Michigan Botanical Society 2022 - 2023 Great Lakes Regional Lecture Series

Organized by the Huron Valley Chapter.

The Michigan Botanical Society is dedicated to the enjoyment and preservation of native plants and their habitats in the Great Lakes Region.  The Society conducts field trips and remote lectures that cover a broad range of botanical topics.  Join our lecture series on the following dates, at 7:00 pm, by tuning into meet.google.com/zaj-htvw-wte. 

Monday 18 September 2023

Michigan’s Forest History: How Logging, Forestry, & the CCC Impacted the Landscape - Hillary Pine

Watch the presentation online here.

The unchecked logging of the late 1800s led to deforestation, erosion, and horrific wildfires. In response, Michigan established its first state nursery in 1904. In the 1930s, the CCC boys aided these conservation efforts. Join Michigan History Center Historian, Hillary Pine, to learn about Michigan’s forest history and how you can still see evidence of our past on the landscape.

Hillary Pine is from Munising, currently lives in St. Ignace, and is a member of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. She has a B.A. in Art History from the University of Michigan and an M.A. in Cultural Heritage & Museum Studies from the University of East Anglia. She is the Northern Lower Peninsula Historian for the DNR and Michigan History Center. Hillary works out of Hartwick Pines State Park and is responsible for the Hartwick Pines Logging Museum, the Higgins Lake Nursery, and the Michigan Civilian Conservation Corps Museum. Hillary especially enjoys giving tours and public programs to share Michigan’s diverse history with the public.

16 October 2023

Learn to Love those Latin Names - Ann Willyard

Based on the new book Learn to Love those Latin Names, this talk will explain the value of learning to use the scientific names that are universal across all languages. Importantly, we will focus on how to understand these names, how they are created, how and why they are changed, and how to use them in your writing and list-making. Those who want to publish new species will need to learn much more. This talk is aimed at most enthusiasts and students, who will be empowered by learning a little more about how to use the Latin names.

Ann Willyard taught Botany and Plant Systematics at Hendrix College. She earned a PhD from Oregon State University, a MS from California State University Chico, and a B.A. from University of California Santa Cruz. She has published and collaborated on many botanical research papers and is an Associate Editor of the American Journal of Botany.

20 November 2023

Identifying Recoverable, Fire-Dependent Systems in The Huron Manistee National Forest - Jesse M. Lincoln, Conservation Scientist at Michigan Natural Features Inventory

While we were growing up, many of us were told that Michigan was just an extensive forest and that a squirrel could run from Lake Michigan to Lake Huron without touching the ground. But Michigan was historically home to a myriad of fire-adapted natural communities, and many were open grasslands and featured species more typically found in the prairies of the Great Plains. Our prairie and savanna systems that once covered over 1 million acres in southern Michigan have declined by over 99%. Consequently, many plants and animals that relied on these habitats are also in serious decline. To help expand conservation efforts aimed at recovering these fire-adapted community types, MNFI partnered with the US Forest Service and the Michigan DNR to identify the best remaining examples in the Cadillac District of the Huron-Manistee National Forest. This talk with cover the methodology for identifying important conservation targets, show some of the surprising highlights, and discuss potential management approaches and prioritization of the identified areas.

Jesse has spent 13 seasons as an ecologist at MNFI. The work takes him all over the state to some of our most unique and intact natural places. It is a perspective not always available to most people and he enjoys sharing images and lessons learned from our wild places.

Other Programs offered by the Southeastern Chapter:

2023-01-19
Introduction to Trees in Winter
Characters used to identify the common species of trees of southeastern Michigan will be explained. Botanical terms used to describe
winter twigs will be defined.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tFoU-JirexMlg2W_P4CGBBNztpVoVDZl/view?usp=sharing

2023-02-23
Woody Plants in Winter II
We will look some of the trickier tree species to identify.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/18R4jY6DLZc7YBN1ESeQ4MTXOm3DHu90H/view?usp=sharing

