Tag Archives: collecting

Tissue dessication with table salt

Posted on by

There is a new paper published by Elena Carrió and Josep A. Roselló online early in Molecular Ecology Resources that suggests salt dessication of leaves dehydrates and prevents decay at levels similar to that of silica gel, with similar PCR results.

Large-grain silica is probably still the best option, but this would come in really handy if you come across something interesting that you want to collect but don’t happen to have silica gel with you.

Here is the main figure (link to the paper below):

Thanks to Maggie Wagner from the TMO lab who found this paper and sent it around. Here is a link to the full article:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1755-0998.12170/full

DOI: 10.1111/1755-0998.12170

Herbarium Vouchers

Posted on by

In a recent lab meeting, the issue of herbarium vouchering came up, and a spirited discussion ensued. Inspired by what I heard there, and by some discussions with the manager of the UBC Herbarium, I decided to create a post on the how and why of herbarium vouchering. I put the complete version of this on my own research blog, accessible here. Here, I mostly wanted to summarize the idea, and try to convince everyone in the lab that vouchering is really important.

P1060285

Continue reading →

Helianthus neglectus collecting trip – Oct 2012 (Kate)

Posted on by

Recently, Kieran and I travelled to Monahans, Texas to collect Helianthus neglectus. It was a quick, fun trip in which we collected 8 dune and 10 non-dune populations. The seeds we collected are sorted and available in the lab in two boxes labelled “Helianthus neglectus – Monahans, Texas – Oct 2012″. Finally, I’ve posted the GPS coordinates and (usually) two photos for each site we collected from below. I will add more information about the habitat characteristics (vegetation cover and soil components) as it becomes available.

Continue reading →

Collecting tissue for DNA (Dan E.)

Posted on by

Hello Rieseberglers.

Almost all of us collect tissue for DNA but there are always new people in the lab, some of whom may have never worked with plants, or even DNA I suppose, and who might benefit from the experience of seasoned plant geneticists. This post contains my advice on collecting sunflower, or other plant, tissue for DNA work. If you have any tips, or alternatives please contribute in the comments.
Continue reading →