Provost Lecture Series: Wild ginger in Eastern U.S.

Dwayne Estes, associate professor of biology, will present “Eastern North American Wild Gingers: How Many Species Do We Really Have?” from 3-4:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 6 in the Morgan University Center, Room 303. (Photo contributed)

Wild ginger is one of the most common wildflower species found in the moist forests of eastern North America, where it often carpets forest floors with its distinctive kidney-shaped leaves and small brownish-maroon flowers.

In the past, botanists recognized three different species of wild ginger but today all recognize just one species, Asarum canadense. This topic will be the focus of the next session of the Provost Lecture Series at Austin Peay State University.

Dr. Dwayne Estes, associate professor of biology, will present “Eastern North American Wild Gingers: How Many Species Do We Really Have?” from 3-4:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 6 in the Morgan University Center, Room 303. All presentations in the Provost Lecture Series are free and open to the public.

The goal of Estes’ study was to study wild ginger across the eastern U.S. using a combination of morphological and molecular techniques to evaluate whether wild ginger as currently recognized should be considered a single highly variable species or whether it should be split into two or more distinct species.

Estes is in his fourth year at APSU. He also serves as a principal investigator in the Center of Excellence for Field Biology. He graduated in 2008 from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville with a Ph.D. in ecology and evolutionary biology. His primary research interests include vascular plant systematics, floristics and biogeography of eastern North America, and the vegetation of Tennessee.

Other sessions in the Provost Lecture Series also are planned for the academic year. All sessions are from 3-4:30 p.m. in the MUC, Room 303 (unless noted otherwise) and include the following:

Oct. 13: Dr. Korre Foster, assistant professor of music

Oct. 20: Susan Bryant, professor of art

Oct. 27: Angelina Fowler, Center of Excellence for Field Biology

Nov. 3: Dr. Dan Frederick, professor of geology and geography

Nov. 10: Dr. Kathrine Flower, assistant professor of sociology

Nov. 17: Darren Michael, associate professor of theater and dance

Dec. 1: Dr. Tim Leszczak, assistant professor of health and human performance

Jan. 12: Dr. Ellen Smyth, instructor of mathematics

Jan. 19: Dr. Ann Silverberg, professor of music

Jan. 26: Dr. Marsha Lyle-Gonga, assistant professor of political science

Feb. 2: Dr. Rebecca Johansen, assistant professor of biology

Feb. 9: Dr. Sergei Markov, associate professor of biology

Feb. 16: Cynthia Marsh, professor of art

Feb. 23: Dr. Christine Mathenge, associate professor of geology

March 1: Dr. Robert Shelton, associate professor of chemistry

March 15, MUC 307: Dr. Allyn Smith, associate professor of physics

March 22: Dr. Sharon Mabry, professor of music

March 29: Dr. Cameron Sutt, assistant professor of history

April 5: Mark DeYoung, assistant professor of art

April 12: Dr. Tim Winters, professor of English

April 19, MUC 103: Dr. Jeffrey Wood, professor of music

The Provost Lecture Series seeks to foster a spirit of intellectual and scholarly inquiry among faculty, staff and students. The program will be used as a platform for APSU faculty members who are recent recipients of provost summer grants, who have been awarded faculty development leaves and who have engaged in recent scholarly inquiry during sabbatical leaves.

APSU faculty members with recent research of acclaim also will be given a platform within this series. In addition, other faculty members of local or widespread renown will be invited to lecture within this series.

For more information about the Provost Lecture Series, call Dr. Brian Johnson, assistant vice president of academic affairs at APSU, at (931) 221-7992 or email him at johnsonb@apsu.edu. - Melony Shemberger

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Provost Lecture Series: Wild ginger in Eastern U.S.

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