Botanical Conservation and Research's topics - tribe.net

NEW TRIBE Paleobotany and Extinct Plants

2008-06-20T03:21:49Z

There is a new tribe for the discussion of Paleobotany (the study of prehistoric plant life), extinct and endangered plants and their conservation. I hope that this field of study interests you as much as it interests me. See you there! http://tribes.tribe.net/paleobotanyandextinctplants

posted in Botanical Conservation and Research - 0 replies

How are the American seed companies acquiring seeds and selling seeds that need to be baught every year to the world?

2008-06-01T20:32:20Z

Seed companies are actively acquiring and patenting new strains of fruits and vegetables all the time from further regions of the world. Because a white man in a suit can not stroll into the markets of Indonesia and say “you should give me your regional seed that your family has been growing forever and buy my seed every year”, he would be run out of town. Instead the bio-genetic companies try to play a hero role. They offer young students in the area a free ride to American universities, in exchange those students must work for the company for two years. Sounds like a dream to the students, a full ride and a high paying job waiting for them when they graduate. Upon graduating the individuals will return to their home town as a local but now working for the bio-genetic seed company. They will use several of the success plants that the companies have produces like strains of broccoli that will grow in high temperatures to persuade the community to buy the seeds. They will say “Grandma, look at how well my seeds are growing, how great and uniform my corn is, you should buy my companies seed”. These individuals also collect the local strains of vegetables and fruits to bring to the labs of the bio-genetic seed companies so they can eventually patent a hybrid of the strains.

What is at stake is the independence of all people and the cycle of seed to seed life that has existed FOREVER.

posted in Botanical Conservation and Research - 4 replies

Where is your corner of the globe?

2008-05-15T01:55:33Z

This is a general shout out for members to introduce where they are from and a little background on thier bioregion

I am based out of Bellingham, Washington, USA. This is a nice corner of the globe with temperate rainforests. Dominant plants include cedar, douglas fir, salal, oregon grape, and is an area with some of the highest biodiversity of berries and fungi within the US. Year round it tends to rain (drizzle) alot and without much temperature variation. The sister city of Bellingham as far as weather and character would probally be Hobart, Tasmania.

Other places that I have lived includes Hawaii (Hilo), Madagascar (Tana and Maroansetra), Tasmania (Hobart), and a Puerto Rico (Luquillo Forest.)

posted in Botanical Conservation and Research - 21 replies

A new group for Eco Sustainable Alternative Tech. Mud Junkies

2007-10-08T22:17:45Z

Well, I have pulled myself out of the Hawaiian rain forest once again. With months of computer time ahead of me as I write my second book, I decided to finally start a gr
oup focused on the Eco-Ark Project. Its multiple purposes include raising awareness of the Eco-ark being built in the Puna Rain Forest, encouraging others to start similar projects in their own area, sharing ideas and methodologies for accomplishing these goals, spreading ideas concerning sustainable, Eco-friendly technologies and off grid community living. Spreading knowledge of organic permaculture techniques, to encourage the building of community gardens and the growing of food in publicly accessible places (Green Ribbon Project). And helping each other to restoring this planet to its divinely intended Edenic state before it is too late.

This group will also act as a central meeting place for individuals wishing to join in the continued building of the ark on Hawaii Island next summer.

Check out http://tribes.tribe.net/ecoark? to reach Builders of the Arks! Poke around and see if it sounds like a group you would be interested in participating in. We would enjoy input from all positive, creative souls in resurrecting the balance between humanity and our planet. Aloha!

posted in Botanical Conservation and Research - 0 replies

Rare Plants Found At Lassen Volcanoes National Park

2007-08-22T20:50:08Z

I've just gotten back from Lassen Volcanoes National Park.

The main purpose of the trip was to photograph ferns for a book I'm writing on the ferns of California. On that the trip was a resounding success.

With some searching, I found the rare Asplenium septentrionale on a cliff where it was on record as being previously collected. My search of the area found only one lone individual. It was hanging from the horizontal rock surface. I think that these natural photographs will look much better in my book than the photos I could have gotten if I had grown the plant from some spores that were offered to me. For my photos, I am sticking as much as possible to natural settings and California genotypes.

In addition, I found two plants previously unknown from Lassen Volcanoes National Park. This was a little surprising since the park has been well surveyed. The two species were Polystichum kruckebergii and Sedum obtusatum ssp. boreale. This Sedum subspecies is designated as "uncommon" in Jepson. Perhaps I should write up something for Fremontia (the California Native Plant Society journal), it would make a nice article with the photos.

