PEOPLE

About me: Hi! I’m a first-year PhD in Viticulture and Oenology, where I study how grapevines handle heat and drought from a physiology and hydraulics perspective. I focus on xylem reinforcement, leaf minimum conductance, and vulnerability to cavitation/embolism across both conventional and emerging cultivars. I’m a plant lover who enjoys tending green spaces and advocating for garden care. Outside academia, I enjoy outdoor adventures, exploring fishing spots and hiking.

Project Title: Evaluating the heat and drought resilience of emerging winegrape cultivars in Australian vineyards

Project Description: In the context of Australian viticulture, mitigating drought stress under the constraints of climate change has become increasingly critical. Optimising water use efficiency and enhancing fruit quality by using (deficit) irrigation strategies targeting moderate water stress is widely adopted in Australian vineyards. However, limited water resources are still threatening the development of vineyards, and the concept of non-irrigated (rainfed or dry-grown) vineyards has gained prominence, with many arguing the suitability of productive crops in terms of extreme drought. This study, therefore, aims to investigate the suitability of different grapevine cultivars (conventional and alternative) under both irrigated and non-irrigated conditions, by classifying and characterising their ability to avoid and survive droughts.

Publications: 

PI's role: co-supervisor, primary supervisor: Dr Vinay Pagay.

Project Title: An examination of morphological and physiological response of Australian genus Acacia against drought stress

Project Description: Australian Acacia, colloquially known as wattles, represent a diverse group of plants, boasting over 1,000 species inhabiting a wide area of ecosystems across Australia. These plants exhibit a remarkable ability to adapt to varying environmental conditions, making them a ubiquitous presence in environments ranging from arid deserts to wet coastal regions. Investigating the drought responses of the Australian Genus Acacia is essential for ecological conservation, climate change adaptation, and the practice of sustainable land management. The key findings from this study will benefit various industries, enhance our knowledge of plant responses to environmental stress, and offer practical solutions for drought-prone areas.

Publications: 

PI's role: co-supervisor, primary supervisor: Emeritus Prof Bob Hill.

About me: Hi! After more than 30 years managing complex computer system development projects I'm embarking on a PhD to follow my passion in all things plant related.  My PhD is related to Adelaide's urban forest, but I love of all things plant related.  I'm a long term member of the Rare Fruit Society of South Australia and a committee member of the Dahlia Society of South Australia.  I spend a lot of my weekends in the garden - mostly in the vege garden where tomatoes and dahlias feature highly, but also in our orchard which has a number of weird and wonderful varieties of fruit trees sourced from the Rare Fruit Society.  I have quite a few ornamental trees, many of which were impacted by our recent dry Spring and Summer.  I'm really keen to find some new and novel species that will thrive in our future climate.

Project Title: Improving the climate resilience of Adelaide’s urban forest

Project Description: Adelaide’s urban forests are currently dominated by temperate and subtropical species that may experience lower performance and survival as the climate becomes warmer and drier. This project will develop methods and generate data to identify tree species and cultivars in the greater Adelaide metropolitan area that are most vulnerable to climate change. It will also identify and propose alternative species better suited to future conditions, ensuring the long-term resilience of Adelaide’s urban forest.

Publications: 

PI's role: co-supervisor, primare supervisor: Dr Kate Delaporte.

Project Title: Evaluating composition, diversity and functional originality of neotropical montane ecosystems

Project Description: This project aims to (i) identify and describe the plant functional types present in neotropical montane ecosystems; (ii) compare functional diversity and originality across montane sites; (iii) determine the degree of functional convergence/divergence among montane sites. We hypothesize that regardless of species phylogeny, neotropical montane ecosystems will show a limited combination of viable functional traits, resulting in high functional convergence among sites (low beta functional diversity and originality), but high phylogenetic and taxonomic alpha diversity. Consequently, we expect that those montane sites will exhibit similar vulnerability to climate change.  

PI's role: co-supervisor. Primary supervisor - Dr. Bruno H.P. Rosado.

