THE JEPSON GLOBE A Newsletter from the Friends of The Jepson Herbarium VOLUME 17 NUMBER 2 SEPTEMBER 2006 New National Science Foundation Curator’s Column Funding for Vernal Pool Research by Bruce G. Baldwin Advances in California Floristics California vernal pools are unique ecological communities that I had the pleasure this sum- form in shallow depressions in grass- mer of attending Botany 2006, held lands. The pools fill with water during this year in California (Chico), and an the winter rainy season and dry up in international meeting on Compositae summer. Vernal pools are occupied by systematics in Barcelona, Spain, orga- a diverse array of annual plant species, nized by The International Compositae many of which are found exclusively in Alliance (TICA). Both meetings of- California, and they harbor endangered fered abundant evidence of progress in Chelsea D. Specht, Hawai’i, Mauna Kea, 2004 fairy shrimp and tiger salamanders. It understanding the origins and relation- Chelsea Specht is estimated that >90% of the original ships of California’s native plants, with vernal pools of California have been Assistant Professor significant new findings in, for example, destroyed by urbanization and agricul- Aquilegia, Arctostaphylos, Artemisia New Curator of Monocots ture. These threats persist, together with and relatives, Asclepias, Athysanus, the added uncertainty of the effects of Atriplex and relatives, Boerhavia, Chelsea completed her Mas- global climate change. Brodiaea, Calochortus, Camassia, ter’s and Ph.D. programs at New David Ackerly and Bruce Camissonia and relatives, Castilleja, York University in affiliation with Baldwin have received a NSF grant to Cheilanthes, Dissanthelium, Draba, the New York Botanical Garden and, study “Niche conservatism, functional Eriogonum and relatives, Fagaceae, following a postdoc at the Smithso- trait evolution and the diversification Garrya, Gentianopsis, Isoëtes, Lycium, nian (NMNH), joined the faculty of of the California vernal pool flora.” Maianthemum, Monardella, Pedic- Plant and Microbial Biology in the Nancy Emery, currently completing her ularis, Pellaea and relatives, Penste- fall of 2005. After her second year in Ph.D. at UC Davis, will join the team mon, Phacelia, Pinus, Rubus, Sidalcea, graduate school, she received a Ful- Sisyrinchium, Smilacina, Thalictrum, bright scholarship to go to Bolivia to Continued on page 4. Thysanocarpus, Trifolium, and many study the use of evolutionary biology lineages of Compositae. Phylogenetic in local conservation efforts. She first ALSO IN THIS ISSUE studies at deep- and fine-scale levels by worked with the local conservation Herbarium Graduate Students a wide diversity of national and inter- organization “Fundacion Amigos national research teams are revealing de la Naturaleza” and later with the Moss 2006, review many surprising findings. The time is World Wildlife Fund. She (somewhat Botany 2006, awards and honor fast approaching when a comprehensive unexpectedly) stayed in Bolivia for new assessment of evolutionary patterns three years, working with WWF first Weekend Workshop in review across the California flora will be pos- in the Bolivia Program office as the sible. Amazonian Conservation Program Volunteer Opportunities One exciting outcome of re- Officer and later as the Ecoregional Announcements cent studies has been the resolution of Coordinator for the Southwest Amazon Continued on page 6. Continued on page 6. Graduate Students University and Jepson Herbaria Vicente Garcia My research Eric SJ Harris I am interested in interests encompass vascu- human uses of bryophytes, a field lar-plant systematics, floristics, of study sometimes called “ethno- and conservation with an em- bryology.” I have been researching phasis on systematic and phy- two medicinally important mosses: logenetic studies. I am particu- Plagiomnium and Rhodobryum. Pla- larly interested in the historical giomnium has been used to treat skin biogeography, reproductive biology, taxonomy, evolutionary infections and swelling by the Bella ecology, and ethnobotany of the genus Piper (Piperaceae). Coola and Oweekeno First Nations of The pepper genus consists of well over 1,000 species in a western Canada. I have been studying the phylogeny and pantropical distribution. It includes several commercially phytochemistry of Plagiomnium to understand the evolution grown and ethnobotanically important species such as black of putatively bioactive chemicals in this genus. Rhodobryum pepper (Piper nigrum), betel leaf (Piper betle), and kava is used in Southwest China to treat minor heart problems. I (Piper methysticum). have been conducting ethnobotanical research to understand the variation in use and knowledge of Rhodobryum in the Danica Taylor Harbaugh My areas