Life Sciences Commons^™

Contents 41(1–2)

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

No abstract provided.

Dedication

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

No abstract provided.

Comparative Leaf Water Absorption Between Chaparral Island And Mainland Taxa: A Common Garden Experiment, Humera S. Mirza, Lauren M. Tucker, Rodrigo Méndez-Alonzo, Edward G. Bobich, Frank W. Ewers

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

In California and other Mediterranean-type ecosystems, island species are typically exposed to more fog but less rain than mainland species. Because adaptations to absorb water from fog may conflict with those to minimize water loss, we hypothesized that island species should have greater fog absorption than their mainland congeners due to foliar uptake but at the cost of modifying other leaf structural and functional traits. To determine whether foliar water absorption is an adaptation to insularity, we compared seven physiological and anatomical leaf traits between congeneric island and mainland species of two genera, Ceanothus and Arctostaphylos, in a common …

A Tribute To Gary D. Wallace

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

No abstract provided.

A Vascular Flora Of The South Fork Tule River, Southern Sierra Nevada, Tulare County, California, Jessica M. Orozco

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

I conducted a floristic study of the South Fork Tule River watershed, located in the southern Sierra Nevada in Tulare County, California. The primary objectives of this floristic study were to document and catalogue all vascular plant taxa that occur in the watershed, describe the plant communities, analyze the flora and its affinities with other areas, and establish a herbarium for the Tule River Indian Reservation. The upper reaches of the South Fork Tule River originate on the western slope of Slate Mountain in the Sequoia National Forest and drain west through the Tule River Indian Reservation into Lake Success. …

Forty Years Of Change In Piute Cypress (Hesperocyparis Nevadensis), A Rare California Tree, After Frequent Fire And Drought, Amarina Wuenschel, Jim A. Bartel, Alexis Bernal

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

Piute cypress (Hesperocyparis nevadensis) is a rare cypress species endemic to the Lake Isabella region in the southern Sierra Nevada in California. Piute cypress groves have not been quantitatively studied in the last 40 years and with recent fires (some in short succession) and observed mortality, we had questions surrounding conditions in groves recovering from fire compared to other groves with no recorded fire histories. Piute cypress rarely survive fire and are obligate seeders with serotinous cones and, as such, require sufficient time after fire to grow to reproductive maturity to be able to withstand future fire. We …

Quantifying The Carbon Stored And Sequestered By The Trees On Pomona College’S Campus, Paola A. Giron-Carson

Scripps Senior Theses

We are experiencing a climate crisis that must be confronted with strategic mitigation. Pomona College contributes to the climate crisis through its emissions for which there is a baseline record. However there is no baseline record of the climate mitigation currently performed by the trees on Pomona’s campus through carbon storage. This study seeks to determine a current baseline quantity of carbon stored and sequestrated by Pomona’s trees as well as possible courses of climate mitigation for Pomona College to take. Initial information gathering was conducted through interviews with several stakeholders. This study was conducted using data collected prior to …

Sherwin Carlquist (1930–2021)—A Botanical Luminary, Thomas S. Elias, Mare Nazaire, Gary D. Wallace, Vanessa E. Ashworth

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

Sherwin Carlquist (1930–2021) was an internationally respected and distinguished botanist who held faculty positions in botany at California Botanic Garden, Claremont Graduate University and Pomona College between 1956 and 1992. His legacy includes major scholarly contributions to plant systematics, plant anatomy, especially wood anatomy, island biogeography, evolutionary and ecological reasoning, and a prolific publication record. A loose collection of paragraphs by those who interacted with him addresses Carlquist's tremendous botanical output, teaching, mentorship, scientific scholarship, and his roles as a colleague and friend.

