Biodiversity Month

Scientific Seminar on Bromeliad Taxonomy, Diversity, and Environmental Threats

Event type: Other - Scientific Seminar
Hosted by: Bromeliad Society International and Selby Gardens Bromeliad Identification Center
Date: May 15, 2002
Time: 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. EST
Where: St. Petersburg, Florida, Hilton Hotel, during the Bromelida Society Intl. World Conference
Cost: $25

The Bromeliad Society International and the Marie Selby Gardens Bromeliad Identification Center will host a one-day symposium on the scientific utility and biodiversity of, and environmental threats to, bromeliads, which are beautiful, highly diverse, New World "air plants." The speakers include scientists who study the biology, ecology, and taxonomy of bromeliads and self-educated, knowledgable bromeliad enthusiasts. These beautiful and unique plants are seriously threatened by deforestation and slash-and-burn agriculture. In this symposium, the speakers highlight the scientific and esthetic contributions of these plants and describe the princial threats to them. The list of speakers and their biographies and presentation abstracts follows. There is a small fee for entry into the symposium.

Biographies and Abstracts of Symposium Speakers

Harry E. Luther
Symposium Organizer
Mr. Luther is the Director of the Mulford B. Foster Bromeliad Identification Center, Curator of Living Collections at Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, Sarasota, Florida. He is a recognized specialist in the systematics of the Bromeliaceae. Presently, he is engaged in the Bromeliaceae treatments for the Flora of Ecuador (more than four hundred species) and monographic studies of Aechmea and Tillandsia. He has studied bromeliads in cultivation, in herbaria and in the field from Florida and Mexico to Peru and Brazil. He has written over one hundred thirty articles that serve both as a definitive introduction of new or revised taxa and as general information for non-scientists.

David Hill Benzing
Dr. Benzing received his B.A. from Miami University and his M.S. and PhD (Botany) from the University of Michigan. He currently holds the position as the Robert S. Danforth Professor of Biology, Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, where his teaching responsibilities include courses for undergraduates in botanical and environmental sciences. His research interest deal with the adaptive biology of vascular epiphytes, especially bromeliads and orchids (mechanisms of water and carbon balance and mineral nutrition, light relations). He has numerous publication to his credit with three books that deal primarily with the biology of vascular epiphytes and especially Bromeliaceae.

Abstract of Scientific Seminar: Bromeliads as subjects in studies of stress tolerance
More information is available on the ecophyiology of Bromeliaceae than for any other family of vascular plants. Inquiry on how certain bromeliads cope with the often stressful conditions that prevail in forest canopy and rocky terrestrial habitats continues with ever increasing sophistication. Recent studies on the mechanisms that protect the light harvesting apparatus in leaves have been especially informative because they bear on the continuing controversy regarding conditions in ancestral habitats. Were these habitats humid and dark or more arid and exposed? This talk is designed to quickly review the recent literature on bromeliad ecophysiology and discuss what these findings tell us about how Bromeliaceae has been able to radiate into so many kinds of often challenging habitats.

Renata Ehlers
Renata Ehlers has always been interested in plants but when she first saw Tillandsias in their natural habitat in Mexico, they became her main interest. For 30 years she shared this affection with her husband Klaus, traveling together to many countries such as Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Guatemala and Mexico. During there 20 trips to Mexico they discovered large numbers of new Tillandsia species. Initially with Werner Rauh and later independently, she described approximately 80 new species which have been published in Die Bromelie and the Journal of the Bromeliad Society International. Two of her favorite Tillandsias are Tillandsia ehlersiana (which Professor Rauh Submitd after Renata and Klaus) and Tillandsia klausii (which Renata Submitd in honor of Kraus's outstanding contributions). Following Klaus's death three years ago, Renata continues to work with her Tillandsias; she spends much time examining, deliberating, comparing and recording her private herbarium specimens.
Abstract of Scientific Seminar: Interesting Rare or New Tillandsias

Renata will show pictures of interesting Tillandsias, most of which are either rare or new. You are invited to enter a discussion involving a number of plants from a scientific viewpoint by considering both similarities and differences. The presentation will not be too technical, so those who are not overly interested in taxonomy will still enjoy seeing photographs of wonderful and fascinating plants.

