Kimberlie will lead us into the forest to find galls where the occur – all around us in the environment.
Galls are fascinating structures found on a wide variety of plants. These abnormal growths are caused by a range of organisms, including insects, mites, fungi, and bacteria. Galls can vary in size, shape, and color, and can serve a range of functions for the organisms that inhabit them.
This presentation will explore the diverse range of galls found in nature, from the simple bumps caused by mites to the complex structures induced by wasps. Join us to learn what galls are, how to identify the organisms that make them, and even how you could find the next undescribed species!
Kimberlie is a Cross Timbers Texas Master Naturalist from the Fort Worth area. She started out with a wide variety of volunteer activities, mostly bluebird nestbox monitoring and working with the Botanical Research Institute of Texas, both of which she still does today.
She quickly recognized an interest in insects and completed the Volunteer Master Entomology Specialist training in 2018. She enjoys mothing and traveling across Texas to photograph and record new flora and fauna in iNaturalist citizen-science app, with around 35,000 observations so far. In 2022 she described a gall new to science, Druon laceyi, and helps Gallformers.org as an Administrator. Kimberlie is also an Herbarium and Research Assistant at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas at the Fort Worth Botanic Garden.
