WCSU professor receives grant to discover riverweed species

A Western Connecticut State University professor was awarded a National Science Foundation grant to further his research of previously unknown riverweed species in the Amazon River watershed in South America.

Thomas Philbrick is using the grant to collaborate with Brad Ruhfel, an assistant professor at Eastern Kentucky University, on a three-year project. Philbrick’s field and lab work in riverweed taxonomy will be complemented by Ruhfel’s research on the evolutionary relationships of these species and their distribution across South America during geological time.

“In South America, we are gaining an understanding of the nature and diversity of species in these river systems so that we can also understand what is at risk of being destroyed,” Philbrick said in a news release.

About a third of the $200,000 grant will be used for Philbrick’s study, which spans more than three decades and resulted in the discovery of many plant species.

Philbrick plans to use the grant to finance new field studies in upstream regions of the Amazonian watershed in the northeastern, northwestern and southwestern regions of Brazil, as well as hire a student research assistant. The fieldwork will also be used to publish the series of monographs documenting the new species.

He noted that documentation of the rich biodiversity of major river systems in the Americas also provides the basis for analyzing the environmental impact of human activity on the flora of these watersheds, such as the destruction of species as a result of dam construction.

“When I began my work more than 30 years ago, I would never have predicted that the discovery and description of species new to science would become such an important part of my research,” he said.