Blogs by Mason Heberling

Mason Heberling is the assistant curator in the Section of Botany and co-chair of collections at Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Heberling is a plant ecologist and botanist whose research explores plant functional strategies in deciduous forest understories, especially in the context
of environmental change. Much of his current research focuses on the ecology
and evolution of non-native, invasive plants in the eastern United States, the ecophysiological strategies of the herbaceous layer in deciduous forests, and the impacts of climate change on the timing of leafing out and flowering in temperate deciduous forests.

March 2, 2021 by wpengine

Collected on this Day in 1949

Honeysuckles will be back soon.

But this one never really left for the winter.

This specimen of winter honeysuckle (Lonicera fragrantissima) was collected in West Conshohocken, PA near the Schuylkill River outside of Philadelphia by Bayard Long. Collected flowering in a “rubbish-dump,” no less! Bayard Long (1885-1969) was a Philadelphia-area botanist and an active member of the Philadelphia Botanical Club (founded in 1891 and still exists today). He was a prolific collector and served as Curator of the Club’s Local Herbarium for 56 years (housed at the Academy of Natural Sciences). About 982 specimens collected by Long are preserved for the long haul in the Carnegie Museum herbarium.

Winter honeysuckle not only has a fun scientific name to say (“fragrantissima” rolls off the tongue) but is easy to identify among the many species in the honeysuckle genus (Lonicera in plant family Caprifoliaceae). That is, it has almost evergreen, thick leaves that partly persist into the winter, unlike any of the other shrub honeysuckles in Pennsylvania. (Emphasis on shrub, because the invasive vine Japanese honeysuckle – Lonicera japonica– also has persistent leaves through much or all of winter).

It is also known as “sweet breath of spring” for its aromatic flowers (hence its specific epithet, fragrantissima – think Bath and Body Works scent), which appear in late winter (and in this specimen!).

Introduced from China as an ornamental and often planted for its foliage, this species is now invasive in many states in the US. I must admit I don’t see it very often “escaped” outside of plantings in Western PA, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, or won’t escape in time, especially given it is problematic in other areas of the US.

So, you really shouldn’t plant it. Though Pennsylvania has native honeysuckles, the most abundant and common ones are introduced, affecting native vegetation and wildlife.

Find this specimen (and search for more) here.

Check back for more! Botanists at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History share digital specimens from the herbarium on dates they were collected. They are in the midst of a project to digitize nearly 190,000 plant specimens collected in the region, making images and other data publicly available online. This effort is part of the Mid-Atlantic Megalopolis Project (mamdigitization.org), a network of thirteen herbaria spanning the densely populated urban corridor from Washington, D.C. to New York City to achieve a greater understanding of our urban areas, including the unique industrial and environmental history of the greater Pittsburgh region. This project is made possible by the National Science Foundation under grant no. 1801022.

Mason Heberling is Assistant Curator of Botany at Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

Do plants have lips? No, but one genus sure looks like it does!

close up of bright red bracts of Palicourea elata, a plant nicknamed hot lips

Pucker up! Hot lips, Palicourea elata, is a tropical tree found in the rain forests of Central and South America with bright red lips, I mean bright red bracts – modified or specialized leaves at the base of the flower. The bright red bracts evolved to attract pollinators, including hummingbirds and butterflies, and they will eventually spread open to reveal the plant’s flowers. Interestingly, this plant’s flower does not give off a scent, and relies on visual cues to attract its pollinators.

Palicourea elata is part of an important group of plants in the coffee family (Rubiaceae), and it has more to offer than what the eye can see. Species in the Palicourea and the related Psychotria genus have also been shown to have antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, and psychedelic properties. It is also used as traditional medicine among the Amazon peoples to treat aches, arthritis, infertility, and impotency.

Let’s revisit a “Collected on this Day” specimen from February 14, 2005.

Though this mounted specimen doesn’t show off its striking flower, it was collected on Valentine’s Day, so that’s pretty romantic! As one of more than half a million specimens in the Carnegie Museum herbarium, this preserved plant is notable for being collected as part of the PhD research at the nearby University of Pittsburgh by John Paul, now a professor at the University of California, San Francisco.

P. elata has become endangered due to deforestation in its native range, and the International Union for Conservation of Nature, or IUCN, has reported that one-tenth of all the Psychotria species are considered threatened.

