Alexander R Tomes, PhD

Educator. Scientist. Communicator.

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About Me
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Teaching and Science Outreach
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Contact Alex
Curriculum Vitae

About Me
Recent Research Projects
Teaching and Science Outreach
My Bookshelf
Contact Alex
Curriculum Vitae

Contact Alex

Email: ATOMES(at)ASU(dot)EDU

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al_talks_science

Biology PhD Candidate at Arizona State

Our field microclimate setup at the @dbgphx. On to

Our field microclimate setup at the @dbgphx. On top we have some different visible sunlight filters and UV sensors. An anemometer, wind sensor, on the right, and a temperature and RH sensor on the left. Rain gauge tucked up top there as well. It's been running 24/7 for several years now
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#ecology #plantbiology #microclimate #science #fieldwork

Write your own path. Don't forget to laugh along t

Write your own path. Don't forget to laugh along the way. The road is long and filled with obstacles.
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#ecology #asu #bacteria #botany #plantbiology #biology #microbes #scientistswholift #fungi #science #schooloflifesciences #apemanstrong #sonyalpha5000

I use ibuttons to measure relative humidity and te

I use ibuttons to measure relative humidity and temperature inside serum bottles or anywhere in the field. The problem is that they don't fit inside serum bottles. Because of that I've had to get pretty good at cutting glass and making seals. I score the glass, heat it with a lighter, then drop it in water and hope for the best. It took a while, but I've made around 20 bottles with tight seals. It's stuff like this that barely gets mentioned in scientific journals but yet takes so long to master. .
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#ecology #asu #bacteria #botany #plantbiology #biology #microbes #scientistswholift #fungi #science #schooloflifesciences #apemanstrong #sonyalpha5000

One of my eight field plots in my 2 year decomposi

One of my eight field plots in my 2 year decomposition experiment. The different colors of bags filter different wavebands of solar radiation. The orange filters blue radiation and ultraviolet and one of the clear filters ultraviolet. One bag, the control, allows all wavebands of sunlight to pass through.

Working on plant litter wax concentrations . . .

Working on plant litter wax concentrations .
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#ecology #asu #bacteria #botany #plantbiology #biology #microbes #scientistswholift #fungi #science #schooloflifesciences #apemanstrong #sonyalpha5000

Amsinckia menziesii, known to some as ranchers fir

Amsinckia menziesii, known to some as ranchers fireweed or the devils lettuce. It's called this because of those long white trichomes, or plant hairs there. They are long and filled with hard silica and calcium. They easily stick into your skin, just enough to be annoying. I've worked with the species for years now and it never gets easy to pick or sort. .
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#ecology #asu #bacteria #botany #plantbiology #biology #microbes #scientistswholift #fungi #science #apemanstrong #schooloflifesciences #sonyalpha5000

Alternaria alternata, or so I'm pretty sure, is a

Alternaria alternata, or so I'm pretty sure, is a common fungus ubiquitous throughout deserts and your fridge. This a scanning electron image of one I took 'perched' upon a plant trichome, or hair. .
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#ecology #asu #bacteria #botany #plantbiology #biology #microbes #scientistswholift #fungi #science #apemanstrong #schooloflifesciences #sonyalpha5000

This is the wax rinsed off a few leaves of Ambrosi

This is the wax rinsed off a few leaves of Ambrosia deltoidea, known to some as triangular bursage. Native plant to the sonoran desert that is just about everywhere. It has very high concentrations of wax on its leaves. This wax can help prevent water loss, reflect and scatter uv radiation and protect it from being colonized by microbial species. Pretty neat. .
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#ecology #asu #bacteria #botany #plantbiology #biology #microbes #scientistswholift #fungi #science #apemanstrong #schooloflifesciences #sonyalpha5000

To measure microbial respiration, I incubate leaf

To measure microbial respiration, I incubate leaf litter samples (dead leaves) in serum bottles with water tubes or tubes containing differing salt solutions to create different relative humidities inside the serum bottles. We don't need actual liquid water, these desert microbes only require water vapor it turns out. .
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#ecology #asu #bacteria #botany #plantbiology #biology #microbes #scientistswholift #fungi #science #apemanstrong #schooloflifesciences #sonyalpha5000

Well, it may look like a tree out of a scary movie

Well, it may look like a tree out of a scary movie, but it's the most diffuse shade I can find at the @dbgphx . I am weighing plant litter samples out here to get litter moisture contents during the monsoon. I use a little bit of shade so we are getting best conditions for microbes out here in the desert... well, maybe not best, but better than open desert. .
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#ecology #asu #bacteria #botany #plantbiology #biology #microbes #scientistswholift #fungi #science #apemanstrong #schooloflifesciences #sonyalpha5000

Measuring leaf litter wax concentrations! Take bot

Measuring leaf litter wax concentrations! Take bottle weight, pour in some chloroform rinsate from the leaf litter, dry said bottle, and bingo bango. Wax! .
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#ecology #asu #bacteria #botany #plantbiology #biology #microbes #scientistswholift #fungi #science #schooloflifesciences #sonyalpha5000 #apemanstrong

Riley picked out her favorite Pyygmy sunflower thi

Riley picked out her favorite Pyygmy sunflower this morning.
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#ecology #asu #bacteria #botany #plantbiology #biology #microbes #fungi #science #schooloflifesciences #sonyalpha5000

My Octopus agave, Agave vilmoriniana, is blooming.

My Octopus agave, Agave vilmoriniana, is blooming. The first week was averaging growth around 10 inches a day. These bad boys store their sugars at their base waiting for years to bloom, then die. When blooming they divert all their resources to the stalk, pulling in nutrients from the leaves and roots. The beautiful display requires the biggest sacrifice...

#Repost @elizabethtomes (@get_repost) ・・・ Th

#Repost @elizabethtomes (@get_repost)
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The only friend I can count on everyday forever.
Sundays are for doing hood rat stuff together, good laughs and maybe helping someone else out along the way.
#donate #myonlybff #girlsareshady #tistheseason #husbandandwife #hoodrats #blooddrive #sundayfunday #healthyfamily #powerlifter #bodybuilder @al_tomes_

Out collecting some samples at our field site in t

Out collecting some samples at our field site in the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix. .
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#ecology #asu #bacteria #botany #plantbiology #biology #microbes #scientistswholift #fungi #science #schooloflifesciences #sonyalpha5000

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