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Honoring and congratulating Champion of the Week and Community College of Philadelphia Alumni, Anais Barnes, for her scientific research and her valuable discoveries of a rare plant and bee species.
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WHEREAS, Anais Barnes and her co-adviser and fellow undergraduate student, Maddie Wickers, conducted a research project to find and examine the true distribution of the rare Heuchera alba plant and alumroot cellophane bee species; and
WHEREAS, The project was prompted by a recent discovery of the two species in Shikellamy State Park by a Bucknell University botanist, Chris Martine, and his colleagues; and
WHEREAS, Prior to this discovery, the species of bees had not been reported as seen in over a century; and
WHEREAS, Barnes and Wicker collected specimens of the plant at 20 locations across Pennsylvania, and the bee at six, challenging historical perceptions of the prevalence of the species in the state; and
WHEREAS, Barnes says the key objective of their research was to preserve biodiversity, since it is difficult for scientists to tell which species are disappearing and how to preserve them, if they don't know what is there; an
WHEREAS, Barnes co-presented the findings, alongside Wickers, at a national botany conference on July 19, 2021; and,
WHEREAS, Barnes grew up in Frankford and graduated from Franklin Towne Charter School; and
WHEREAS, Barnes then completed the first two years of her undergraduate degree at the Community College of Philadelphia, after receiving its 50th Anniversary Promise Scholarship, before receiving a full scholarship to complete her undergraduate studies at Bucknell University; and
WHEREAS, Barnes is now a biology major and is entering her senior year at Bucknell. She hopes to become a forensic scientist after graduating, and notes that the DNA analysis included in this recent research project would be an invaluable tool going forwards; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, Tha...
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