First Week on the Job

New Intern Here!

I have worked a total of three shifts this week and have already learned so much!

 On Monday, Adriane gave me an introduction to the Herbarium and put me right to work mounting specimens. Today Abigail gave me the low-down on the organization of the Herbarium and the basics of Digitizing the specimens. Though slightly overwhelmed, these projects were actually really fun and interesting.  I usually like to be the one to collect the specimens, whatever specimens they may be, but it was really interesting to see the steps that are taken after the plants are dried. After learning how to mount, I now know the importance of collecting a specimen that it can not only fit on a mounting page, but can also fit an accessioning number, a label, a bar code, and have space for annotations. 

A little bit about me: I am a conflicted Senior with a major in English (with a concentration in Creative Writing) and a minor in Biology. With so many interests, I am having a hard time focusing in on one career path but I hope to one day write for National Geographic or Smithsonian magazine to combine my love for writing and science. Working for the Herbarium is a great opportunity to start putting my skills to the test. I heard about working for the Herbarium from my professor, Dr. Monfils, who understood my plight of indecisiveness and offered me a position writing protocols, helping with P.R. and doing various other tasks.



The first impression I had of the Herbarium was the extreme, and somewhat overwhelming, orderliness of the facility. The strict organization is a tad intimidating. The CMC Herbarium works under an organizational system based on the organization of Edward G. Voss, and Voss' system is based off a proposition by Engler and Prantl. Under this filing system, specimens are arranged by Family. Within each Family, specimens are organized alphabetically by Genus and Specific Epithet.

A simple and clear-cut system, but in handling so many specimens at a time, one can get easily confused. Abigail gave me some pointers on patterns I should use stay organized, but I can already tell that making those pointers into conscious habits is going to be essential. Despite the initial overwhelming feelings, I can already tell that I will like working here and this experience is going to improve my organization, communication, and critical thinking skills.

Using the Herbarium for student botany research

Hello, it's Rachel the graduate student researcher again!

The Herbarium is useful to researchers and interested persons as a reference for identifying plant species. This summer Hillary and I traveled to 10 different prairie fen communities and collected over 800 specimens. Collecting was tough work, not without its hardships:

Figure 1. Hillary and Rachel stuck in the mud travelling around Ives Road Fen in Lenawee County, Michigan. We also fell in a few streams on our prairie fen journeys. One hole I fell in up to my thigh…. thrice.

We encountered plant species that were beautiful:

Figure 2. Blooming monocots: a showy lady-slipper orchid (Cypripedium reginae).

Figure 3. Blooming monocots: southern blue flag iris (Iris virginica).

We encountered plant species that were unusual:

Figures 4 - 6. A carnivorous round-leafed sundew (Drosera rotundifolia) devours arthropods with its modified leaves in the upper left. We nicknamed purplestem angelica (Angelica atropurpurea; upper right) the “Dr. Seuss Plant,” because it looked like something out of the pages of a Dr. Seuss with purple stem, swollen nodes, and 2 m tall height towered over the sedges in May/June. On the bottom left is common bur-reed (Sparganium eurycarpum) that has separate female (bottom spheres) and male (smaller, top spheres) inflorescence that reminded us of some sort of chemistry molecule model. When Hillary and I first saw the organism on the bottom right, we were sure it was alien in origin. In actuality, it is a fungus called cedar-apple-rush (Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginianae) on a red cedar tree (Juniperus virginiana).

And we encountered plant species that were a little dangerous:

Figure 7. And let's not forget the daily encounters and repeated breakouts of poison sumac (Toxicodendron vernix), the shrub/small tree is related to poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) except with stronger poisonous oils. This shrub is an indicator plant of prairie fens.

Once out of the field, I needed to verify their identity. Where do I go? The CMC Herbarium. Why? An herbarium isn’t a drab museum of dead, dried plants from hundreds of years ago. It is a tool.