Programs 2022 - 2023

17 April: Plants of the Galapagos Islands: the wretched-looking little weeds that troubled Darwin

Presenter: Conley McMullen

For many individuals, mention of the Galápagos Islands conjures up thoughts of giant tortoises and finches' beaks.  And rightly so, for these animal residents have long been recognized as examples of adaptive radiation within an island ecosystem.  What many persons don’t know is that the plants of the Galápagos are just as unique as their animal neighbors.  The genus Scalesia, for instance, comprises 15 species and is the plant world’s version of Darwin’s famous finches. Most natural history buffs are aware that the finches have beaks that differ in shape and size, primarily as an adaptation to the food sources available on the island they inhabit. In like manner, members of Scalesia show a similar radiation of morphological types in differing habitats. But instead of beaks, they differ in their overall habit, leaf shape, leaf margin, and inflorescence type. These differences troubled Darwin initially, but eventually helped him formulate his hypothesis that we now know as natural selection.

Dr. Conley K. McMullen is Professor of Biology and Herbarium Director at James Madison University. His classes and research focus on the floristics, systematics, pollination biology, and conservation of plants in the eastern U.S. and the Galápagos Islands.  He has served both the Southern Appalachian Botanical Society and the Virginia Academy of Science as President, the Association of Southeastern Biologists as Secretary, and the Society of Herbarium Curators as editor of The Vasculum.  He is an Honorary Research Associate of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Vice President of the Flora of Virginia Project, and a Governing Member of the Charles Darwin Foundation. He is a Fellow of the Virginia Academy of Science and the Linnean Society of London, and he is a leader at the West Virginia Wildflower Pilgrimage.  He is author of Flowering Plants of the Galápagos.

Prior Programs. Links to the recorded presentations are in the titles.

20 March 2023: Flora of Middle-Earth: Plants of J.R.R. Tolkien's legendarium Presenter: Walter Judd

Description: The illustrated talk will introduce the most important of the 140+ plants explicitly mentioned and described in Tolkien's Middle-Earth writings.  Tolkien's books are meant to reconnect us to important elements in our internal and external landscapes -- and Middle-Earth's plants are part of this task -- correcting our cultural blindness to things green!  Tolkien's love of the world of plants will be explored, using examples that we see every day, such as oaks, pines, and waterlilies, as well as those "lit by a light that would not be seen ever in a growing plant" as with elanor, niphredil, or kingsfoil.  Finally, the talk will address Tolkien's views relating to stewardship of the natural world.

 Walter Judd is a plant systematist and distinguished professor emeritus at the University of Florida; he now resides in St. Paul, MN, where he has a courtesy appointment at the University of Minnesota herbarium.  He is currently working on the systematics of Ericaceae (Vaccinieae, Lyonieae, and Gautherieae) and Melastomataceae (Miconieae, Henrietteae, and Rhexieae) and on the fifth edition of the popular textbook, Plant Systematics: A Phylogenetic Approach.  He is a coauthor of Phylogeny and Evolution of the Angiosperms: Revised and Updated Edition and the Flora of Middle-Earth, and he has contributed to the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group and the Flora of North America.

20 February 2023: Biological Collections: From Dark Data to a Global Accessible Digital Resource Documenting Life on Earth

Presenter: Reed S. Beaman

For more than 300 years, biologists have documented research by preserving samples, known as voucher specimens, in biological collections.  These specimens are the direct evidence for recognition, description, and publication of the millions of species known to science. The basic data and information within collections worldwide underwrite our knowledge about biological diversity, the history of life on Earth, molecular and cellular biology, and organismic and ecological systems.  Downstream applications in biomedical research, agriculture, and management of genetic and natural resources also directly use or indirectly benefit from collection knowledge bases.  However, access to the physical specimens and data associated with them has traditionally been available only to specialists based on the credentials and academic background.  Our national and international infrastructure of biological collections is a treasure trove of data; but these are dark data, much of which is still hidden away in the physical archives.  This program will address how advances in technology are changing how collections are curated, maintained, secured, and made accessible, increasing their relevance to science and society.  It also will illustrate examples of how long-term investments in collections are paying off, along with the challenges for supporting and managing the infrastructure critical to their maintenance, growth, and effective utilization.

