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Presentations,
networking and working
groups
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Join your fellow
Rhododendron researchers at the American
Rhododendron Society 75th Anniversary Convention
April 29 - May 3 2020, hosted by the Portland
Oregon Chapter. Activities of interest to
researchers will include:
- Oral
presentations
- Hear
from experts on Rhododendron in
subject areas ranging from horticulture and
conservation to genetics and
evolution
- Poster
session
- Communicate
your research to fellow scientists and the
public
- Networking
opportunities
- Meet
and collaborate with people from a variety
of disciplines
- Field
trips
- Learn
about conservation, diversity and cultural
importance of
Rhododendron
- R-RN
working groups
- Network
members will meet to formulate plans for a
collaborative grant proposal and
experiments
For more
information about research-related activities at
the ARS 2020 meeting, please contact Juliana
Medeiros (jmedeiros@holdenfg.org). Click
here to view the Portland
Chapter Webpage |
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Benjamin D. Hall
(1932-2019)
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Dr. Benjamin D.
Hall passed away on April 2, 2019. Ben began his
career in Physical Chemistry at the University of
Illinois, Champaign, but then moved to the
University of Washington (UW), Seattle, as a
Professor in both Genetics and Botany. His early
research contributed to the central dogma of
molecular biology, how DNA produces proteins
through an RNA intermediate. At the UW, he began
characterizing yeast RNA polymerases, which
transcribe DNA into RNA. His yeast research led to
patents that used yeast to produce Hepatitis B and
HPV vaccines and human insulin.
In
the 1990s, Ben became interested in native
rhododendrons after being introduced to hybrid
rhododendrons for gardening. Revenue from his
patents allowed him to shift his research to
rhododendrons. He then pioneered the use of RNA
polymerase genes to study the genetics and
evolution of rhododendrons. More recently, he was
the first to use advanced sequencing technologies
across Rhododendron species to understand
how rhododendrons have speciated and dispersed
across the world. Ben was very active in the
rhododendron community; he served on various
committees for the American Rhododendron Society
and the Rhododendron Species Foundation. In honor
of Ben’s work, Rhododendron benhallii was
named after him.
A memorial will be held
for Dr. Hall on Thursday, September 12, 2019, at
the University of Washington, Center for Urban
Horticulture, 2:00-4:00 pm.
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Ryan Fuller joins R-RN
Steering Committee
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Ryan Fuller (MSc),
a PhD candidate at the University of Chicago, was
recently appointed graduate student representative
for the Rhododendron Research Network (R-RN).
Currently, Ryan works on species delimitation,
phylogeography, hybridization, and polyploidy in
subsections Lapponica and
Triflora of the Hengduan Mountains,
China. When asked about his goals as
R-RN student representative, Ryan had this to
say: “My hope is to help shed light
on the exciting and diverse research being done on
the genus Rhododendron as well as inspire
prospective students at all levels to get
involved. Over the last year, I have collected
specimens in China and visited living collections
in Edinburgh, Scotland and Washington, USA. Here,
I spoke with many botanical professionals
performing research on everything from
evolutionary biology to horticultural propagation.
Much remains unknown about Rhododendron
and it’s an exciting time to be getting involved
in a prominent element of the North Temperate
flora! It would be a pleasure to hear from anyone
currently working on the group or interested in
how to get involved.” Click
Here to contact Ryan or learn more
about his research. |
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Literature
Database Grows to 2500+
Articles | | |
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Are
you interesting in finding scientific articles
about Rhododendron, but don't have a lot
of time to crawl through databases full of
irrelevant articles?
Our Rhododendron literature
database now contains 2500+ references, with
excellent coverage from 1980-2019, and we continue
to update our references on a quarterly basis. In
addition, we are working with American
Rhododendron Society volunteers to add rare
references, some dating as far back as
1571.
The
Publication Highlight below describes a
recent addition to our
database. |
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Dr.
Fang Zhendong and Dr. Robbie Hart on
Da Xue
Shan in Yunnan Province, China.
Image Credit:
Elsa
Hart. | | |
The Hengduan Mountains, at the easternmost
Himalaya, is one of the most biodiverse regions of
the globe, but this region is also experiencing
rapid climate change, having warmed approximately
1.4°C since 1985.
Dr. Salick and colleagues
investigated how these changes have impacted the
alpine vegetation in three Hengduan mountain
chains, finding evidence for increased frequency,
richness and diversity of plant species in alpine
areas over the last 7 years.