A Vascular Flora Of The Selkirk Mountains, Bonner And Boundary Counties, Idaho, Harpo Faust, Ben Legler, David C. Tank

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

The vascular flora described here covers ~2295 square kilometers (~886 square miles) of the Selkirk Mountains that lie in the Idaho Panhandle, covering an elevational range of 540–2330 m (1770–7670 ft). The majority of the mountain range is underlain by granitic rock of the Kaniksu Batholith, and is diversified by the rich glacial history of the Panhandle. The study area contains multiple pockets of alluvial and glacial deposition that serve as specialized habitat for present-day floristic diversity within the range. The Idaho Selkirks are part of the Northern Rocky Mountains and have floristic influences from the Pacific coast, boreal north, …

A Question Of Priority: Pterospora Andromedea Nuttall Vs. Monotropa Procera Torrey Ex Eaton (Monotropoideae, Ericaceae), Gary D. Wallace

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

Clarity is lacking on the priority of the names Pterospora andromedea Nutt. versus Monotropa procera Torr. ex Eaton, both of which were published in 1818, and the suggested clear answer may not be the correct answer. Taxonomic Literature, second edition, provides a publication date of 14 July 1818 for Nuttall’s Genera of North American Plants and a publication date of June 1818 for Eaton’s Manual of Botany ed. 2. However, upon closer scrutiny, the situation is more complex. The sources for these publication dates are discussed in order to trace the likely sequence of events leading up …

A Flora Of Coyote Ridge And Flat, Inyo County, California, Martin Purdy

CGU Theses & Dissertations

California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range contains a disproportionate share of the state’s plant diversity and is one of the most floristically diverse regions of its size in the United States. The high Sierra Nevada, in particular, has been identified as an important center of species richness and endemism within California. Anthropogenic climate warming is expected to disproportionately affect mountain ecosystems, and models have predicted serious habitat contraction and extirpation for many alpine plant taxa. A specimen-based inventory of the vascular and non-vascular plants of Coyote Ridge and Flat was conducted to establish baseline data for one such sensitive alpine and …

Vascular Plants Of Northern Death Valley National Park (Death Valley, Last Chance Range, And Eureka Valley), Inyo County, California, Hester L. Bell, Sarah J. De Groot, Steve E. Schoenig

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

The northern portion of Death Valley National Park closely (but not entirely) corresponds to the northernmost portion of the Mojave Desert in California. From 2014 through 2019 we surveyed the vascular plants in the Eureka Valley, northern Last Chance Range, and northern Death Valley. This study area covers 1735 sq km and ranges in elevation from 810 to 2577 m; it contains the tallest sand dunes in California, a calcium-rich mountain range, and alkaline seeps. These features provide specialized habitats for narrowly and regionally endemic plants. Fossil data from packrat middens suggest that the local climate has become warmer and …

List Of Bryophytes Collected In The Northern Last Chance Range And Eureka Valley, Death Valley National Park, Sarah J. De Groot

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

A list of bryophytes occurring naturally in northern Death Valley National Park is presented. So far, 41 taxa have been documented, representing seven families and 24 genera. One species, Jaffueliobryum wrightii, is considered rare by the California Native Plant Society.

Justicieae Ii: Resolved Placement Of Many Genera And Recognition Of A New Lineage Sister To Isoglossinae, Lucinda A. Mcdade, Carrie A. Kiel, Thomas F. Daniel, Iain Darbyshire

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

We present phylogenetic results for Justicieae, the largest of the major lineages of Acanthaceae. With 300% more sequence data and a similarly increased but also more geographically representative taxon sample compared to the only previous study of the lineage as a whole, we confirm the existence of the Pseuderanthemum Lineage, Isoglossinae, the Tetramerium Lineage and the Justicioid Lineage. To the last three lineages, we add a number of taxa with the goal of advancing our knowledge of genera (e.g., Isoglossa, Rhinacanthus) and of geographic areas (e.g., Malagasy and Asian Acanthaceae). These added taxa are accommodated within the phylogenetic …

Vascular Flora Of Adobe Valley And Surrounding Hills, Mono County, California, Sophie E. Winitsky

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

Adobe Valley and the Adobe Hills lie east of the Sierra Nevada in Mono County, California, and are within the Great Basin Floristic Province. The flora of Adobe Valley and the surrounding hills is influenced by the Great Basin Desert to the east, the Sierra Nevada to the west and the northern Mojave Desert to the south. Adobe Valley is surrounded by the Adobe Hills, Benton Range and Glass Mountain region, creating a circular closed basin with many small tributaries feeding into it. This topography contributes to the creation of a rare wetland complex, including alkali meadows, marshes, and lakes …

