The BRIT research staff strives to incorporate the "three Ds" into each of our projects: discovery, documentation, and dissemination. Our researchers generally focus their projects around the themes of biodiversity exploration, botany science core, and sustainability. By participating in a variety of projects around the world, from Peru and Jamaica to our home in Fort Worth, Texas, our researchers are always on the go...and always learning.
BRIT and the Fort Worth Botanic Garden are pleased to offer this series of classes and workshops that focus on giving participants hands-on, experience-based education in the fields of plant and wildlife science, conservation, sustainability, and ecology. These unique classes and workshops (most featuring field investigations or lab work) enhance participants' prior education, offering the opportunity to assemble a new set of skills. Participants enjoy interaction with professionals in their field of interest.
The BRIT campus was designed not only to inspire but also to serve as a living research lab for biodiversity science as it relates to sustainable landscape design. Ongoing projects involve a diverse team spanning across Research, Education, and Operations departments.
The Urban Ecology program is led by Dr. Brooke Best.
The Taxonomy and Evolution of Ferns and Lycophytes Program at BRIT is led by Research Botanist Dr. Alejandra Vasco.
The Program focuses broadly on taxonomy, systematics, and evolution of these two plant lineages. We ask questions about species diversity, evolutionary relationships among taxa, trait evolution using comparative methods, and the role that genes play in plant morphological diversity. Our work, whether on ferns or lycophytes, integrates techniques from several disciplines, including traditional specimen-based research in herbaria, fieldwork, anatomy, phylogenetic systematics, and evolutionary genomics. We are a diverse team with many ongoing projects.
Plant diversity is being lost at an alarming rate. It is this same diversity that supports human livelihoods and many of our most precious natural resources. One of BRIT’s major goals is to raise awareness of the value plants bring to life, and the threats they face worldwide. BRIT is committed to working toward conserving plant diversity at home in Texas, and around the world.
The Texas Plant Conservation Program is led by Conservation Research Botanist Kim Norton Taylor.
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