An herbarium can be used for research, education, and outreach. It contains history, biology, and, yes, even climate change information. Herbaria can document plant ranges, historical introductions, house extinct species, contain data for other sciences (e.g. entomology, climatology), teach botany, and provide inspiration to artisans. The CMC blog shows the many ways CMU uses their herbarium. To read about even more uses of herbaria, follow this link: http://www.virtualherbarium.org/vh/100UsesASPT.html

There are many tools at my disposal - books, field guides, online keys, professors, experts - but the CMC Herbarium can provide me with an up-close and personal plant to compare to my specimens. I may be able to determine the identity of my specimen down to a few species with the use of my field guides and keys. There sometimes comes a point where I need to see for myself what these books are describing, so that I can rule out one species in the favor of another.

One case where herbaria samples are extremely helpful is when I am familiar with a feature being described. For example, Symphyotrichum firmum has “stems glabrous or pubescent in lines, green or sometimes purple,” while Symphyotrichum punicium has “stems bristly pubescent, usually purplish (Michigan Flora Online 2011).” After looking at Herbarium samples, I was able to compare them to my specimens and understand the distinction for the future.

Figure 8 - 10. The pubescent lines on Symphyotrichum firmum are seen in the Herbarium sample on the top left and top right, while the bristly pubescence of Symphyotrichum punicium is shown on the bottom left.

Figure 8 - 10. The pubescent lines on Symphyotrichum firmum are seen in the Herbarium sample on the top left and top right, while the bristly pubescence of Symphyotrichum punicium is shown on the bottom left.

Another case where herbaria prove their worth is a visual comparison between similar species. This was especially helpful when identifying purely vegetative specimens. Most guides and keys are designed for specimens with fruits or flowers. Without those features a person can be stuck with an unidentifiable plant. After reducing possible species down to a family or genus or two, looking through herbarium samples could give me a taste for any distinctive vegetative qualities and the variability of those features.

Figures 11 – 13. Although the specimen collected on the left lacked fruits or flowers, a visual comparison of species in the genus Epilobium (center – E. coloratum, right – E. leptophyllum) helped narrow down possible species. The specimen was identified as E. leptophyllum.

Herbarium samples can also show the variability of characteristics of a species. Below are several specimens of Cornus sericea (red-oiser dogwood). In these photos the variability in leave size, dimensions, and density can be observed.

The CMC Herbarium was an invaluable resource I used as a researcher to identify over 800 specimens to genus or species. With the additions of my specimens, the CMC Herbarium will have representation of several new species and many purely vegetative samples. This will be useful for future projects and students to aide in their quest for plant knowledge.

- Rachel



MICHIGAN FLORA ONLINE. A. A. Reznicek, E. G. Voss, & B. S. Walters. February 2011. University of Michigan. Web. 2-15-2013. http://michiganflora.net/home.aspx.

Microscopy

Hi everyone,

It has been quiet in the herbarium without Abigail and Emilie, but the work is still exciting. I have been working with Dr. Monfils on several projects since the beginning of the semester including creating labels for specimens she had collected and creating microscopy plates for a manuscript she is planning to submit to the journal, Grana. The plates contain SEM micrographs of pollen grains from the Brassicaceae family. Creating these microscopy plates are time consuming, but it is rewarding work. I get really geeked when creating them because so many aspects go into formatting a plate, yet the finished product looks so simplistic. It is always important to remember that the proportions of images must not be altered in any way. Scientific imaging and ethics is a really important part of the research process, because if an image is falsely altered, it can completely change the outcome or findings of a research project. I’ve included the first plate I’ve created below.



Fig. 1. SEM micrographs of pollen grains of the Brassicaceae family: A & D. Arabis hirsuta; B & E. Draba cana; C & F. Draba daurica. Scale bars – 10 µm (A, B, & C); 3 µm (D, E, & F).

 If you want to know more about creating a microscopy plate, Dr. Monfils has created a tutorial with the help of a photoshop expert. It can be found here:

http://cmcherbarium.bio.cmich.edu/imaging/step-by-step%20updated%20032008.pdf

A new herbarium assistant, Sascha Seide, started working this week. She is an English major with a biology minor. After she learns the ins and outs of the herbarium, she will be updating our written protocols, creating promotional resources and along with the rest of us, updating the blog! Look for her first post coming soon.

Both Abigail and Emilie should be returning soon as well! I am excited to see them and hear all about their journeys. I’m sure they will update you all as well. Thanks for reading!

My Best ,

Adriane Shorkey