Elton M. C. Leme
Brazilian born Elton Martinez Carvalho Leme, after receiving his law degree, served as a Public Defender for the State, specializing in Environmental Law. After his 1992 appointment to the Bench, he continues to work for the environmentalist cause as a State Judge. His interest in bromeliads grew more intense from 1976 onward, when he began to study their habitat and collect them. However, he only began to study bromeliads in a truly effective and systematic manner after entering in contact with Wilhelm Weber and to an even greater extent, botanist Edmundo Pereira, from Herbarium Bradeanum. His publication consists of some 150 works, often written jointly with researchers in Brazil and abroad, including chapters in books and four complete books.

He is an Honorary Member of the Cryptanthus Society, and since 1995 he holds an Honorary position in the Golden Lion Tamarin Association, which is dedicated to research and preservation of this primate. He was the editor of BromÈlia, the bilingual magazine published by the Sociedade Brasileira de BromÈlia from 1993 to 1999.

Abstract of Scientific Seminar: Habitat Fragmentation and Bromeliaceae in Northeastern Brazil: Studies Prospectives
Recent studies in remnant patches of Atlantic forest north of the S„o Francisco River, Northeastern Brazil, have brought to light new distribution records on many unusual, supposed endemic bromeliad species, as well as new taxa. This, in spite of the long-term and continuous destruction of the Atlantic forest in that region resulting from Brazilwood extraction and later sugar cane monoculture. Considering that this biome has been reduced today to some 2% of the original expanse, the discovery of many poorly known or unknowing taxa suggest the urgent need of identifying priority areas of remaining well preserved vegetation for a detailed survey in Bromeliaceae and related organisms.

Cecelia Sue Sill
Cecelia Sue Sill has a B.S. in Biology from Corpus Christi State University and has obtained a Ph.D. in Botany from Texas A&M University. She is currently the Adjunct Associate Professor of Biology at the Georgia Southern University, Allen E. Paulson College of Science & Technology. In addition she has served as the Executive Director of the Corpus Christi Botanical Garden, Corpus Christi, Texas and is the present Director of the Georgia Southern University Botanical Garden in Statesboro, Georgia.

Dr. Sill has extensive research experience in Systemic Botany with particular specialization in Tillandsia subgenus Tillandsia. Her general interests are in Biodiversity, Rare Plant Population Assessments, Vicariant Biogeography, Plant Speciation and Phylogenetics, Pollination Biology and Botanical illustration. She is
currently involved with Botanical garden development and administration. She has ongoing studies of the Systematics of Tillandsia (Bromeliaceae) with special emphasis on the subgenus Tillandsia ( center of diversity, Mexico) and subgenus Allardtia (center of diversity, South America/Andes).

Dr. Sill has provided numerous botanical illustrations for scientific papers; her pen and ink and graphic works have been displayed in art museums; and she is accomplished in photography with several of her works in publication.

Abstract of Scientific Seminar: Tillandsias
Tillandsia includes approximately a quarter of the species in the entire Bromeliaceae and is grown by bromeliad collectors all over the world, yet it is still in need of alpha-taxonomic investigation. Previous taxonomic treatments of the now 500+ species were based on characters from herbarium specimens. Since dried flowers preserve poorly and are sometimes absent, floral characters were difficult to observe. Smith and Downs found only one character by which to distinguish subgenus Allardtia from subgenus Tillandsia (together 269 species at that time) in their treatment of the Tillandsioideae for Flora Neotropica-whether the stamens were included (Allardtia) or exerted (Tillandsia). During my previous field studies in Mexico, I examined fresh flowers of 79 species of subgenus Tillandsia and 12 species of subgenus Allardtia and found that rather than two natural subgenera, there were five distinct groups when suites of floral characters were used. A thorough examination of fresh flowers of the remaining species in these two subgenera must be made before a more natural classification can be circumscribed. Since numerous commercial and hobby growers collect and cultivate tillandsias, the needed data could be acquired from cultivated material so long as accurate field data are kept. A network of volunteers is proposed. Qualified volunteer researchers would provide important data to help expand our understanding of this fascinating group of bromeliads.

Walter Till
The Austrian born Walter Till received his education in botany and zoology from the University of Vienna. In 1984 he received his Ph.D. from the University of Vienna. Initially an assistant at the herbarium of the University of Vienna, since 1993, he has been the University Assistant Curator and currently Curator of the herbarium. Since 1987 Dr. Till has taught at the college level such topics as Botanical exercises for pharmacists, Basic exercises in plant morphology, Introductory exercises in biology, Life cycles and reproduction of plants, Introduction to select informants the plants of Central America, Botanical Excursions to Costa Rica, Exercises in special botany, Selected environments and plant families of subtropical and temperate South America and Selected environments and Flora of the Caribbean I and II.
In the last 20 years, he has applied his knowledge to numerous projects with a hands-on approach in Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Costa Rica, Florida, Jamaica, the Lesser Antilles, Ecuador, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic. Besides his field studies he has researched the collections of plants of the herbariums in these countries as well as those in Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom.

