Don’t worry about what Phil said; spring will come!

Don’t worry about what Phil said; spring will come!

In these dreary days when the thermometer reads 4°F, but it "feels like -15°F" (exactly what my weather channel app told me yesterday), don’t forget that winter won’t last forever. 

"Punxsutawney Phil” and Bill Murray try and escape the February woes. 
Photo from
 http://snakkle.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/bill 
-murray-phil-groundhog-day-actor-movie-photo-GC.jpg

I’ve lived many places: Michigan, Costa Rica, Pacific northwest… well I’ve lived 3 places. And whenever I lived outside of the Mitten, I was disappointed by their seasons. 

In Costa Rica, sure it was 50 - 70°F all year long, but, for me, there was little differentiation between the times of year. There was those few months when the green trees had some extra flowers thrown in there, when the machete trees (Erythrina berteroana) lost their leaves and kept their bright red flowers, but as a newcomer, the dry, wet, and wetter seasons weren’t all that pronounced. Maybe if I had lived there longer than 10 months, I would have grown accustom to the change of seasons, but I really missed spring and autumn. 

A green-crowned brilliant hummingbird perches in a flowering
machete tree (Erythrina berteroana).

I never stayed a full winter in the Pacific northwest, but they definitely lacked autumn. Sure, all the Douglas fir, Sitka spruce, and cedar trees were green all year long, but there was a definite lack of color.

Beautiful, but evergreen on San Juan Island, Washington.

Michigan never disappoints with its season, weather good or bad. Sure, I curse it often, especially when it keeps me from my adventures, but where do you get such diversity and colors every single year?

Winter 2014 at Deerfield County Park, Mount Pleasant, Isabella County, Michigan.

We are almost to the point where flowers bloom in May 2012 in Ives Road Fen, Tecumseh, Lenawee County, Michigan (The Nature Conservancy).

Summertime at the prairie fen in August 2013 in Park Lyndon County Park, Chelsea, Washtenaw County, Michigan

The trees are turning in November 2013 at Ives Road Fen, Tecumseh, Lenawee County, Michigan (The Nature Conservancy)

Sometimes I wish I could go dormant like a plant in the winter, but the rest of the year is definitely worth the wait.

Wood lily (Lilium philadelphicum)
blooming in July 2013 at
Brandt Road Fen in Holly
Recreation Area, Oakland
County, Michigan.

-Rachel H

Meet that Dylan guy

soaking in the Rocky Mountain view

     Hello herbarium blog readers!  My name is Dylan Hilts and I am relatively new to Dr. Monfils' plant biology laboratory.  Since this is my first blog, I guess I'll take this opportunity to tell you all what makes me tick.  I am a Biology major with a focus on natural resources.  Wildlife conservation and management is an area of study that is of great interest to me and largely the reason that I came to study at CMU.  I grew up in northern Michigan on the Au Sable River.  Those of you that are not familiar with the Au Sable, I would strongly recommend that you check it out sometime.  It is a beautiful trout stream, that is absolutely loaded with biodiversity and character.  Growing up near this pure resource has endowed me with the love and respect of our Mother Earth (she's gorgeous isn't she?!) and the drive to become a significant contributor to conserving natural resources like the Au Sable River, and all the wildlife and vegetation that inhabits it's amazing ecosystem.  Outside of my biology "geekery" I spend a lot of my free time playing a variety of sports such as basketball, baseball, golf, and disc golf.  My love for disc golf has really escalated over the last couple of years, prompting me to play year round.  Most view this as crazy considering this is Michigan, but to me is an excuse to get outside, exercise, and enjoy nature even in the harsh winter conditions.

playing disc golf at 11,000 ft 

     I'm also into canoeing, camping, music, movies, and hot wings... naturally.  Anyways, enough about me.  The purpose of this blog is to tell you what I do in Dr. Monfils' lab.  I am currently working on an a grant studying aquatic invasive plant species in Michigan.  The grant is headed by the Department of Environmental Quality and is focused on generating effective management strategies for these plants.  The goal is to minimize their spread, thus reducing the damage they impose on their surrounding environment.

Reading a Tree

Before I first started working at CMU, I could have told you what a family tree was and could trace the genealogy of my family back, seeing how distantly related I was to past relatives in the process.  But a phylogeny?? What’s that? What information could possibly come from a plant systematics tree with no information on long-dead ancestors present on its branches?

Well, those ancestors are the links that show us how present day species are evolutionary connected. We don’t need to be told what color their flowers were, or how their leaves look, because we can make a pretty good guess based on what their lineages evolved into. By tracing character traits of morphology or genetics through a tree, we can make a decent hypothesis as to how a group of organisms is related to each other and apply this information in taxonomical and population studies.

But how do you read a tree if all you have are the tips of the branches? It all comes down to monophyletic groups, or clades (there’s a jeopardy word for you).  Below you can see a pretty simple tree, showing the evolution through time to the organisms at present day, numbers 1-5. Each horizontal line is a lineage, evolving from a common ancestor at the “node”.  We call the organisms that have evolved from an ancestor descendants.  

As you can see from the diagram, there are two groups displayed, the ingroup and the outgroup. The ingroup is all the species you have chosen and that you want to understand relationships among. All the ingroup species are more closely related to each other than they are to the outgroup, which serves to root the tree.  The outgroup should have enough similarities to help define relationships among ingroup taxa, while at the same time helping show where the ingroup falls on a bigger biodiversity tree. 

