The Plant Press

30 Years of the Biological Diversity of the Guiana Shield Program

From Plant Press, Vol. 21, No. 2, April 2018.

Kaieteur Falls, Guyana. (photo by Carol L. Kelloff)

The Biological Diversity of the Guiana Shield Program (BDG) recently celebrated its 30th anniversary. This dynamic program seeks to document, study, and preserve the biological diversity of the Guiana Shield. The Shield is a natural area occupying the northeast corner of South America and has a rich and poorly explored biodiversity. Understanding diversity in the area is complicated by the fact that it encompasses six political units (Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, and parts of Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil) and five languages. The Shield includes a wide variety of habitats including the unique "Lost World" tepuis and towering greenheart forests as well as savannas, lowland and montane forests, and coastal mangrove areas each of which has a complex interaction of plants and animals.

BDG has worked to explore this rich diversity and to make the information available and useful to the public and a variety of agencies. Although based in the Department of Botany at the National Museum of Natural History, the program has interacted with scientists in almost all of the Natural History biodiversity departments as well as the National Zoo, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute.

To accomplish its goals, BDG has a worldwide network of collaborators. In fact, the program has worked with over 850 people in research, education, training, and outreach. These efforts have resulted in tens of thousands of new collections that have been used to address a variety of questions from the basic “What is it?” and “Where does it live/grow?” to synthetic ones, such as “What is it related to?”, “What are the levels of endemism?”, “Are there adaptive radiations?”, "Where are the highest areas of species richness and endemism?", "Where should future expeditions go?”, and others.

A Successful Expedition Signifies the Palau Orchid Conservation Initiative is Officially Underway

From Plant Press, Vol. 21, No. 1, January 2018.

By Benjamin J. Crain

The Palau Orchid Conservation Initiative is a collaborative program that focuses on the biology, ecology, conservation, and restoration of orchids and their associated fungi. The program was launched by the North American Orchid Conservation Center (NAOCC), a coalition of organizations established by the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC), the National Museum of Natural History’s Department of Botany and the U.S. Botanic Garden, along with the U.S. Forest Service’s Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry and researchers from Illinois College and the University of Hawaii. The program aims to improve our understanding of orchid communities, their biology, and distribution across Palau while acquiring detailed information on their co-occurrence with specific tree species, vegetation types, soil types, and habitats. The program also aims to explore the diversity of mycorrhizal fungi associated with orchids in Palau to determine how these symbiotic partners influence the diversity, distribution, and abundance of orchid species there.

Taki Falls in Ngrardmau State, Babeldaob, Palau. Several terrestrial and epiphytic orchids were documented at this site. The trail leading to the waterfall is steep and passes through several distinct habitats that support a variety of orchid species. (photo by Benjamin J. Crain)

As a post-doctoral ecologist with NAOCC, I embarked on a two-month collecting expedition in September to document orchid and mycorrhizal diversity in Palau. Through the Palau Orchid Conservation Initiative, the research team aims to improve understanding of biodiversity while helping to sustain it amidst the growing threat of environmental change.

The Republic of Palau is an archipelago of tropical islands in the Pacific and a significant component of the Polynesia-Micronesia global biodiversity hotspot. Palauan islands are generally of two types. Babeldaob, the largest island of Palau is of volcanic origin and somewhat mountainous. The remaining islands, including the famed Rock Islands that are designated as a World Heritage Site, are composed of raised limestone with karst topography, although some persist as low coral atolls. The unique position of these islands between the Philippines and New Guinea results in a flora that is influenced by each of these regions.

Collecting tissue samples and preparing specimens for pressing, drying, and mounting with reserve staff at the Ngardok Nature Reserve ranger station. (photo by Benjamin J. Crain)

Substantial orchid diversity in Palau has been documented during past expeditions of researchers including Noriaki Fukuyama, Ray Fosberg, Agnes Rinehart, and Joan Canfield. The sizable collection of orchid specimens from Palau housed at the U.S. National Herbarium as well as records from the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, New York Botanical Garden, Oakes Ames Orchid Herbarium, and Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle proved critical in compiling a checklist of close to 100 orchid species collected on the islands. Despite the known diversity of orchids in Palau, a number of areas have yet to be surveyed and most areas that have been surveyed have not been visited in many years.

Wind Dispersal for the Win: New Fern Collections from the Marquesas Islands

From Plant Press, Vol. 21, No. 1, January 2018.