I was also able to get some great photographs of interesting animals. Under a log, near a vernal pool, I found a Long-toed Salamander with the color pattern of a Western Long-toed Salamander, a subspecies not previously known from California. I also got shots of the "endangered in California" Sewellel, apparently the most primitive living rodent with fossils going back to the time of T. rex. In addition, it was fun to get photographs of a Black Bear foraging under logs.

In total, for my California fern book, I was able to photograph five fern species and two Isoetes species that I needed.

posted in Botanical Conservation and Research - 0 replies

Looking to the future

2007-07-14T18:02:11Z

Some random thoughts on plant conservation that were stimulated by a conference I was at recently....

* Some claim that we are currently at 120% of earth's capacity for sustaining human life. This is considering *today's* conditions, does not consider the estimated 52 coal plants that the Chinese will be creating over the next year, does not consider population growth estimated to top out at 9-10 billion, and does not consider the long-term effects of feeding the hungry and malnourished who make up a notable proportion of the global population.

* With current rates of global warming it is estimated that species would have to migrate 30 feet per day in order to remain in their current climate. While this might seem possible for many animals, we need to realize this is pretty much impossible for most plants. We should also realize that many non-plant species live in specific communities, so individual parts of those communities are not likely to migrate by themselves unless ecological niches open up in the new home area.

* Even if carbon emissions were entirely curtailed tomorrow, it's estimated that we would still experience 2 degrees C of warming over the next 100 years due to the time-lag involved on the warming effect of increasing CO2 in the atmosphere. A warming of 1.5 C is thought to be sufficient to result in the extinction of 15-30% of species worldwide.

In other words, we've gone beyond any so-called tipping point, in my opinion. Clearly, the challenges to global conservation of plants will be enormous. On the other hand, I really think that humans are pretty clever (intelligent, maybe not as much), and we can probably think up ways to help conserve plant species more effectively under changing climate conditions. Seed collections are one method that this might be done, but I'm curious if others have ideas.

As an example, one thing I have wondered about is whether it would be feasible to intentionally move plant communities, or at least select species, polewards. The 30 ft per day would even out to something like 2 miles per year, so a decade's worth of movement might still just be 20 miles. I'm guessing this would be most useful at ecotones, and might need to account for soil types in some way, but it's one idea I thought of while listening to plant conservation lectures that seemed so dire.

posted in Botanical Conservation and Research - 0 replies

Interesting Plant Conservation Web Links

2007-05-13T22:18:56Z

Check out this non-profit plant conservation website, especially their resource links. It is a nice listing of other plant NGOs, photos, protected areas, international law, conferences, software, publishing companies, botanical gardens, etc... very cool site to look through

http://www.plant-talk.org/Pages/resource.html

posted in Botanical Conservation and Research - 2 replies

Native Plants and Permaculture: A gathering of plant enthusiasts

2007-03-14T01:39:49Z

Native Plants & Permaculture
May 11-13, 2007 (Friday afternoon-Sunday)

Event details at www.lostvalley. org/nature2007ma y
Online registration form at www.lostvalley. org/nativeplants pc/registrationo nline
Mailable/emailable registration form at www.lostvalley. org/nativeplants pc/registration

We will be seeking common ground between the Native Plant and Permaculture communities in developing ecologically- integrated self-sustenance and native habitat preservation in the Pacific Northwest.

• Presentations about various perspectives on indigenous and exotic plants, including human uses and ecological relationships
• Facilitated panel discussions and discussion circles
• Guided plant walks
• Garden and Permaculture tours
• Resource tables and networking opportunities
• Music, games, and community-building
• Hands-on projects
• Meals made from organic, homegrown, and wildcrafted food
• Overnight lodging and camping available

Schedule overview:
Friday afternoon and evening, 3 pm on: informal tours, socializing, discussion circles, and activities.
Saturday and Sunday, 9 am-6 pm: scheduled walks, talks, discussions and activities related to the roles of native and nonnative plants in our cultivated and noncultivated landscapes.
Saturday evening, 8 pm: concert with Laura Kemp (see www.laurakemp. com) (by donation).

Topics:
• Native Plant-Animal Interactions and Relationships
• Indigenous Land Management
• Bringing Back Native Food Crops
• The Challenges of Native Habitat Conservation and Restoration
• What Is the Role of Nonnatives?
• Wildflower, Tree, and Shrub Walks
• Substituting Natives for Nonnatives in Home Landscapes
• Responsible Control of Exotics
• Economic Uses of Native Plants
• Ecologically Sustainable Foodsheds
• Invasion Biology: A Closer Look
• Preserving Diversity in Times of Environmental Change
• Evolving a Bioregional Permaculture
• and more.

