Ecologist/botanist, Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program (PNHP) and Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, she/her.

I've worked as a field botanist since 2013, and have previously worked with the Institute of Botanical Training, Ozark National Scenic Riverways (NPS), and Missouri Ozark Forest Ecosystem Project (MDC). I attended grad school at Austin Peay State University, Tennessee and obtained my master's in biology from there in 2019.

I work mostly with plants and I'm probably strongest with Fabaceae of eastern North America, but I also love graminoids, particularly Dichanthelium, Rhynchospora, and Carex. Feel free to tag or message me if I've disagreed with an ID and you'd like to know why. Any other questions, fun observations, or ideas for potential collaboration are also welcome!

PNHP tracks, monitors, and surveys for rare species in Pennsylvania to further their conservation and inform legal protections. iNat observations of species found in the wild help are a wonderful data source for us. To view rare species observations and learn more about our work, visit our project at https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/pennsylvania-natural-heritage-program.

My profile picture is of Rhynchospora stiletto, which I recently described as a new species. It is used in this observation of it here, though it's a good example of how not to take a diagnostic photo of the genus: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/131112652

My non-Carex Cyperaceae observations with decent achene images: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&q=Non-Carex%20achenes&user_id=ciafre&verifiable=any

My publications are available on ResearchGate. Feel free to message me here or on RG to request a copy of anything: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Claire-Ciafre

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