GMY Researchers receive Virginia Native Plant Society Grant Award

Congratulations to researchers at George Mason University and Virginia Tech who received grants totaling $10,000 from the Virginia Native Plants Society (VNPS) under a new research grant program to encourage the study of native plant biology and ecosystems and to advance botany education. Work on both projects will take place over the summer.

One of the selected proposals was submitted by Dr. Andrea Weeks, Associate Professor of Biology and Director of the Ted R. Bradley Herbarium at George Mason University. Her project is titled “Virginia’s Virtual Herbarium: Liberating Big Data for Our Native Plants.” Week’s grant will supplement funding she received from the National Science Foundation to implement high-throughput digital imaging of specimens from eleven Virginia herbaria and citizen-science transcription. This initiative will create a publicly accessible, online herbarium of nearly 300,000 Virginia vascular plant specimens.

The nonprofit VNPS is dedicated to the protection and preservation of Virginia native plants and their habitats. Its more than 2000 members participate in activities of a dozen chapters located throughout the Commonwealth. The VNPS Research Grant Program will announce details for applications for the next round of grant funding on its web site, www.vnps.org, in the fall of 2015. Grant awards will be made for well-defined projects whose results can be evaluated and which address VNPS goals and mission. VNPS research grants should advance our understanding of the biology of native plants and their relationship to their ecosystems; teach students about the importance of native plants and habitat preservation; measure the benefits of native plant habitats to the economic and environmental health of the Commonwealth; or address similar topics.

Earlier this year, the VNPS donated $11,542 to the Virginia Natural Heritage Program, which is housed at the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR). The funds, which society members raised last year through a giving campaign, will go toward inventory of the state’s rare plant species “lost treasures,” some of which haven’t been documented for more than a generation.

The mission of the program is to conserve the natural diversity of biological resources of the Commonwealth through inventory, protection and stewardship. “DCR’s Natural Heritage Program embodies our mission of conserving wild flowers and wild places,” said Nancy Vehrs, president of the Virginia Native Plant Society. “By supporting the search for lost treasures, we can take the next step to protect them.”