Visitors to the Calusa Heritage Trail come for a variety of reasons—some to learn about the archaeology, some for the fresh air, some to see some of the 100+ kinds of birds that come through the site. And, almost everybody notices the diverse array of interesting plants, some familiar, some
lichens in archival paper packets, seeds, wood sections, pollen, microscope slides, DNA
Catnip is most famous for its ability to launch felines into a euphoric frenzy, but the origin of its cat-attracting chemical is a remarkable example of evolutionary innovation. While the compound nepetalactone drives two-thirds of cats batty, likely by mimicking sex pheromones, its real purpose
Evolution Moths enlist additional troops in an evolutionary arms race Evolution Vast DNA
While some might press flowers into books to preserve their beauty, researcher Mark Whitten does it to preserve history. Whitten, a botanist in the Florida Museum of Natural History Herbarium, glues pressed plants onto archival paper and stores them as specimens in the museum’s collection. He
Although dried herbarium specimens preserve many plant features, including DNA, only
Visitors to the Calusa Heritage Trail often notice that the Calusa seem quite different from other Indian people in the United States who they have learned about. A natural question, then, is “Where did the Calusa come from?� It is a more complicated question than it might �rst appear. The Pineland
Today, there are enough carefully excavated sites and well regarded DNA studies to
Macrobotanical Research at St. Catherines Island Principal Investigator: Donna Ruhl The St. Catherines Island archaeobotanical collection is among one of the largest well preserved plant collections for Spanish colonial remains in the Americas. In addition, its waterlogged component holds potent
In addition, its waterlogged component holds potential for ancient DNA research for
A new University of Florida study describes a 16-foot, 900-pound ancient species of crocodilian that swam in the same rivers as Titanoboa 60 million years ago in the world’s oldest-known rain forest. The newly named reptile, which has an unusually blunt snout for species in the dyrosaurids fa
can’t explain Evolution Ferns finally get a genome, revealing a history of DNA
Unlike social insects such as bees and ants, moths are generally loners. So, when Florida Museum of Natural History lepidopterist Andrei Sourakov spotted a dozen glossy black Idia moths inside a hollow tree, he made a mental note. After he stumbled across 100 of the same species in another hollow
Once believed to be a single species, Idia lubricalis, DNA evidence suggests that
Herbaria and Herbarium Specimens History of Herbaria Collection Use Protocols and Specimen Handling Guidelines Plant Specimen Collecting and Preparation: plant collecting (incl. legal considerations), identification, label preparation, sorting, pest control and fumigation. Preparation of Plant
Ancillary Collections: spirit, wood, seed, economic botany, dna, seed bank.
In 1947, a small package containing an unknown plant specimen arrived at the Florida Museum of Natural History Herbarium. For 37 years, the thorny stem and leaves sat pressed between pages of a yellowed newspaper, filed in a cabinet among the vast library of Florida plants, until University of Flori
Matthew Gitzendanner Molecular Lab Walter Judd You Might Also Like Evolution DNA
NON-VENOMOUSÂ Other common names Eastern Rat Snake, Rat Snake, Chicken Snake, Yellow Ratsnake, Everglades Ratsnake Basic description Most adult Eastern Ratsnakes are about 42-72 inches (106-183 cm) in total length. This species is variable in coloration, but juveniles are gray with dark blotches
Mitochondrial DNA phylogeography of the North American ratsnake (Elaphe obsoleta)
