GrrlScientist is an evolutionary biologist, ornithologist, aviculturist, birder and freelance science and nature writer. A native of the Pacific Northwest, she relocated from Seattle to NYC with her parrots after earning a BS in Microbiology (emphasis in Virology) and PhD in Zoology (Ornithology) from the University of Washington. In NYC, she was the Chapman Postdoctoral Fellow at the American Museum of Natural History for two years, pursuing part of her "dream" research project by reconstructing a molecular phylogeny of the parrots of the South Pacific islands. GrrlScientist and her five parrots are currently relocating to Germany, where she will continue writing her blog while also writing a book and learning German. (Meanwhile, her parrots will continue to nibble on her extensive personal library.) If you appreciate GrrlScientist's writing, you can help pay her living expenses by hiring her to "blog" your conference, speak at your club or write articles for your publication (or by clicking on the Paypal button below). If you read an essay on this blog that you especially enjoyed, please nominate it for inclusion in 
tags: NYC, Upper West Side, Manhattan, flowers, nature, image of the day
Dahlia, Dahlia hybrid.
Photographed on Manhattan's Upper West Side
on West 81st street as I was walking to the post office.
Dahlias comprise a genus with at least 36 species of bushy plants that are native to the western regions of Central and South America. There are more than 20,000 named cultivars of these plants in captivity, which are the result of both hybridization and chromosomal duplication: Dahlias are octoploid -- possessing eight copies of each homologous chromosome, whereas most plants have only two copies of each chromosome.
Life Science
Humanities & Social Science
Comments
We could have a "what's the mystery insect" contest with these photos, couldn't we?
Posted by: Bob O'H | May 27, 2009 3:29 PM
okay .. i'll name the insects "bob1" and "bob2" ..
Posted by: "GrrlScientist" | May 27, 2009 3:40 PM
What are their identifying marks?
Um, perhaps I shouldn't ask that.
Posted by: Bob O'H | May 27, 2009 3:44 PM
Posted by: Sheri Williamson | May 28, 2009 3:58 AM