Surprisingly,
areas where Rhododendron species were
more frequent showed fewer changes than other
vegetation types. This work emphasizes the
importance of Rhododendron in the
Hengduan alpine ecosystem and provides new
evidence of their potential to define ecosystem
structure and function.
Salick, J,
Z Fang, and R Hart 2019 Rapid
changes in eastern Himalayan alpine flora with
climate change. American Journal of
Botany 106(4): 1–11
Click
here to read the full article in the
American Journal of Botany
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By
John Perkins, Sally Perkins, Mariana Castro,
Silvia Castro, Lucie Mota, Daniela Tavares, José
Cerca, and João Loureiro
Our
collaborative research team, including members of
the American Rhododendron Society and Faculty at
the University of Coimbra Portugal, are
investigating the ploidy level of the seedlings
produced from polypoid crosses using flow
cytometry. We hope to show that diploids are
sometimes produced from 3x X 2x crosses. Here we
investigated 'Anna's Smile', a very seed-fertile
triploid deciduous azalea that had as parents an
unknown Ghent deciduous azalea and the diploid
species arborescens. Most Ghents are either
triploids or tetraploids.
In total 42 of 48
crosses produced seedpods, and the following
crosses took where 'Anna's Smile' (3x) was the
seed parent:
| Pollen
parent ploidy |
Number
successful (produced seedpods) |
Number
failed |
Notes |
| 2x |
8 |
4 |
Failures
likely not hardy at study site; failure by
R. cumberlandense red inconsistent with
other results |
| 3x |
1 |
2 |
Failures
appear to be seed sterile |
| 4x |
30 |
0 |
Successes
include known and suspected
tetraploids |
| 6x |
1 |
0 |
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| 8x |
1 |
0 |
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For more information about this research, or to
express your interest in collaboration, please
contact John Perkins (john.a.perkins@gmail.com).
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Research as a core
objective
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The Rhododendron Research Network was founded in
2017 as a collaboration between an international
group of researchers and the American Rhododendron
Society (ARS). Support for research has been a
core objective of the ARS since its founding in
1945, including disseminating information,
improving access to resources, and providing
funding.
Research is disseminated by the
ARS in the Journal of the American
Rhododendron Society. This journal provides
in-depth, expert information on all aspects of
Rhododendron, ranging from horticulture
to genetics to biogeography. Membership includes
access to new issues, and archived issues going
back to 1947 can be accessed by the public via the
Virginia Tech Online
Portal.
Access to seed resources is
facilitated by the ARS Seed Exchange begun in
1963, with the specific goal of selecting stress
resistant progeny. Seeds of hundreds of
hard-to-find species have been collected from all
over and shared through this program. Members have
access to the seed exchange before it opens to the
public.
Funding for research is provided by
the ARS Research Foundation, which
was formed in 1976. Managed separately from the
ARS Endowment Fund, The Foundation fund is
dedicated to funding research. Over 150 awards
have been made, representing a substantial
contribution to the body of knowledge on
Rhododendron.
Please
consider supporting our ongoing commitment to
research:
Click
here to become an ARS
member or Click
here to make a donation
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Call
for Steering Committee
Nominations | | |
Are you
interested in collaboration?
Do you want to
broaden your research
network?
Nominate
yourself (or a colleague) to serve on our Steering
Committee. Open Steering Committee
positions include: International
Scientists – Rhododendron and
the researchers who study them are
distributed all over the world, we need a
representative interested in developing plans for
international networking and collaboration
Collaborative Review Articles –
There is already a rich history of
Rhododendron research, we need a
representative interested in leading an R-RN
working group to draft a review focused on any
topic area in Rhododendron.
Committee members serve a two-year term, with
possibility of reappointment. Members are expected
to work with Chairs, with each other, and with
network members to advance network objectives,
provide oversight for network activities (e.g.
provide feedback on governance decisions and
action plans), contribute to the annual report,
and develop action items of their own. Committee
members must be members of the R-RN. Prospective
steering committee members are nominated by
network members and approved by majority vote of
the steering committee. Nominees
should be received by September 1. Those with
appropriate qualifications (outlined above) will
be contacted by the steering committee Chairs to
determine if the nomination is accepted. Once the
nomination is accepted, nominees will supply a CV
to the committee prior to the voting period
(October 1 st
-15 th). 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
Submit by
November 15th for the January 2020
edition.
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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