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Explore
the breadth and depth of Rhododendron
research | | |
This
newest edition of Rhododendrons International
hosts a collection of review articles, written by
network members, providing in-depth
examination of research on Rhododendron
across a broad range of disciplines, from cell
physiology to ecology, evolutionary biology,
horticulture, ethonobotany and medicinal
chemistry. Click here to explore this
journal. |
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Invitation
to join our new literature
database | | |
Over
2.5 million scientific papers are published each
year, making it increasingly difficult to
locate articles relevant to Rhododendron
research.
To address this problem,
we built an online database of
Rhododendron literature containing 2100+
references, with excellent coverage from
1990-2018, and we plan to update our references on
a quarterly basis. In addition, we are working
with American Rhododendron Society volunteers to
add older references, some dating as far back as
1571.
We are using the freeware Mendeley,
which facilitates collaboration via “Groups”.
In order to comply with rules on sharing PDFs
within this type of social network, we will
maintain two types of groups, with the same
references.
"Invite-Only" group.
Anyone can join, unlimited membership.
Search Rhododendron
articles and promote your work to other
researchers; best for those who already
have access to PDFs through their
institution.
“Private” group.
Only R-RN members can join, limited membership.
Search articles, promote your work, and
collaborate with other researchers; best for
those who have difficulty
obtaining PDFs.
Click
Here to join one of our
literature database
groups.
The
Publication Highlight below describes a
recent addition to our
database. |
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A
new publication by Rhododendron Research Network
member Dr. Nawal Shrestha et al. uses
species distributions and phylogenetic information
to determine global patterns of diversity and
dispersal in Rhododendron over
evolutionary time, including possible dispersal
routes for the genus shown above (Shrestha et al.
2018, Fig. 2). This work is part of a series of
publications by Dr. Shrestha and colleagues
examining various aspects of Rhododendron
biodiversity, from understanding the evolutionary
and climatic factors contributing to
biodiversity, to considering the efficacy of
different methods for preserving
diversity.
Shrestha et al.
2018. Global patterns of
Rhododendron diversity: The role of
evolutionary time and diversification
rates. Global Ecology and
Biogeography 27: 913–924.
To learn
more, please visit Dr. Shrestha's
Webpage.
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American
Rhododendron Society
Apply by March 1,
2019
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The American Rhododendron
Society (ARS) is accepting grant applications for
research in Rhododendron, due by
March 1, 2019. This funding program,
started in 1990, has funded over 140 research
projects, covering a wide range of topics.
Research areas of interest include:
systematics, plant introduction, breeding,
propagation, cultural practices, physiology,
cytology, genetics, and the creation of research
archives and databases.
Click
Here to find out more about ARS
research funding.
The Student Research
Highlight below describes a project funded by the
ARS. |
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Rhododendron
Research Network member Dr. Melissa Whitman
recently defended her dissertation at the
University of Nebraska (UNL), under the
supervision of Dr. Sabrina E. Russo, investigating
how tropical Rhododendron leaf
traits varied with habitat association along an
elevation gradient. In contrast to other
tropical woody plant species, for
169 Rhododendron species, the mean
and variance of their functional trait values was
remarkably constant across elevation (e.g.
specific leaf area in cm2/g shown above, solid
line indicates a significant decline; dashed line
indicates non-significant). In addition, trait
values varied little among species with
different growth forms or edaphic associations.
Such stability may be facilitated by associating
with habitat types with low resource availability,
or by opportunistic flexibility of growth form,
especially within lower elevation
areas.
This research was made
possible by funding from the American Rhododendron
Society, the National Science Foundation, and UNL
School of Biological Sciences and collaboration
with the Royal Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh,
Rhododendron Species Foundation, and Bovees Rare
Plant Nursery. Manuscripts currently in
preparation; for more information please contact
Dr. Whitman at islandevolution@gmail.com or
visit Dr.
Whitman's Webpage.
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Network
Charter and 2019 Action Items
Approved | | |
In December 2018, the
R-RN Steering Committee approved the
following:
Network
Charter -
This guiding document describes our
organizational purpose, structure, rules and
procedures.
2019
Action Items
Webpage
improvements and additions - Led by Bob
Weissman - Improve the clarity of information
describing our network and participants;
add the ability to conduct NCBI BLAST
searches of published Rhododendron
genomes and
transcriptomes.
Searchable
literature database - Led by Juliana
Medeiros - Expand reference list
with pre-1990's collections donated by
ARS members; obtain PDF copies of literature;
conduct quarterly updates of new
publications.
Build
capacity for citizen science - Led by
Robbie Hart - Create a report
detailing available resources, opportunities,
and challenges of a Rhododendron
citizen science phenology project that combines
data from private and botanical
gardens.
Build
capacity for data hosting - Led by
Valerie Soza - Create a report detailing potential
Rhododendron data hosting opportunities,
along with assessment of logistics, costs,
pitfalls, and potential funding
sources.
Visit the R-RN
Webpage to learn more about network
governance. |
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Advance
and inspire your research and collaborations on
Rhododendron | | |
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Submit Your Newsletter Items
by June 7th
Jobs,
grants, publications, collaborative
projects, or any news about
Rhododendron research, to: Juliana
Medeiros,
jmedeiros@holdenarb.org
You
are invited to share this newsletter
via email or social
media: |
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