About me: 

Project Title: Investigating the Impact of Nitrogen on the Fecundity of Maireana sedifolia at Jacinth-Ambrosia

Project Description: Pearl bluebush (Maireana sedifolia) is a small and long-lived shrub growing within arid and semi-arid areas across Australia. Despite being a dominant species in many ecosystems, pearl bluebush seeding rates are surprisingly low, indicating that one or multiple resources are limiting its fecundity. This low seed availability poses a significant issue for the restoration of previously mined lands, such as the Jacinth-Ambrosia mineral sands mine, located within the Yellabinna Regional Reserve (South Australia). The most common factor limiting plant reproduction in the arid zone is water, however previous research has indicated that water addition alone could not improve the seed production of this species. To investigate whether nitrogen and other nutrient deficiencies could explain M. sedifolia’s reduced fecundity, this study applied three complementary approaches : (1) a comparative analysis of soil and plant nitrogen concentrations between flowering and non-flowering plants; (2) an experimental application of nitrogen fertiliser in an irrigated seed orchard; and (3) an examination of potential facilitative effects of Acacia papryocarpa on M. sedifolia’s nitrogen availability and fecundity. Results showed that flowering plants had substantially higher soil and plant nitrogen content suggesting that limited nitrogen availability influences fecundity. The application of fertiliser did not significantly increase seed availability, likely due to chloride contamination in the water, suggesting future seed orchards should use unchlorinated water to promote flowering. Facilitative effects from A. papryocarpa may be present but were weak. This study shows that nutrients, not only water, can be vital for the success of arid zone plants. It also highlights the importance of carefully controlled conditions within seed orchards, to promote flowering in sensitive species such as M. sedifolia.

Publications: 

PI's role: primary supervisor. Co-supervisor - Prof. Andrew Lowe

About me: 

Project Title: Multidecadal changes in the spatio-temporal distribution of plant functional strategies at the Koonamore arid vegetation reserve.

Project Description: Due to anthropogenic and natural factors, both stress (e.g. droughts) and disturbance pressures (e.g. overgrazing) are becoming increasingly frequent in Australian rangelands, resulting in vegetation compositional shifts. Advancing from traditional ecological approaches centered around taxonomy, to trait-based perspectives focused on functional shifts can strengthen our understanding of rangelands' spatio-temporal dynamics; and their capacity to adapt to future environmental conditions. Despite the recent interest in ecological theory of functional traits, few studies have combined long-term monitoring with spatial and trait-based analysis within Australian arid ecosystems. My project adopts Grime’s CSR theory to explore the ecological roles of functional traits, which categorises species into stress-tolerant (S), competitive (C) and ruderal (R) strategies. I argue integrating CSR theoretical background with spatial modelling will improve understanding of how key functional traits vary spatially and temporally, in response to the synergic effect of stress and disturbance. I propose using the centenary South Australian Koonamore Vegetation Reserve as a model system to test hypotheses regarding long-term vegetation responses to climate and land-use changes, and discuss how testing these hypotheses can facilitate the conservation and restoration of Australian overgrazed rangelands.

Publications: 

PI's role: primary supervisor. Co-supervisor - Dr Bertram Ostendorf

Project Title: Functional strategies of survivorship to droughts between monocots and eudicots in Tropical Mountain Grasslands: is there functional convergence? 

Project Description: The climate change, the lower CO2 partial pressure of the atmosphere and drought events In high elevation environments the lower CO2 partial pressure of the atmosphere coupled with dorught events can  lead to a conflicting demand between water conservation, carbon sequestration, and energy dissipationact, thus acting as a strong environmental filter for the plant community. Monocotyledonous and eudicotiledonous species differs in their leaf morphology, anatomy and, physiology, and then may present differential strategies to avoid this filter.  In my project I coupled measurements of stomatal density and stomatal conductance to investigate the divergent strategies of mono and eudicot plants in a mountaineous environment.

