Have you ever visited BC's high alpine? Not many people have. Royal BC Museum botanists have collected plants on hundreds of mountains across this province. You can better imagine what that's like with this 360 video. Use the icon in the top left corner to control the view of the camera. Learning Program Developer Liz Crocker took the video in July 2018, about 40 kilometres south of Tumbler Ridge, BC, near Bone Mountain. Watch for her wave!
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Moss Campion
In the windswept climates of the arctic and alpine the conditions make it difficult for plants to grow. There is one plant adapted to these harsh environments which enables other alpine plants to take root. Ken Marr, Curator of Botany, explains how moss campion (which isn't actually a moss) supports other plant life in challenging climates and how specimens are carefully preserved at the museum.
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BioBlitz Discoveries
In 2017, eight Royal BC Museum scientists took part in a short, intensive biological survey of Kluane National Park to document existing species and hoping to make new discoveries. Erica Wheeler, botany collections manager, describes what they unearthed during their short visit to the Yukon. From This Week in History Season 6 Episode 17, January 2018.
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Plant Dryer
When botanists are collecting specimens, those plants must be dried quickly to preserve them. Drying specimens in remote field locations, without a source of heat, used to be a huge challenge. But no more, thanks to an invention from one of the Royal BC Museum’s technicians, Colin Longpre. From This Week in History Season 5 Episode 22, January 2017.
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Botany at the Royal BC Museum
Curator of Botany Dr. Ken Marr and Botany Collections Manager Dr. Erica Wheeler describe the process of collecting, preserving and storing specimens for the botany collection at the Royal BC Museum.
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Dr. Ken Marr
Curator of Botany Dr. Ken Marr describes his inspiration and work as a botanist.
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Dr. Erica Wheeler
Botany Collections Manager Dr. Erica Wheeler talks about what inspired her love of plants and what a botanist does.
Mary Gibson Henry
Botany Collections Manager Dr. Erica Wheeler talks about Mary Gibson Henry and her contributions to BC botany. Parts of this video were shot during a 2014 research trip in northeastern BC.
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Learn more about botanist Mary Gibson Henry and her historic journey in 1931 to northeastern BC in the Pathway Journey to a Tropical Valley.
