Hello! I am Marisa Blake Szubryt, a PhD Candidate at the School of Biological Sciences, Oklahoma Biological Survey, and Robert Bebb Herbarium at the University of Oklahoma. I am a botanist and systematist who has worked primarily on composites (Asteraceae/Compositae) in the aster tribe (Ericameria, Euthamia, and now Heterotheca) from phylogenetic perspectives (using a combination of Sanger Sequencing, Genome Skimming, and Target-Capture approaches). Although my work is largely informed by sequence data, field work is critical in understanding what drives variation among and within populations. I’ve thus far sampled Heterotheca from 143 counties across 16 states in the U.S. which has proven beneficial when writing dichotomous keys or describing their ecology – including an upcoming treatment of the genus in the upcoming third edition of the Flora Neomexicana!
Through analyzing sequence data and morphometric data, I have become familiar with Bash/Unix, R/R Studio, and Python. I also use a combination of ArcGIS Pro and QGIS to aid in developing alternative maps, including ecological niche models via SDMToolBox through MaxEnt. My GitHub repository stores some of my R code (https://github.com/MarisaBSzubryt/), with additional “how to” guides coming soon! My most recent guide covers processing Target-Capture (HybSeq) data and includes relevant files for individual steps that should be suitable even for beginners.
I happen to be an avid iNaturalist user, mostly identifying Heterotheca (https://www.inaturalist.org/people/marisaszubryt). My field work has led me to become an avid collector as well that has fostered a passion for herbaria. I’ve annotated specimens at several herbaria (ISC, KANU, LSU, MO, MOR, OKL, OKLA, and SIU),0 and my collections can be found in BRIT, CSU, LSU, OKL, OKLA, SIU, STAR, TEX/LL, UARK, and WIS (https://portal.torcherbaria.org/portal/collections/harvestparams.php). If you need samples for one of your projects in the southern Great Plains, feel free to e-mail me to see if I can be of assistance.
For more information, please see my CV below:
MBS (Molecular Biology & Systematics) 