Undergraduate's Roles: 

1. Plant sampling;

2.  Field assistance;

3. Data collection;

4.  Anatomical and image analysis;

5.  Data management and analysis;

6.  Scientific writing;

7.  Oral communication.

Publications: 

Gouveia WF, Matos IS, Mantuano D, Rosado BHP. 2018. Conservar água ou dissipar energia: como o arranjo funcional  de características define as estratégias de sobrevivência de plantas de Campos de Altitude? SEMIC (RJ, Brazil). PDF

Gouveia WF. B.S. 2019. Estratégias funcionais de sobrevivências à seca entre monocotiledôneas e eudicotiledôneas em campos de altitude: há convergência funcional? B.S. in Biology thesis. Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. PDF

PI's role: co-supervisor. Primary supervisor - Dr Bruno H.P. Rosado.

About me: I am recent undergraduate transfer student to UC Berkeley, studying microbial biology.  I hope to gain the knowledge and experience to understand how microbial biology connects to environmental resilience. In my free time I play tennis, sew and rock out to country music. 

Project Title: Anatomical contribution to leaf hydraulic failure under drought

Project Description: Plant communities worldwide are facing increasingly severe and prolonged droughts, which frequently result in leaf hydraulic failure and whole plant death. Leaf hydraulic vulnerability to drought is a highly integrated component of several physiological and anatomical traits. However, we still have a limited understanding of how anatomical properties contribute to leaf-level responses to drought. In this project, we will test how leaf anatomy influences the leaf hydraulic efficiency (Kleaf) and the ability of leaves to maintain hydraulic function during drought (P50). We already estimated Kleaf and P50 in a phylogenetic diverse set of 90 plant species (angiosperms and ferns) collected from the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden. The next step is to apply anatomical and imaging analysis and assess how the interspecific variation in leaf hydraulic vulnerability is related to several xylem (e.g. number of xylem conduits per bundle; conduit diameter and cross-sectional area; cell wall thickness) and outside-xylem (e.g. mesophyll, cuticular and epidermis thickness; intervessel distance) anatomical traits. Deciphering those relationships is crucial to understand and to predict how different plant species and communities will respond to a drier world.

Undergraduate's Roles: 

1. Preparing leaf cross-sections for anatomical analysis;

2. Obtaining microscopical images of leaf cross-sections;

3. Extracting leaf xylem and outside-xylem anatomical traits using image processing software (ImageJ/GIMP);

4. Managing/organizing large datasets;

5. Conducting statistical analysis using R language.

PI's role: primary supervisor.

Project Title: leaf conduits resistance to implosion

Project Description: Leaves of vascular plants have developed rigid conduits (tracheids and vessels) to transport water with relatively high efficiency. However, drought, wind, and even gravity can impose mechanical forces strong enough to deform those conduits or even cause complete collapse (implosion). Resistance to collapse can be determined as the ratio of conduit wall thickness (T) to lumen diameter. Thus, species can theoretically become more resistant to collapse by narrowing or by thickening their conduits, but either way brings disadvantages for the plant.  Thicker conduit might be more resistant to collapse, but they are more costly to produce and less efficient in conducting water. In contrast, wide conduits might be less costly to produce and more efficient in conducting water, but at the expense of being more vulnerable to collapse. In this study we obtained and analyzed anatomical cross-sectional images for leaves of 122 ferns and angiosperms species to understand how T scales with D to determine conduits resistance to implosion. 

Undergraduate's Roles: 

1. Extracting leaf xylem anatomical traits using image processing software (ImageJ/GIMP);

2. Managing/organizing large datasets;

3. Conducting statistical analysis using R language.

PI's role: primary supervisor.

