Old and new lab members meet!
On the 23rd – 29th of July 2017, China hosted the 19th International Botanical Congress (IBC). This event is hosted every six years and brings plant scientists from different disciplines, to share their research projects, all which have one common goal, to value and protect plants. This year’s botanical congress was attended by 6 850 delegates from 77 countries. Amongst those attendees, were current and former members of our lab, who were presenting their research projects. See below a list of our flower hunters that presented, and their project titles.
Current Pollination Lab members:
– Key challenges for understanding floral mimicry
– Landscape perspectives on pollinator-driven evolution of floral scent signals
- Dr Ethan Newman – Ecological character displacement: style length variation in Pelargoniums driven by geographic mosaics of plant community structure
- Keeveshnee Govender (MSc candidate) – Rodent responses to volatile compounds provides insights into the function of floral scent in mammal pollinated plants
- Simangele Msweli (MSc candidate) – Floral similarity and pollinator sharing in Thunbergia atriplicifolia (Acanthaceae) and Exochaenium grande (Gentianaceae)
Graduates of the UKZN pollination lab that were also at this year’s IBC, included:
- Prof. Bruce Anderson – Quantum dots reveal the mechanics behind handedness in Wachendorfia flowers
- Dr James Rodger – How general is the relationship between fitness and abundance in wind-pollinated plants?
- Dr Sandy Steenhuisen – When flowers smell cheesy: an investigation into functional floral traits of African and Australian mammal-pollinated Proteas (Proteaceae)
- Dr Petra Wester – A unique case of floral specialisation for pollination by elephant-shrews
- Dr Karl Duffy – The extent to which mutualists affect the geographical range of plants in a changing environment
- Dr Michael Whitehead – Sexual mimicry promotes outcrossing and multiple paternity in sympatric orchid species
- Dr Tim Le Pechon – Phylogenetic analysis and morphological revision of the orchid genus Holothrix
The organisers of IBC 2017 had established “outstanding student awards” and “excellence scholar awards”. These awards were aimed to sponsor registration and or traveling expenses for students and researchers with exceptional academic achievements in plant sciences. These, in combination with funding from UKZN research day enabled our members to participate in IBC 2017 and we gratefully acknowledge their assistance. As a research lab, we are glad to have been represented in the 19th IBC. Through research, we are dedicated in contributing to the current knowledge of plants and are also actively participating in conservation initiatives. For more information on the International Botanical Congress, please see http://www.ibc2017.cn/
– Simangele Msweli
Pollination Research Lab 