Research

Supporting diverse disciplines.

Specimen-supported science

The utility of herbarium specimens and associated data to diverse scientific disciplines has grown tremendously from early applications. We highlight here just a sample of some recent research involving NC State scientists (or others) and our specimens to showcase this diversity in application.

Do Cities Simulate Climate Change? A Comparison of Herbivore Response to Urban and Global Warming

The authors, including NC State scientists, examined the response of an herbivorous scale insect to temperature in the "context of an urban heat island, a series of historical temperature fluctuations, and recent climate warming." Herbarium specimens collected over the period of 1895 to 2011 were an important component of the study.

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Utilizing Pine Needles to Temporally and Spatially Profile Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)

The authors, including NC State scientists, used pine needles from historical herbarium specimens, as well as field-sampled needles, to analyze temporal and spatial presence of numerous PFAS in North Carolina.

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On the Identity of the Weedy Bittercresses (Cardamine: Brassicaceae) in United States Nurseries: Evidence from Molecules and Morphology

Bittercresses represent some of the most costly weeds in container nurseries. The identity of species represented has been unclear. The authors, NC State scientists, used molecular and morphological analyses, including study of herbarium specimens, to disentangle identities.

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Toward a Large-Scale and Deep Phenological Stage Annotation of Herbarium Specimens: Case Studies from Temperate, Tropical, and Equatorial Floras

Although herbarium specimens provide a tremendous source of verifiable historical phenological data, digitally capturing phenology annotations has been laborious and challenging to implement on grand scales. The authors sought to address this issue with their work.

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Phylogenomics of Polyploid Fothergilla (Hamamelidaceae) by RAD-tag Based GBS—Insights into Species Origin and Effects of Software Pipelines

Among other objectives, this work, authored in part by NC State scientists, examined the relationship of populations of various ploidy levels in the southeastern endemic shrub genus Fothergilla.

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Revision of Fothergilla (Hamamelidaceae), Including Resurrection of F. parvifolia and a New Species, F. milleri

This work by NC State scientists provided a revised understanding of Fothergilla in the southeastern United States, building on previous molecular work with detailed morphological studies. A new species of diploid was described and an old name was resurrected for a species erroneously synonymized in the past. Both diploids are exceedingly rare and of conservation concern.

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