A group made of ALL the descendants from a common ancestor is called a monophyletic group.  This is similar to looking at a family of two parents with three children, and grouping all the children together.  A group made of SOME BUT NOT ALL of the descendants from a common ancestor is known as a paraphyletic group. This is a little like looking at a family with five children, but grouping males and females separate, and disregarding all the males. This would not give a very accurate representation of the current generation of the lineages present from the parents, would it?

  

Monophyletic groups of organisms are those most closely related to each other, and aid in describing and organizing species.  Not only that, but our herbarium is arranged according to the evolution of plants, so understanding a phylogeny of plants can help everyone find what they are looking for in our shelves!

 http://ohioplants.org/bryophytes-introduction/

Not all trees are set up the same way either, and you could see a variety of trees representing the same relationships. 

 http://www.tree-thinking.org/intro.html

Want to become better at reading phylogenies? Check out this paper “Tree Thinking” that was recommended to me and is tremendously helpful!

Cheers!

~ Heather

The Plants that Nom

I remember the first time I saw a venus fly trap, I was about 8 and my friends mom told me they ate flies. I didn't believe her, plants don't eat animals! Then she bough one from Kroger and for a while it didn't do much.  Then one day I went to my friends house and lo and behold there was something in its trap!

Ever since that day I have been fascinated by carnivorous plants.  How these plants have adapted to their inhospitable conditions shows how amazing life can be and exactly what evolution can accomplish.  Nitrogen is one of the most precious resources a plant needs, after taking botany with the awesome Dr Monfils ;) I know that nitrogen is an essential macronutrient because it is used in all amino acids and it is present in the chlorophyl needed for photosynthesis.  This is why carnivorous plants had to develop their unique way to get nitrogen, by eating... well dissolving... other organisms.   After learning what nitrogen is required for I can, in a polite way, tell my freinds mom she is wrong.  She told me that the plant doesn't use the insects they consume for energy, however through a secondary system they do.  If carnivorous plants didn't consume the nitrogen in the animals they wouldn't be able to produce chlorophyl so they couldn't photosynthesize their own energy.

Since that first fly trap the coolest moment I have had regarding carnivorous plants was when I got to see them in their natural habitat.  I look BIO 100Z on Beaver Island the summer before I came to CMU and I can easily say it was my favorite class of my entire college carrier.  One of the best parts of this class was when we got to explore the Egg Lake bog where you can find these beauties, Sarrscenia purpurea.  They are pitcher plants and in order for them to grow in the super acidic, nutrient poor bog ecosystem they need to have an alternative way to get nutrients.  The way pitcher plants work is that at the bottom of the pitcher there is a reservoir of sticky, sweet smelling liquid that contains enzymes.  An insect, attracted to the sweet smell goes into the top and falls down into the goo, getting stuck, and is digested by the enzymes.  If that isn't cool then I don't know what is.

I think one of the main reasons I am still fascinated by these carnivorous plants is that I myself am not a carnivore.  I have been a vegetarian for over 5 years and I think its interesting that while I, a humyn therefore member of a species that is suppose to eat meat, doesn't; and yet a plant who isn't suppose to consume anything does! I guess this is just a way for the plants to get back at the animals who eat them.

^The world most famous carnivorous plant, Audrey II.^

Collections I've Known

If you are standing in the doorway of the CMC Herbarium, chances are that you could turn around and see me at my desk: headphones on, head bobbing to some tunes. While the connection between the herbarium and music might not be readily apparent, I don’t have to make too great of a stretch when linking them in my mind.

For example, I take great pride in the organization of my digital and physical collections. Digitally, there are no “Track 1” or “Unknown Artist” tags to be found in my iTunes. The bitrate of my songs is pretty standardized at a higher quality variable bit rate (VBR) of V0 (which averages about 245 kilobytes per second). I chose this to maximize sound quality while also keeping file sizes down. Digitization of specimens in the herbarium also requires high quality images, excellent record keeping, and up to date annotations.

My physical collection is also similar to the physical specimens of the herbarium. I have high quality (i.e. mint) records with all the original inserts as well as records that have had a rougher life with many scratches and water damaged sleeves. Just as the quality varies in my record collection, some specimens have a paucity of collection data, are missing key structures, or misidentified (and therefore improperly organized), while others are exquisite specimens.

 

Organization is extremely important in both collections. When I’m looking for soul music, I head to my soul section and I can immerse myself in the genre. Likewise, if I was trying to learn Carex species, I could head straight to the Cyperaceae and dive right in. There is a difference here between the two, however. Herbaria are organized phylogenetically, whereas the amount of reticulate evolution in music would make this an extremely daunting (in my opinion, impossible) task.

Both collections are designed to be used and explored. When I want to compare Eriophorum virginicum form album against other specimens for comparison and identification, I am greeted with many eager individuals. Alternatively, in my record collection when I am comparing that new thrift store find to my older copy, I can compare matrix numbers, label types, and sleeve attributes (i.e. gatefold) to determine pressing information and rarity.

Importantly, I have all my records, their conditions, any special notes, and the date I last listened to them in a spreadsheet. This makes my collection accessible in a new way to me. Not only is it is a very different browsing experience, but I can also send this list to friends so we can compare collections (and see if we want to make any trades/loans). In herbaria, databases can serve a very similar purpose.

You could call this a lesson in organization, but really it is obsession; because when you love something so much, you’ll look for any excuse to spend more time with it.