Wood Anatomy Of Argophyllaceae (Asterales): Adaptation In A Small Clade, Sherwin Carlquist, Mark E. Olson

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

Argophyllaceae (Argophyllum, 14 spp.; Corokia, 6 spp.; Lautea, 1 sp.), are shrubs that occur in the southwestern Pacific and eastern Australia. They occur in habitats where moisture is relatively common but dry days and mild frost may occur. The woods of these genera show enough distinctive features to justify their grouping in a single family: perforation plates with 10–20 bars, vessel elements narrow and numerous per mm², imperforate tracheary elements about 50% longer than the vessel elements, axial parenchyma scarce, diffuse, multiseriate rays narrow and heterocellular (upright cells common in uniseriate rays), crystals absent, …

The Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary: An Exploration Of Changing The Discourse On Conservation, Arielle Ben-Hur

Pitzer Senior Theses

In 2015, the Northern Chumash Tribal Council submitted a National Marine Sanctuary Nomination to establish the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary– a means by which to ensure the protection of one of the most culturally and biologically diverse coastlines in the world. On October 5, 2015, John Armor of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) responded to the nomination, adding it to the inventory of areas NOAA may consider in the future for national marine sanctuary designation.

In my thesis, I explore how the nomination of the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary acts as a platform from which Traditional …

Mass Caffeination, Michael J. Leach

The STEAM Journal

This poem reflects on caffeine intake in modern society from the perspective of a pharmacologist. It is a free verse, concrete poem that communicates the science of caffeine through both words and visual images.

Plantae Coulterianae: Thomas Coulter’S Californian Exsiccata, Gary D. Wallace

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

An account of the extent, diversity, and importance of the Californian collections of Thomas Coulter in the herbarium (TCD) of Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, is presented here. It is based on examination of collections in TCD, several other collections available online, and referenced literature. Additional information on historical context, content of herbarium labels and annotations is included. Coulter’s collections in TCD are less well known than partial duplicate sets at other herbaria. He was the first botanist to cross the desert of southern California to the Colorado River. Coulter’s collections in TCD include not only 60 vascular plant specimens previously …

Remembering Lee W. Lenz (1915–2019)

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

Known primarily for his systematic work on Iris, Dr. Lee Lenz was also known for his taxonomic revision in other monocotyledonous groups such as Yucca, leading to his recognition of Yucca jaegeriana as distinct from the Joshua tree, Y. brevifolia. He was also involved in breeding horticultural forms from California native plants, such as xChiranthofremontia lenzii, and was credited with developing the first red-flowering iris within the Pacific Coast hybrids. Dr. Lenz was Director of Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden (now California Botanic Garden) in Claremont, California, from 1960 to 1983. A table lists his …

Island Invasion: The Silent Crisis In Hawaii, Sophia Janssen

Pomona Senior Theses

Keeping out invasive species may, upon first review, seem like a trivial environmental cry from ecologists and deep environmentalists; a belated wish to return to an undeveloped world where nature was pristine. However invasive species create problems that impact all of us and can have far more severe consequences than changing a stunning landscape. These problems are heightened in islands like Hawaii, where the fragile ecosystems have developed over centuries of evolution and adaptation. The introduction of a disease-carrying mosquito can put the people of Hawaii at risk to many vector-born illnesses and create an epidemic, taking human life. The …

“Primitive” Wood Characters Are Adaptive: Examples From Paracryphiaceae, Sherwin Carlquist

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

Why plants rich in plesiomorphic (“primitive”) features are alive today is a question that receives little comment. Apomorphies in angiosperms are often interpreted as valuable adaptations. However, both apomorphies and plesiomorphies can be keyed to ecological and physiological features. If a particular habitat remains little modified for long periods of geological time, plesiomorphic features should theoretically persist. The Bailey-Frost-Kribs correlations (usually between tracheary element length and character states in other wood features), deemed useful in their day, did not include adaptation to ecology, nor did they have the advantages that molecular-based phylogenies bring to us today. Montane cloud forests or …

