Fieldwork
Throughout my research experience, I have had the privilege of participating in field trips across three continents: North America, Europe, and Africa. During my PhD and postdoctoral stages (2015-2025), these trips were dedicated to collecting genetic samples (pawpaw and wild grapes) and voucher specimens (wild grapes), which have been deposited in the United States National Herbarium (US) at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., USA. As an undergraduate (2013-2016), I collected samples during herpetological and small mammal surveys.
01
North America 2023
Curator Jun Wen, and postdoctoral fellows Alicia Talavera and Richie Hodel, undertook a 12-day collecting trip (3,800 miles) in the southeastern United States with the goal of collecting and conducting field studies on several species of wild grapes (Vitis spp.) and cherries (Prunus spp.), as well as associated species. The trip was designed to fill in the collection gaps in South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, the panhandle of Florida, Tennessee, and North Carolina.
02
North America 2023
Wen and Talavera collected approximately 300 specimens of Vitis, and many other taxa (e.g., Angelica, Ampelopsis, Arundinaria, Carya, Clematis, Cyrilla, Halesia, Juglans, Magnolia, Nekemias, Nyssa, Parthenocissus, Polymnia, Prunus, Sagittaria, Sabatia, Trepocarpus, and Wisteria). This southern US field trip was critical for Talavera’s Vitis studies and provided the opportunity for her to gain a broad understanding of species variations in natural populations. They collected in diverse types of habitats across the eastern deciduous forests in North America, including the mesophytic forests in the Appalachians, the southern mixed oak-pine forests, the coastal cypress-tupelo swamp forests, the Mississippi alluvial plain forests, and the rich oak-hickory forests in the Ozarks.
03
North America 2017-2018
Collecting Asimina triloba (pawpaw) samples in Virginia with the Aureliano Bombarely Lab group during 2017-2018 (Aureliano Bombarely, Eliljah Rinaldi, Giovanna Giudicelli, James Friel, Lisa Rotasperti, Silvia Manrique and Alicia Talavera).
04
Morocco 2016
Collecting Pelobates varaldii samples with Alberto Sanchez Vialas and Arlo Hinckley.
