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1978   2008 |
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Don
Les
(Ph.D.,
The Ohio State University)
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Tel:
(860) 486-5703 E-mail: les@uconn.edu |
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Looking for Najas in a Louisiana cypress swamp |
An Everglades 'gator watches as we search for aquatic plants |
Eriocaulon plants with some visiting insects |
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Male spathe of Vallisneria natans (photo by Lei Chen) |
Fruits (left to right) of Najas flexilis, N. muenscheri, N. guadalupensis |
rare chasmogamous flower of Glossostigma cleistanthum |
Nymphaea 'William Phillips', the world's first intersubgeneric hybrid waterlily |
Leaf x-section of Glossostigma cleistanthum |
| Aquatic plants are of interest to
systematic
biologists because many of
the groups are
quite ancient, exhibit extreme plasticity and reduction in form, and
generally have been poorly studied. We
reconstruct the evolutionary history (phylogeny) of aquatic plants
using a combination of morphological and molecular (DNA sequence) data,
which facilitates their evolutionary study. Results of our
research are used to improve the taxonomy of various aquatic plant
groups. Some of our past and present projects have included: |
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| I also am the director of the CONN herbarium, which houses the department's collection of plant specimens used for research, teaching and outreach. These collections include fossil plants, nonvascular plants, algae, and fungi as well as flowering plants (angiosperms). |
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| Bryan Rodrigues databases maple specimens he collected during his CONN herbarium REU
internship. |
UConn undergraduate Jillian Prescod digitally scans a CONN herbarium specimen as part of our NSF-funded database project. | Kathy assumes her post
as a veteran
databaser. |
Lori (right) works with Tina, who has volunteered to help with our specimen database. |
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| The
strongly auricled sheaths of Najas section
Euvaginatae distinguish
the
species from section Americanae. |
Left to right: Middlebury College students Cassidy Daloia & Vicenta Vhudziak, and their advisor Dr. Sallie Sheldon join forces with my grad student Nic Tippery and UConn UG lab assistant Emmeline Liu, as we begin a 3-year collaborative study of North American Najas. | Conspicuous marginal teeth distinguish Najas guadalupensis subsp. floridana (a SEUS endemic) from the other subspecies. | This remarkably clear, SW Georgia lake represents one of the few remaining habitats for Najas filifolia, an extremely rare North American endemic. |
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Collecting seagrasses off the coast of Magnetic Island, Australia |
More seagrass collecting along Australia's southern coast |
This southern USA cypress swamp supports a rich diversity of aquatic plants |
A tropical pool in NW Queensland, Australia |
I gather some Zostera from a muddy shore in NE Australia |
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| East Twin Lake (Aquatic Plant Biology field trip) | Diana's Pool (Aquatic Plant Biology field trip) | Colin Young finds Bidens cernua growing out of a tennis ball! | Connecticut Master Gardeners attend a CONN herbarium workshop |
| Primary Courses Taught |
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| EEB 3204/5205: Aquatic Plant Biology (Undergraduate/Graduate) |
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First semester,
alternate years. Four
credits. Two lectures and two 3-hour field trip/laboratory periods.
Prerequisite: BIOL 1108 or BIOL 1110, or instructor consent. Field
and laboratory-oriented study of the anatomy, morphology, ecology,
physiology, systematics and evolution of vascular aquatic and wetland plants. |
| EEB 3271/5271 Systematic Botany (Undergraduate/Graduate) |
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Second semester,
alternate years. Four credits. Two class periods and two 2-hour
laboratory periods.
Prerequisite: BIOL 1108
or BIOL 1110.
Classification,
identification, economic importance, evolution and nomenclature of
flowering plants.
Laboratory compares
vegetative and reproductive
characters of major families.
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| BIOL 1108: Principles Of Biology II (Undergraduate) |
| Either semester. May be taken in
either order with BIOL 1107. Four
credits. Three class periods and one 3-hour laboratory period. Students may not receive more than 12 credits for courses in biology at the 1000's level. A course designed to provide a foundation for more advanced courses in Biology and related sciences. Topics covered include ecology, evolution, genetics, and plant biology. A fee of $10 is charged for this course. CA 3-LAB. |
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| Lori Benoit aligns hydrilla sequences | Dr. Bob Capers (manager, CONN herbarium) in Costa Rica | Dr. Tim Gerber (UW-La Crosse) | Dr. Michael Moody (UWA) looks for water
milfoils |
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| Dr. Don Padgett (Bridgewater State College) | Nic Tippery "bags" some Nymphoides for his research. | Dr. Chris Martine (SUNY Plattsburg) | Amy Weiss waits out a storm while hunting Cabomba in Australia. |
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| We enjoy some lunch on an eastern Finland bog - in January! | I hold a baby Tasmanian Devil in Hobart | Pitcher plants (Sarracenia) in a southern Georgia bog | Nic Tippery in a southern Mississippi wetland |
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| Lori Benoit (left) discusses Hydrilla with TNC staff during a training session. | Collecting aquatic
plants always is exciting! |
Aponogeton lancesmithii in
northeastern Queensland, so named for its discoverer (see right) |
Lance Smith brings me some Aponogeton from his commercial aquatic pools |
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| A vintage photo showing some of Australia's ferocious wildlife. | Some specimens should NEVER be collected. |
Subtle natural
landmarks help us to locate Nymphaeas in a remote section
of Queensland.
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Key provisions for
Aussie field work
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| A lethal brown snake awaits wary plant collectors in the "Atherton Tablelands" | The tropics down under | Australian aquatic plant expert Surrey Jacobs as we end another day of field work. | Beautifully reflective gum trees (Nyssa) in South Carolina |