New Additions To The Flora Of San Nicolas Island, Ventura County, California, Benjamin E. Carter, William F. Hoyer Iii, Jonathan Dunn, C. Matt Guilliams

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

Ongoing collecting efforts on San Nicolas Island have substantially increased the number of plant species documented from the island. Here we report thirty-one plants previously unrecorded from the island. The list includes six eudicots, one monocot, four liverworts and twenty mosses. Five of these species are understood to be introduced on San Nicolas and the remainder are believed to be native. The native vascular plants are Logfia filaginoides, Cistanthe maritima and Muhlenbergia microsperma. Of the twenty-four new bryophytes, one—Asterella bolanderi—is the first record from the Channel Islands. Specific ecological and locality information are provided for the …

Contents 36(2)

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

No abstract provided.

Vascular Flora Of The Upper Rock Creek Watershed, Eastern Sierra Nevada, California, Joy D. England

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

The upper Rock Creek watershed is located on the east slope of the Sierra Nevada in Inyo and Mono counties. It is ca. 36.5 square miles (94.5 square km) in area and varies in elevation from 7360 to 13,750 ft (2243 to 4191 m). Quaternary glacial erosion and deposition produced striking landscape features, including alpine fell fields and numerous small lakes. Previous floristic inventories in Rock Creek recorded a combined 396 minimum-rank taxa (species, subspecies, varieties, named hybrids) but were restricted to Little Lakes Valley and the surrounding high areas. An updated, annotated checklist of vascular plants is presented, based …

Reviewers Of Manuscripts, Volume 36

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

No abstract provided.

Index To Volume 36

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

No abstract provided.

New Species, New Combinations And New Synonymies Towards A Treatment Of Acanthaceae For The Manual De Plantas De Costa Rica, Lucinda A. Mcdade, Barry E. Hammel, Carrie A. Kiel

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

In preparation for the publication of the Manual de Plantas de Costa Rica, new species, names, combinations, and synonymies are provided in six genera of Acanthaceae: Anisacanthus, Chamaeranthemum, Dicliptera, Justicia, Ruellia and Stenostephanus. The new species are A. grace-woodiae, J. altior, J. lithophila and S. chavesii. A new name at the species level, R. leonardiana, is provided for R. tubiflora var. hirsuta. With Habracanthus, Hansteinia, Kalbreyeriella and Razisea being subsumed within Stenostephanus, the new combinations S. blepharorhachis, S. citrinus, S. leiorhachis (= Razisea spicata …

A Vascular Flora Of The Kiavah Wilderness, Scodie Mountains, Kern County, California, Erika M. Gardner

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

Congress designated the Kiavah Wilderness in 1994 under the California Desert Protection Act. It is located in the Scodie Mountains in Kern County, ca. 24 km (15 mi) east of Lake Isabella and 24 km (15 mi) west of Ridgecrest, and encompasses a total of 137 mi² (354 km²) with elevations ranging from 1000 to 2200 m (3500–7294 ft). The Wilderness is ecologically important because it occurs in a transition zone between two floristic provinces, the Sierra Nevada of the California Floristic Province and the Mojave Desert of the Desert Province. It is of cultural significance because …

Phylogenetics Of The Borage Family: Delimiting Boraginales And Assessing Closest Relatives, Kristen E. Hasenstab-Lehman

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

The placement of Boraginales, and relationships within the family have remained elusive in modern, broad phylogenetic studies. In order to assess the phylogeny of Boraginales, and specifically to test the sister lineage of the order, a data matrix of the chloroplast markers rbcL, ndhF, and trnL-trnF was assembled from GenBank and de novo sequences (representing 132 new GenBank accessions). Phylogenies inferred using Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian frameworks resulted in identical topologies. Tests for alternative topologies were used to assess whether any of the candidates for sister (Solanales, Gentianales, Lamiales, or Vahlia) to Boraginales could …