By Eric Schuettpelz

Typical fern spores are less than one tenth of a millimeter in diameter and are readily carried to far off places by the wind. Having such small propagules certainly contributes to the disproportionate diversity of these plants on oceanic islands. Although ferns and lycophytes (collectively pteridophytes) only account for about 4 percent of the world’s vascular plant species, they can easily represent 20 percent of the species on islands. Generally speaking, the more isolated the island, the more disproportionate the contribution of pteridophytes.

A young leaf of Cranfillia vulcanica. (photo by Ken Wood)

Located in the southern Pacific, about 5000 km from North America and more than 7000 km from Australia, the Marquesas Islands are farther from a continental land mass than any other archipelago. The constituent islands are well separated from the rest of French Polynesia and about 1400 km from Tahiti and the rest of the Society Islands. The 12 major Marquesas Islands are nearly all volcanic in origin, ranging in age from about 1 to 6 million years old. In total, the archipelago accounts for about 1050 km² of land area, which is roughly the same as the city of Los Angeles or the island of Tahiti and less than the Hawaiian island of Kaua’i. Three of the islands reach an elevation exceeding 1200 m.

A comprehensive flora of the Marquesas Islands has yet to be published. However, researchers based at the National Tropical Botanical Garden (led by David Lorence), the Smithsonian Institution (led by Warren Wagner), and the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (led by Jacques Florence) have been studying the plants inhabiting this archipelago for more than three decades. Much of their progress has been tracked on the Flora of the Marquesas website and this information is currently being developed into a two volume Flora of the Marquesas Islands to be published in late 2018. At present, 329 native vascular plant species are listed. Remarkably, ferns and lycophytes account for 99 (30 percent) of these. There are very few islands or archipelagos with proportions that are more skewed toward pteridophytes.

Poumaka, a prominent 500 m tall spire on Ua Pou. (photo by Ken Wood)

As a first step toward understanding the origins of this incredible pteridophyte diversity, I recently traveled to the Marquesas Islands, with funding from the Global Genome Initiative and the National Science Foundation, to collect herbarium specimens and silica-dried material for DNA extraction. I was joined by Ken Wood (National Tropical Botanical Garden) and Jean-François Butaud (Consultant in Forestry and Polynesian Botany).

Significant Changes Uncovered in the Marine Ecosystem of the Gulf of Maine

From Plant Press, Vol. 20, No. 4, October 2017.

The coastal waters of Maine have seen a considerable rise in summer temperature during the last decade, and there is concern for the future of many coastal fisheries, including seaweed harvest. Along the immediate coast, seaweeds are the major supplier of primary productivity to the marine ecosystem. They also provide the major element of community structure, and are potentially the best indicators of long-term changes resulting from climate change.

During the early 1960s, Walter Adey developed an extensive and quantitative area cover database in the Gulf of Maine for the calcified and long-lived coralline red algae. This was followed up by similar research into the Arctic and across the entire North Atlantic. From 1990 to 2007, he extended his work to all fleshy seaweeds using biomass. This summer, from June 15 to September 22, 2017, Adey revisited the stations of this unique database in the eastern Gulf of Maine to develop comparative data and to examine changes underway in the region.

Alca i crew on completion of last leg of 2017 cruise: (back left to right) George Georgiadis, Silvana Campello, Karen Loveland Adey, Maggie Johnson; front Thew Suskiewicz, Tim Goertemiller, Walter Adey. (photo by Karen Loveland Adey)

Joining Adey on his field trip were scientists Matthew Suskiewicz, doctoral student from Laval University in Quebec, Canada, and Douglas Rasher from the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences in Boothbay Harbor, Maine. They utilized the 64-foot research vessel Alca i with Adey as the chief scientist and captain. Several of Adey’s former and current university students and post-docs assisted the project as official Smithsonian volunteers. Sue Lutz served as senior technician.

Part of coralline collection in bucket. (photo by Karen Loveland Adey)

Preliminary results are currently being analyzed. Earlier research had shown that two cold-water indicator species, the corallines Clathromorphum compactum and Lithophyllum orbiculatum, are abundant in the colder eastern part of the Gulf of Maine. A combined analysis from the 1960s to 2017 of both species at 12 stations shows a mean drop in cover of 39 percent of total cover. In addition, 11 of 12 stations showed a drop in cover, with only a single station showing a slight rise.

Staff Research & Activities

From Plant Press, Vol. 20, No. 4, October 2017.

