SYMPOSIUM PRESENTATION ABSTRACTS

Download a PDF of Friday & Saturday presentation abstracts for printing.

For the Love of Plants: Botany in the Afterlives of Colonialism. Banu Subramanian, PhD, Presenter. Why are plants deemed native and foreign, male and female? I argue that histories of colonialism and their foundational language of gender, race, sexuality, and nation have fundamentally shaped the language, terminology, and theories of the modern plant sciences. Plant sciences and botanical theories remain grounded in the violence of their colonial pasts. In wrestling with these difficult origins, I develop an interdisciplinary approach to retheorize plant biology, in particular, plant migration and reproductive biology. I explore new biological frameworks that harness the power of feminist thought in order to reimagine and reinvigorate our love of plants.

Understanding Appalachian Forests, Lichens and Ecosystem Health Informs New Perspectives on Biodiversity and Conservation. James Lendemer, PhD, Presenter. Forests and the wealth of biodiversity they support have been studied for centuries. Understanding the constellation of relationships and processes that underlay these ecosystems has emerged as a focus. Especially for informing conservation and management efforts in the face of increasingly fast and large-scale changes. Yet, botanical diversity in the form of cryptogams (algae, bryophytes, fungi, lichens) has been comparatively little studied, leading to significant gaps in both knowledge and practice. This presentation will draw on the results of more than twenty years of research to outline a new perspective on biodiversity and conservation for our beloved eastern deciduous forests.

The Flora of the Southeastern United States: Reinventing the Flora as a Foundation for Conservation. Scott Ward, Presenter. What good is a flora if it can’t be understood? How can rare species be conserved if they can’t be properly identified? How can I learn the plants growing in my region, and how can I distinguish them from similar species? These questions, and many more, are central to the mission of The Flora of the Southeastern United States (FSUS) project, where we are “reinventing” the ways in which information from floras (e.g., dichotomous keys) can be relayed to a broad community of botanists, ecologists, naturalists, field biologists, land managers, master gardeners and outdoor enthusiasts. Through this work, we aim to demystify the many technical aspects of botany through clearer language, better pictures and ID notes, illustrated dichotomous and multi-access keys and continued collaboration with regional botanists. Join Scott Ward, Research Botanist at North Carolina Botanical Garden, as he discusses some the philosophy and features of The Flora, and ways in which you can help our team to further develop the three main products of The Flora (PDF, FSUS website, FloraQuest mobile apps). To this end, there are truly no limits to creating one of the most crowd-sourced floras to date.    

Herbarium Specimens Are More Than Meet the Eye. Mason Heberling, PhD, Presenter. As dead plants glued to paper, herbarium specimens may not seem like much. But they are far more than meet the eye. With over 400 million specimens collected by many thousands of botanists over nearly five centuries worldwide, herbaria (collections of preserved dead plants) comprise a critical resource for understanding the world around us. Historically, these collections were primarily used to understand, describe, and organize the tree of life (taxonomy and systematics). While these longstanding uses remain critical in modern research, the use of museum collections have deepened and expanded in unanticipated ways. Established well before the current era of digital data and molecular biology, herbarium specimens are now being used in ways not even fathomed a century, or even decades, ago. Heberling will explore the past, present, and future of herbaria and highlight his ongoing research using collections to understand plant responses in a time of rapid environmental changes. As we enter the Anthropocene, herbaria have likewise entered a new era with enhanced scientific, educational, and societal relevance.

The History and Systematics of Hawthorns (Crataegus) in Pennsylvania. Ron Lance, Presenter. There have been at least 235 Crataegus taxa suggested native or naturalized in Pennsylvania. The great majority of these names originated from Charles Sargent and William Ashe between 1900-1910.  Today, only about 35 species are recognized for the state, absorbing 200 names in a considerable synonymy. The history of Pennsylvania’s hawthorn taxonomy and its development into the current state of acceptance requires detailed examination of species protologues and specimens, coupled with continued field work to support validity of recognizable taxa and recording their distribution. Using systematics and its application toward conservation initiatives poses a particularly vexing issue in Crataegus, due to an abundance of ambiguous species distinctions. 

Cool Finds. Roger Latham, PhD, Presenter. Here’s how to submit images of your Cool Finds for this presentation! Every year plant devotees make fascinating (and occasionally alarming) botanical discoveries in the hills and valleys, forests and grasslands, wetlands and barrens, lakes and rivers, mountaintops and beaches, and even urban environments across the Keystone State. It’s a Pennsylvania Botany Symposium tradition to invite all to submit photos and descriptions of “Cool Finds” anywhere in the Commonwealth, mainly within the preceding two years. This presentation will review the latest reports and describe each within the ecological, biogeographical, historical, geological, or cultural context that makes it noteworthy.

From Spores to Forests: Climate Change and the Hidden Life of Ferns. Emily Sessa, PhD, Presenter. Ferns play a vital role in forest ecosystems of the eastern United States, yet a critical stage of their life cycle – the tiny, nutritionally independent gametophyte – is often overlooked. The gametophyte is the sexual, establishment phase of the life cycle, and is potentially highly sensitive to shifts in temperature and moisture, making gametophytes a critical window into how climate change may shape fern survival and reproduction. This talk will explore how polyploidy, a common feature in ferns, may mediate the effects of climate change on fern gametophytes, drawing from new research on the woodfern genus Dryopteris, whose species are ubiquitous members of the northeast temperate fern flora. Understanding the interplay between climate, gametophytes, and ploidy level is essential for improving our basic understanding of fern biology, and for predicting broader forest community changes in the decades ahead.

Lenape Plant Practices: A Holistic Exchange. Shelley DePaul, Friday Evening Social Presenter. Equally important to knowing the medicinal qualities of plants is to understand the entire relationship that the Lenape have with them. Shelley will discuss protocols of respect, spiritual associations, cultural practices, gathering processes, and more.