SERC Evening Lecture Series: "Plant Exploration: Its Long History and Modern Relevance"

Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, 647 Contees Wharf Rd, Edgewater, MD | Get Directions »
FREE

Dr. Vicky Funk, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (FREE EVENT)

Dr. Funk will discuss expeditions to  remote areas to collect specimens, past, present and  future: the difficulties and triumphs are rarely known by those  outside the field of  expeditionary  science. But why does she, and other like-minded individuals, still travel to the far corners of the earth in search of rare plants and animals? What do they hope to find and of what use are the things they bring back?

Dr. Funk has been at the Smithsonian since 1981, she is a Senior Research Scientist & Curator - U.S. National Herbarium.  She is a specialist in the flowering plant family Compositae (daisies, sunflowers, dandelions, thistles, and sunflowers) and studies their origin and diversification.  This large family (25,000 species) is distributed around the world. She is interested in  phylogenetic systematics, biogeography and evolution.  She also directs a biodiversity program the goal of which is to document, study, and preserve the biodiversity of the Guiana Shield Area (Northeastern South America).