Bald Cypress Summer
Molly here! This summer after the Botany conference I did fieldwork in the southern states (USA) to collect leaves and physical measurements of Taxodium distichum, the bald cypress, which is a deciduous conifer (cone-bearing tree) that inhabits lowland swamps and is a close relative of the redwoods. I collected T. distichum as part of my dissertation project which will be investigating how plant functional traits link to climate and using that data to both interpret the fossil record and past climates, with hopes to make future projections on how the species will be affected by global change. I survived more rain than I’ve ever possibly experienced, fish eating spiders, spiders bigger than my hand, muddy creeks, roach motels, and horseflies. I was extremely lucky to not have an alligator encounter.
Taxodium distichum growing in Panther Swamp, MS
My friend Emily flew in from my hometown Los Angeles and we drove from Savannah, GA to Miami, FL and then up to New Orleans, LA where we took a long food break. Along the way we stopped at the Everglades, Seminole State Park, Apalachicola National Forest, and Pearl River Louisiana Wildlife Management Area (WMA) to collect leaves, height measurements, and a diameter at breast height. We got to see owls, alligators from a safe distance, fish eating spiders, Florida orchids, resurrection ferns, tillandsias, palms, and many bald cypresses. It was extremely humid every day but luckily we got to sit in an air conditioned car hour after hour listening to NPR as we drove from one forest to another. Emily got food poisoning in New Orleans and had to fly home earlier than planned. :(
Organ Trail, the zombie apocalypse survival game, parody of Oregon Trail.
With no choice, I continued the trip alone driving to Attakapas Island WMA (LA), San Bernard WMA (TX), Guadalupe River State Park (TX), Ouachita National Forest (AR), Delta National Forest (MS), and Cypress Creek National Wildlife Refuge (IL) before returning home to Ann Arbor, MI.
Overall the trip was a success! I managed to collect many leaves (and physical measurements) from many trees over its natural distribution. Some “failures” included chickening out on collecting because of my innate fear of giant spiders and not finding any bald cypress on site. I encountered giant spiders first at Pearl River WMA, where Emily called to me “you have to see this, they have claws…THEY HAVE CLAWS!”, and then San Bernard WMA where the spiders were much larger (in length and height) and very abundant. Without a spider wrangler or a friend for emotional support, I had spent all my energy trying to keep my cool and didn’t collect as many leaves nor physical measurements at San Bernard WMA. I didn’t find any trees at Ouachita National Forest where I had spent an entire day driving through the forest only to come out empty handed. Luckily we live in an age of internet and I was able to make last minute changes to my fieldwork that would allow me to collect elsewhere.
I was extremely fortunate to have people help me along the way, especially Guy, the park technician at the Attakapas Island WMA, who drove his boat to assist in collection of samples and protected me from alligators, and Karen, a wildlife biologist at Cypress Creek NWR, who drove me to different sites with difficult roads.
An owl perched in a bald cypress tree (Big Cypress/Everglades).
Cypress boardwalk at Dawes Arboretum (OH).
Safety vest (safety first!) borrowed from Dawes Arboretum (OH) Horticulturists, a week after my collection trip. John Benedict, Chris Nelson, and I drove to Ohio University to move fossils to PEPPR where we stopped at Dawes Arboretum to collect some samples.