Dr. Reed Beaman is a Program Director at the National Science Foundation (NSF) with primarily responsibilities for the Capacity: Biological Collections and Biology Integration Institutes programs.  Previously, Reed’s research interests have focused on Southeast Asia, particularly on Mount Kinabalu, a biodiversity hotspot on the island of Borneo.  His dissertation work involved the description of eight new plant species and landscape level biogeographic analysis using remote sensing imagery and geographic information systems.  He has engaged with researchers in Asia as the Biodiversity Expedition lead for the Pacific Rim Applications and Middleware Grad Applications (PRAGMA) network, a community of practice that facilitates cyberinfrastructure experimentation on an international scale and served as an Embassy Fellow in Vietnam.  Reed earned a BS in Botany at the University of Michigan and a PhD in Botany at the University of Florida and held postdoctoral positions at the Royal Botanical Gardens Sydney and the University of Kansas.  Prior to coming to NSF, Reed held leadership positions in informatics at the Yale Peabody Museum and at the Florida Museum of Natural History.

16 January 2023: Dr. Robert Klips - The Miniature World of Bryophytes

Mosses and liverworts are small organisms with an amazing capacity to grow in places too nutrient-poor or dry to support higher plants.  They are small but when viewed up close show remarkable intricacy in the structures they use to attach to substrates, capture sunlight, and reproduce.  We will see close-up photographs showing the life cycle and ecology of these charming but often overlooked members of our flora and learn how to recognize several of the most common ones.

Robert Klips is an associate professor emeritus in the Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology at Ohio State University (OSU).  He currently manages the bryophyte and lichen specimen collections in the herbarium at OSU’s Museum of Biological Diversity.  Skilled in botanical macrophotography, Klips served as the photographer for the Ohio Division of Wildlife’s 2017 Common Lichens of Ohio Field Guide and is the author of the newly-published Common Mosses, Liverworts, and Lichens of Ohio: A Visual Guide (Ohio University Press).  He frequently conducts field work and educates nature study groups about the identification, ecology, and distribution of Ohio plants and lichens. 

21 November 2022: Bill Brodovich - An Evening with Conifers 

Join botanist Bill Brodovich for an investigation of the biogeography of the world’s 630 species of conifers. He will illustrate the factors that have led to the gradual decline of some conifer genera, and why other genera (e. g. the pines of Mexico) continue to thrive and actively evolve. He will discuss little-known and remarkable conifer species and underline the urgent need for ex situ cultivation of the rare ones. 

17 October 2022: Dennis Albert - Seed and Rhizome Banks: Ecological Changes at Cecil Bay Marsh from 1971 to 2022. View this presentation here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LE7JzQ7joD6W0Q5N_ooypL172a0ju6wl/view

Wetland plants were collected along a 200-meter transect at Cecil Bay along the south shore of the Mackinac Straits as part of Dr. Edward Voss' Boreal Flora class, with continual annual sampling through 2005, and additional sampling from 2012 to 2022, providing a summary of vegetation response to changing Great Lakes water levels. Seed banks, rhizome banks, and erosional and depositional processes will be discussed.

Dennis Albert is a Research Professor in the Horticulture Department of Oregon State University, where his research has focused on wetland restoration and Oregon's native plants. He has current research projects focused on Great-Lakes-wide coastal wetlands inventories and harvest of invasive wetland plants for biogas production, and phosphorus capture and reuse. Dr. Albert conducts research and has taught summer field courses in Forest Ecology and Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands at the University of Michigan's Biological Station in northern Michigan. Dr. Albert wrote the Ecological Overview of the Flora of Oregon, as well as books on Michigan's original vegetation, plant communities, coastal wetlands, sand dunes, and ecoregions. While an ecologist at Michigan's Natural Heritage Program in the 1990s, he proposed the Nature Conservancy's Northern Lake Huron Bioreserve, and his biological surveys of northern Michigan resulted in over 30 miles of Great Lakes shoreline acquisition for natural areas in addition to State of Michigan ownership.