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image of a colony of bacteria on a peltate glandular trichome of a spearmint leaf, Mentha spicata, that was discovered as part of an introductory botany course for the Q?rius Youth Science Academy. (image by Juan Pablo Hurtado Padilla, Smithsonian Institution)

On July 24 and August 1, Liz Zimmer, W. Carl Taylor and Gabe Johnson with the assistance of two interns, Henry Scheffer and Yash Kalburgi conducted an introductory botany course for the Q?rius Youth Science Academy. Here area teenagers learned to collect and press plant specimens from the Smithsonian Gardens Pollinator Garden, properly maintain a field notebook, mount a herbarium specimen, and observe morphological characters under light and electron microscopy. The students also learned how to properly preserve and label leaf tissue for molecular studies, and participated in a quick DNA precipitation demonstration.

Immediately after attending the XIX International Botanical Congress (IBC) in Shenzhen, China, Paul Peterson and Konstantin (Kostya) Romaschenko traveled to Yunnan and Sichuan Provinces for 26 days (29 Jul−24 Aug) to collect grasses. They managed to gather 290 numbers exploring remote areas of western Yunnan and Sichuan near the Yangtze and Mekong Rivers (near the border of Myanmar and Tibet Province) and intervening mountains between 1851−4705 meters. Peterson and Romaschenko were accompanied by Jie Cai, Curator of the seed bank collection at Kunming Institute of Botany (our sponsor) and Zhang Wei, a new botany student. Habitats ranged from extremely xeric along the major rivers with Rumex hastatus D. Don, Incarvillea arguta (Royle) Royle, Vitex, Sophora, and Artemisia to temperate and alpine slopes with Larix potaninii Batalin, Betula albosinensis Burkill, Picea, Abies, Juniperus, Quercus, Juglans, Rhododendron, and Berberis. Interesting grasses included Bromus sinenesis Keng ex Keng f., Neyraudia arundinacea (L.) Henrard, Piptatherum munroi (Stapf) Mez,, Ptilagrosits yadongensis Keng f. & J.S. Tang, P. dichotoma Keng ex Tzvelev, Tripogon chinensis (Franch.) Hack., and T. sichuanensis S.M. Phillips & S.L. Chen. In addition, Romaschenko presented a longer version of his IBC talk on the Phylogeny, Geography, and Classification of Stipa to a group of 24 students and faculty.

  
Left: Ptilagrostis dichotoma with an open panicle, 1-flowered spikelets and plumose awns. (photo by Jai Cai, Kunming Institute of Botany);
Right: Paul Peterson and Kostya Romaschenko pressing grasses at the expedition diver’s fathers-in-law house above the town of Yongzhi, Yunnan; in scree slopes just below the road they found Phaenosperma globosum Munro ex Benth., a monotypic genus, species, and tribe [Phaenospermateae, subfamily Pooideae]. (photo by Jai Cai, Kunming Institute of Botany)

Team Limu Participates in MarineGEO Hawaii Bio-Assessment 2017

From Plant Press, Vol. 20, No. 3, July 2017.

The Smithsonian’s Marine Global Earth Observatory (MarineGEO) hosted a two-week bioblitz in Kaneʻohe Bay, Oahu, Hawaiʻi, at the end of May. This was a large-scale inventory including researchers, students, and volunteers working to collect and observe all algae, micro- and macro-fauna, fish and samples from Autonomous Reef Monitoring Structures (ARMS). During the bioblitz all participants lived and worked on Coconut Island, a 28-acre island in the bay, a quarter mile off the windward side of Oahu.

Participants of the Bioblitz Team Limu (left to right): Barrett Brooks, Seaenna Correa-Garcia, Melinda Peters, Claire Lager, Celia Smith, and Scott Chulakote. (photo by Laurie Penland)

Barrett Brooks and Melinda Peters were part of the limu (the Hawaiian word for seaweed) team and the goal was to collect and record the algae found in the bay. They were joined by Celia Smith (University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa), who specializes in reef algae systems, and an amazing group of students—Laurie Penland, Emily Frost, Sarah Vasconcellos, Scott Chulakote, Nicole Yamase, Seaenna Correa-Garcia, Laica Arcibal, Eileen Nalley, Lindsay Tanabe, Megan Onuma, and Cory Pittman (KANI). The students helped collect and process samples each day.

Left: Participants of the Bioblitz Team Limu (clockwise from bottom left): Laica Arcibal, Sarah Vasconcellos, Barrett Brooks, and Seaenna Correa-Garcia. (photo by Emily Frost). Right: A sample of collected algae specimens during the Kaneʻohe Bay Bioblitz. (photo by Barrett Brooks)

To understand the diversity of species and abundance levels, the group collected some 440 samples from across the bay. The collecting methods employed the use of digging tools and standard bags. Samples were then sorted, documented, pickled in vials, and tissue samples stored in silica gel and liquid nitrogen. Pressed vouchers were made when possible. About 33 percent of the samples were identified to genus or species. Molecular data will help determine the identifications of the remaining samples.

