by Agnes | Jul 16, 2022 | fieldwork, student research
At the beginning of July, I travelled from Colorado to Florida (what a move to make for a climber in the middle of summer ;-)) to work on the Melastomataceae genus Rhexia (meadow beauties)! This is a small genus of only about 11 species, and, importantly, the only...
by Agnes | Jul 15, 2022 | fieldwork
I am lucky to get to the field twice this summer! 😀 The first fieldtrip featured joint work with Fabián Michelangeli and Juan Angulo from The New York Botanical Garden and Robín Hilario from Lima in the frame of the Melastomataceae Peru 2022 expedition! We hit the...
by Agnes | Apr 7, 2022 | student research
Closely related plant species frequently occur in sympatry and overlap in ecological characters. This overlap may lead to resource competition (i.e. for pollinators) and result in character displacement (i.e. divergence in floral phenotype or phenology) or...
by Agnes | Jan 31, 2022 | reflections and news
Today is a big day in the world of Melastomataceae! 😀 Finally, after about two years of work, Melastomatologists across the world have put together 34 chapters in a book soon to be published by Springer! Special thanks to the main editors Frank Almeda, Renato...
by Agnes | Sep 22, 2021 | reflections and news, student research
This has been such a fun project! Thanks to José Valverde, whom I had the pleasure to co-advise during his licenciate thesis at Universidad de Costa Rica, we now know the pollinators of Meriania macrophylla! This species is special because its flowers share traits of...