Hey all — two quick ‘news’ items:
(1) I passed my qualifying exams… wow! Next step, actually writing my proposed dissertation. I am thinking something along the lines of this FUN title:
Circumnavigating the Claytonia lanceolata Species Complex: Systematic Studies of Claytonia Section Claytonia (Montiaceae).
(2) If you haven’t heard already — I am involved with another crowd-sourced fundraising effort in collaboration with a colleague at Bucknell University, Dr. Ingrid Jordon-Thaden. This is the type of fundraiser where EVERY contribution counts! Even if you were to pledge $1, you would help to demonstrate just how much interest there is in research projects like this one.
https://experiment.com/projects/alpine-plant-biodiversity-why-is-it-so-high
Hopefully, we’ll be successful in raising funds to conduct field research this summer in Idaho, Montana, and the Yukon Territory (Canada)! Show your support today — you’re NOT CHARGED ANYTHING unless we meet our full fundraising goal!
Claytonia.org 
I’d be glad to donate to your project, Tommy! $20 sounds just right at the moment.
Thanks for your support, Mary — it means A LOT!
You’re killin’ me Thomas! OK what’s twenty bucks? I’m in
That’s the spirit, Oran — I REALLY appreciate your support 😉
If I am killing you, maybe I’ll have to drop buy while doing fieldwork in Oregon…
oh yeah — follow this link to make your pledge: https://experiment.com/projects/alpine-plant-biodiversity-why-is-it-so-high
Don’t forget to cross your fingers that we make our goal, and tell all your friends about this AWESOME project!
Come on by anytime!!
Great blog; glad I stumbled across it! Congrats on passing your quals. I work on past environments of the San Berdos, and am starting pollen analysis of lake cores to reconstruct past vegetation assemblages.
That is awesome! Maybe we could chat more about your research — it sounds like my biogeography work could tie in with yours… I’m particularly interested in the depression of alpine habitats to lower elevations during the Pleistocene pluvials, and how that might be related to observed patterns of disjunction among plant populations.
Sure, drop me a line kcglover at ucla dot edu , my blog has been a bit dormant last couple months (I blame quals).