Processing algae specimens during the Kaneʻohe Bay Bioblitz. (photo by Melinda Peters)

On the last day of collecting at the northern point of the bay, the team found the invasive, Avrainvillea amadelpha. The species has been found in other parts of Oah’u, but had not been previously documented in this bay. It establishes itself in tight clusters and out-competes native species such as the seagrasses (Halophila hawaiiana). This was a disappointing find, but also a positive example of why assessments like this are so important.

Plant Expeditions: History Has Its Eyes on You

From Plant Press, Vol. 20, No. 3, July 2017.

By Gary A. Krupnick

The 15^th Smithsonian Botanical Symposium was held at the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) and the U.S. Botanic Garden (USBG) on May 19, 2017. The symposium, titled “Exploring the Natural World: Plants, People and Places,” focused on the history of plant expeditions. Over 200 participants gathered to hear stories and learn about what motivated botanical explorers of the Western Hemisphere in the 18^th, 19^th, and 20^th centuries. Eight speakers presented talks that took the audience on a trip across the Americas, from Canada in the north to Brazil in the south, and the islands of the Caribbean and the Galápagos.

Speakers, conveners, and award recipients of the 2017 Smithsonian Botanical Symposium at the National Museum of Natural History (from left): Laurence Dorr, Janet Browne, Eliane Norman, Jacques Cayouette, Pamela Henson, Robin Foster, Megan Raby, Daniel Stone, and Javier Francisco-Ortega. (photo by Ken Wurdack)

A day before the talks, several attendees joined behind-the-scenes tours of the Smithsonian Libraries’ Joseph F. Cullman 3^rd Library of Natural History at NMNH. For the Symposium guests, the library displayed a wide selection of publications produced by scientific voyages of exploration. From early Renaissance travels (Belon, Tournefort, and others), through the great age of exploration (Cook, Dumont d’Urville, von Humboldt, Darwin, et al.), to the government-sponsored expeditions across the North American West in the mid- and late 1800s, these books are held for study and research. In addition, there were a few examples of “directions for collecting” that reveal how plants were gathered, prepared, preserved, documented, and transported as specimens (living or dried) in centuries past.

The symposium began with Laurence Dorr (Chair of Botany, NMNH) giving opening remarks. Since the lectures were taking place in Baird Auditorium, Dorr took the opportunity to talk about the theater’s namesake, Spencer Baird. A naturalist, ornithologist, ichthyologist, and dedicated collector, Baird was the first curator to be named at the Smithsonian Institution and eventually served as Secretary of the Smithsonian from 1878 to 1887. Among his successes, Baird dramatically expanded the Smithsonian’s natural history collections by obtaining specimens from the many U.S. exploring expeditions.

Kenneth Wurdack (NMNH Botany Curator and Chair of the Cuatrecasas Medal Committee) presented the 15^th José Cuatrecasas Medal for Excellence in Tropical Botany to Robin Foster. This prestigious award is presented annually to a scholar who has contributed significantly to advancing the field of tropical botany. Foster, a Senior Conservation Ecologist at the Field Museum, was commended for his innovative efforts in cataloging the flora of Barro Colorado Island in Panama. Wurdack also spoke of Foster’s explorations of remote regions of Ecuador and Peru. In his acceptance speech Foster expressed his gratitude and thanked numerous mentors, collaborators, support staff, and his rapid assessment teams. He also encouraged field explorers to continue what they are doing.

The morning session began with a series of talks focusing on the 18^th century explorations of Canada and the United States. Jacques Cayouette (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada) presented the first talk, “Moravian Missionaries as Pioneers of Botanical Exploration in Labrador (1765-1954).” He explained that missionaries of the Moravian Church, one of the oldest Protestant denominations, established missions along coastal Labrador in Canada in the late 1700s. The first mission was established in Nain in 1771. Within two years the first plant list, including 37 vascular plant species, was written, most likely by the missionary Christoph Brasen.

Plant Discovery and Extinction: The Narrow Window

From Plant Press, Vol. 19, No. 4, October 2016.

By Craig Costion

Extinction of species is perhaps the one underlying core outcome that all conservation professionals and biologists seek to avoid. Billions of dollars are spent annually throughout the world from donor organizations, governments, and passionate individuals to prevent species from extirpation. This has proven successful for many species, though to date the vast majority of effort has been devoted to charismatic species or those lucky enough to simply be likeable. Plants, though undoubtedly important to people, seem to lack this money attracting charisma.