Abstract of the Scientific Seminar: Generic Delimitations and Molecular Phylogeny in Subfamily Tillandsioideae (Bromeliaceae) based on five cpDNA Markers. Michael Barfuss (1), Rosabelle Samuel (1) and Walter Till (1, 2) University of Vienna, Institute of Botany, Department of Higher Plant Systematics and Evolution (1) and Herbarium WU (2), Rennweg 14, A-1030 Wien, AUSTRIA

Tillandsioideae is the largest of the three subfamilies comprising Alcantarea, Catopsis, Glomeropitcairnia, Guzmania, Mezobromelia, Racinaea, Tillandsia, Vriesea, and Werauhia, totalling about 1300 species. The existing morphological characterisation of these genera seems not to be very substantial for a natural grouping of the taxa, especially for species within the big genus Tillandsia (about 550 spp.). For our studies we have in the first part selected about 50 taxa representing all nine currently accepted genera plus five outgroup taxa from Pitcairnioideae to concentrate in the second part only on the poorly resolved groups. In order to solve the existing problems in the circumscriptions of genera we have used two coding (rbcL and matK gene) and three non coding (atpB/rbcL intergenic spacer, trnL intron and trnL-trnF spacer, rps16 intron) plastid markers (total of 5000 base pairs). Individual analyses of each marker show that matK has the best resolution, followed by rps16 intron, atpB/rbcL intergenic spacer and trnL intron and trnL-trnF spacer. On the whole rbcL gene shows poor results. For the final conclusions of this investigation we discuss the position of some strange species and the obvious paraphyletic and polyphyletic groups. The combined analysis of all 5 plastid markers resolves the major grouping at generic level and also indicates some geographic correlations, but further study is necessary for a proper taxonomic grouping of Tillandsioideae. Comparison of the extensive morphological data with the combined molecular data will show the agreements and conflicts of both.

John Utley and Kathleen Burt-Utley
I (John) was raised in St. Petersburg, Florida where I attended St. Petersburg Jr. College and the University of South Florida. Upon completion of my studies at USF, I moved to Duke University for doctoral work. The decision to attend Duke was influenced somewhat by the fact that my future wife, Kathleen, was at that university. After a childhood in Princeton, N.J. Kathy earned a BS degree at Seton Hill College and an MS degree from Oberlin College (where she studied with Dave Benzing). While pursuing our doctoral degrees, we had the opportunity to spend three years in residence in Costa Rica courtesy of the Peace Corps. Our research programs were strongly influenced by this opportunity to observe the biological diversity of this region of Central America. Upon our return to the U.S., we spent nearly two years at the Smithsonian Institution studying Bromeliaceae (John) and Begoniaceae (Kathy) with Lyman Smith. We left the Smithsonian for faculty positions at the University of New Orleans. Since our arrival in New Orleans, our research interests have expanded to include bromeliads and begonias typical of drier areas in Mexico and Central America. We are currently conducting a systematic/evolutionary study of the genus Hechtia.

Abstract of Scientific Seminar: Hechtias
Hechtia (subfamily Pitcairnioideae) is a genus of approximately 50 species distributed from southern Texas to Nicaragua. All but 5 are endemic to Mexico where they occur in regions with limited rainfall. With the exception of the recently described species, H. gayei, all species are dioecious and dimorphic for one or more characters including inflorescence form, as well as floral bract, petal and sepal size and shape. At the beginning of our study, the majority of species were known only from the type collection and often only from one sex. Because of the sexual dimorphism and species known from one sex only, it was difficult to impossible to identify collections of the other sex. Therefore, a major emphasis of our field work has been to locate and collect Hechtia species throughout Mexico. Although most species are now represented by several to many collections, a few are remain known only from their types. Our field work has has contributed to our knowledge about inflorescence origin (now considered terminal in most species), species variability, seed structure and pollination. Within Hechtia, we can recognize at least four distinct groups of species based on characters including inflorescence origin, floral pubescence, ovary position, and leaf margination.

For more information contact M-F 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. EST:
Dr. Theresa Bert
Tel: 727/896 8626
Email: theresa.bert@fwc.state.fl.us