Abstract Detail

Questioning Species and Species Complexes: A Colloquium in Honor of Dr. R. James Hickey

Freid, Ethan [1].

Learning floras, building gardens, implementing plant conservation: Legacies of Jim Hickey and Miami University.

Miami University professors and students have been investigating in one form or another the flora and ecology of the Bahamian Archipelago for over 80 years. Floristic studies throughout the islands became a focus with the development of the Tropical Flora of the Bahamas course in 1977 by Hardy Eshbaugh and T.K. Wilson. In 1995 Jim Hickey and Mike Vincent took over the course and ran it until 2006. This course has had a profound effect on the students who participated in it through the teaching of floristic investigative tools ranging from herbarium collections to large scale ecological surveys. Since it began scores of undergraduate and graduate students worked on the flora and ecology of the islands producing over 100 publications to date. The course was critical in the development of the Leon Levy Native Plant Preserve (LLNPP) on Eleuthera by a Miami University Botany Department graduate (class of 2000). The LLNPP focuses entirely on showcasing the flora of the Bahamas and conducting conservation work aimed at implementing the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation for the Bahamas. The support botany students received from faculty such as Jim Hickey were critical to producing a garden focused on plant conservation and taxonomy. The investigative tools and desire to understand the taxonomic limits and biogeography of species within the Bahamian flora was something instilled into students. The LLNPP is a living showcase for what that type of teaching can produce.

Related Links:
Leon Levy Native Plant Preserve website

1 - Bahamas National Trust, Leon Levy Native Plant Preserve, Banks Road, Governors Harbour, Eleuthera, 00000, Bahamas

Keywords:
flora
Bahamas
Gardens
conservation.

Presentation Type: Colloquium Presentations
Session: CO12, Questioning Species and Species Complexes: A Colloquium in Honor of Dr. R. James Hickey
Location: San Luis 1/Starr Pass
Date: Wednesday, July 31st, 2019
Time: 1:45 PM
Number: CO12002
Abstract ID:422
Candidate for Awards:None