Floristic Checklist of Shenandoah River State Park (SHSP)'s Journal

Welp, the Summer sure has proven busy!

I've just been collecting and identifying as usual! I think it's awesome we've had 54 people contribute to the project page and have caught some of my misidentifications!

Last week I presented the current project data at BOTANY 2021 which includes 446 collections which has currently resulted in 266 species. Although it should be said not all of the 446 collections have been identified yet! Mostly Poaceae and Cyperaceae :)

The goal is to have all of the specimens collected in 2021 to be identified by the end of the Fall semester!

-Matthew

April showers means I don't have the energy to make a journal post :)

Botany in Virginia really pops off in April. I used to lug around the plant press throughout my trips to the park but I've realized I quickly that I waste a lot of time pressing each specimen as I collect it. I took some advice from Dr. Week's PHD student Betsy and just start bringing a whole bunch of plastic backs and a big trash bag! Basically, each collection is put into it's own plastic bag and I stash all of those in the big trash bag as I walk around. It's so much easier than carrying around the press. Before I was only able to collect like 16 plants every trip but after changing, the most I've been able to collect is 32!

I've started mounting some of my specimens, which I have to say is one of my favorite parts because it really feels like an art form. Like the plant is going to be mounted in the same position you put it in for the next 200+ years and so I want to make is ~pretty~. It's also nice to see a big stack of mounted plants, all that's left is digitizing and then they'll be good to be filed in with the other specimens in the herbarium.

So far I've collected 191 plants and I'm working on identifying them all and getting them up on the iNaturalist project page!

-Matthew

Howdy!

This week starts the beginning of the growing season for me and the start of getting to head back to the park! It's crazy to think it's already been almost half a year since I've been but alas the pandemic does contort time like that!

Anyway I've gotten to read some literature and look over the specimens I collected last year and I'm starting this new year with the lessons learned. For instance, I need to be more detailed in the locality information I include. Some helpful suggestions from my mentor included what trail is the plant near to and also what does the habitat look like!

I've been coming up with different ways to utilize GIS and so I'm hopeful that by including the gps coordinates of my collections I'll be able to utilize that to learn more about the collections. This includes making sure I'm holistically collecting throughout the park by checking to see places I have yet to collect a lot of plants from!

I was on a quest to see if I could find skunk cabbage but I've either missed it or can't seem to find it! That's okay though because I'll just be looking for the large leaves in the summer and returning next winter/early spring to see if I can collect any flowers.

Anyway! Here's to a successful growing season!!

ALSO if you're reading this you should totally get in line to get the COVID-19 vaccine. I swear it's safe! Dolly Parton got it and you don't wanna be a 'chicken squat' :)

-Matthew

Howdy!

I've successfully navigated the holiday season given the current global pandemic!

I have been able to identify most of the specimens I collected in October, save some Graminae. The goal is to have them all identified before I start collection trips at the end of February.

I was able to collect a lot of plants in the genus Symphyotrichum and quickly realized the hair pulling agony of trying to differentiate similar looking species. I've come to the conclusion that for some of the first collections I made for this project will need to be recollected again. Nothing wrong with that! In fact it actually will help me learn and focus on important parts of the plants before collecting them so that my iNaturalist photos don't exclude important information.

Also, just a fun tid-bit from what I learned as I write-up my thesis proposal. The park saw about 220,000 visitors in 2019 (and that number is expected to be higher in 2020 due to the pandemic. That means that there are potentially millions of park goers who will interact with this project! Quite exciting.

-Matthew

Alrighty!

I had one last field day on October 23. At that point most of the Asteraceae and other herbaceous plants that were flowering in the beginning of October were gone and the leaves on the woody stuff had fallen off.

So far I've collected 30 specimens but obviously haven't identified them all yet! I've got a ton of grasses I plan on identifying over the winter. I'm really excited to add QR codes to my specimen labels that link to the pictures I've posted on iNaturalist (methods include a mixture of creating labels with SERNEC and Herberling & Isaac, 2018 doi: 10.1002/aps3.1193).

For now, the winter will include identifying the species I've collected in October, figuring out how I can maximize the efficiency of the workflow from collection to herbarium label, and writing my thesis proposal!

If anything major happens I'll write another journal post but for now just anticipate random photo uploads as I start identifying more species!

-Matthew

Let me just begin by saying lessons were learned from last week.

Firstly, when you go to collect a plant, make sure there isn't a tiny spiky/thorny plant at the base. You will get scratched. Second, when attempting to clip branches off a tree, don't assume the soil at the edge of a ditch will support you. Thirdly, and probably most important, is that I need to take the entire plant, not matter how big, instead of clipping off the middle section. I don't need specimens to look super pretty right now, I just need to have enough material to identify it.

Last week I collected 13 species and so far have identified 5 (I won't say if they're correct or not) but I'm pretty confident in most of them! Anytime I think I've successfully identified a species I'll upload the pictures to the project!

Some changes to how I'm going to collect compared to last week: 1. I'm now collecting more material, 2. That material isn't going to be cut or altered until it's back in the herbarium and I'm trying to identify it and 3. I'm leaving more space in my field notebook between collections so that I can make notes when trying to identify them.

Until next week,

Matthew

Hey Everyone!

A little introduction for the first journal entry. I'm Matthew Sheik and I'm a graduate student at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. I'm studying environmental science and policy and my thesis is this here checklist. As I complete this project, I'm hoping to refine and improve my plant taxonomy skills and one day become an herbarium curator. As an undergraduate I got to work with 3 curators that have all helped me discover where I belong in the botanical community and have helped guide me to where I am today.

Although I've been to the park (from now on going to be mentioned as SHSP), this week on Friday (9 October 2020) I'll be collecting plants for the first time. I'm going to go out there once a week from now until everything ~closes shop~ for the winter. Expect observations to be uploaded pretty soon!!

-Matthew