Past Research Grant Winners

The International Waterlily and Water Gardening Society is pleased to announce its 2006 winners of the Aquatic Research Grants Awards:

“The Biological Basis for the Conservation of Genetic Diversity of Lotus” - Grant Mitchell

Grant Mitchell is part of a team lead by Associate Professor Zhou Shiliang from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. Prof. Zhou and his team are very experienced and dedicated. Grant’s duties include collecting specimens in the field which will be used for a project called “The Biological Basis for the Conservation of Genetic Diversity of Lotus.” He will also to help in the translation of the results of the study. Grant has already sent many specimens to Prof. Zhou from his extensive collection of lotus derived from various countries but there is a need for a far larger and diverse amount of material.

This summer Grant plans to make a journey to Central Asia and several other countries. Here he will collect the lotus leaves which are the raw material for the genetic sampling. As well as collecting samples, he intends to document the quantity and status of any areas of lotus that he can access and ascertain any threats to their survival.

Grant has personally seen the gross destruction of lotus wetlands around Kuala Lumpur which are being “reclaimed” for “development.” The same thing is happening in many parts of China and more than likely elsewhere as well, especially in third world countries. The lotus in the Anzalli marshes in Iran are also said to be under dire threat from pollution. It is of vital importance for us to collect samples of as many wild and cultivated lotus as possible in order to get a clear picture of the origin and distribution of lotus and to bring attention to the plight of any threatened colonies.

“Investigation of the Possible Effects of Warming Trends in Relation to Climatic Zones Designated to Waterlilies, Lotus, and Companion Plants” - Steve Webber

Steve will investigate the following two questions:

1. Are warming climate trends enabling popular waterlily and lotus varieties to survive in ranges further north than previously held possible?
2. Is the advice offered in water gardening catalogs still reliable or might it be discouraging strides into wider aquatic plant possibilities?

A Student Scholarship was awarded to attend the IWGS Education Day at the Annual Symposium in July 2006.

To date, the IWGS has funded over a dozen Aquatic Research Grant Awards. The 2005 winners included a study of the release rates of controlled release fertilizers in submerged environments and the dormancy of waterlily seeds. The results of these studies may be found in the Spring 2006 edition of Water Garden Journal.

A total of $5000 of the proceeds from the 2006 Symposium sales and auction was dedicated for research grants, to be awarded by March 31, 2007.