Presenters:
• Ed Alverson (The Nature Conservancy)
• Rhoda Love (Native Plant Society of Oregon)
• David Theodoropoulos (author, Invasion Biology)
• Michael Pilarski (Friends of the Trees)
• Stephanie Schroeder (Walama Restoration Project)
• Toby Hemenway (author, Gaia’s Garden)
• Jude Hobbs (Agroecology Northwest)
• Rick Valley (Lost Valley Educational Center)
• Marcia Cutler (Native Plant Society of Oregon)
• Bill Burwell (Kalapuya researcher)
• Heiko Koester (Eugene Permaculture Guild)
• Sharon Blick (School Garden Project)
• Dave Bontrager (Lane County Audubon Society)
• Joshua Smith (Ecoscape Environmental Design)
• Pat French (Willamalane Parks and Recreation District)
• Nick Routledge (Seed Ambassadors Project)
• Tobias Policha (Institute of Contemporary Ethnobotany)
• and more.

This event is supported in part by Lost Valley Nature Center, Eugene Permaculture Guild, Friends of the Trees, Walama Restoration Project, Institute of Contemporary Ethnobotany, Mt. Pisgah Arboretum, Fern Hill Nursery, Living Tree Paper Company, and others. We are seeking additional groups to co-sponsor, as well as individuals willing to contribute financially to help this event happen.

Contact: Lost Valley Nature Center, attn.: Chris Roth, 81868 Lost Valley Lane, Dexter, OR, 97431, (541) 937-2567 ext. 116, nature AT (replace with @) lostvalley.org.

Why This Conference?

For many years, plant lovers have held widely varying opinions about the appropriate roles of native and nonnative plants in our ecosystems and cultivated landscapes. Native plant enthusiasts list some nonnative plants as dangerous invaders, while Permaculturalists may advocate the cultivation and spread of those same species. Some native botanists endorse the selective application of herbicides to eradicate aggressive weedy species, while Permaculturally- inclined gardeners seem more apt to embrace “weeds” and reject chemical means of control. Meanwhile, whatever our attitudes towards natives and exotics, all of our diets and many facets of our economy depend heavily on nonnative plants. Before the arrival of Europeans, however, native plants provided sustenance to indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest for thousands of years.

This weekend gathering will bring together plant enthusiasts of all stripes to learn from one another and explore common ground. We will examine current and potential ecological and economic roles of native plants, effects of exotics on ecosystems and how best to respond to those impacts, indigenous land management techniques, and more. We will use the 87-acre living laboratory of Lost Valley Educational Center, whose Nature Center features native flora restoration projects and extensive interpretive trails through largely native habitat, and whose Permaculture gardens and projects include both native and nonnative plants. We will assess how (and whether) the different outlooks and activities represented both at this gathering and on this land can form practical syntheses which will guide us into more sustainable ways of inhabiting our region. Please join us!

posted in Botanical Conservation and Research - 0 replies

la times article

2007-03-09T01:53:48Z

How to Get Wall Street to Hug a Tree
Environmentalists and investment bankers are working together to put a price tag on nature. The new 'greens' think that human beings are ready to start paying for Mother Nature's services—and that calculating their financial worth will save the planet.
By David Wolman, David Wolman is the author of "A Left-Hand Turn Around the World" and has written for Wired, Newsweek Discover and other magazines.
February 11, 2007

Photo illustration by Eric Tucker
Photo illustration by Eric Tucker
Gretchen Daily, an ecologist at Stanford University, wears butterfly-patterned socks. She's a careful recycler and bikes to work. She composts.

So what's she doing hanging out with guys from Goldman Sachs?

As a tried-and-true "green," she believes she doesn't have a choice.

"Time is running short," she says. "Appealing to moral sense isn't enough anymore. We have to make conservation fit mainstream business calculations."

In her fourth-floor office in the Herrin Labs just off Stanford's main quad, Daily, a professor of biological sciences and director of the tropical research program at Stanford's Center of Conservation Biology, shows me what she means. She clicks open a series of digital maps compiled for a meeting in New York with Goldman Sachs. The maps' rich purple-and-blue hues convey information about California's Central Coast eco-region, which stretches from Santa Barbara north to Napa County and includes San Francisco Bay. Daily explains how each image tells a story of the terrain's value—not property value as a real estate agent would figure it but value in terms of service to mankind. Where the terrain offers a high degree of flood protection, for example, the map is the brightest purple; where the flood-protecting function is comparatively low, the color is light blue. The ecosystems providing the most overall value to people are shaded to indicate highest priority.

If Daily and her colleagues can get Wall Street on board, the maps will also be shaded to indicate financial worth.

