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Hubbard Brook Aquatic and Wetland Plants of Costa Rica Bolivian Wetlands Atlantic White Cedar in New Hampshire Rare and Endangered Species Return to the Home Page |
VASCULAR PLANT RESEARCH UNH has had a long history of involvement in field biology and the past and present activities of the herbarium contribute to the future of sustainable living through a better understanding of our natural biological resources. The research efforts of the Herbarium personnel are both regional and international and address issues of biodiversity, floristic ecology and systematics. We have a particular interest in aquatic plant biodiversity, in both temperate and tropical regions. We have a strong interest in floristic diversity of New Hampshire forests. And over the years we have made significant contributions to an understanding of Rare and Endangered Species in New Hampshire and in the New England region. Recent systematic studies have included a monographic study of the genus Nuphar (Nymphaeaceae), the focus of doctoral research by Dr. Donald J. Padgett. A systematic study of Carex sect. Scirpinae (Cyperaceae) was the doctoral dissertation research of Dr. Debra A. Dunlop. A number of taxonomic treatments of aquatic families have been prepared by Dr. Garrett Crow as a contribution to the Plantas de Costa Rica manual project jointly sponsored by INBio in Costa Rica and the Missouri Botanical Garden. Recently completed master's research included a floristic and vegetational study of Louisbourg National Historic Park, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia by Mary Williams, an investigation by C. Eric Hellquist of the biodiversity bryophytes and vascular plants of a northern Michigan bog, with an emphasis on vegetation structure and phytogeography, and Kathleen McCauley's study of the flora and plant communities of a unique trap-rock ridge in southwestern Connecticut, with an emphasis on rare and endangered plants. Current Graduate Students: Nur Ritter is currently pursuing doctoral research under the Natural Resources PhD program, but is based in the Herbarium and Plant Biology department. His research involves examination of plant biodiversity and species richness in aquatic and wetland habitats over an elevational gradient in Bolivia from high Andean sites to the Amazon basin lowlands, with a focus on conservation concerns for tropical aquatic ecosystems. Leslie Teeling is a master's student involved in the study of biodiversity in the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. In addition to the biodiversity surveys, she is focusing on determining the variation among floras of working forest land units and preserves in order to provide a substantive basis for monitoring changes in biodiversity due to forest management practices, local succession, and natural floristic drift. The study is being carried out under a cooperative agreement with the USDA Forest Service and the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station (MacIntire-Stennis Project 41). Nancy Batchelder is pursuing a master's program focused on re-evaluating the impact of humans on the sand dune vegetation at Plum Island for the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge. This is a long-term follow-up study of a study carried out 20 years ago by Mark McDonnell. Few studies exist that address the impact of humans on these coastal vegetation types, and it is important to gain a long-term perspective on the value of the management techniques which have been employed by the Refuge since the previous study was completed. |