Current Research

There has long been a history of focused research using the collections at the UNM Herbarium. Collections-based research conducted by herbarium staff has included ethnobotany, floristics, taxonomy and systematics . As of 2022 there have become four main foci within the herbarium: alpine community phylogenetics, floristics, herbarium data mapping, and novel specimen use. 

Alpine Research Dr. Hannah Marx (Curator), has worked on alpine plant communities for the majority of her scientific career. Marx is currently working on a multi-partner project documenting the flora of the Southern Rocky Mountain Region to betterunderstand drivers of evolution and distribution across these rugged alpine communities.
Floristics Dr. Hannah Marx and  Harpo Faust (Sr. Collections Manager) are both interested in supporting floristic and general collecting efforts, especially around the state of New Mexico. Faust has a background in floristics and together they aim to boost collections for the state with target annual collecting forays to under-documented areas, by mentoring floristic graduate students, and through personal focused collection projects.
Herbarium Data Mapping While half of our collection is of use physically, the other half is of immense use in its digital format. The concept of 'the extended specimen' is of great interest to current herbarium staff. Our whole collection is digitized and accessible publicly. There are multiple ongoing projects to map and describe the digital collections information, in order to communicate diversity as well as possibilities and future directions for study.
Novel Specimen Use Following from extended and holistic specimen concepts, we are exploring novel waysto use and evolve our physical collection. Topics include plant host and insect gal ecology and evolution, phenology tracking over space and time, and characterizing the diversify of wild plant viruses.