This is the future of the environmental movement. Increasingly, economic measures are being used to assess ecosystems by way of the universally comprehensible currency of money. The calculations can be quite explicit: A recent study by the World Wildlife Fund reckoned that the bees that pollinate a Costa Rican coffee farmer's crop, and by extension the nearby forest where the bees live, are worth as much as $60,000 annually to the farmer. Last year, two entomologists, one from Cornell University and the other from the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, figured that a $60-billion-a-year chunk of the U.S. economy is supported by wild bugs such as dung beetles and bees that pollinate plants, hasten the decomposition of manure, feed on crop pests and end up as dinner for birds, small mammals and fish.

Such huge numbers can be compelling, and they get people talking. Which is the point.

"We need a new conservation," Daily says. "We don't want to let go of the past. We just want to bring revenue streams into conservation." As it is, environmentalists "aren't really relevant in policy and business decision-making. If we don't do something to become relevant, we don't have a chance."

For most of history, nature, when not playing the part of a wild force to be reckoned with, has been a remarkably consistent servant of civilization. In agriculture, for example, much of humanity's success has depended on the functions of bees, bats and other pollinators. These organisms never submitted an invoice, though, and there was never reason to imagine that their work wouldn't continue in perpetuity.

So much for that. Since the '60s, scientists have been declaring with increasing acuity that environmental degradation isn't just heartbreaking and hazardous, it's also expensive. The financial stakes really came into focus when big-name number crunchers—including Cambridge University economics professor Sir Partha Dasgupta, former World Bank economist Herman Daly and Stanford economist and Nobel laureate Kenneth Arrow—began gauging the negative effect of binge consumption of natural capital on world economies.

Now, says Humboldt State economist Steven Hackett, we know that "the economy doesn't exist in a vacuum." When competitive markets don't put financial values on nature's services, "there is the potential for maladies." Deforestation is an example. A small number of people profit from the sale of timber or cattle raised on cleared forest lands, but all of us bear the costs of soil runoff, increased carbon emissions and so forth. Many scholars and activists suspect (or at least hope) that human beings have reached the point where we're willing to pay for nature's services, because we've finally come to accept that there's a relationship between caring for the environment and ensuring our well-being.

Evidence isn't hard to come by, and sales of hybrid cars and tickets for "An Inconvenient Truth" are only the beginning. One of my neighbors recently paid a few extra dollars to fly to St. Louis from Portland, Ore., so that his journey would be carbon neutral. A for-profit outfit called TerraPass, based in Menlo Park, did the math for him: To offset the carbon that one person's trip on a jetliner will introduce into the atmosphere during a 2,200-mile flight, that person must make a $5.99 investment in a carbon-reducing enterprise, such as a wind farm. TerraPass makes the investment for you, and in the process makes a little money for itself too.

Even if a TerraPass holder believes that he's looking out for his own interests by reducing emissions, he's probably not acting out of rational self-interest the way people generally do in the wacky world of economics; he's basically making a donation. What Daily and her colleagues are after is a financial markets-approved system that applies a straight-up profit incentive to being green. Instead of a voluntary payment of $5.99 for carbon-neutral travel, imagine an economy in which a company would pay you $5.99 to stay home so it could sell a pollution credit to someone who wants to fly to St. Louis more than you do.

If ecosystems that do a great deal for people are to be recognized as of great monetary value, "ecosystem services" will have to become a household phrase.

Despite the snooze-inducing moniker, ecosystem services have occasionally appeared on the public-consciousness radar. The most frequently referenced episode occurred a decade ago, when New York City officials determined that it would be cheaper to protect from pollution the upstate New York watershed, which naturally purifies the city's water, than it would be to spend billions of taxpayer dollars on a municipal water treatment plant. The next visibility boost for ecosystem services came in 1997, when a team of scientists led by Robert Costanza, then with the University of Maryland, published a study in Nature that estimated the value of all the ecosystems and natural capital on the planet. The very rough figure: $33 trillion a year. The research led to a predictable rush of newspaper stories about Mother Nature's price tag and, despite being criticized for weak methodology, the study nudged the concept of ecosystem services valuation further into the mainstream.

Perhaps the biggest indicator of the trend—you might call it environomics—is that the world's largest conservation organizations have embraced it. The just-launched Natural Capital Project, a $15-million-plus program that seeks, as its literature explains, to make conservation "economically attractive," is a collaboration of Stanford's Woods Institute for the Environment, the Nature Conservancy and the World Wildlife Fund. The project will measure the carbon, hydrology and biodiversity benefits of the Afromontane region of East Africa; China's upper Yangtze River basin; California's Sierra Nevada range; and the islands of Hawaii. The goal? Putting a price tag on all of them.

