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Natural history collections are essential for Evolutionary Biology
Natural history collections are essential for Evolutionary Biology
Field work is an important part of being a biologist and is an opportunity to experience plant diversity in a natural environment and about their ecology. I have always been a passionate plant collector and botanist, and heavily rely on plant collections for my research. I study the evolutionary processes by which plants evolve and diversify. We rely on collections for natural phenotypic and genetic variation in plant populations to decipher these process empirically and quantitatively. I am also an advocate for teaching field work skills to the next generation of naturalists, and for safe and equitable field work conditions for all involved.
Collecting plants is an exciting process, with the outdoor adventure to find and collect the plants being only the beginning. After collecting, plants need to be sorted, pressed and dried, and identified to genus and species. The identification process combines understanding both morphology and evolution.
Herbarium
Herbarium
From a single collection day, plants are first sorted by species. Then they are pressed between two sheets of newspaper between two pieces of cardboard. This process is repeated until all are stacked in one giant pile of plants. The plants are pressed as tightly together as possible, and then dried through whatever clever contraption you can think of to send hot air through the corrugated cardboard. Once dried, these plants, along with their collection information, will be prepped for storage in a Herbarium. Herbariums store natural history plant collections that serve as vouchers for research projects all over the world.
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