Cells in the Landscape

Date: November 12th
Time: 1:05 - 1:55 PM
Weather: Partly cloudy, 46 degrees Fahrenheit
Location: Lesley's Brattle Campus

I was feeling a little gloomy after staying in bed for most of the morning, so I decided to venture outside. I had just finished reading the article about forest therapy, so I was hopeful that going outside would improve my chances of fighting off a recently acquired cold. I sat up against the trunk of a honeylocust tree not far from Site Gamma. I was surprisingly comfortable in my sunny spot. I closed my eyes and tried to relax completely, but I found it difficult due to a nearby road and the pedestrians on it. I heard many people discussing the results of the election, cars passing, faraway leaf blowers, airplanes, and squirrels running around and rustling in the leaves. I think I could have fallen asleep there if I were not worried about people looking at me as they passed. I am not sure how long I sat like this, but eventually I pulled out some homework. I completed an assignment and then got up to run errands in Harvard Square, just as it was beginning to get chilly. The back of my coat and tights were covered in mulch and dried leaves when I stood up.
Cells in this Environment:

* The plant cells that make up leaves, bark, mulch, seedpods, and grass. Abscission cells were certainly at work because nearly all of the honeylocust leaves had fallen to the ground. 
* The animal cells that make up all of this tissues in my body (and the squirrels' bodies)
* The prokaryotes that I consumed in my Greek yogurt that morning

My cells responding to the environment:

* Keratinocytes making up my epidermis, which form a protective barrier and release signaling proteins called chemokines whenever that barrier is breached
* The white blood cells (like T and B lymphocytes) fighting off the cold virus that has infected me with special proteins called antibodies