Conservation Database Technician

Kayla Wheatley works as the Conservation Database Technician where she helps accession the ABG Conservation Collections and transfers data to the BRAHMS plant records database. Kayla received her B.S. in Botany from the University of Florida where she investigated the evolutionary and ecological processes that contributed to fern diversity in the Sessa lab. It was here she became fascinated with fern life cycles and their persistence in nature. After undergrad she got the opportunity to work on the Vanuatu Project at the New York Botanical Garden as she explored her interest in ethnobotany. This position allowed her to participate in fieldwork in Vanuatu as she collected plant specimens and conducted interviews with local people on their use of plants and the native names those plants were given. Outside of her professional career, the natural world is a constant passion. And it is her hope to honor that love of plants through her work as a botanist.