Tiana Franklin
Botanical Research Assistant
Andes to Amazon Biodiversity Program
M.S. Student, Environmental Sciences
Texas Christian University
B.S. Environmental Science, Biology, Southern Methodist University, 2003
B.A. Cultural Anthropology, Southern Methodist University, 2003
As
of December 15, 2004, Tiana Franklin has been working specifically for
the Andes to Amazon Biodiversity Program at BRIT. Before taking this
position, she worked as a collections assistant in the herbarium,
assisting the collections manager in caring for the one million plant
specimens held at BRIT.
Tiana is helping to manage
the thousands of plant specimens and related botanical activities
associated with the AABP. Her work involves imaging these specimens,
entering data, and managing their correct identification by taxonomic
experts. She also assists in the collection of morphological,
ecological, and geographical data from the herbarium specimens.
As a part of a new collaboration between BRIT and TCU, Tiana is also completing her M.S. degree studying a species of nutmeg (Virola sebifera
- Myristicaceae) in the American tropics, with emphasis on the
Amazonian region where these trees are often ecological dominants. Her
scientific questions relate to difficult, widespread species complexes
in the genus Virola.
E-mail: tfranklin@brit.org
Recent Presentations:
Feb 2006 - Update and tour of the Andes to Amazon Biodiversity Program at BRIT, Fort Worth, Texas
April
2005 - Comparative
morphological analysis of Virola sebifera and related species of the nutmeg family
(Myristicaceae), TCU, Fort Worth,
Texas
May 2005 - Preliminary
Scanning Electron Microscopy investigations of floral and foliar morphology within Virola
sebifera, TCU, Fort Worth, Texas
Oct 2005 - SEM
observations of staminate flowers of Virola Aubl. Species (Myristicaceae), TX Society for Microscopy, San Antonio, Texas