Even by early May (when I should have gotten this post up), it’d been a momentous spring for the Rothfels lab with, among other excitements, Jonathan finishing his Honors Thesis and Joyce completing her PhD — the first Rothfels Lab graduates!! These events, of course, provide a great excuse for a picnic.
I recently returned from a 10 day trip to Mexico to collect Astrolepis for my senior thesis project. I am studying the evolutionary origins of the allopolyploid complex, Astrolepis integerrima, which occurs in the southwestern United States and the deserts of Mexico. I started in Mexico City where I met up with Ixchel González Ramírez of the Mishler lab. I stayed with her and her family for a night there and then we headed off to Querétaro. Ixchel and I collected Astrolepis in Querétaro with one of her colleagues, Moni Queijeiro-Bolaños, a professor at the Universidad Autonoma de Querétaro. We collected in three localities surrounding the city.
Ixchel and I then went to Peña de Bernal, Ixmiquilpan, and Tolantongao in Queretaro and Hidalgo, collecting any Astrolepis we saw along the way. We also found some hotsprings in Tolantongo!
After the 5 day road trip, Ixchel and I returned to Mexico City. The next day, I took a bus to Puebla to meet up with former Specht lab post doc and current BAUP professor, Etelvina Gándara. Etel, one of her undergraduate students, Koni, her dog, Milla (named after Milla biflora), and I went on a two day roadtrip through Puebla and Veracruz, looking for Astrolepis at several localities.
We collected Astrolepis near three different beautiful caldera lakes and spent the night in Coatepec, Veracruz, which is in a cloud forest. Because we were in one of the coffee producing regions of Mexico, I had to get some coffee for the Rothfels lab!
I then headed back to Mexico City to spend two days at the MEXU herbarium, sampling tissue from their collections of Astrolepis. I spotted some collections made by someone familiar…
It was an amazing trip and would not have been possible without the help of many people (Ixchel, Carl, Carrie, and new friends) as well as the fellowships I received from the IB and EPS departments. I’m about to study abroad in Santiago de Chile for all of Fall 2019 semester but I can’t wait to come back to my specimens in January to start uncovering a part of the the mystery of the morphologically variable Astrolepis integerrima!
On March 11 (yes, I’m that far behind!) Abby took our lab meeting on the road and gave us a tour of her work on the geology interpretive displays at McCone Hall, including the infamous McConehenge (which, unfortunately, I don’t have any photos of — you’ll have to go to the “front yard” of McCone Hall and check it out for yourself). This has been a semester-long labor of love (and sweat) on Abby’s part (she worked with Nick Swanson-Hysell on this, of the Department of Earth and Planetary Science), and the results show it! Probably best lab meeting ever.
Joyce gave her finishing talk, and, as expected, hit it out of the park. Congratulations Joyce!!! The rlab is very proud! A few photos follow, of the action and the subsequent celebrations. If you WANT TO SEE HER TALK FOR YOURSELF, it is HERE.
Champagne, in all its slow-motion glory!
So apparently today is Taxonomist Appreciation Day, huzzah! And on this momentous occasion, the following verse crossed my edesk, courtesy of Fredrick Schueler:
If it wasn’t for the namers what would we do,
We wouldn’t have names both short and true,
We couldn’t specify a creature in a word or two,
If it wasn’t for the work of the namers.If it wasn’t for the namers you’d just shrug
and call every crawling thing a bug.
Nothing makes a person a more perfect mug
than to disregard the work of the namers.*If it wasn’t for the namers where would we be,
We wouldn’t have synonymy,
Each would use his favourite name and all would disagree,
If it wasn’t for the work of the namers.If it wasn’t for the namers we wouldn’t know,
To regard Sorex as a Shrew,
We wouldn’t know cinereus from fumeus and you,
Would simply scream “A shrewmouse there, step on it!”If it wasn’t for the namers where’d we begin
to know who was kith and kin?
There would be no way to know which clade we’re in
if it wasn’t for the work of the namers.*If it wasn’t for the namers what would we do,
We wouldn’t have names both short and true,
We couldn’t specify a creature in a word or two,
If it wasn’t for the work of the namers.
*’d verses, June 2013, Gagetown bioblitz. – https://bioblitznb.wordpress.com/2013/06/21/a-poem-by-fred-schueler/comment-page-1/
On the way back from Wawa, Ontario (6 October 2000 – the day we drove for 20 hrs) – to the tune of “If it was na’for the wark o’ the weavers. – to the tune of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ix_fIy5zgv0&fbclid=IwAR0iiTXIRKe86TuJvpohFfNvKLkjQ15vsiX5llL2LLPl09omzY7lThnWaFU
I was recently invited to write an article for the Friends of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden, and chose to write about a group of plants I studied for my doctoral dissertation, the subalpine marshmarigolds of western North America. For this article I focused on the two species that occur in California, the hexaploid Caltha biflora and the allododecaploid C. leptosepala. While the hexaploid is widespread in the mountains of California, the allododecaploid is apparently very rare in California, and restricted to the Warner Mountains and High Sierra. It was fun to write in a different style than usual, and hopefully the article will reach an audience beyond the academic community!
Ferns were on full display at this year’s Science Slam at Black Pine Circle School, a K-8 private school in Berkeley, California. Graduate student Mick Song participated alongside several scientists and science educators in kicking off a week of science for the middle schoolers. Showcasing several exciting ferns and lycophytes from Costa Rica and telling them about the exciting Azolla event, Mick introduced several students to the world of pteridology. However, there were several intrepid students who already were pressing plants at home! The youth are alright!
With paleo valentines! These gems (and their captions) are courtesy of Allie Weill — thank you Allie!! If you’re impressed, you get more Allie content on instagram (@al.m.weill) and the twitter (@Al_R_Wallace).
Jonathan took the reins for last week’s PLANTS! seminar and gave a compelling tour of the glory and mystery of reticulating Polystichum. Killer synapomorphies for Polystichum imbricans subspecies curtum remain elusive, however.
Our recent fieldwork at Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve (in Riverside and San Diego Counties near Temecula, CA) resulted in on online article on the San Diego State University Field Stations Program new website!
This spot was absolutely luscious, with lots of topographic diversity, rain, mud, flowering plants, ferns, lycophytes, fungi, and liverworts. We (Forrest and Keir) found the first Pentagramma triangularis of the trip here, which rounded out our other fern and lycophyte collections of the morning nicely. I’m so grateful that this Reserve exists, and that the SDSU Field Stations make this biodiverse region so accessible for research. See previous post for more luscious photos of SMER!
