturally lead Lo higher rodent-borne pestilence passed to people. "What that Lelis us is that to mini– mize disease, we need to maximize the number of species of mice, which of course humans never do. " The other reason a new shrew and studies of small mammals in Indonesia are important is simply that this remote comer of the world may not be remote for long. Logging and coffee planting already threaLen the biodiver– sity of the area. The incredibly rich biology of the region could yield untold benefits for science and humankind. Mice, says Ruedas, are the canaries in the coal mine of Southeast Asian forest environmems. "A healthy, mature, undisLurbed forest has a very panicular community of rodents. " Also, Ruedas and other biologists are hard at work trying lo figure out how the animals spread across the 13,000 islands Lhal make up Indone– sia. By collecting specimens from the islands and Asian mainland and com– paring DNA and other characteristics, scientists get a window on the molecu– lar evolution of a particular species. For instance, sciemisls had thought that Indonesia's rodents had been resi– dem there since ancient Limes, with lit– Lie oULside inOuence.Ruedas's sLUdies show, however, that five different "invasion events" of nonnative rodents have occurred over Lime, changing the ecology of the rain forest. ll is also the pure joy of discovery itself that fuels Ruedas. Only about five to Len new species are discovered worldwide each year as scientists race in the quest to catalogue all that is known, says Ruedas. In a back– grounder for the vertebrate museum, he writes, "Thal is the essence of sci– ence: the excitement of discovery, the exhilaration of novehy, the thrill of the ll1ledas discovered dais new specks of shrew, ~ ...._ed. la an Indonesian rain fotat. new and different locale where discov– ery is taking place. Communicating that excitement, the incredible feeling of holding a new species in your hand and knowing it is something that no one has seen before ... communicaLe that, and you have created a new gen– eration of sciemisLs that are excited about what they do. And that's where the future of science lies. " B ack in the venebrate museum, a nondescript place down a back hallway of Science 2, Ruedas shows off his Indonesian specimens, carefully sLOred in a cabinet. The skeleton of a small buL toothy whale swings quielly from the ceiling as a compressor rumbles in the background. Although he's proud that the dis– covery of the new shrew shows that PSU can play with the big boys, Ruedas can't wait lo gel back to Indonesia for more study. "l love being oul there ," he says, recalling the call of the cicada in the woods and the giam ancient trees. "They've got these really weird rodents everywhere, and l want lo know how they got there. " Then, gazing into a jar of bats sus– pended in alcohol, he says, "Our rodent work will revolutionize how people think about the species. " D (Steve Dodge is a Portland freelance writer and a frequent cont1ibutor to PSU Magazine.) WINTER 2003 PSU MAGAZINE 19