of Southwest China where this moss is used. I hope doctoral dissertation research to use my research to shed light on the biological processes focuses on the hemi-parasitic that make mosses amenable to human use, and the cultural plant genus Santalum (San- processes that incorporate mosses into human life. talaceae), which includes the economically and ethnobotan- Ruth Kirkpatrick I study the ically important sandalwoods, fern genus Pellaea and other commonly used in incense and cheilanthoid relatives. Cheil- perfume. A phylogeny of the entire genus, which includes anthoid ferns have a world- nearly 30 named taxa, has been reconstructed using a com- wide distribution and thrive in bination of nuclear ribosomal (ITS, ETS), low-copy nuclear exposed rocky habitats where (3’waxy), and chloroplast (3’trnK) gene regions. The phy- there are extended dry periods logeny has elucidated novel biogeographic patterns across during part of the year. These the Pacific Basin, including two independent colonization ferns have evolved structural and chemical adaptations that events to Hawaii, and at least one dispersal out of Hawai’i. enable them to tolerate drought and desiccation, making The phylogeny will be used to examine patterns in ethnobo- them an ideal group to study for understanding genetic, tanical uses, as well as to revise the taxonomy of the genus. morphological and physiological changes associated with drought and desiccation tolerance. Understanding how plants Anna Larsen I am studying the have responded to changes in their environments in the past historical co-movement of plants will allow us to be better prepared to make more accurate and people in Oceania from a predictions about their response to current and future envi- phylogenetic perspective. Within ronmental change. the last 5,000 years, the Lapita Andrew Murdock My dis- people migrated from Southeast sertation research focuses on Asia or Near Oceania as far east as the evolution of the tropical Fiji and Tonga. Following at least fern family Marattiaceae, a 1,000 years of cultural isolation, “living fossil” lineage whose an ancestral Polynesian culture emerged in the Samoan morphology has seemingly and Tongan archipelagoes and evolved as humans spread changed very little for millions through the islands of the Polynesian triangle over the next of years. For this research, I two thousand years. Consequently, variation in Polynesian have collected ferns throughout the Pacific and Asia and cultural traditions, artifacts, and indicator plants reflects the have studied the morphological and DNA sequence evolu- chronology of island settlement. I am using two sources tion across the diversity of the Marattiaceae. Additionally, I of data to reconstruct the human migration route: genetic am studying genomic and morphological evolution of green variation in the Candlenut tree (Aleurites moluccana (L.) plants, working on floristics projects in the Carquinez Strait Willd.) and variation in the production, decoration and use region of California and on the island of Moorea, French of Polynesian barkcloth (tapa). Polynesia, and actively pursuing research on ferns in Cali- fornia, Oregon, and Washington. 2 Graduate Students University and Jepson Herbaria Bianca Knoll Several ferns in Stephanie Stuart I am using the her- the family Pteridaceae are the bariums’ collections of different species only plants known to hyperaccu- of modern Azolla, a water fern, to help mulate arsenic. My dissertation build a morphological phylogeny of goal is to discern the phyloge- plants from this genus. Although my netic relationships of these taxa work focuses on fossil specimens from in order to place the arsenic the University of California Paleontol- hypeaccumu-lation trait into an ogy Museum, access to a wide range of evolutionary perspective. Hope- modern specimens is crucial if I am to fully, this will allow me to make suggestions for non-weedy identify the fossil plants and place them in an evolutionary species that can be used in arsenic phytoremediation. I focus context. I have also used specimens from the herbarium in on the fern genera Pityrogramma and Pteris, and conduct my teaching students to identify plants – students really appre- fieldwork in Central America and South America. ciate being able to see flowers, fruit and other reproductive structures at any time of year. Abby Moore I am studying the genus Grindelia (Astera- Rebecca Welch I am interest- ceae). Members of the genus ed in the evolution of the full grow in a wide variety of hab- range of symbiotic interaction, itats and many different soil from virulence to cooperation. types including salt marshes, Bryophyte hornworts in the coastal dunes, serpentine soils, genera Anthoceros and Phae- dry roadsides, and open