19 September 2022 Tyler Bassett:  "Boat Times with Bassett and his Band of Brutish Brethren." 

View this presentation here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RBHx1hk79F2NoB4dE2uiN2IBE36krohU/view

Great Lakes islands provide critical habitat for native biodiversity and support rare and endemic natural communities. A diverse assemblage of approximately 600 islands occurs across Lakes Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Superior and the connecting channels. While private ownership prevails on many of the larger and better-known islands, lands owned and managed by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, National Park Service, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and other public agencies are crucial to regional biodiversity conservation. These islands are managed to support the abundant biodiversity they support - threatened and endangered species, resident wildlife, and migratory bird and pollinator species that use these islands as stopover and nesting habitat. This biodiversity is associated with several high-quality examples of natural communities, including unique communities that form on exposed limestone bedrock and cobble, and more widespread communities such as mesic and boreal forests. Many of these islands occur along the Niagara escarpment, a band of dolomitic limestone arching from Niagara Falls through the Straits of Mackinac to Wisconsin's Door Peninsula. In 2021-2022, the Michigan Natural Features Inventory conducted botanical and ecological surveys on 31 of the 36 islands in the USFWS National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) system in the Great Lakes across Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ohio. These islands are generally remote, difficult to access, and challenging to survey, but their remoteness underscores their conservation value. This presentation will cover some highlights of these surveys, focusing on rare plant species such as climbing fumitory (Adlumia fungosa), calamint (Clinopodium arkansum), and rock Whitlow-grass (Draba arabisans), and the natural communities where they are found ... maybe a little bit about the feral humans who documented them.

Tyler Bassett is a botanist and plant ecologist with the Michigan Natural Features Inventory, Michigan State University Extension. He studies the ecology of natural communities, with a focus on the rare plant species they support. He has a particular passion for understanding and restoring the fragmented prairie-savanna landscapes of the upper Midwest. His familiarity with the ecosystems and the upper Midwest from two decades as a field biologist, combined with a broad knowledge of ecological processes and the theory that describes them, inform Tyler's efforts to bring the science and practice of conservation and restoration together to improve outcomes for biodiversity. Communicating both the necessity and process of achieving these outcomes to a range of audiences is an essential step in that process, and one he enjoys. He has worked in private, public, non-profit, and academic spheres, including with the Kalamazoo Nature Center, Michigan State University, the ecological restoration firm Native Connections, and as an independent consultant. He earned a B.S. in Biology from Western Michigan University in 2000 and Ph.D. from Michigan State University in 2017.

 On behalf of the MBS, I hope that you will join us for what promises to be an informative and entertaining program, and that you will invite others to attend! 

18 April 2022: Peter Quakenbush An introduction to the genus Medinilla (Melastomataceae)

Medinilla is known for its showy flowers and bewildering diversity. Some 400 species of terrestrial shrubs, climbers, and epiphytes are found throughout the wet Paleotropics--from West Africa to American Samoa. Flowers are pollinated by "buzzing" bees. Many vertebrates disperse the soft juicy berries. And various adaptations foster unique ant-plant relationships. Molecular evidence is helping clarify long-standing questions related to the systematics, biogeographic origins, and character evolution of this group.

 Peter is a Ph.D. candidate at Western Michigan University under Dr. Todd Barkman. His research centers around the systematics, biogeography, and character evolution of Medinilla. Peter got is start with Medinilla during his MS Botany work at the University of the Philippines, where he studied the systematics and ecology of the species on Mt. Makiling. Before this, Peter worked several years in pest wildlife management, interned at a safari in the Central African Republic, and through-hiked the Appalachian trail. He received a BS in Biology from Calvin College.

21 March 2022 Nate Martineau Underexplored and Underappreciated: The Habitats and Plants of the Western Upper Peninsula

Inconveniently located for most of us, Michigan's western Upper Peninsula harbors an incredible flora, an enormous and impressively varied landscape, and innumerable discoveries waiting to be made by those who are willing to explore it. Any naturalist who lives there knows this well; however, anyone who doesn't live there probably hasn't heard much about it. This was certainly the case for Nate Martineau before he spent four years going to school in Marquette followed by two years working near Watersmeet. Join him as he presents some of the western UP's most noteworthy regions, the unique plants and habitats that call them home, and some of the exciting botanical discoveries they've offered up in recent years.