About me: Hi, I'm Roshni! I am an undergraduate at UC Berkeley, majoring in Environmental Science and intending to declare Molecular Environmental Biology with a concentration in Global Change Biology as well. I am also pursuing a minor in Geospatial Information Science and Technology since I believe that scientific visualization is one of the best ways to not only analyze data but also convey scientific ideas to the general public. In environmental science, one of the many topics I am currently interested in is climate science specifically how different climates and their changes interact with the numerous and diverse ecosystems around the world. I also am interested in looking at changes in the distributions of various species, leading me to conduct research on bird distributions in Berkeley and Orinda in fall of 2021 where I specifically looked to see if there was a difference in bird species distributions based on varying levels of urbanization. I am excited to learn more about research and science while being part of the Macrosystem Ecology Lab! Outside of academia, I like to travel, draw, play video games, and bike. 

Project Title: Anatomical contribution to leaf hydraulic failure under drought

Project Description: Plant communities worldwide are facing increasingly severe and prolonged droughts, which frequently result in leaf hydraulic failure and whole plant death. Leaf hydraulic vulnerability to drought is a highly integrated component of several physiological and anatomical traits. However, we still have a limited understanding of how anatomical properties contribute to leaf-level responses to drought. In this project, we will test how leaf anatomy influences the leaf hydraulic efficiency (Kleaf) and the ability of leaves to maintain hydraulic function during drought (P50). We already estimated Kleaf and P50 in a phylogenetic diverse set of 90 plant species (angiosperms and ferns) collected from the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden. The next step is to apply anatomical and imaging analysis and assess how the interspecific variation in leaf hydraulic vulnerability is related to several xylem (e.g. number of xylem conduits per bundle; conduit diameter and cross-sectional area; cell wall thickness) and outside-xylem (e.g. mesophyll, cuticular and epidermis thickness; intervessel distance) anatomical traits. Deciphering those relationships is crucial to understand and to predict how different plant species and communities will respond to a drier world.

Undergraduate's Roles: 

1. Extracting leaf xylem and outside-xylem anatomical traits using image processing software (ImageJ/GIMP);

2. Managing/organizing large datasets;

3. Conducting statistical analysis using R language.

PI's role: primary supervisor.

About me: Hi! I'm a third-year undergraduate studying Molecular Environmental Biology and Data Science. My academic interests include restoration and aquatic ecology, evolutionary ecology, biogeography, marine biology, and learning more about data analysis in general. I am a strong proponent for environmental justice and am also interested in urban planning, relating to how urban agriculture and other urban ecological restoration methods can catalyze the revitalization of disused lands or redlined communities. I enjoy making jewelry, cooking new recipes, and roller skating in my free time.

Project Title: Anatomical contribution to leaf hydraulic failure under drought

Project Description: Plant communities worldwide are facing increasingly severe and prolonged droughts, which frequently result in leaf hydraulic failure and whole plant death. Leaf hydraulic vulnerability to drought is a highly integrated component of several physiological and anatomical traits. However, we still have a limited understanding of how anatomical properties contribute to leaf-level responses to drought. In this project, we will test how leaf anatomy influences the leaf hydraulic efficiency (Kleaf) and the ability of leaves to maintain hydraulic function during drought (P50). We already estimated Kleaf and P50 in a phylogenetic diverse set of 90 plant species (angiosperms and ferns) collected from the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden. The next step is to apply anatomical and imaging analysis and assess how the interspecific variation in leaf hydraulic vulnerability is related to several xylem (e.g. number of xylem conduits per bundle; conduit diameter and cross-sectional area; cell wall thickness) and outside-xylem (e.g. mesophyll, cuticular and epidermis thickness; intervessel distance) anatomical traits. Deciphering those relationships is crucial to understand and to predict how different plant species and communities will respond to a drier world.

Undergraduate's Roles: 

1. Extracting leaf xylem and outside-xylem anatomical traits using image processing software (ImageJ/GIMP);

2. Managing/organizing large datasets;

3. Conducting statistical analysis using R language.

PI's role: primary supervisor.

