Plants of Tanzania

One of my favorite things about travelling is seeing new plants.  In Tanzania, I’ve seen lots of interesting plants and here are a few of them (I’ve named the ones that I know).

Baobab (Adansonia digitata) is my favorite tree. It's known as mbuyu in Kiswahili.

Baobab (Adansonia digitata) is my favorite tree. It’s known as mbuyu in Kiswahili.

Baobab bark

Baobab bark

Dutchman's pipe (Aristolochia sp.)

Dutchman’s pipe (Aristolochia sp.)

Marigold (Tagetes sp.)

Marigold (Tagetes sp.)

Cut this vine...

Cut this vine…

Get drinking water!

Get drinking water!

Euphorbia of some sort

Euphorbia of some sort

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A Cordia sp. I believe

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Week 8: Routine Research

This week featured some pretty routine research activities: culturing pathogens, planting tomatoes, and entering data.  Although in Tanzania, things are never quite routine, so there is always something a little different or a new challenge that pops up that needs to be addressed before research can proceed.

For example, if there is no electricity, just enter data by the light of your headlamp.

For example, if there is no electricity, just enter data by the light of your headlamp until you laptop battery dies.

In other news, we had the first successful webinar for our iAGRI project (given by Dr. Miller on tomato disease diagnostics.)  There will be more of these webinars on tomato disease management and we’ll be posting them all in one place online. I’ll be sure to link to it on my blog once we start posting.

A few more pictures from this week:

Tomatoes are starting to grow!

Tomatoes are starting to grow!

Screenhouse gecko!

Screenhouse gecko!

A lovely sight to start one's day

A lovely sight to start one’s day

Week 7: A Short Post for a Short Week

Week 7 is a quarter of the way through my research trip in Tanzania.  This week I was able to plant some tomato trials in a screenhouse and also worked on my bacterial isolations in the lab. Seeding pots is one of my favorite things to do, so this was a fun research activity for the week. Aside from data entry, there’s not too much to report for this week (but do see the safari megapost below!).

Grow tomatoes grow!

Grow tomatoes grow!

Ralstonia!

Ralstonia! (Two lines is a positive for this test)

Safari Megapost!

This past weekend, I took a break and went on a three day safari.  It was totally worth the 10 hour bus ride to Arusha.  We went to Lake Manyara National Park and Ngorongoro Crater. Here are some of the things that I saw on safari!

Lake Manyara

Baboons!

Baboons!

Elephant!

Elephant!

An elephant taking a dust bath!

An elephant taking a dust bath!

I think this is a crowned eagle

I think this is a crowned eagle

A gazelle of some sort

A gazelle of some sort

Giraffes!

Giraffes!

Sunrise!

Sunrise!

Breakfast (we had our own cook for three days!)

Breakfast (we had our own cook for three days!)

Scenic overview of Lake Manyara with my safari buddy Aarati

Scenic overview of Lake Manyara with my safari buddy Aarati

Klipspringer (the tiny little tan thing in the center of the picture)

Klipspringer (the tiny little tan thing in the center of the picture)

Dik-dik, the cutest animal on safari

Dik-dik, the cutest animal on safari

Dik-dik again

Dik-dik from another angle

Pelicans!

Pelicans!

My favorite part at Lake Manyara was the hot springs, and this was mainly because there were some awesome microbial biofilms!

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That’s a bit intimidating

Steaming hot springs

Steaming hot springs!

Biofilms!

Biofilms and other assemblies of photosynthetic microbes!

They are even hot pink ones!

There are even hot pink ones!

Which complement the pink flamingos in the background

Which complement the pink flamingos in the background

Investigating the biofilms

Investigating the biofilms

Getting a closer look

Getting a closer look

Ngorongoro Crater

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Landscape outside the crater

Landscape outside the crater

Ngorongoro Crater

Ngorongoro Crater

Wildebeests

Wildebeests

Zebras

Zebras

Bustard

Kori Bustard

Cute gazelle

Cute gazelle

Ostriches

Ostriches

An antelope?

An antelope or gazelle?

Safari traffic jam...

Safari traffic jam…

To see the leopard (look on the horizontal branch)

To see the leopard (look on the horizontal branch)

Jackal

Jackal

Warthogs

Warthogs

Elephant

Elephant

Rhino!!

Rhino!!

 

Lions!

Lions!

Sleeping lionesses

Sleeping lionesses

At this point I began to roll up my window

At this point I began to roll up my window

Hyenas and vultures cleaning up after lions

Hyenas and vultures cleaning up after lions

Hippos!

