A doctoral student’s study of plant pollinator interactions in Ozark glades has earned her the 2008 grant from the Missouri Native Plant Society’s Stanton Hudson Memorial Fund.

The grant recipient, Nicole Miller, attends Washington University, St. Louis.
Her proposal is titled "Plant-Pollinator Interactions and Endemism in a Glade System."

Miller as chosen from a field of six applications by students at three Missouri universities by award committee of George Yatskievych, Paul McKenzie and Jay Raveill.

"We thank all of the students who applied and wish Nicole great success with her studies," Yatskievych said. "Congratulations!"

Miller’s research work involves the examination of pollination and various physical features in three pairs of plants, one of which is a narrow glade endemic, or a plant found only in a certain area, and the other is a related but more widespread relative that also sometimes grows on glades. The genera included are Scutellaria, Delphinium, and Echinacea.

One species in each pair is a glade endemic in the Ozarks and the other is a more widely distributed species in a wider range of habitats (including glades). Miller is interested in morphological and ecological specializations of the endemic species that might contribute to their restricted distributions. She is monitoring populations in the field, as well as captive populations in the greenhouse.

The Stanton Hudson Memorial Fund honors the late H. Stanton Hudson (1921-2002), a longtime member of the Missouri Native Plant Society whose passion for the flora of Missouri and its conservation inspired his friends and family to create a small grants program in his memory. It provides a $500 award each year to a student at a college or university conducting research that involves Missouri native plants in some way, but the study may have as its primary focus any pertinent subject area in plant biology, including conservation, ecology, physiology, systematics and evolution.