Research Training Program

Juliana Tutak
University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA

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

"Overall, I think that coming to the Smithsonian was the best decision I could have made this summer."

Marine Algae Curation & Studies

This project was two-fold. A portion of the ten weeks was spent working for the Littlers in the Functional Morphology Lab and a portion for Jim Norris in the Marine Botany lab. Both involved marine algae. While working for the Littlers, specimens of the genus Rhipocephalus were examined and it was determined if they were new species, forms, etc., or already established. This was done by sectioning the algae, making slides, using the microscope, computer analysis, and using a descriptive book about the algae. This was the ground work for Diane's future study of the genus.

Work in Jim Norris's lab involved curation of a recent collection done in Colombia. This involved sorting some out by genera, pressing the algae onto herbarium sheets, mounting them, making vials (wet specimens) and making slides. This was part of the on-going curation of the collection.