Nate Martineau grew up in Lansing, Michigan, and became intensely interested in birds in middle school. His interests in natural history expanded from there, but it was not until part way through college that he realized his true calling was to be a botanist. He has been interested in plants and their interactions with the world around them for 5 years. He graduated from Northern Michigan University in 2020 with a Bachelor's degree in ecology, then spent the next two field seasons as a lead flora field technician for the National Ecological Observatory Network in Land O' Lakes, Wisconsin.

21 February 2022: Terry Sharik Enrollment Trends in Natural Resources and Environment Degree Programs in the U.S. with an Emphasis on Diversity

Among the 15 major areas of study recognized by the federal government, Natural Resources degree programs are second only to Engineering with respect to the percent of women with bachelor's degrees in the workforce, and at the very bottom with respect to people of color.  This situation is driven by the educational pipeline.  This presentation explores the reasons why higher-education enrollment in these demographic groups is low and advances strategies that may be implemented to enhance the situation. 

Terry Sharik holds a B.S. degree in Forestry and Wildlife Management from West Virginia University and M.F. and Ph.D. degrees in Forest Recreation and Forest Botany, respectively, from the University of Michigan.  At Michigan, he was Burt Barnes first PhD student and formulated the Biology of Woody Plants course with Burt and Herb Wagner as its first teaching fellow.  Prior to assuming the CFRES deanship in July 2012, he held faculty positions at Oberlin College, Virginia Tech, Michigan Tech, University of Michigan Biological Station, and Utah State University (USU).  He officially retired from Michigan Tech in June 2018, but retains the title of Research Professor.  Dr. Sharik has contributed significantly to the furtherance of research, teaching, and outreach in the natural resources profession through his leadership at the national and international levels.  He is co-founder of the Biennial Conferences on University Education in Natural Resources and the North American Forest Ecology Workshops.  He served as the Education Chair for the National Association of University Forest Resources Programs (NAUFRP) from 2012-2018, where he co-authored a strategic plan for enhancement in undergraduate education in forestry and related areas of natural resources and continues to analyze enrollment trends in these fields dating back to 1980.   He has been active at the international level through the International Symposia on Forestry Education, the International Partnership in Forestry, the International Union of Forestry Research Organizations (IUFRO), the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the UN, and the International Journal of Forestry Research (as guest editor of a special issue).    He is the author of over a hundred publications in more than thirty journals in the areas of forest ecology and educational reform in natural resources.  Upon retirement, Dr. Sharik moved to Dexter in southeast Michigan where he remains active in the scholarship of educational reform in natural resources and volunteers on several ecological restoration projects.

 17 January 2022: Ryne Rutherford Lichens and the Conservation of Granite Bedrock Glades (Follow this link to view this presentation)

Lichens are incredibly unique conglomerate organisms composed of fungi and a photosynthetic partner (e.g., algae and/or cyanobacteria). Lichens are among our best indicators of changes in habitat over time yet have been way underutilized in ecological research. Over 800 species have been recorded in Michigan and over 100 are found on Granite Bedrock Glades where they occupy a great range of habitats on a single substrate. Intense human use of these rare habitats has depleted many of the most sensitive species, while others remain in pristine ecological condition

Ryne Rutherford is an interdisciplinary community ecologist and co-owner of Biophilia, LLC, an ecological consulting firm. He has extensive experience conducting surveys and monitoring for a broad range of plant, animal, and fungi taxa (reptiles, birds, amphibians, vascular plants and lichens in particular). He is currently pursuing a PhD at Michigan Technological University where he is investigating multiple taxa in rock outcrop communities in the context of past glaciation and refugia for potential source populations in a changing climate.