How can you help species of concern? Log your plant and animal observations into a community-based science platform, such as iNaturalist (like Hot Lips’ page). While you might not have Hot Lips in your backyard, iNaturalist can help you monitor plant and wildlife species, common or endangered. Your observations inform conservation practitioners on changes to a species range, population, behavior, phenology, etc.

Log your observations on iNaturalist the next time you’re in nature!

Heather Hulton VanTassel is Assistant Director of Science and Research at Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Mason Heberling is Assistant Curator of Botany at Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

Free and Open Sharing of Biodiversity Data Promises New Era of Research

Analysis of more than 4,000 studies published over the past 15 years makes case for ongoing development of the next generation of research

Contributions of amateur citizen scientists and natural history museums emphasized

Miami mist (*Phacelia purshii*) observed in Upper Burrell Township, PA, USA by J. Mason Heberling. Photo via iNaturalist (CC BY 4.0)

Herbarium specimen of Miami mist (*Phacelia purshii*) collected from Upper Burrell Township, PA, USA by J. Mason Heberling.

Carnegie Museum of Natural History (CMNH) announces a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) providing comprehensive analysis and review of more than 4,000 peer-reviewed studies published between 2003 and 2019 that make use of data mediated by the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), the world’s largest biodiversity data network. The study, written in coordination with GBIF by Mason Heberling, CMNH Curator of Botany, and Scott Weingart, Program Director of Digital Humanities at Carnegie Mellon University, provides an evidence base for the ongoing development of the next generation of biodiversity-related research.

While the accessibility of global biodiversity information has surged in the past 20 years—thanks to widespread funding initiatives for museum specimen digitization and the emergence of large-scale public participation in community science with applications like iNaturalist and programs like the City Nature Challenge—scientific impacts of consolidated biodiversity data networks had not yet been quantified. The authors conclude the global aggregation of these diverse data sources empowers research at scales otherwise not possible, “launching biodiversity sciences into a new era.”

“The possibilities of a sustainable future urgently depend on this integration of biodiversity data,” says Heberling. “The good news is biodiversity science has made great strides towards data access, thanks to a community ranging from research universities, to natural history museum collections, to amateur citizen scientists making observations on day hikes. Though far from over, the impact to date has been profound, resulting in more than two peer-reviewed studies published per day, cutting across taxonomic, disciplinary, geographical, and socio-economic boundaries.”

By analyzing the research uses of the GBIF’s biodiversity data network, the authors report on the emerging roles of open-access data aggregation in the development of increasingly diverse, global research. These results indicate a new biodiversity science landscape centered on big data integration, informing ongoing strategic initiatives of biodiversity data aggregation across diverse fields, including environmental sciences and policy, evolutionary biology, conservation, and human health.

Coordinated through its Secretariat in Copenhagen, the GBIF network of participating countries and organizations provides data-holding institutions around the world with common standards and open-source tools that enable them to share information about where and when species have been recorded.

Cited by more than 200 studies, Carnegie Museum of Natural History has made nearly a million specimen records publicly available through GBIF to date. This number is actively growing, as the digitization of more than 20 million museum objects continues.

December 23, 2020 by Erin Southerland

Collected on this Day in 1934

Has your Charlie Brown tree lost its needles yet?

dried specimen of larch on an herbarium sheet

Not all needled-leaved trees are evergreen! Yes, there are deciduous species in the Pine family (Pinaceae). That is, unlike most needle-leaved trees that retain their leaves all year long (evergreen), there are several conifer species that shed their leaves each year for the winter. Perhaps most famous are a group of species called larches.

No, this needle-free specimen of twigs and a cone wasn’t collected by Charlie Brown on Christmas Eve. Rather, this humble yet festive specimen of European larch (Larix decidua) was collected by J.F. Lewis on December 24, 1934. Native to the mountains of central Europe, this species was planted in a cemetery in Northumberland county (central Pennsylvania). It is highly likely the tree is still there – many decades later – as European larches can live for many hundreds of years (perhaps even a thousand years!).

The herbarium at California University of Pennsylvania is named for the person who collected this specimen – John Franklin Lewis.

European larch recently made the big time news too, featured in a new study published in the scientific journal Science. The researchers used leaf out and leaf fall data collected from across Europe since the late 1940s for four tree species (including European larch). Surprisingly they found that trees may drop their leaves much earlier than expected with ongoing climate change. In other words, as spring temperatures warm, deciduous trees produce leaves earlier in the spring, but this also causes trees to drop their leaves earlier in the fall. This means that climate change may not result in longer growing seasons, as has been previously predicted. You can read more about this study here.

