Givnish Festschrift

media release: Please join us this Saturday for an exciting day of public talks in honor of Tom Givnish’s recent retirement. As laid out in the attached program, the presentations will cover diverse topics and will be given by an impressive line-up of plant ecologists and evolutionary biologists who have been mentored by, and/or have collaborated with, Tom over his long career.

The event is sponsored by the Department of Botany, which will provide refreshments and lunch (pizza and salad). Please pre-register for lunch using this link: https://forms.gle/i45kkx3Ywy1cCv9h8

9:00 – 10:45

Ken Sytsma (University of Wisconsin-Madison): Development of EcoEvoPhylogenetics – the Double Helix of the Givnish/Sytsma Labs from 1985 to 2025

Robert Holt (U Florida): The Kansas Habitat Fragmentation Experiment: 40 Years Old and Counting

Mark Skinner (Skinner & Associates): Lily Life with Tom

Ken Sebens (University of Washington): Corals are Just Trees in the Ocean and Polyps are Their Leaves

Antonio Vázquez (Universidad de la Guadalajara): Phylogeography of Magnolia Sect. Macrophylla in Mexico: Origin, Diversification and Evolutionary History

David Foster (Messiah College): Migwétth – Science, Language, and Relationship in the Ethnobotany of the Forest County Potawatomi

10:45 – 11:00 COFFEE BREAK

11:00 – 12:30

Austin Mast (Florida State University): An Assessment of New Methods for Digital 3D Modeling of Biodiversity, Including Neural Radiance Fields, 3D Gaussian Splatting, and other Emerging Approaches

Jim Smith (Boise State University): Pseudocymopterus (Apiaceae): Revised Species Boundaries and Potentially Incipient Species Pairs Adapted to either Early Spring Precipitation or Summertime Monsoon Rains

Paul Berry (University of Michigan): Stops along the way in a botanical odyssey

Mercedes Ames (University of Wisconsin-Madison): Interplay of Fertility Factors in the Self-incompatibility System of Potatoes and Their Role for Diploid Breeding

Rebecca Montgomery (University of Minnesota): Phenological Change in the North Woods: Adventures in Climate Change Experiments, Community Science, and Art

Daniel Spalink (Texas A&M University): Distinguishing Niche Partitioning, Niche Divergence, and Allopatry in Sedges

12:30 – 1:30 LUNCH – Provided in the Birge Atrium

1:30 – 3:00

Jim Leebens-Mack (University of Georgia): Reflections on the Monocot Tree of Life project (MonAToL) and monocot genome evolution

Ken Cameron (University of Wisconsin-Madison): Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

Duncan Smith (University of Wisconsin-Madison): Physiological and anatomical leaf traits in Eucalyptus species across a moisture supply gradient

Kate McCulloh (University of Wisconsin-Madison): Plasticity and spatial variation in photosynthetic and hydraulic traits in ten Eucalyptus species adapted to different moisture availability

Mark Adams (University of Sydney): Decomposition Characterized by Comminution and Isometric Scaling of Leaf Mass and Area Has Broad Implications for Carbon, Water and Fire

Emily Sessa (New York Botanical Garden): Pure Leaves: On the Nature of Ferns

3:00 – 3:15 COFFEE BREAK

3:15 – 5:00

Ricardo Kriebel (California Academy of Sciences): Plant Movement of the Floral Kind: The Evolution of Protandry and Staminal Levers in Sages (Salvia: Lamiaceae) and Shrimp Plants (Acanthaceae)

Jared Beck (Chicago Botanical Garden): Rekindling old flames: Density-dependent effects of fire on plant reproduction and population dynamics

Jeff Rose (The Ohio State University): Discriminating among potential determinants of geographic range size in plants: a family-wide perspective

Bing Li and Patty Chan (University of Wisconsin-Madison): Phylogenomics, vegetative and floral trait evolution, and historical biogeography in Deuterocohnia (Bromeliaceae) in the Andes and Darwinia (Myrtaceae) in Western Australia

Lena Berry and Tyler Wintermute (University of Wisconsin-Madison): Elevational Gradients in Leaf Form and Function on Mt. Washington, New Hampshire

Chelsea Specht (Cornell University): The Power of Mental Meanderings: Personal Insights into How Tom Givnish Hung the Moon