October Lunchtime Lecture: Staff Symposium Part 1
2024 Staff Symposium: Part 1
For the last two installments of our 2024 Lunchtime Lecture Series, staff of the Fort Worth Botanic Garden will be giving short presentations on projects they’ve been working on this year. This is a great way to catch up with multiple members of our staff about the amazing work that they do! Each Symposium will consist of three speakers. Please find more information about their presentations below.
“All Hail our Robot Overlords: AI-Assisted Herbarium Transcription”
Presented by: Craig Meyer
How can AI make your life easier? We’ll go beyond the weird art and discuss a label transcription case study. We’ll cover the process, the lessons learned, and the broad applicability of LLMs to all sorts of data problems.
“Virus Testing in the FWBG Orchid Collection”
Presented by: Benjamin Durrington
Botanic gardens and other institutions with living collections must contend with a wide array of plant pathogens, from bacteria and fungi to insects and viruses. During Summer 2024, the Living Collections team completed a comprehensive testing campaign for two major orchid viruses in the Garden’s orchid collection. In this presentation, we will discuss the background of these plant viruses, including their origin, host range, manner of spread and typical symptoms. Then we will share how we addressed the challenges of infection and how we plan to care for the collection in the future. We welcome you for a quick foray into applied living collection management.
“Elaphoglossum phylogenomics: perspectives and challenges in the study of one of the most diverse groups of tropical ferns.”
Presented by Dr. Alejandra Vasco
The fern genus Elaphoglossum (Dryopteridaceae) is one of the most species-rich and taxonomically complex genera of ferns globally, with over 600 recognized species. Despite extensive taxonomic and systematic studies, numerous species groups within Elaphoglossum pose persistent taxonomic challenges and several key evolutionary relationships within the genus remain unresolved. This complexity highlights the significance of improving our understanding of Elaphoglossum diversity, given its status as one of the most species-rich, dominant, and frequently collected vascular plant genera in many areas of tropical America, where approximately 500 species of Elaphoglossum occur. This presentation introduces the first phylogenomic study of Elaphoglossum, including a dataset of more than 230 accessions and target-capture data from around 300 nuclear loci. The resulting phylogenetic hypothesis is largely congruent with those reported previously, but with improved support and resolution, and the recovery of novel clades and previously unsampled taxa. Our phylogenomic analyses also show, for the first time, that reticulate evolution was important and prevalent during Elaphoglossum evolutionary history. Integration of our phylogenomic data with information derived from floristic inventories, herbarium specimens, and rigorous taxonomic studies enables a data-driven assessment of the current state of knowledge for Elaphoglossum. From this, we highlight persistent challenges hindering the study of Elaphoglossum today and identify priorities and research opportunities for future exploration and research of this and other highly diverse and taxonomically complex fern genera.
This is a free hybrid seminar. Please join us in person in the Commons of the BRIT Building or virtually via the following link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82755024484.
About the Research Lecture Series
The BRIT Research Lecture Series is designed to create community wide conversation about a diverse range of important and rapidly developing topics. This series gives scientists and speakers a forum for sharing the most current information about their areas of expertise and allows the public to interact with leading members of the local, national, and international scientific community. Read more at fwbg.org/events/lecture-series.
October Lunchtime Lecture: Staff Symposium Part 1
2024 Staff Symposium: Part 1
For the last two installments of our 2024 Lunchtime Lecture Series, staff of the Fort Worth Botanic Garden will be giving short presentations on projects they’ve been working on this year. This is a great way to catch up with multiple members of our staff about the amazing work that they do! Each Symposium will consist of three speakers. Please find more information about their presentations below.
“All Hail our Robot Overlords: AI-Assisted Herbarium Transcription”
Presented by: Craig Meyer
How can AI make your life easier? We’ll go beyond the weird art and discuss a label transcription case study. We’ll cover the process, the lessons learned, and the broad applicability of LLMs to all sorts of data problems.
“Virus Testing in the FWBG Orchid Collection”
Presented by: Benjamin Durrington
Botanic gardens and other institutions with living collections must contend with a wide array of plant pathogens, from bacteria and fungi to insects and viruses. During Summer 2024, the Living Collections team completed a comprehensive testing campaign for two major orchid viruses in the Garden’s orchid collection. In this presentation, we will discuss the background of these plant viruses, including their origin, host range, manner of spread and typical symptoms. Then we will share how we addressed the challenges of infection and how we plan to care for the collection in the future. We welcome you for a quick foray into applied living collection management.
“Elaphoglossum phylogenomics: perspectives and challenges in the study of one of the most diverse groups of tropical ferns.”
Presented by Dr. Alejandra Vasco
The fern genus Elaphoglossum (Dryopteridaceae) is one of the most species-rich and taxonomically complex genera of ferns globally, with over 600 recognized species. Despite extensive taxonomic and systematic studies, numerous species groups within Elaphoglossum pose persistent taxonomic challenges and several key evolutionary relationships within the genus remain unresolved. This complexity highlights the significance of improving our understanding of Elaphoglossum diversity, given its status as one of the most species-rich, dominant, and frequently collected vascular plant genera in many areas of tropical America, where approximately 500 species of Elaphoglossum occur. This presentation introduces the first phylogenomic study of Elaphoglossum, including a dataset of more than 230 accessions and target-capture data from around 300 nuclear loci. The resulting phylogenetic hypothesis is largely congruent with those reported previously, but with improved support and resolution, and the recovery of novel clades and previously unsampled taxa. Our phylogenomic analyses also show, for the first time, that reticulate evolution was important and prevalent during Elaphoglossum evolutionary history. Integration of our phylogenomic data with information derived from floristic inventories, herbarium specimens, and rigorous taxonomic studies enables a data-driven assessment of the current state of knowledge for Elaphoglossum. From this, we highlight persistent challenges hindering the study of Elaphoglossum today and identify priorities and research opportunities for future exploration and research of this and other highly diverse and taxonomically complex fern genera.
This is a free hybrid seminar. Please join us in person in the Commons of the BRIT Building or virtually via the following link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82755024484.
About the Research Lecture Series
The BRIT Research Lecture Series is designed to create community wide conversation about a diverse range of important and rapidly developing topics. This series gives scientists and speakers a forum for sharing the most current information about their areas of expertise and allows the public to interact with leading members of the local, national, and international scientific community. Read more at fwbg.org/events/lecture-series.
