Professor Emeritus Thomas Givnish, who retired in Dec. 2024 after 39 years as a Professor in the Department of Botany, was honored with a celebratory symposium and dinner on Saturday May 3rd, followed by a field trip to Westport Drumlin Prairie on Sunday May 4th.
The symposium, which was open to the public, took place in Birge’s historic lecture hall, with refreshments and lunch provided by the Department. The lecture hall was adorned with a beautiful print of Tillandsia givnishiana, which Professor Antonio Vázquez (Universidad de la Guadalajara) recently described and named in Tom’s honor, and the lobby was decorated with many living plants representing several of the groups that Givnish has studied: Brighamia insignis, Cattleya aurantiaca, Catopsis morreniana, Stegolepis steyermankia, Lilium longiflorum, Sarracenia alata, Drosera rotundifolia, and Dionaea muscipula.
There were 26 speakers, included 9 current members of UW (three faculty members, two research scientists, and four students), 13 Givnish-lab alumni, and four of Tom’s many long-term collaborators. Visitors flew in from across the country, and even from Mexico and Australia. The talks explored an incredible diversity of topics in plant ecology and evolution, highlighting Givnish’s many important contributions and his role in inspiring generations of younger botanists. After tea, current McCulloh student Zoe Ryan presented Tom with a memory book of photos from recent field courses, prepared by the students.
At the conclusion of the symposium, folk reassembled at the Pyle Center for a celebratory buffet dinner, supported in part by the department and an anonymous donor. After dinner words of appreciation from individuals who could not join us were shared, and light-hearted speeches were offered by two members of the department (David Baum and Ken Sytsma). Tom, himself, wrapped up the evening by paying homage to the many collaborators he has had over the years who helped him advance the fields of plant ecology and evolution and offering an exhortation for the work that lies ahead. He received a standing ovation for which he was appreciative and visibly touched.
Full list of talks:
Ken Sytsma (University of Wisconsin-Madison): Development of EcoEvoPhylogenetics – the Double Helix of the Givnish/Sytsma Labs from 1985 to 2025
Robert Holt (U Florida): The Kansas Habitat Fragmentation Experiment: 40 Years Old and Counting
Mark Skinner (Skinner & Associates): Lily Life with Tom
Ken Sebens (University of Washington): Corals are Just Trees in the Ocean and Polyps are Their Leaves
Antonio Vázquez (Universidad de la Guadalajara): Phylogeography of Magnolia Sect. Macrophylla in Mexico: Origin, Diversification and Evolutionary History
David Foster (Messiah College): Migwétth – Science, Language, and Relationship in the Ethnobotany of the Forest County Potawatomi
Austin Mast (Florida State University): An Assessment of New Methods for Digital 3D Modeling of Biodiversity, Including Neural Radiance Fields, 3D Gaussian Splatting, and other Emerging Approaches
Jim Smith (Boise State University): Pseudocymopterus (Apiaceae): Revised Species Boundaries and Potentially Incipient Species Pairs Adapted to either Early Spring Precipitation or Summertime Monsoon Rains
Paul Berry (University of Michigan): Stops along the way in a botanical odyssey
Mercedes Ames (University of Wisconsin-Madison): Interplay of Fertility Factors in the Self-incompatibility System of Potatoes and Their Role for Diploid Breeding
Rebecca Montgomery (University of Minnesota): Phenological Change in the North Woods: Adventures in Climate Change Experiments, Community Science, and Art
Daniel Spalink (Texas A&M University): Distinguishing Niche Partitioning, Niche Divergence, and Allopatry in Sedges
Jim Leebens-Mack (University of Georgia): Reflections on the Monocot Tree of Life project (MonAToL) and monocot genome evolution
Ken Cameron (University of Wisconsin-Madison): Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
Duncan Smith (University of Wisconsin-Madison): Physiological and anatomical leaf traits in Eucalyptus species across a moisture supply gradient
Kate McCulloh (University of Wisconsin-Madison): Plasticity and spatial variation in photosynthetic and hydraulic traits in ten Eucalyptus species adapted to different moisture availability
Mark Adams (University of Sydney): Decomposition Characterized by Comminution and Isometric Scaling of Leaf Mass and Area Has Broad Implications for Carbon, Water and Fire
Emily Sessa (New York Botanical Garden): Pure Leaves: On the Nature of Ferns
Ricardo Kriebel (California Academy of Sciences): Plant Movement of the Floral Kind: The Evolution of Protandry and Staminal Levers in Sages (Salvia: Lamiaceae) and Shrimp Plants (Acanthaceae)
Jared Beck (Chicago Botanical Garden): Rekindling old flames: Density-dependent effects of fire on plant reproduction and population dynamics
Jeff Rose (The Ohio State University): Discriminating among potential determinants of geographic range size in plants: a family-wide perspective
Bing Li and Patty Chan (University of Wisconsin-Madison): Phylogenomics, vegetative and floral trait evolution, and historical biogeography in Deuterocohnia (Bromeliaceae) in the Andes and Darwinia (Myrtaceae) in Western Australia
Lena Berry and Tyler Wintermute (University of Wisconsin-Madison): Elevational Gradients in Leaf Form and Function on Mt. Washington, New Hampshire
Chelsea Specht (Cornell University): The Power of Mental Meanderings: Personal Insights into How Tom Givnish Hung the Moon
He is the very model of a modern plant ecologist
(inspired by the Major General’s song from Gilbert & Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance, words by David Baum)
He is the very model of a modern Plant Ecologist
His knowledge base phenomenal exceeds the normal Botanist
He knows the role of photon flux in scaling photosynthesis
And how it then relates to biomass’s biosynthesis
He’s very well enabled then to act a plant economist
Approaching structural puzzles as an evolution’ry optimist
Ways to make a living ‘spite the light and leafy thick-i-ness
With many detailed facts about the cause of species rich-i-ness
He’s very good at integral and differential calculus
Recognizing flowers that are small and anemophilous
In short, in matters of concern to all excited Botanists
He is the very model of a modern Plant Ecologist
He knows Wisconsin’s flora, and the flora neotropical
And views the plants of deserts, or from islands as most topical,
He’s figured out how trees can grow with structures geometrical
And how these all arise from prin-ciples bio-mechanical
On when an inflorescence should be spike, or thyrse, or panicle
He’ll draw on facts nutritional and even biochemical
And on carnivory’s role he can wax-on truly lyrical
He might hold-forth in a bog in a polo shirt most mythical
He is enthusiastic-ally monocotyled-enous
From Acorus to Zingiber – a Calochortus genius
In short, in matters of concern to all excited Botanists
He is the very model of a modern Plant Ecologist