About me: Hi! I am an undergraduate at UC Berkeley pursuing Molecular Environmental Biology. One of my strongest passions is organismal biology- whether it is observing plants at the botanical gardens, teaching wildlife biology classes to K-8 students, or educating guests about ocean life and conservation back home at the Aquarium of the Pacific. I'm also interested in how niche adaptations of plants and animals can contribute to the future of public health and medicine. In my free time, I love to paint, run through scenic trails, and play jazz on the alto saxophone. I'm excited to be working with Dr. Ilaine Matos, studying how leaf anatomy and hydraulic function change in response to climate change. (dianakalantar@berkeley.edu)

Project Title: Anatomical contribution to leaf hydraulic failure under drought

Project Description: Plant communities worldwide are facing increasingly severe and prolonged droughts, which frequently result in leaf hydraulic failure and whole plant death. Leaf hydraulic vulnerability to drought is a highly integrated component of several physiological and anatomical traits. However, we still have a limited understanding of how anatomical properties contribute to leaf-level responses to drought. In this project, we will test how leaf anatomy influences the leaf hydraulic efficiency (Kleaf) and the ability of leaves to maintain hydraulic function during drought (P50). We already estimated Kleaf and P50 in a phylogenetic diverse set of 90 plant species (angiosperms and ferns) collected from the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden. The next step is to apply anatomical and imaging analysis and assess how the interspecific variation in leaf hydraulic vulnerability is related to several xylem (e.g. number of xylem conduits per bundle; conduit diameter and cross-sectional area; cell wall thickness) and outside-xylem (e.g. mesophyll, cuticular and epidermis thickness; intervessel distance) anatomical traits. Deciphering those relationships is crucial to understand and to predict how different plant species and communities will respond to a drier world.

Undergraduate's Roles: 

1. Preparing leaf cross-sections for anatomical analysis;

2. Obtaining microscopical images of leaf cross-sections;

3. Extracting leaf xylem and outside-xylem anatomical traits using image processing software (ImageJ/GIMP);

4. Managing/organizing large datasets;

5. Conducting statistical analysis using R language.

PI's role: primary supervisor.

About me: I am the summer REU student from the University of New Mexico (UNM). I am doing an independent project which will focus on the response of species with contrasting vein patterns to different herbivory simulations. It aims to show how embolisms spread throughout leaf veins when a hole is punched through the midrib and off the midrib. I am excited to learn new methods, how to develop/execute a project, and to work in the field. I am honored to work side by side and learn from a very intelligent team of people. Some background about me: I earned a bachelor’s in business administration from UNM and pursued a career in marketing. I returned to school to pursue a degree in biology because I’ve always been passionate about nature and am interested in the effects of climate change. I joined Dr. Felisa Smith’s paleoecology lab at UNM to understand how organisms reacted to past climate changes, to make better predictions of how organisms may respond to future climate changes. Outside of school and work I am a motorcycle enthusiast. I also love to run and hike.

Project Title: Embolism Spreading varies depending on contrasting leaf vein networks and herbivory treatments

Project Description: The main motivation of  my study is to  explore whether the distance and vulnerability of embolism spreading in response to (simulated) herbivory vary among species depending on their venation architecture, i.e.  looping versus branching. 

Undergraduate's Roles: 

1. Collect plant species with different patterns of venation architecture from the UC Botanical Garden and from the UC Berkeley campus.

2. Simulate herbivory (hole punch) in the leaf midrib and off-midrib (i.e. lamina)

3. Use the optical vulnerability  method (https://www.opensourceov.org/) to visualize embolisms formation and spread throughout the venation network as the leaf is dehydrating. 

4. Obtain leaf water potentials (with a pressure chamber) as the leaf dehydrates.

5. Compare vulnerability curves and spatial patterns of embolism spread among species with branching vs. looping venation networs. 

PI's role: co-supervisor. Prymary supervisor - Dr Benjamin Blonder.

