http://www.johanneslundberg.se/blogg Sometimes muddy thoughts on caves, science, and the rest of the world Mon, 05 Apr 2010 15:17:15 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 en hourly 1 http://www.johanneslundberg.se/blogg/?p=48 http://www.johanneslundberg.se/blogg/?p=48#comments Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:18:49 +0000 Johannes http://www.johanneslundberg.se/blogg/?p=48 Yesterday I got an e-mail from the Production Editor of Taxon with my contribution to the forthcoming book on the plant family Compositae (Asteraceae). It was a terrible reading! I was invited to give a talk on its nearest relatives on the 2006 years Compositae Conference in Barcelona, and this was thought to form the [...]]]> Yesterday I got an e-mail from the Production Editor of Taxon with my contribution to the forthcoming book on the plant family Compositae (Asteraceae). It was a terrible reading! I was invited to give a talk on its nearest relatives on the 2006 years Compositae Conference in Barcelona, and this was thought to form the basis for a book chapter that was supposed to be submitted shortly after the conference. Unfortunately other things came in between and I never started writing on the chapter, and as time passed I thought (with some relief!) that it was too late for my contribution – when one day Vicki Funk sent me an e-mail telling me that I still had some time for finishing my contribution! With much too little time and many other obligations, I made a not very inspired attempt to write, something that shine through in the text I noticed today. I had a terrific chance to write an initiated and inspiring text about a fascinating part of the Angiosperm Tree of Life, with many interesting and curious members, but instead I only produced a worse-than-average, boring and quite uninteresting contribution… I clearly must write more and more often, to improve my scientific writing. Perhaps starting here at my web-page?

]]> http://www.johanneslundberg.se/blogg/?feed=rss2&p=48 0 http://www.johanneslundberg.se/blogg/?p=40 http://www.johanneslundberg.se/blogg/?p=40#comments Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:15:59 +0000 Johannes http://www.johanneslundberg.se/blogg/?p=40 Yesterday I finally finished determining the Geigeria vouchers for the DNA samples sequenced for my new research project! Geigeria of family Compositae is a small genus of some 20+ species, mostly in the deserts of southern Africa. In the next nine months or so, I will try to investigate the evolution of its pappus (modified calyx, [...]]]> Yesterday I finally finished determining the Geigeria vouchers for the DNA samples sequenced for my new research project! Geigeria of family Compositae is a small genus of some 20+ species, mostly in the deserts of southern Africa. In the next nine months or so, I will try to investigate the evolution of its pappus (modified calyx, aiding in the dispersal, and present on all members of Compositae, in one form or another), and perhaps also other structures like life form, presence/absence of spines, winged stems, etc. I also want to take a deeper look into the biogeography of the genus; its member are desert living and might tell something about the evolution of the deserts in that part of Africa over the last 5 million years or so. To my help I have sequences from six DNA markers from some 20 specimens. Today I aligned the sequences, and right now I’m running a phylogenetic analysis that will finish tomorrow. Then I will know if I need to sequence more representatives from the genus… The best would be if I have to go to Angola and Namibia and collect more material, but I don’t think there will be time for that…

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