This sort of effort not only holds promise for conservation gains but also neutralizes the charge that nature-loving nongovernmental organization types care more about cute animals than they do about people. Not that environmental groups will stop trying to save vulnerable creatures and habitats anytime soon. Soliciting donations from the penguin-enamored citizenry, and pressing conservation agendas with intensive lobbying efforts and photo-saturated campaigns, has kept the groups in business. Donors like to see pictures of colorful frogs and think that their checks help save them.

They do. But for every one frog species protected, hundreds of other species are becoming extinct—and those species' disappearance might be more harmful to your economic future than the one you just wrote a check to save. If conservation is to matter, both for its own survival as a movement and to effectively reduce damage to the biosphere, the mission must be recast. "You do realize how badly we're losing, don't you?" asks Rebecca Shaw, director of conservation science and planning at the Nature Conservancy in San Francisco.

Once the spectrum of nature's needs and human activities are analyzed together, planners can make development decisions that minimize environmental costs while maximizing investment. Reaching out to the likes of Goldman Sachs and other powerhouse financial institutions is part of the broader quest to show the world that capital markets could do wonders for environmental protection—and that there could be big money in nature for pioneering investors. The Natural Capital Project has only recently begun recruiting banks, but bringing them on board is crucial, Daily says. "Just having biologists trying to set this up would be disastrous."

posted in Botanical Conservation and Research - 0 replies

Hi from South Africa

2007-01-29T20:16:41Z

I am about to ambark on a mamoth task of setting up a sustainable organic medicinal plant "farm" (predominantly our indigenous South African species) and would love to hear similar stories, challenges, tips...

Why I want to do this...
In South Africa about 60% of the population rely on traditional medicines (plants). There are an estimated 200,000 traditional healers and an estimated 350 species of plant most commonly used and traded in South Africa - many of these are already on endangered lists and in certain areas do not grow in the wild anymore.
Conservation circles report (Veld and Flora – December issue) that wild medicinal plant resources are increasingly under threat from habitat destruction as a result of agricultural, industrial and housing development - the remaining stock is further exacerbated by herb gathers and healers.

As demand for botanical medicine continues to increase more and more plant material is needed to make the products people are using.
The big issue is sustainability! We must immediately begin cultivating our medicinal plants to help relieve the burden placed on the wild plant communities. Most importantly, we need to start growing all the species that are currently at risk or endangered (as well as the less endangered) so this valuable resource and knowledge is not lost to us forever.

Love and light,
V

ps. If any of you would like to know more about our wonderful plants, let me know.

posted in Botanical Conservation and Research - 2 replies

Subspecies vs variety

2006-11-24T05:19:57Z

Can anyone tell me the difference between a subspecies and a variety? I've been giving this some thought lately and I cannot come up with a solid explanation.

posted in Botanical Conservation and Research - 16 replies

Hello and a question...

2006-11-20T01:24:22Z

Hey everyone, I am taking the wetlands delineation class with Richard Chin in June, I have been searching around for wetlands delineation jobs but I am having a hard time finding positions that don't require previous delineation experience. I live in the Portland Oregon area, but am willing to travel for work. Does anyone know of any place where I could get started doing delineation? Thanks.

posted in Botanical Conservation and Research - 6 replies

HELP! Attack of the invasive Shivaphis celtis Das in our native garden!

2006-09-23T19:29:37Z

Our university has an awesome native garden at my college main office. It is run by our very new native plant research organization. However, everything has been looking sickly. I finally found out what was going on. We are infested to the nines with this type of fuzzy aphid. We need a way to kill this non-native species and not use pesticides. The lady bug counts have hit an all time low and I suspect chemical pesticide in heavy use across the county. Can anyone help me get rid of this pest before it destroys our entire native garden?

posted in Botanical Conservation and Research - 1 reply

Iron Deficiency Disorder

2006-09-20T09:46:22Z

I am in a subtropical climate with acid soil and acidic rain. Does anyone know of a good organic method for building iron levels in the soil?

posted in Botanical Conservation and Research - 5 replies

What's your green area of interest?

2006-09-19T17:56:41Z

Well, as a bit of an intro I am rather fond of orchids. I find them to be somewhat odd with fascinating ecological relationships. Thus far I have spent time in Madagascar and Puerto Rico doing research on these curious plants, mainly trying to figure out how they respond to disturbance, the special fungi needed for seed germination, and why they are found where they are.

Right now I am in the akward stage of academia being somewhere between an undergrad and a grad student trying to find a job and figure out what to do next in life. Pretty much I would like to focus on tropical botany and development of conservation strategies for preventing any more species of plants from going extinct. I remember spenting some time in Hawaii a few years ago and being introduced to a species of hibiscus that will most likely go extinct in the wild within my lifetime (less than five of them left in the wild) and it was a definate wake up call for me.

