May 2022

The Hoban Lab was busy this month visiting new places and planning out lots of projects! Austin Koontz and Emily Schumacher visited Starhill Arboretum with Murphy Westwood and Amy Byrne and were shown the grounds by Guy and Edie Sternberg and Alana McKean. Austin, Amy, Emily, and Murphy got a tour of the trees of Petersburg, Illinois (where Starhill Arboretum is located) and the grounds.

This trip was part of a larger project led by the Hoban Lab and funded by the U.S. Botanic Garden focused on quantifying and accounting for hybridization of oak species in botanical gardens. This project will be able to provide recommendations for developing oak metacollection sites to GCCO partners. It was amazing to chat with Guy Sternberg, an oak expert, and explore a new arboretum. 

News: 

• Chloe Hendrikse started at the Hoban Lab this month as a research experience for undergraduates (REU) student. Chloe is an undergraduate student at Ohio University going into her senior year. She will be working on generating simulations to test the performance of hybridization detection with microsatellite and SNP markers between many parental species. Welcome Chloe! 
• Emily Schumacher, a Hoban Lab research assistant, was featured in the Journal of Biogeography early career researcher blog, focused on her publication on current genetic patterns and past range movements of the rare and threatened tree species, butternut (Juglans cinerea). She summarizes the main results of this study and the next steps for this endangered tree here: https://journalofbiogeographynews.org/2022/05/31/ecr-feature-emily-schumacher-on-temporal-climatic-responses-of-the-butternut-tree%EF%BF%BC/