Dr. Amanda Fisher, September 2025 Snapshot
Dr. Amanda Fisher is an associate professor in the Biological Sciences Department. Dr. Fisher and students in her research lab document local plant diversity, working on projects in the Santa Ana Mountains and the Palos Verdes Peninsula.
Dr. Fisher and her students focus on plant evolution and how pollinators affect flowers and plant production – studying over 300 species of plants in the genus Justicia (plant family Acanthaceae), and recently conducting field work in Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico and the United States to collect 89 new samples for analysis and documentation. Once samples are photographed and cataloged into a database, they can be used by researchers all over the world for things like pharmaceutical manufacturing and ecological consulting.
As the curator of the ºÚÁÏÍø Herbarium, Dr. Fisher is responsible for caring for a museum collection of 12,100 preserved plant specimens that have been collected over 75 years. Samples come from all over, including Southern California, Hawai'i, Alaska and Tanzania.
Documenting plant diversity helps scientists understand plant distributions, provides new museum specimens for scientists to use, and provides vital information to land managers who have a mission to protect the biodiversity on their lands.
Learn more about the ºÚÁÏÍø Herbarium.