About me: I’m a first-generation, low-income 2nd year undergraduate at UC Berkeley studying Integrative Biology and with an external interest in Astrobiology! I have a background in microgravity research as I was the Co-PI in an ISS experiment along with experience in biotechnology competitions sponsored by NASA. I am very interested in the developmental morphology of organisms in a variety of environments along with the intersection between astrobiology and the medical field as I hope to delve into the mysteries that are waiting to be uncovered. Outside of my academic interests, I really enjoy hiking, camping, and spending time with friends no matter the activity! I also enjoy searching for new types of music to add to my playlists. (jamesrohde@berkeley.edu)

Project Title: RoL:FELS:RAISE: Design principles of evolved transportation networks in leaf veins

Undergraduate's Roles: 

1. Plant sampling; 

2. Leaf area calculation;

3.  Measurement of leaf mechanical traits;

4.  Data management and analysis.

PI's role: primary supervisor. 

About me: I am a first-year at UC Berkeley from Denver, intending to major in Molecular and Cell Biology and ecstatic to be a member of the Blonder Lab! I am intrigued and inspired by interdisciplinary research that tackles the complex relationships between ecology, society, and biology to find tangible solutions for pressing issues related to climate change and medicine. I also enjoy tree-climbing, playing cello, journaling, and making smoothies. (sonomacarlos@berkeley.edu)

Project Title: RoL:FELS:RAISE: Design principles of evolved transportation networks in leaf veins

Undergraduate's Roles: 

1. Plant sampling;

2.  Leaf area calculation;

3.  Measurement of leaf mechanical traits;

4. Data management and analysis.

PI's role: primary supervisor. 

About me: I am an undergraduate student intending on majoring in Molecular and Cell Biology at UC Berkeley. Joining the Macrosystems Ecology Lab for me is an exciting and empowering opportunity to channel my energy during my undergraduate career to create positive change through research. I am interested in how the history, fossils, and evolutionary biology of plants can combine to contextualize the present and future, allowing us to better prepare for a changing climate. Outside of school, I am often found at the beach surfing, fishing, or enjoying the company of friends. (adrianfontao@berkeley.edu)

Project Description: RoL:FELS:RAISE: Design principles of evolved transportation networks in leaf veins

Undergraduate's Roles: 

1. Plant sampling;

2.  Leaf area calculation;

3. Measurement of leaf mechanical traits;

4.  Data management and analysis.

PI's role: primary supervisor. 

About me:  I am a senior at the University of Waterloo (in Ontario, Canada) studying Environmental Sciences with a specialization in Ecology. My main interests are functional ecology, evolutionary biology, and biostatistics. When I’m not pretending to know what I’m doing with R, you can find me climbing, attempting to identify wildlife, and thinking about chicken nuggets. (nhvuong@uwaterloo.ca )

Project Title: Quantifying multiscale network architecture of leaf veins

Project Description: Many biological systems contain spatial networks that transport resources. Examples include the branches of trees and the circulatory systems of animals. These networks vary widely in their architecture – some only branch, while others form loops; some have multiple levels of hierarchy, while others do not. This variation may reflect evolved solutions for optimizing functionality and minimizing costs in different contexts. Key network functions include transport efficiency, damage resilience, damage resistance, or mechanical strength. There is currently limited theory or data for linking network form to these functions, or for predicting tradeoffs between these functions. Prior theory has mostly focused on single functions or costs. Moreover, very few networks have been fully quantified or had their functionality measured, due to the difficulty of collecting data and developing vocabulary for network architecture. Better understanding the rules underlying network architecture will provide insights into the evolution of diverse organismal forms and will also identify principles that could one day guide the engineering of artificial networks, e.g. solar cells or synthetic organs.

Undergraduate's Roles: 

1. Hand-tracing;

2.  Leaf venation extraction (with machine learning algorithms);

3.  Image analysis;

4. Data management and analysis.

PI's role: primary supervisor. 

Project Title: Analysis of Chemical and Mechanical Defense Tradeoffs on a Fast-Slow and High-Low Conductivity Spectrum

Project Description: Plant-herbivore interactions have many economical and ecological impacts worldwide. They impact the agriculture, horticulture, and forestry industries, causing them to lose billions of dollars annually. An important, yet understudied aspect of these interactions are how plants have evolved to avoid herbivory through mechanical and chemical defenses. It has been suggested that these defenses are coordinated and can vary in strength depending on plant growth rate and leaf nutritional content. However, there have been few studies relating these aspects to one another for a broad set of phylogenetically distinct species. This study will contribute to understanding different tradeoffs between chemical and mechanical defenses with taking growth rate and leaf nutritional content into consideration.