A recent study indicated that even though 57 percent of the species on the U.S. federal endangered species list were plants, less than 4 percent of the federal budget for all listed species went to plants. The study found a similar pattern in other countries. This cultural bias, which shows a preference to fund the conservation and study of animals over plants, has become known as “plant blindness.” Many of us are familiar with the saying that many of the world’s plant species are likely to go extinct before they are formally described. Perhaps only a few of us however, can say they have watched this actually happen. What follows is a real life story about the narrow window between plant discovery and extinction.

Specimen of Timonius salsedoi collected by Ray Fosberg in 1965 from Malakal Island, Palau.

Timonius salsedoi (Rubiaceae) was described in 1987 by the late Smithsonian botanist, Ray Fosberg and named after a former Peace Corps volunteer that made collections for Fosberg. The species description was based on only one collection from a tiny island less than 1 km² in the archipelago of Palau. Since Fosberg had collected Timonius extensively throughout Palau, and published a monograph on the genus, the species was presumed to only occur on this small island. I was not entirely convinced, and suspected it was a variant of one of the more widespread species. However, it was equally plausible that this species was a remnant of a once more common species.

Palau is an island complex of ancient volcanic islands (~36 million years ago) and more recent uplifted limestone karst islands (~1 million years ago). Very different vegetation associations occur on these islands and both have a lot of intact forest. The capital city, Koror, sits in the middle of these two major island groups, spread across three small volcanic islands, including Malakal which is the smallest of the three. These three volcanic islands are entirely urban today. Only two patches of forest remain, one of them on Malakal where Fosberg collected the type of T. salsedoi. If Fosberg was correct, then this species may have previously occurred across the islands that are now entirely urban.

Presidential Politics

From Plant Press, Vol. 19, No. 4, October 2016.

By Laurence J. Dorr

With presidential politics dominating the news I began to wonder whether or not a president had ever visited the U.S. National Herbarium. Sitting presidents have visited the National Museum of Natural History but as best I can tell none has ever toured Botany. I cannot remember any presidential candidate visiting the museum which is a shame because certainly the museum and herbarium would make a great “photo op” if one wanted to address compelling environmental issues such as biodiversity, extinction, climate change, etc. We have had high ranking officials appointed by the president visit Botany. I remember one sitting cabinet member visiting the herbarium and I know that one retired Supreme Court justice has been given a tour. My complaint about lack of attention from the president or presidential candidates is not an argument that the U.S. National Herbarium lacks connections to the presidency. We in fact have several interesting connections.

Onagraceae is one of the plant families recently digitized as part of our “conveyor belt” project (see The Plant Press 19(1): 1, 13-15. 2016) and when the label transcriptions were reviewed I was reminded that we have a specimen (US01361622) of fireweed (Chamaenerion angustifolium (L.) Scop.) collected by President Chester A. Arthur in Yellowstone National Park in 1883. The label is typewritten and probably not original. The specimen does have a separate printed annotation that certainly is original. It states simply “Executive Mansion, Washington.” Arthur was suffering from nephritis and the trip to Yellowstone was intended to improve his health. Firewood in bloom would catch anyone’s attention but why President Arthur, who had no particular interest in Botany or natural history, would collect just one herbarium specimen and donate it to the Smithsonian is beyond me. His time away from Washington may have given him a respite but his health did not improve and Arthur died in 1885 after completing his sole term in office. It appears that this Yellowstone fireweed is the only herbarium specimen that we have collected by a sitting American president.

Quillwort Type Gets Visitors

From Plant Press, Vol. 19, No. 3, July 2016.

Sharon and Michael Rosenthal show the type specimen of the quillwort Isoëtes viridimontana. (photo Ken Wurdack)

Michael and Sharon Rosenthal stopped by the Department of Botany on June 17 to see the type specimen of the quillwort Isoëtes viridimontana M.A. Rosenthal & W.C. Taylor (Isoëtaceae). Sharon was hiking the Appalachian Trail at the time, and their visit was a brief diversion from the Virginia section of the trail, as well as a brief respite from all of the rain that Washington, DC, had been receiving lately. Several years ago Michael discovered this quillwort along the margins of Haystack Pond in southcentral Vermont. He and Sharon described the new species with assistance from Botany Laboratory Technician Gabe Johnson, Research Associate Carl Taylor, and Curator Elizabeth Zimmer (see Amer. Fern. J. 104: 7-15. 2014). The discovery of this new species, including a photograph of Michael collecting in Haystack Pond, is featured in the display, “Botany in a New Era of Discovery,” near the West Wing elevator lobby of the National Museum of Natural History. Michael told us that he continues to discover new records of ferns (and other organisms) for Vermont and New England. It is an excellent way to spend one’s retirement!