Early fall stroll through an upland meadow at Snake Hill Wildlife Management Area. The Solidago was just divine.

Solidago gigantea(top left): Solidago gigantea is a perennial herbaceous plant that can grow up to 5 to 8 feet in height. They typically bloom from late summer to early fall.

Hoary alyssum(top right): Hoary alyssum is considered an invasive weed in North America. One of the significant concerns with hoary alyssum is its toxicity to horses.

symphyotrichum prenanthoides(bottom middle): It is more commonly known as the crooked-stem aster. This plant generally requires minimal maintenance once established.

Attendance:

"The more pigments there are in a mixture, the less light is reflected back into our eyes, and the darker and sludgier it becomes."(Pg.39)

I selected this sentence because it actually did teach me something new. I never knew that the more pigments there are there will be less light is reflected to our eyes it is not something people would notice right away or at all.

Fwd: Graduate position: UOttawa.Two.ConservationGenomics

Begin forwarded message: > From: [email protected] > Subject: Graduate position: UOttawa.Two.ConservationGenomics > Date: 23 December 2023 at 06:25:30 GMT > To: [email protected] > > > PhD: Conservation genomics of peripheral populations of plants > > The Lee-Yaw lab at the University of Ottawa is looking for a PhD student > who is enthusiastic about conservation genomics and plants. This is a > fully funded position that is co-supervised with Dr. Jenny McCune from > the University of Lethbridge. The student will work alongside others > who are establishing new populations of rare and at-risk plants in > southern Ontario. As part of these efforts, we wish to understand a) > how populations at the edge of the range in Ontario are related to > more central populations in USA and b) whether populations in Ontario > are genetically isolated from each other. One of the study systems is > likely to be crooked-stem aster (Symphyotrichum prenanthoides) but work > on other species is possible. Apart from these questions, the student > will have an opportunity to develop a thesis more generally exploring > rarity, landscape genomics, genetic constraints on range limits, or > other questions in ecology or conservation biology. > > Eligibility > > The successful applicant will ideally have an MSc involving molecular > lab work. Previous experience working with plant DNA and genomic data > is preferred. Molecular work and PhD program requirements are to be > completed at the University of Ottawa. However, the student has the > option to spend time in the McCune lab at the University of Lethbridge > in Alberta. Fieldwork in southern Ontario is optional during the first > summer but data collection will take place in the lab. This position > is open to both domestic and international students, however priority > will be given to Canadian citizens or residents. Black and Indigenous > students, People of Colour, and members of the LGBTQ2+ are encouraged to > apply. The University of Ottawa is a bilingual French-English institution > and bilingual students are very welcome. > > Stipend support > > This position is primarily funded from an NSERC Alliance grant to > J. McCune and supplemented by funding to both PIs. Minimum stipend support > from TAships and research grants is $30,000 per year for four years > (this is a starting point: additional top-up is possible contingent on > scholarships and additional grant applications). Students are strongly > encouraged to apply for external scholarships. > > To apply > > Send an email to jleeyaw

A few late summer odds and ends from a bike ride on the Mon River Trail yesterday. The asters are really starting to pop now as the days grow noticeably shorter and autumn closes in. A number of interesting vines are also in bloom and producing fruit for wildlife before the first frost. Climbing false buckwheat (Fallopia scandens) and oneseed bur cucumber (Sicyos angulatus), a member of the gourd family, are both aggressive twining vines with distinctive foliage, flowers, and fruits. 

From top: a goldenrod soldier beetle strikes nectar gold on a wingstem flower (Verbesina alternifolia); Short’s aster (Symphyotrichum shortii), a really beautiful perennial often found growing in dry to mesic oak-hickory woods with limestone near the surface; climbing false buckwheat, a delicate twiner whose pendulous fruit has three ruffled sides, like pantaloons; oneseed bur cucumber, whose bristly fruit can cause painful stings; crooked-stemmed aster (Symphyotrichum prenanthoides), also known as zag-zag aster, whose stems often zig-zag between the nodes of its spatula-shaped leaves; and the glorious New England aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae), one of the most important pollinator plants of late summer and early autumn.

Despite its undignified name, Muddy Creek is a lovely mountain stream that normally runs fast and clear on its steep descent to Cheat River. But after a week of heavy rain in NC-WV, the stream looked a bit murky yesterday. Not even the sediment washing away from the mountains dims its beauty in my eyes. And the enchanting, moss-encrusted forest along its bank holds its own late summer treasures.