Find this Charlie Brown larch specimen (and more) here.

Check back for more! Botanists at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History share digital specimens from the herbarium on dates they were collected. They are in the midst of a three-year project to digitize nearly 190,000 plant specimens collected in the region, making images and other data publicly available online. This effort is part of the Mid-Atlantic Megalopolis Project (mamdigitization.org), a network of thirteen herbaria spanning the densely populated urban corridor from Washington, D.C. to New York City to achieve a greater understanding of our urban areas, including the unique industrial and environmental history of the greater Pittsburgh region. This project is made possible by the National Science Foundation under grant no. 1801022.

Collected on this Day 105 years ago

So long, leaves.

Autumn has fallen.

specimen of red maple on herbarium sheet

This specimen of red maple (Acer rubrum) was collected on November 13, 1915 by Otto Jennings near Finleyville, Pennsylvania (about 30 miles south of Pittsburgh). Jennings was an influential botany curator (and biology professor at University of Pittsburgh and director of Carnegie Museum, among many other roles through his many decades career at the museum).

Just imagine how beautifully red these leaves must have been. And you’ll have to imagine because this specimen is just twigs!

But upon closer look, the twigs have a lot to admire. As with other deciduous trees in Pennsylvania, the buds are primed and ready. In spring (as early as March for red maple!), these buds will swell and flowers will emerge. Leaves will follow.

But first, we wait it out through winter.

Pay attention to tree buds this winter. They have a lot to say.

Find this red maple specimen here (along with 512 others!).

Mason Heberling is Assistant Curator of Botany at Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Museum employees are encouraged to blog about their unique experiences and knowledge gained from working at the museum.

Collected on This Day 98 Years Ago

Chestnuts (used to be) on Chestnut Ridge

And across the entire state of Pennsylvania.

American chestnut (Castanea dentata) was once a very common tree, native from Maine to Mississippi. In the heart of the Appalachians, the historical range covered the entire state of Pennsylvania. I say “historical” and “once a very common tree” because it is no longer. You may occasionally stumble upon an American chestnut tree, especially small trees and saplings persisting as sprouts from the large trees that graced our landscape a century ago. Older trees, with mature fruits, are quite rare.

In fact, some estimates suggest American chestnut accounted for one in four trees in some forests! So, what happened? In the early 1900s, a disease caused by a pathogenic fungus (Cryphonectria parasitica) was accidentally introduced with imported Asian trees. It was first recorded in New York City in 1904. In a matter of decades, American chestnut was nearly decimated by this disease known as Chestnut blight.

The Carnegie Museum of Natural History herbarium captures this change in our forests.

American chestnut specimen on herbarium sheet

This specimen of American chestnut was collected by influential Carnegie Museum curator Otto Jennings on October 21, 1922 on a field trip of the Botanical Society of Western Pennsylvania to Chestnut Ridge, near Derry Township, Pennsylvania. Chestnut Ridge is a ridge of the Allegheny Mountains, presumably named for its (once) many American chestnuts.

This specimen is from the fruit collection of the herbarium. These specimens are different than the “standard” pressed flat specimens on paper. Instead, they are stored to maintain their three-dimensional structure.

Note the note made by Jennings on the label on this specimen: “Trees from ¼ to all killed by blight.”

The case of the American chestnut is an interesting one. It served important cultural and ecological roles; some even calling it a “keystone” species. There is no doubt that the functional extinction of American chestnut ricocheted through the ecosystem, causing long-term biological changes. Many of these changes we may not know. Yet, at the same time, despite the species importance, our forests continue. Presumably other species have filled the functional and physical space of American chestnut.

Disease and pest outbreaks in Pennsylvania’s forests continue. Many of our critical tree species are likely to decline in coming years and decades. Some iconic species have already declined or are at risk. These include our ash species (mortality caused by introduced Emerald Ash Borer), American beech (Beech leaf disease, Beech bark disease caused by an introduced scale insect), and eastern hemlock (mortality caused by introduced sap sucking bug, the hemlock woolly adelgid)…to name only a few threats.

What will Penn’s woods look like in another 100 years?

Our collections document the past and present to inform our decisions for the future.

Find this American chestnut specimen here (along with 268 others!): https://midatlanticherbaria.org/portal/collections/list.php?db=328&includecult=1&taxa=Castanea+dentata&usethes=1&taxontype=2

Collected on this Day in 1949

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Contributions of amateur citizen scientists and natural history museums emphasized

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