Join the New England Botanical Society on Friday, April 5 for its monthly meeting. Ted Elliman, MA botany/ecology instructor, retired, Native Plant Trust, and Lauren Brown, Connecticut author, VP Connecticut Botanical Society, will speak on Unlocking the Grasses, Sedges, and Rushes: Fresh Approaches to Identifying These Challenging Plants. Non-members may register for the meeting access link here.
On Friday, March 1, the New England Botanical Society will hold its monthly meeting at 7 pm at Harvard University’s Haller Lecture Hall and also live via Zoom. Dr. John Daigle, Professor of Forest Recreation Management, School of Forest Resources, University of Maine in Orono, will speak on Building a Community of Interest and Response to an Invasive Species Threatening Maine’s Ash Trees and Wabanaki Cultural Lifeways. Free. Non-members may register for the meeting access link here.
For the past 15 years, Dr. John J. Daigle, a citizen member of the Penobscot Nation, has been working on a project mobilizing diverse interests to address potential threats from invasive species in Maine – the case of the Emerald Ash Borer. The research seeks to study and facilitate the ways that Wabanaki, basket-makers, tribes, state and federal foresters, university researchers, landowners and others come together to prevent, detect, and respond to the threat of Emerald Ash Borer. He has published research with co-authors on outreach and education, management, and policy. In 2023, the Ash Protection Collaboration Across Wabanakik or APCAW was created, offering informative webinars and in-person trainings, as well as a dedicated APCAW website for recorded sessions and other program information.
Join the New England Botanical Society on July 7 for a rare and very special opportunity for a guided visit to one of New England’s most fascinating and imperiled plant assemblages: above tree line at the legendary “Alpine Garden” of our highest peak. Led by one of New England’s most knowledgeable and experienced botanists and ecologists, this high elevation field trip – complete with stunning vistas — is made accessible by the famed Mt. Washington Auto Road. Please note the terrain at the summit will be moderately strenuous with a 500-foot descent (and return ascent) from the road. Bring layers for cold or wet weather and sturdy footwear. Register early – this trip is sure to fill quickly. There will be a fee for the Auto Road. Leader: Dan Sperduto, Forest Botanist, White Mountain National Forest Register here so Dan may be in touch with you about this trip.
Day field trips are informal, small-group outings to explore interesting places and to see (not collect) interesting plants, facilitated by knowledgeable and enthusiastic leaders. Bring your lunch, water, insect repellent, field guides, hand lens, and curiosity. Be prepared for the terrain and level of difficulty indicated for each trip. Please register at least 1 week in advance to get meeting time, location, and directions. Trips may be cancelled if enrollment is low or if inclement weather. Trips will be limited to 14 participants.
The New England Botanical Society will hold its June meeting at Wellesley College on Friday, June 23 at 6:30. The speaker will be Dr. Kristina Jones, Director of the Wellesley College Botanic Garden. Her topic is A Sustainable Conservatory in New England? Lessons from Wellesley College’s Global Flora Project. The talk will be followed by a tour of the Global Flora Conservatory. For more information and to register, visit https://www.rhodora.org/meetings/upcomingmeetings.html
The New England Botanical Society is holding its May meeting on Saturday, May 6 in person at the Native Plant Trust’s Garden in the Woods in Framingham at 7 pm. The speaker is Dr. Kirsten Coe, Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, Middlebury College, speaking on Sphagnum Moss-Associated Nitrogen Fixation in New England Peatlands. To register, and for more information, visit https://www.rhodora.org/meetings/upcomingmeetings.html
Kirsten K. Coe is a plant ecophysiologist, focusing on how environmental stress shapes plant performance and growth, and in turn how plant responses influence ecosystem level processes. She uses mosses as a model system to answer questions in this domain, focusing on ecosystems where they carry large ecological importance, often as keystone species. The Coe lab applies a combination of field manipulation experiments, stable isotope analysis, and laboratory photosynthetic stress assessment using infrared gas analysis and chlorophyll fluorescence. Two current lab research foci include (1) an NSF-funded project exploring the ecological, physiological, and genetic basis of desiccation tolerance in Syntrichia, a diverse clade of dryland mosses; and (2) the influence of symbioses between nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria and peatland mosses on nitrogen cycling.
The New England Botanical Society will hold its April meeting on Saturday, April 1 at 7 pm at Smith College in Northhampton. Dr. Jessica Stephens, Assistant Professor of Biology, Biology Department, Westfield State University in Westfield, will speak on Complex Interactions in Sarracenia: Implicationsfor Plant and Ecosystem Health. The meeting will be held in McConnell 103 in the Clark Science Center. For more information visit https://www.rhodora.org/meetings/upcomingmeetings.html
