Spring! Researchers!

The relentless rain has eased into sunshine and a bevy of researchers have arrived. Things are buzzing; Walt Koenig (Cornell) is back with his group of field assistants studying acorn woodpeckers. Janis Dickinson (Cornell) and Caitlin Stern (grad student) and several field assistants are here again as well, watching the western bluebirds. And we have some interesting visitors from local schools. One is Galen Pelzman, UCSC. Galen is studying "how genetic divergence of floral traits among coevolving prodoxid moths and their host plants affects plant fitness through its effect on pollination efficacy". Galen's day visits bring him to the small white flower along Big Creek, Lithophragma spp. and their associated moths, Greya spp. (Oecologia. 2010 Jan;162(1):71-80. Epub 2009 Aug 11.). Others are studying oak flowers and pollen (Brian Berringer, Cornell), or black widow spiders (Emily MacLeod, U. Toronto). Busy times again!

Here, Galen is gathering flower petals from the Lithophragma for a colleague in John Thomson's lab at UCSC. He is comparing the scents of the two kinds of Lithophragma flowers found at Hastings. Maybe moths choose which flower species to visit based on aroma?