Helen Holmlund

Superbloom in Anza Borrego Desert

Last week, my friend Sabrina and I went to the Anza Borrego desert to check out the superbloom! Many of the flowers grew close to the roadside. We found some beautiful Cheilanthes parryi! This small fuzzy white fern grows primarily in the shade of large rocks on the shady side of the hill.

Ferns in Olympic National Park

This summer I visited the Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park in Washington State. Here in the temperate rainforest, the plants receive more than 100 inches of rain each year! The trees are covered with moss, and the ferns thrive in the understory. The Hoh Rainforest is next to a river fed by melted glaciers. I … Read more Ferns in Olympic National Park

Ferns in Redwood State Park

This summer I went camping in Redwood National and State Parks to look for ferns! Many fern species grow well in damp and shaded redwood understory of northern California. I found several species of ferns that were new to me! The fern above is Blechnum spicant, which is a dimorphic fern, meaning that the fronds with … Read more Ferns in Redwood State Park

Paper published in American Journal of Botany

Our lab at Pepperdine recently published our first fern paper in the American Journal of Botany! The abstract is available here, and requests for full-text may be sent to helenireneholmlund@gmail.com.

Santa Cruz Island, June 2015

In June 2015, our lab at Pepperdine University compared the uptake of water through the leaves (foliar water uptake) in ferns on Santa Cruz Island and ferns on the mainland Santa Monica Mountains. Santa Cruz Island experiences frequent and heavy fog. We hypothesized that island ferns would have increased foliar water uptake compared to mainland … Read more Santa Cruz Island, June 2015

About Me

I am a PhD student at the University of California, Santa Cruz. I study plant physiological ecology, which means that I look at a plant’s function (physiology) in the context of its environment (ecology). Specifically, my research interests include fern physiological ecology and dehydration tolerance, especially during California’s drought. As an undergraduate, I spent several summers … Read more About Me

Research

During the last three years, I have studied the dehydration tolerance of ferns in southern California under the direction of Dr. Steve Davis at Pepperdine University. Our lab has studied various aspects of these ferns. Our study of fern seasonal water relations was recently published in the American Journal of Botany (abstract available here). Seasonal Water … Read more Research

Blog

Home

Welcome to my personal website! I am a PhD student working with Dr. Jarmila Pittermann at the University of California, Santa Cruz. To learn more about my lab’s research, please visit my advisor’s page here.