Undergraduate's Roles: 

1. Estimate leaf chemical defense investment through phenolic content analysis for a phylogenetic diverse set of 120 angiosperms and fern species.  

2. Estimate leaf mechanical defense investment through mechanical properties (work to shear and work to punch) for all species.

3. Estimate leaf position along the fast-slow spectrum and hydraulic conductance, by measuring  specific leaf area (SLA) and maximum leaf hydraulic conductance (Kleafmax) on all species.

4. Perform standard major axis (SMA) statistical analysis to determine if there is a relationship between mechanical (work to punch/shear) and chemical defenses (phenolic content), and how those correlations vary depending on the species SLA/Kmax values. 

PI's role: primary supervisor. 

About me: I am a second-year at the University of California-Berkeley studying Data Science and Public Health. My current interests include computational epidemiology and global environmental health. I am fascinated by utilizing data modeling tools to understand the nature of infectious diseases and to evaluate the efficacy of public health interventions, especially as these network models become complicated by urbanization, climate change, poverty, etc. I am excited to be a part of the Blonder laboratory, where I will be working on a project that investigates the multiscale trade-offs between form, function and cost in leaf vein networks. Aside from my academic interests, I enjoy listening to music, crafting, and being in the outdoors! (haileypark@berkeley.edu)

Project Title: Quantifying multiscale network architecture of leaf veins

Project Description: Many biological systems contain spatial networks that transport resources. Examples include the branches of trees and the circulatory systems of animals. These networks vary widely in their architecture – some only branch, while others form loops; some have multiple levels of hierarchy, while others do not. This variation may reflect evolved solutions for optimizing functionality and minimizing costs in different contexts. Key network functions include transport efficiency, damage resilience, damage resistance, or mechanical strength. There is currently limited theory or data for linking network form to these functions, or for predicting tradeoffs between these functions. Prior theory has mostly focused on single functions or costs. Moreover, very few networks have been fully quantified or had their functionality measured, due to the difficulty of collecting data and developing vocabulary for network architecture. Better understanding the rules underlying network architecture will provide insights into the evolution of diverse organismal forms and will also identify principles that could one day guide the engineering of artificial networks, e.g. solar cells or synthetic organs.

Undergraduate's Roles: 

1. Hand-tracing;

2.  Leaf venation extraction (with machine learning algorithms); 

3. Image analysis;

4.  Data management and analysis.

PI's role: primary supervisor. 

About me: I am a high school biology teacher in Tucson, Arizona. I have a BS in biology from the University of Arizona and an M.Ed in secondary education from Northern Arizona University. Before I was a classroom teacher, I worked in conservation and outdoor education. As a teacher, I implement project-based learning and try to get my students outdoors as much as possible, whether through planning and installing a rain garden with native vegetation on campus or heading up the mountain for 4 days of inquiry-based learning with the University of Arizona’s Sky School program. I hope to inspire students to pursue post secondary education STEM opportunities by actively involving them in data collection and analysis and connecting them to a diverse group of people working in the field of life sciences.

PI's role: co-supervisor. Primary supervisor - Dr Benjamin Blonder.

Undergraduate's Roles: 

• Hand-tracing high resolution images of leaf veins for a NSF-funded project on the architecture of transportation networks;

• Performing quality control checks on images.

PI's role: primary supervisor.

Undergraduate's Roles: 

• Hand-tracing high resolution images of leaf veins for a NSF-funded project on the architecture of transportation networks;

• Performing quality control checks on images.

PI's role: primary supervisor.

Undergraduate's Roles: 

• Hand-tracing high resolution images of leaf veins for a NSF-funded project on the architecture of transportation networks;

• Performing quality control checks on images.

PI's role: primary supervisor.