Current Research

There has long been a history of focused research using the collections at the UNM Herbarium. Collections-based research conducted by herbarium staff has included ethnobotany, floristics, taxonomy and systematics, some of the current research is outline below:

Weed Genomics Dr. Diana Gamba (Curator), is interested in focusing on weedy plants that are geographically widespread and thus occupy multiple climate gradients, making them ideal systems for understanding the trade-offs of weed adaptation across latitudinal, elevational, and urban gradients. Currently, we're targeting populations of Galinsoga parviflora across the Americas . We are also focusing on southwestern populations of this species, which could be at the transition from the native Mexican range to the introduced North American range.
Floristics Harpo Faust (Sr. Collections Manager) is interested in supporting floristic and general collecting efforts, especially around the state of New Mexico. Faust has a background in floristics and aims to boost collections for the state with target annual collecting forays to under-documented areas, by mentoring floristic graduate students, and through personal focused collection projects.
Herbarium Data Mapping While half of our collection is of use physically, the other half is of immense use in its digital format. The concept of 'the extended specimen' is of great interest to current herbarium staff. Our whole collection is digitized and accessible publicly. There are multiple ongoing projects to map and describe the digital collections information, in order to communicate diversity as well as possibilities and future directions for study.
Novel Specimen Use Following from extended and holistic specimen concepts, we are exploring novel waysto use and evolve our physical collection. Topics include plant host and insect gal ecology and evolution, phenology tracking over space and time, and characterizing the diversify of wild plant viruses.