From top: great blue lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica), which pairs beautifully with cardinal flower to provide late summer color in a native wildflower garden; white wood aster (Eurybia divaricata), which is the most common of the shade-loving white asters in this area; crooked-stemmed aster (Symphyotrichum prenanthoides), also known as zigzag aster, whose clasping, spatula-shaped leaves distinguish it from big-leaf aster, another woods-loving aster with lavender flowers; blue-stemmed goldenrod (Solidago caesia), whose spreading, yellow-flowered stems provide stunning late-season color in a native wildflower garden; an intensely-green collage of moss, woodland stonecrop (Sedum ternatum), Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides) and heartleaf foamflower (Tiarella cordifolia), which I am trying hard to reproduce in my own native wildflower shade garden; the shaggy-maned stem of Coker's Amanita (Amanita cokeri), one of the most impressive mushrooms of Appalachia's summer forests; beech-drops (Epifagus virginiana), a parasitic plant that grows and subsists on beach tree roots; the bright red berries of false Solomon's seal (Maianthemum racemosum); yellow jewelweed (Impatiens pallida), whose explosive seed pods give the plant its other common name, pale touch-me-not; and narrow-leaved tick-trefoil (Desmodium paniculatum), also known as panicled tick-trefoil, a late summer pea whose sticky seed pods commonly hitch rides on shoes and boots.

Fwd: Graduate position: UOttawa.Two.EvolutionaryBiol

Begin forwarded message: > From: [email protected] > Subject: Graduate position: UOttawa.Two.EvolutionaryBiol > Date: 17 February 2023 at 06:33:03 GMT > To: [email protected] > > > PhD: Conservation genomics of peripheral populations of plants > > Ideal start date: September 2023 > > The Lee-Yaw lab at the University of Ottawa (https://ift.tt/iCtQ5sV) is > looking for a PhD student who is enthusiastic about conservation genomics > and plants. This is a co-supervised position with Dr. Jenny McCune from > the University of Lethbridge (https://ift.tt/Apdrh1v). The student > will work alongside others who are establishing new populations of > rare and at-risk plants in southern Ontario. As part of these efforts, > we wish to understand a) how populations at the edge of the range in > Ontario are related to more central populations in USA and b) whether > populations in Ontario are genetically isolated from each other. One > of the study systems is likely to be crooked-stem aster (Symphyotrichum > prenanthoides) but work on other species is possible. Apart from these > questions, the student will have an opportunity to develop a thesis more > generally exploring rarity, landscape genomics, genetic constraints on > range limits, or other questions in ecology or conservation biology. > > Eligibility: > > The successful applicant will ideally have an MSc involving molecular > lab work. Previous experience working with plant DNA and genomic data > is preferred. Molecular work and PhD program requirements are to be > completed at the University of Ottawa. However, the student has the > option to spend time in the McCune lab at the University of Lethbridge > in Alberta. Fieldwork in southern Ontario is optional during the first > summer but data collection will take place in the lab. This position is > open to both domestic and international students. Black and Indigenous > students, People of Colour, and members of the LGBTQ2+ are encouraged to > apply. The University of Ottawa is a bilingual French-English institution > and bilingual students are very welcome. > > Stipend support: > > This position is primarily funded from an NSERC Alliance grant to > J. McCune and supplemented by funding to both PIs. Minimum stipend support > from TAships and research grants is $23,000 CAD per year for four years > (this is a starting point: additional top-up is possible contingent on > scholarships and additional grant applications). Students are strongly > encouraged to apply for external scholarships. > > To apply: > > Send an email to jleeyaw

Appalachia’s Autumn Bounty, Panel 2: Nature’s final push before the killing frost of October.

Although the proliferation of late season asters can lead to some identification challenges, crooked-stemmed aster (Symphyotrichum prenanthoides), or zig-zag aster, is fairly easy to identify by its coarsely-toothed, spatula-shaped leaves, which clasp the stem, and the tendency of its stems to zig-zag between leaf nodes. A gregarious perennial, the plant masses in showy clumps along stream and forest edges, producing graceful sprays of pale lavender flowers. Its clumping habit and attractive foliage make this aster a highly-desirable addition to a native wildflower garden, particularly for late season color. A tea made from the plant’s roots was once used by Native Americans and traditional medicine practitioners to treat fevers in babies and colds in adults. Like many of our edge-loving native wildflowers, crooked-stem aster is being driven out of its habitat by invasive species and over-browsing by deer, and is now listed as threatened in some parts of range. The photos above were taken at Prickett’s Fort State Park.