Profile

• Time Zone

  Mountain

  
  
• Organization

  University of Montana

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  My research focuses on genetic drive, specifically female meiotic drive in yellow monkeyflowers. More broadly I enjoy evolutionary genetics and population genomics

  
  
• Profile Question 1

  What is the coolest thing you have discovered or learned about plants?

  
  
• Answer the question you selected for profile question 1 here (300 words):

  That trees can get vaccinated against beetle invasions! Preliminary research shows that even spraying on of the vaccine is effective, imagine a huge plane (like the ones that fight forest fires) vaccinating whole forests against deadly beetles.

  
  
• Profile Question 2

  What lessons have you learned in your career about how science works?

  
  
• Answer the question you selected for profile question 2 here (300 words):

  Science is a slow methodical process that is wrong more often than it's right. That is part of the beauty of its design, as more research is done and knowledge is gained science naturally corrects itself to a better answer.

  
  
• Profile Question 3

  What is best about being a scientist?

  
  
• Answer the question you selected for profile question 3 here (300 words):

  The best thing about being a scientists is the curiosity you see for the world. Being trained as a scientist means you look at the world and want to understand how it works, you are curious about everything around you, and if you keep that wonderment life can be quite beautiful. Also, the work hours are usually flexible and vacations are usually tolerated.

  
  
• Capacity: How many teams at a time are you comfortable working with?

  2

  
  

Recent Posts

shscasesweeneyspring2022 project 20 Evan Stark-Dykema Apr 28, 2022

Cool experiment! How are you actually going to be collecting the pollen? 

shscasesweeneyspring2022 project 20 Evan Stark-Dykema Apr 25, 2022

Hey Jaqueline,

Not sure how Ana would answer this question, but I would define healthy growth as the continual production of leaves, flowers, branches etc..., good healthy color (no blotches of brown on the leaves for example), and the…

more

Hey Jaqueline,

Not sure how Ana would answer this question, but I would define healthy growth as the continual production of leaves, flowers, branches etc..., good healthy color (no blotches of brown on the leaves for example), and the ability to produce flowers and reproduce. 

shscasesweeneyspring2022 project 20 Evan Stark-Dykema Apr 25, 2022

Hey Jonassaint,

Not sure I quite understand your question. Are you asking about the relationship between soil and a flower's pollen production?

If so, I am not aware that the type of soil matters directly to pollen production. As long as a…

more

Hey Jonassaint,

Not sure I quite understand your question. Are you asking about the relationship between soil and a flower's pollen production?

If so, I am not aware that the type of soil matters directly to pollen production. As long as a plant can grow well enough to produce flowers then it should make its "normal" amount of pollen in each of the flowers. If you are thinking about total amount of pollen produced then that depends on how many flowers it produces.

Soil pH and nutrient levels can influence how a plant grows in general. Soil quality can impact the overall height and health of a plant as well as how many flowers it produces. I haven't been able to find any research into if the amount of pollen per flower is changed due to soil condition, so if that is your question I don't have an exact answer for you. Something new to explore perhaps!