15 November 2021: Garrett Crow An Expedition to the Uttermost Part of the Earth: The Flora and Vegetation of Isla de los Estados, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina (Follow this link to view this presentation)

Tierra del Fuego is surely the “jumpin’ off place” in this World—the land where Capt. Robert FitzRoy, commander of the Beagle (with 22 yr. old Charles Darwin aboard) maneuvered the treacherous waters of the south Atlantic near Cape Horn to return a young Fuegian native (Jemmy Button) to his native Yaghan tribe in December 1852. This land became the subject of a botanical expedition—to participate in a biological inventory of Isla de los Estados, an islanding forming the southernmost tip of South America. Join Garrett in his lecture reminiscing on this fascinating expedition to the Uttermost Part of the Earth.  

After earning a BA from Taylor University in 1965, Garrett completed a M.S. and Ph.D. in botany at Michigan State University.  He spent his entire career teaching botany 33 years at the University of New Hampshire, Director of the Herbarium, and last 6 years as Department Chair. His main interests are biodiversity and phytogeography in the broad sense and is a specialist on aquatic plants of both temperate and tropics regions. He co-authored (with C. Barre Hellquist) a 2-volume reference manual, Aquatic and Wetland Plants of Northeastern North America (which is now being revised). He has worked in Costa Rica since 1984 on tropical aquatic plants and during a Fulbright Fellowship 1999–2000 at Universidad Nacional and Instituto Nacional Biodiversidad (INBio) taught a course, “Plantas acuáticus tropicales,” and completed a bilingual field guide (with keys, descriptions and color plates) Plantas acuáticas del Parque Nacional Palo Verde y el valle del río Tempisque, Costa Rica (Crow 2002). Additionally he has contributed the taxonomic treatments of numerous aquatic families for the Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica. His field research has allowed him to travel widely both in temperate and neotropical regions—particularly Costa Rica and Bolivia focusing on diversity of aquatic plants.

Having returned to Michigan upon retirement, he stays active botanically as Adjunct Research Botanist at MSU Herbarium and has written up the bladderworts (Utricularia) and butterworts (Pinguicula) for Flora North America North of Mexico). And as Visiting Scholar in Biology, Calvin University, he is partnering with Dave Warners on a fascinating historical project:  "A Field-based Retrospective Assessment of Emma J. Cole’s Grand Rapids Flora After 100+ Years of “Progress,” rediscovering Emma Cole’s collecting sites and comparing the flora of her day with that of the Greater Grand Rapids Area today.  

Garrett is Past-president of the Michigan Botanical Society, having served 2016–2020.

18 October 2021

What’s in Our Watershed? (follow this link to view this presentation)

Kris Olsson and Kate Laramie

Description: HRWC has been conducting volunteer-led botanical and ecological assessments of privately-owned natural areas throughout the watershed since 2008.  Come and hear about what we’ve found and how citizen science can lead to protection of important ecosystems.

Kris Olsson, HRWC Watershed Ecologists, specializes in natural areas assessment, GIS analysis, landscape ecology, and code and ordinance development. Kris earned two Masters of Science (resource ecology, natural resource policy) degrees at the University of Michigan.

Kate Laramie is a Watershed Ecology Associate at HRWC where she supports several terrestrial and aquatic monitoring programs and STEM education initiatives. Kate holds a Master of Science from the University of Michigan in Ecosystem Science and Management and aquatic ecology.

20 September 2021 Ecological species groups and post-fire forest succession at Mack Lake – Julia Sosin. The concept of ecological species groups (sets of ground flora species that have similar site tolerances, developed for a specific area) has been widely utilized by ecologists to indicate site conditions and classify forests. This talk will focus on a set of ecological species groups developed for jack pine forests in northern Lower Michigan as indicators of differences in soil fertility and moisture. Using data from permanent research plots sampled at three time points since the stand-replacing Mack Lake Fire of 1980, we will examine how well these groups distinguish sites throughout post-fire forest succession. 

 Julia is a fellow plant enthusiast who has worked in environmental education, ecological restoration, and research in northern Michigan, Georgia, and Metro Detroit. She earned an M.S. in Biological Sciences from Wayne State University in 2019.