Ep. 326 - Trillium Diversity: A Story of Ants & Seed Dispersal
In Defense of Plants Podcast
In Defense of Plants
4.8 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 18 July 2021
⏱️ 56 minutes
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Summary
This episode explores the amazing world of Trillium diversity. This charismatic genus is incredible in its own right, but what makes it so diverse only adds to the intrigue. Joining us is Dr. Chelsea Miller to talk about her research on the role of ants in explaining the diversity of trillium in North American forests. You will learn just how important these insects are when it comes to why some species are rare while others are common. This episode was produced in part by Aristia, Felicidad, Lauren, Danielle, Allie, Jeffrey, Amanda, Tommy, Marcel, C Leigh, Karma, Shelby, Christopher, Alvin, Arek, Chellie, Dani, Paul, Dani, Tara, Elly, Colleen, Natalie, Nathan, Ario, Laura, Cari, Margaret, Mary, Connor, Nathan, Jan, Jerome, Brian, Azomonas, Ellie, University Greens, Joseph, Melody, Patricia, Matthew, Garrett, John, Ashley, Cathrine, Melvin, OrangeJulian, Porter, Jules, Griff, Joan, Megan, Marabeth, Les, Ali, Southside Plants, Keiko, Robert, Bryce, Wilma, Amanda, Helen, Mikey, Michelle, German, Joerg, Cathy, Tate, Steve, Kae, Carole, Mr. Keith Santner, Lynn, Aaron, Sara, Kenned, Brett, Jocelyn, Ethan, Sheryl, Runaway Goldfish, Ryan, Chris, Alana, Rachel, Joanna, Lori, Paul, Griff, Matthew, Bobby, Vaibhav, Steven, Joseph, Brandon, Liam, Hall, Jared, Brandon, Christina, Carly, Kazys, Stephen, Katherine, Mohsin Kazmi Takes Pictures, Manny, doeg, Daniel, Tim, Philip, Tim, Lisa, Brodie, Bendix, Irene, holly, Sara, and Margie.
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Transcript
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| 0:32.9 | Hello everyone and welcome to the Indefensive Plants podcast, the official podcast of Indefensiveplants.com. |
| 0:38.7 | What's up? This is your host, Matt. Welcome to the show. How's everyone doing this week? |
| 0:43.1 | I know I'm doing great because this week we're talking about trillium and trillium diversity. |
| 0:49.1 | I don't need to sell most of you on how incredible the genus Trillium can be, but for those that don't get to experience them each spring, they are a wonderful group of plants that produce these wonderful trifoliate |
| 0:58.5 | leaflets and absolutely stunning floral displays. But when you look at the number of trillions and |
| 1:04.0 | their distribution, you realize there's disparities. Not all species are distributed equally. |
| 1:08.8 | Some are extremely common throughout North America, |
| 1:11.4 | whereas others are extremely endemic and restricted to only a very small area of the continent. |
| 1:17.5 | And my guest this week has spent a lot of her research career trying to understand how and why these patterns exist. |
| 1:23.2 | Joining us is Dr. Chelsea Miller, who spent a lot of time looking at species distribution modeling |
| 1:28.7 | and seed dispersal among trillions to try to understand why some species are super common and |
| 1:33.7 | other species are super rare. This research is extremely interesting and has answered a lot of |
| 1:39.8 | questions that I have had, just observing the myriad trillium species I've gotten to interact with over the years. |
| 1:45.0 | So I don't want to keep you from that any longer. |
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