Annie Ayers

Annie collects, processes, and catalogs plant museum specimens for the Clifton Smith Herbarium.

As an herbarium collections manager, Annie Ayers collects, processes, and catalogs plant museum specimens for the Clifton Smith Herbarium at Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. Through this process, Annie works with the Biodiversity Team to better understand the depth and breadth of our California flora. She earned her bachelor’s degree in biology, minoring in anthropology and geography, from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Prior to working at the Garden, Annie worked in herbaria in San Luis Obispo; Flagstaff, Arizona; and St. Louis, Missouri, through which she developed a deep passion for botany collections work. Annie has a background working on floristics, vegetation surveys, biomass surveys, and taxonomic research. 

Research interests: botany, herbaria, curation, floristics, morphometrics, taxonomy, science communication