My favorite books include:
The Forgotten Pollinators
Song of the Dodo
Guns, Germs, and Steel.

posted in Botanical Conservation and Research - 14 replies

GMO in the Mother Corn

2006-08-09T19:33:52Z

This is directed to Mish but anyone else please join in. In cases you don't know maize (we use the word corn in America, but that can mean other grains in other places) was spead from Mexico to the world. I think the Aztecs had that and cotton (inner and outer crops) growing in 5 colors. Anyway, I remember yrs. ago seeing a documentary showing this (the booming voice of GMO DNA had drifted all the way into the ancient tiny ears of Mother Corn), then hearing it wasn't true, then later hearing the researcher had gotten untruthfully discredited by the powers that be. You seem to be the right person to ask about this. Although you're a busy student, but here's a chance to brag to the world about what you've learned!

Member mish said "I'm in Cholula, Mexico, 100 k or so south of Mexico city at 2200m altitude. Most land is agricultural, though once upon a time the valley was covered with oak forest (less than 10% are left), pine forests in some areas. Mostly it's a good location because it's close to everything, there are rainforests, deserts, marshes, all within a 200km radius. I'm an anthro student and now i'm working on a project on GM corn and immigration in the Tehuacan Valley (birthplace of corn, according to Mac Neish) and trying to learn more about botany, ecology and permaculture.
Peace!"

posted in Botanical Conservation and Research - 2 replies

Medicinal Botany Internship

2006-03-25T17:51:40Z

Zeller Summer Scholarship in Medicinal Botany
Employer: Garden Club of America
Stipend Amount: 1500

Description
The Zeller Summer Scholarship in Medicinal Botany is available to undergraduates at accredited U.S. colleges and universities who have completed their freshmen, sophomore, junior, or senior year. This award supports summer field work or research in medicinal botany. You must have a demonstrated interested in medicinal botany, as evidenced by coursework and/or professor recommendations.
Additional Information
Please visit the Web site provided for additional information.
Applicable Majors
Medicinal Botany

posted in Botanical Conservation and Research - 2 replies

wildflower viewing/carrizo plain

2006-03-06T23:14:11Z

I am an amateur/hobbyist botonist and would like to find a casual fun group of people to go check out the carrizo plain this spring. does anyone have any tips on best time to go, good camping spots, or groups of people that might be going?

posted in Botanical Conservation and Research - 3 replies

Garden Club of America Internship in Garden History and Design

2006-01-04T06:39:29Z

Garden Club of America Internship in Garden History and Design
Employer: Garden Club of America
Stipend Amount: 2000

http://www.gcamerica.org/

Description
The Garden Club of America Internship in Garden History and Design is available to undergraduate and graduate students studying landscape history and design. Preference is given to a researcher who is interested in working at the Archives of American Gardens (AAG) at the Smithsonian Institution. You must be studying horticulture, ornamental horticulture, landscape design, and related fields. The term of the internship is 10 to 16 weeks.
Additional Information
Please visit the Web site provided for additional information.
Applicable Majors
Landscape History and Design, Horticulture

posted in Botanical Conservation and Research - 0 replies

Budweiser Conservation Scholarship Program

2006-01-04T06:30:07Z

2006 Budweiser Conservation Scholarship Program
http://www.nfwf.org/programs/budscholarship/index.cfm

Program Summary
Anheuser-Busch and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation are seeking applications for the 2006 Budweiser Conservation Scholarship Program. This competitive scholarship program supports and promotes innovative research or study that seeks to respond to today’s most pressing conservation issues. The Conservation Scholarship Program is designed to respond to many of the most significant challenges in fish, wildlife and plant conservation in the United States, whether it is the sustainable use of natural resources, including sportfish and game, recovery of an endangered species, or control of invasive exotic species, by providing scholarships to eligible graduate and undergraduate students who are poised to make a significant contribution to the field of conservation.

Under the 2006 Budweiser Conservation Scholarship Program, a minimum of ten scholarships of up to $10,000 each will be awarded to cover students’ expenses for tuition, fees, books, room and board and other direct expenses related to their studies. Awards will be made based on merit and will take into consideration the student’s academic achievements and their ability and commitment to develop innovative solutions that are designed to address real and pressing issues affecting fish, wildlife and plant conservation efforts. The Foundation welcomes applications from all qualified students. Upon receipt of the applications, the Foundation will work with leading professional organizations, academic institutions and federal resource agencies to glean qualified applications from throughout the United States. The program is highly competitive with over 300 applications having been received for 11 scholarships awarded under last year's program.

