Summary: This post links to videos of Lecythidaceae tree species identifications from the Brazilian Amazon. The videos should be useful for students of Amazon botany. They also serve as metadata for botanical and DNA collections from mapped and tagged trees at the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project.
Summary Leishmaniasis is an emergent protozoan disease that afflicts over 12 million people worldwide. After years of working in proximity to the Leishmania parasite, I contracted Leishmaniasis for the first time this year. In this post I share my experience. First, based on my own parasite’s species ID, the geographic ranges of Leishmania appear poorly known. This
Here is the statement I plan to read at the Ann Arbor City Council meeting on October 16, 2017. Here is a link to the issue at hand. Constructive feedback and questions are welcome. ————————- “I am a biologist from the University of Michigan. However, the following are my views and not those of the University.
Part of Jordan Bemmels‘ Graduate Student Curatorial Assistantship (GSCA) focussed on the relatively neglected but unique wood collections at the U-M Herbarium. This news piece describes some of what Jordan learned and accomplished. Jordan’s work uncovered some fascinating history and provided him with a firm foundation in museum curation.
Summary: The Brazil nut family – Lecythidaceae – is one of the most important families of trees in the Amazon basin. Yet compared to tree families of temperate forests, the group is extremely understudied. In collaboration with Brazilian colleagues, our lab has selected neotropical Lecythidaceae as a model clade for integrated studies of systematics, ecology and evolution in Amazon
Summary: Levis et al. (SCIENCE03 MAR 2017 : 925-931) challenge the idea that Amazon forests were largely untouched by humans prior to 1492. Specifically, they show that forest plots near archeological sites are enriched with useful tree species relative to plots located farther away from these sites. This is an intriguing finding, but the idea that prehistoric gardening has broadly
Summary: Staten Island is confronting urban deer overabundance with a plan to sterilize all of its male deer. Animal rights groups praise the plan as forward looking and humane, but it is neither. It will be difficult to implement, wildly expensive, and it will alter the reproductive behavior of male and female deer, leading to an increase in vehicular
Summary: Following a controversial deer cull, the city of Ann Arbor is considering non-lethal methods to deal with its burgeoning deer population. The Humane Society of America (HSUS) has aggressively promoted these methods in Ann Arbor and elsewhere but their scientific rationale is misleading at best. This post discusses biological misinformation at the heart of the HSUS deer
The first review of Michigan Shrubs and Vines, by Barnes, Dick and Gunn is out in The Michigan Botanist: Huft — Review of Michigan Shrubs & Vines — Mi Bot 54 1-2 This book is not yet published (the reviewer read the uncorrected page proofs) but it will be soon. The book is the companion to
We are delighted to welcome Tamara Milton as a new PhD student in the lab starting this fall. Tamara graduated from Bucknell University with a dual degree in Biology and Environmental Studies and a minor in Spanish (Magna Cum Laude). Following her 2012 graduation, Tamara spent two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Paraguay promoting environmental conservation. This past summer,