Hippos! We ate lunch and watched the hippos pop out of the water.

Another view of the crater

Another view of the crater

Week 6: Field and Lab

This week, we finished up the final village for this stage of the disease survey. The remaining village is in the mountains, so its season starts later than other villages.  As always, the tomato fields were located in a beautiful setting, and we found lots of diseases.

Beautiful surroundings

Beautiful surroundings

Not so beautiful disease, late blight (and lots of it!)

Not so beautiful disease: late blight (Phytophthora infestans, and lots of it!)

With the disease survey winding down, I have some more time to work in the lab.

Assembling my bacterial pathogens of tomato culture collection

Assembling my culture collection of bacterial pathogens of tomato

I love bacteria, especially when they look this awesome!

I love bacteria, especially when they look this awesome!

I also have more time to enter and look at my data.

Which is very difficult when distracting monkeys are around

Data entry is very difficult when distracting monkeys are around

This is the first time I've taken a work break to look at monkeys

This is the first time I’ve taken a work break to look at monkeys

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Plant Diseases of Tanzania 2: Obligate Pathogens Edition

Time for a second post on plant diseases that I’ve encountered while in Tanzania.  All the diseases in this post are caused by obligate pathogens. Obligate plant pathogens are pathogens that can only grow in a living plant host.  Unlike many bacteria and fungi, obligate plant pathogens cannot be grown in petri dishes or flasks in the lab.

Viruses in maize

Viruses in maize

White rust on purslane (possibly Wilsoniana portulacae)

Purslane white rust (pathogen: possibly Wilsoniana portulacae)

A strange looking rust on a weed

A strange looking rust on a weed

A rust on a native grass

A rust on a native grass

Sunflower powdery mildew

Sunflower powdery mildew (pathogen: Erysiphe cichoracearum)

Tomato powdery mildew

Tomato powdery mildew

Powdery mildew on a Euphorbia (these leaves should be red)

Powdery mildew on a Euphorbia (pathogen: Podosphaera euphorbiae)

Root knot nematode on tomato (Meloidogyne sp.)

Root knot nematodes on tomato (pathogen: Meloidogyne sp.)

Striga (a obligate parasitic plant) gets nutrients by tapping into roots of nearby plants

Striga (with red flowers) is an parasitic plant that gets nutrients by tapping into roots of nearby plants

You can’t make it through a post on obligate plant pathogens without any downy mildews!  We saw some downy mildew on cucurbits here, but I don’t have a picture.  To make up for that, here’s my favorite picture of quinoa downy mildew (Peronospora variabilis)!

This is from Bolivia

Flashback from a trip to Bolivia

Week 5: 10 Things that Happened this Week

The past week was quite busy. We worked in three different villages in three days, and on Friday, I went to Dar es Salaam for a meeting.

Here are 10 things that happened this week (in no particular order)

1. Hiked through gorgeous scenery to a farmer’s field

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2. Crossed a stream to get to another farmer’s field

Barefoot plant pathology!

Barefoot plant pathology!

3. Hiked past Maasai cattle to get back to the truck

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4. Used a log to cross a water pit to get to a farmer’s field

It was like a Tanzanian edition of Wipeout. Can you guess who wiped out?

It was like a Tanzanian edition of Wipeout. Can you guess who wiped out?

5. Had my shoe stolen by a dog

While my boots were drying out from the water pit, a dog decided one boot would make an excellent chew toy. I got my boot back, but now have a lasting reminder on the side of my boot.

While my boots were drying  out from the water pit, a dog decided one boot would make an excellent chew toy. I got my boot back, but now have a lasting reminder of the dog.

6. Double O-H-I-O

Last time we visited, we made the O-H-I-O. This visit, the farmers wanted in on the action!

Last time we visited this village, we made the O-H-I-O. This visit, the farmers wanted in on the action!

7. Applied tomato leaf samples onto FTA cards using a meat tenderizer

It’s a multifunctional kitchen tool!

It’s a multifunctional kitchen tool. Make sure to use the flat side!

8. Bought 100 empty pop bottles

The bottles are for a greenhouse experiment.

The bottles are for a greenhouse experiment

9. Successfully demoed bacterial streaming

My first field demo of Ralstonia streaming from a tomato stem

My first field demo of Ralstonia streaming from a tomato stem

Bacterial streaming! If a clear glass isn't available, pop bottles will do the job!

Bacterial streaming (the cloudy strands coming from the stem are bacteria)! If a clear glass isn’t available, pop bottles will do the job!

10. Had a giant millipede climb on my hand

Something I don't think I will want to do again!

Something I don’t think I want to do again!