Eligibility
To be eligible for consideration, a student must be a United States citizen at least 21 years of age and enrolled in an accredited institution of higher education in the United States pursuing a graduate or undergraduate degree (sophomores and juniors in the current academic year only) in environmental science, natural resource management, biology, public policy, geography, political science or related disciplines. Recipients are eligible for one year of scholarship support.

Application Process
The Foundation will work with professional organizations and universities to solicit applications from throughout the country. To apply, students must complete an application and submit an essay of no more than 1,500 words describing their academic objectives. In preparing the essays, students are encouraged to focus on a specific issue affecting the conservation of fish, wildlife or plant species in the United States and the research or study they propose to address the issue. The essay should specifically discuss the broader impacts of the student’s work to the field of conservation. In addition, please include a title for the proposed research and a short abstract. Applicants are also encouraged to include a one- to two-page research plan as an attachment. The research plan should address the status of any approvals and/or permits that may be required to implement the project. Three letters of recommendation, including at least two from faculty under whom the student has worked directly, must be submitted as part of the application package.

Please note that the deadline has been extended from January 13th to January 27th. In addition, applicants must include an official transcript from all colleges or graduate level academic institutions they have attended. The complete application package must be submitted to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and be postmarked no later than January 27, 2006. Applications will be reviewed by a selection committee made up of representatives from professional organizations, universities and federal resource and research agencies. Applicants will be evaluated based upon their knowledge of conservation issues; the merits of their proposed research based upon its significance to the field of conservation, feasibility and overall quality; the innovativeness of their proposed research or study; their academic achievements; and their commitment to leadership in the field of conservation. An announcement of the successful scholarship recipients will be made in May 2006.

Scholarship Conditions
The award may be used only for tuition, fees, books, room and board, or other specifically approved expenses related to the student’s research. Payments may supplement, but not duplicate, benefits from the educational institution or from other foundations, institutions or organizations. The combined benefits from all sources may not exceed the costs of tuition, fees, books, room and board, and other approved expenses as prescribed by the institution. Award recipients will be required to submit documentation approved by their educational institution that documents the student’s anticipated expenses and combined financial benefits. Scholarship funds may only be used during the 2006/2007 academic year. After an award is made, any major change in the recipient’s course of study requires prior approval by the Foundation. The Foundation may withhold or terminate a scholarship due to unsatisfactory academic performance.

For More Information
Please contact Lauren Guite.

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Herb research grant

2006-01-04T06:27:08Z

Research Grant - Herb Society of America
Provided by: Herb Society of America, Inc.
Deadline: January 31, 2006
Award Amount
Minimum: $
Maximum: $5000 Awards Available
Varies Type of Award
Grant
Website
http://www.herbsociety.org
Description
The HSA Research Grant is open to those who are interested in furthering the knowledge and use of herbs. You must be interested in contributing study results and research to the records of horticulture, science, literature, history, art and/or economics. The grant is not given for financial aid to individuals, rather for specific research on herbal projects. This award does not fund salaries, tuition or private garden development and cannot be used in conjunction with other funding.
Additional Information
Please visit the Web site provided for additional information.
Applicable Majors
Horticulture (Herbs)
Why am I seeing this scholarship?

posted in Botanical Conservation and Research - 0 replies

Day lily student research fellowship

2006-01-04T06:24:54Z

AHS Student Research Fellowship
Provided by: American Hemerocallis Society
Deadline: Varies
Award Amount
Minimum: $
Maximum: $2000 Awards Available
Varies Type of Award
Fellowship
Website
http://www.daylilies.org/AHSfel.html
Description
The American Hemerocallis Society Student Research Fellowship is open to undergraduate and graduate students using daylilies (plant genus Hemerocallis) as experimental organisms in an original thesis research project. Your scientific research may be in any fundamental or practical area of study. A research project outline and letters of recommendation are required.
Additional Information
Please visit the sponsor's Web site for additional information.
Applicable Majors
Horticulture, Floriculture, Plant Sciences

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Other botany online forums

2005-12-11T23:18:43Z

The world is an interesting place, while pondering the biogeography of ladyslippers orchids (from an earlier post) I found this web site that is an entire web forum for cypripediums! wow, the ability to connect people with obscure hobbies is an amazing thing.

http://www.cypripedium.de/forum/

posted in Botanical Conservation and Research - 1 reply

Botany grad school recommendations?

2005-12-06T15:35:54Z

Hi, I am looking into botany or ecology related grad schools (either masters or phd level) and I was curious if anyone had any recommendations for where to go or who might be interesting to work with. Also any thoughts on programs or professors to avoid is equally useful to know about.

I will be ideally starting a program in two years. I am quite fond of tropical plant (especially orchids) conservation and field research. Grad programs outside of the US are ok. At this point I am still doing a bit of soul searching trying to figure out what I want to dedicate my life towards but thus far I am pretty interested in ecology, pollination biology, biogeography, quirky plants, and conservation biology (beyond theory.)

