Andrew Schnabel, an associate professor of biological sciences at IU South Bend , and a member of the faculty since 1995, will leave behind a fickle spring in Indiana for Kenya at the end of May to continue his research on pollination, natural selection , and acacias at the Mpala Research Centre. Until then, he is checking weather reports and sending e-mail to the staff at the centre hoping for rain and a good flowering season for the area.

Acacias comprise more than 1,350 species. Most species occupy arid or semi-arid regions of the tropics and sup-tropics in Australia , Africa , and Central America . Due to rain patterns, many of the Kenyan species flower simultaneously and compete for pollinators. Rain is vital for a healthy flowering season.

Schnabel and his associates use genetic markers that allow them to conduct genetic fingerprinting studies to determine the consequences of this competition for acacia reproductive success and to measure how far pollinators carry pollen between trees.

The data to date has been “decidedly mixed,” Schnabel says. It is too early to make any conclusions. “We have been plagued by low flowering, and we aren't quite sure why. It could be a pattern or a function of climate.”

His major focus will be acacias but he will also devote research time to other projects involving morning glories, day flowers , and hibiscuses.

“The scientific research is valuable on several levels,” says Schnabel. It will provide a great educational experience for his research assistant Britnie Foltz, a senior at IU South Bend. In addition, tropical biology has the greatest diversity of organisms on earth. Studying flowering plants in this part of the world is beneficial and provides knowledge for all ecosystems.

Schnabel has received grants from several sources for his work in plant evolution and ecology, including the National Science Foundation, Indiana Academy of Sciences, The Nature Conservancy and IU South Bend.