Monthly programs for 2024 will be held on the third Friday of the month at 7:00 p.m. Whenever possible, programs will be hybrid, both live and via Zoom. Check for each program. When the program is live, come to Room 111 in WNMU’s Harlan Hall, at the corner of 12th and Alabama Streets, to attend in person. Gila Native Plant Society members will receive a Zoom link by email before the program; any others interested may request a link from gilanative@gmail.com. All are welcome.
Upcoming Programs
Friday, November 15, 2024, 7:00 pm – “Observations from the Field” Presentation by Donna Stevens and Jim McGrath.
Donna Stevens at Aldo Leopold Wilderness boundary
Although flowering plants may be dormant for the winter, we can revisit the glory of the past summer in photos and stories. Donna Stevens and Jim McGrath, seasonal botanists with the Gila National Forest, will present a program about their 2024 fieldwork and current projects. Topics will include invasive plant status and removal strategies, invasive plant problems in the wilderness, inventory and monitoring of the Gila’s rare plant populations, and the history and current status of the Cherry Creek restoration project. The program will be live at Harlan Hall, Room 111, on the WNMU Campus. You can also attend via Zoom, a link to be announced ten days prior.
Past Programs
Friday, October 18, 2024, 7:00 pm – “Exploring the Flora of Silver City (2022-Present): Adventure, Discovery and Fun.”
Baby Aster (Chaetopappa ericoides) photo by Russ Kleinman
The members of the Silver City Flora team, introduced by William Norris, Professor of Biology at WNMU, will discuss an ongoing plant inventory in Silver City. Team members will present topics including project goals, methods, results to date, and interesting discoveries. The program will be live at Harlan Hall, Room 111, on the WNMU Campus. You can also attend via Zoom, a link to be announced ten days prior.
Friday, April 19, 2024, 7 p.m. - Evening Program: "Insect Galls of the Southwest" presented by Quin Baine, PhD student at University of New Mexico.
https://youtu.be/kAp0LSyhGVI?si=KNQMLbUTCVfLMzrp
Galls are growths on plants caused by another organism and can be all sorts of shapes and forms. If you’ve seen them, you may have wondered: what is the function of these weird growths, and how can I identify them? Quin Baine, Museum Research fellow at the Museum of Southwestern Biology, will summarize the main groups of insect gall formers, their specialized relationships to plants, and how to recognize common galls of native plants of the southwest. Gain an insight into an unusual plant interaction, and hopefully be inspired to start identifying species of a cool and understudied group of plant-dependent animals.
Quin Baine is a Museum Research fellow at the Museum of Southwestern Biology and a Ph.D. candidate in Biology at the University of New Mexico. She is an entomologist by training and has been working to establish a gall specimen collection at the museum. Her current research is on the highly diverse gall-associated communities of rubber rabbitbrush (Ericameria nauseosa) in the Southwest.
Friday, March 15, 2024, 7:00 p – Evening Program: “Phylogenetics and Population Genomics in the Milkwort genus Hebecarpa (Polygalaceae)”, presented by Christopher Muñoz, PhD student at UTEP.
Phylogenetics tells us how organisms at different taxonomic scales are related and can elucidate the presence of cryptic species otherwise unknown to science—however, the phylogenetic perspective allows us to see beyond just questions of taxonomy. My research looks into the evolution of a highly unresolved genus of mostly mountain-dwelling plants that’s habitat affinities and character traits may allow us to better understand patterns of evolution as well as millions of years of paleoclimate history in North America.
Christopher Joaquín Muñoz is a PhD candidate at The University of Texas at El Paso’s Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Program, where he works out of the Plant Evolution Lab of Dr. Michael Moody.”
Friday, February 16, 2024, 7:00 pm—Evening Program: “The History of the Silva Creek Botanical Garden” presented by Elroy Limmer and Betsy Kaido.
To see the images shown, click on the link. We do not have a sound recording, but some explanatory captions were added:https://youtu.be/
A view of Silva Creek Botanical Garden
GNPS members Elroy and Betsy will trace the development of the garden from a barren mass of weeds to the beautiful native plant garden it is today. Photos of the garden’s development and the many volunteers who made it happen will provide the base for this presentation.
Friday, January 19, 2024, 7:00 pm - Evening Program: “If You Plant It, They Will Come: Meet the bees in your neighborhood and their favorite native plants,” presented by Oliver Neria.
Melissodes Bee
This evening program was presented by Oliver Neria, PhD student at the University of Texas at El Paso, based on his research.
Oliver gave a brief overview of our native bees and their life histories, floral preferences, and nesting behaviors, as well as strategies that thoughtful gardeners can use to create useful bee habitat.
This program was via Zoom only.