Research Training Program

Yolanda Drozdowicz
University of California - Davis
Davis, CA

Mark Littler, Ph.D.
Supervising Scientist
Department of Botany

"My project, once completed, gave me a great sense of accomplishment."

Marine Algae Curation / Studies

This project involved marine algae studies and curation. This project was divided into two parts, one being more research-oriented, and the other concerned with the processing of specimens. The first five weeks were devoted to the study of new species in the genus Rhipocephalus. This study involved comparative morphometric analyses of the known and unknown species and a cladistic analysis of the data. By studying the results of these analyses, relationships between the species were determined and the possibility of a new species being discovered was examined. The last five weeks were spent doing marine algae curation. This involved pressing and preserving specimens which had been collected in Colombia earlier in the year, as well as identifying and labelling already dried specimens. Microscope slides of the various algae were made and the information obtained from these slides was used in keying out the specimens. Distinguishing anatomical features were then photographed.