Thus far I have begun the process of looking into the University of Maryland, University of Wisconsin, University of Hawaii, Yale, University of Florida, and University of New Orleans (until it went underwater.) Both UH and UF had programs that involve work in Brazil that sounded interesting. I have spoken to a few professors but thus far no location stands out as a perfect match. I've been reading various websites for graduate programs but it can pretty tricky at times trying to "read between the lines" as far as what the school is actually like.

Anyone have any grad school stories to tell?

posted in Botanical Conservation and Research - 1 reply

Orchid Conservation International Research Grants

2005-12-06T07:45:49Z

ORCHID CONSERVATION INTERNATIONAL
GRANTS 2006

Orchid Conservation International is pleased to announce that it is offering grants for projects directly related to orchid conservation. We will either provide a single grant of £5000, or make several smaller awards, depending on the projects submitted.

What will we fund?
Although the following list is not exhaustive, it gives an indication of the types of projects that we will consider for funding.
• Establishing and maintaining organizations and management practices that protect orchids and their habitats.
• Studies of wild orchid populations
• Propagation techniques
• Educational projects

At present we are not able to fund
• Attendance at conferences
• Course fees
• Overheads
• Taxonomic projects, unless they have a direct conservation implication

Applications procedure
Further details can be obtained from Philip Seaton.
Before submitting a final application you may find it useful to discuss your proposal with him.

Deadline for submissions
The deadline for submissions for grants for 2006 is 30th April, 2006.
We expect to notify applicants of the outcome of their applications by 31st July, 2006.

Inquiries and applications should be mailed to:
Philip Seaton
Secretary - Orchid Conservation International
52 Shrubbery Street
Kidderminster
Worcs., DY10 2QY Telephone: +44 (0)1562 742212
UK e-mail: philip@seatonorchids.freeserve.co.uk
Orchid Conservation International Ltd. is a Registered Charity (No.1107354)

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Undergraduate Research Opportunities

2005-11-24T03:05:14Z

Check out the REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) program. It is a great chance for students to gain field experience and to be mentored by an expert scientist. The added bonus is that it is a paid internship and they often cover the cost of airfare and sometimes housing. Last summer I was fortunate to participate in the Tropical Ecology and Evolution program and study orchids in the Caribbean National Forest in Puerto Rico. Very cool.

http://ites.upr.edu/REU/

This is a national program with over a hundred colleges participating in the program. I remember looking into other REU internship options at Humbolt (pollination) and University of Hawaii (Invasive Plants)

Check out the national website to find a program that looks good to you
http://www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/reu/reu_search.cfm

posted in Botanical Conservation and Research - 0 replies

Botany related scholarships, grants, etc...

2005-11-24T02:56:53Z

Garden Club of America Scholarships and Fellowships Site
http://www.gcamerica.org/scholarships.php3

Botanical Society of America Awards (also check under grant opportunities)
http://www.botany.org/newsite/awards/

Grants for horticulturists (mostly UK area)
http://www.grantsforhorticulturists.org.uk/Home.html

posted in Botanical Conservation and Research - 0 replies

Welcome to the Botanical Research and Conservation Board

2005-11-24T02:47:42Z

Hello to everyone that is interested in understanding and protecting the Earth's plants. Lets exchange knowledge, make contacts, and compare plant related news on whats happening in the world.

posted in Botanical Conservation and Research - 0 replies

Botanical Conservation and Research's topics - tribe.net

*NEW TRIBE* Paleobotany and Extinct Plants

How are the American seed companies acquiring seeds and selling seeds that need to be baught every year to the world?

Where is your corner of the globe?

A new group for Eco Sustainable Alternative Tech. Mud Junkies

Rare Plants Found At Lassen Volcanoes National Park

Looking to the future

Interesting Plant Conservation Web Links

Native Plants and Permaculture: A gathering of plant enthusiasts

la times article

Hi from South Africa

Subspecies vs variety

Hello and a question...

HELP! Attack of the invasive Shivaphis celtis Das in our native garden!

Iron Deficiency Disorder

What's your green area of interest?

GMO in the Mother Corn

Medicinal Botany Internship

wildflower viewing/carrizo plain

Garden Club of America Internship in Garden History and Design

Budweiser Conservation Scholarship Program

Herb research grant

Day lily student research fellowship

Other botany online forums

Botany grad school recommendations?

Orchid Conservation International Research Grants

Undergraduate Research Opportunities

Botany related scholarships, grants, etc...

Welcome to the Botanical Research and Conservation Board

NEW TRIBE Paleobotany and Extinct Plants