StMU Research Scholars

Featuring Scholarly Research, Writing, and Media at St. Mary's University
April 20, 2023

Lycophytes! The Giants of Yesterday & Our Hidden Little Heros of Today

Acknowledgments:

I would like to thank my professor and faculty mentor, Dr. Shackleford for her continuous support and care in the drafting and finalizing of this infographic. Through her work and time dedicated to my biology class, I was able to have the means and resources to make this infographic. I would also like to thank my St. Mary’s Research Scholar Tutor, Jose Chaman for his amazing and helpful tips and encouragement during the beginning stages of this process and for my friend and peer reviewer, Julia Daniel for her support and assistance in the editing and finalizing of this project. I am also very grateful to my family for their support and love in my academic journey. And I am especially indebted to the St. Mary’s Blume Library and St. Mary’s community for the resources that are continuously provided to me in order to do my research and be able to apply it to my infographic.

Monabelle Elbayeh

I was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, but I have always spent my summers and even some winters with my family in our home country of Lebanon. I am the youngest sister of two incredible older brothers whom I love beyond words and to whom I cannot but always look up to. I plan to graduate in 2026 from St. Mary's University with a bachelors in biology and a minor in psychology. Following this, I hope to pursue a doctorate degree in Medicine specializing in pediatric oncology or family medicine. In my time at St. Mary's University, I have become a member of the Pre-Medical Society, that works to help young undergraduate student in their path of pursuing the medical field. I am also a member of the Marianist Leadership Program that is a community of young student leaders founded on the Marianist virtues of faith that serve the St. Mary's and San Antonio community. Lastly, I am also a student volunteer for research with my professor, Dr. Shackleford, which has been an incredible experience through her guidance, my mentor's teaching, Jack Ojile, and the whole research team. I am also participating in the Spring Research Symposium to present on the research I have helped to do thus far.

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Recent Comments

27 comments

  • lgarcia125

    Hi Monabelle! Your infographic is really aesthetically pleasing to look at. I like how the information you provided was simple yet straight to the point. One thing that stood out to me the most was when you compared the size of ancient lycophyte trees to the statue of liberty. It sounds so hard to believe since we’re used to not seeing anything higher than the statue of liberty. Good job!

  • What a really interesting infographic! I find it crazy how lycophytes can grow to be as tall as the Statue of Liberty! Your infographic was very engaging and very well made, good job!

  • Madison Magaro

    Hi Monabelle, congrats on winning the award for your infographic! I really liked the aesthetic of the infographic and it was easy to follow along. Your title was very engaging and made me want to learn more. It is interesting that vascular plants are roughly 400 million years old and that lycophytes were the first of them to evolve. Overall this was a great read and I enjoyed the pictures that were included.

  • This is such a cute infographic! You made it very concise, yet informative, and the design matches the topic beautifully. I found it very interesting how large lycophytes were and how the smaller ones of today would be able to survive such harsh conditions because of the remnants of their ancestors. It’s quite poetic really, and would be very beneficial to the environment. It would be nice to have a short description about what a couple of the words mean like sporophyte and gametophytes, but information was clear and easy to understand.

  • Jacqueline Guardia

    Hello Monabelle! I am stunned by your infographic, the color scheme, the information, and the structure; very much deserving of your award! The comparison of the Statue of Liberty’s height with the ancient lycophyte trees is fantastic; I can’t believe they used to be that tall. It’s incredible how nature tries to surpass the pollution we create and has a backup plan to repopulate! Great job!

  • sphipps1

    Congratulations! The colors and imagery in this infographic are very appealing and help in drawing readers in. Getting straight to the point about what exactly lycophytes are was a good choice in my opinion and it makes reading and comprehending the rest of the information provided in the graphic that much easier. What personally interested me was how exactly lycophytes are heroes and I thoroughly enjoyed reading and learning about how they are. Amazing job and congrats again!

  • Bianca Ramos

    This infographic on lycophytes concisely and thoroughly explains what they are! It describes them and explains their history in a cute, engaging manner. The infographics really bring these lovely plants to life. The title is a great start to the graphic too!

  • khernandez40

    Hi Monabelle, I enjoyed reading your infographic. It is very visually appealing and contains an engaging title. There is also a chronological order depicted within your infographics that leads readers’ eyes easily. I do have a suggestion to make the font size larger during the latter parts it was difficult to read. Overall, you were very thorough in details regarding lycophytes and have engaging facts such as the size of the statue of liberty. Good job 🙂

  • I really like the title for your infographic, it caught my eye right away and encouraged me to read more into it. I like the color scheme you used, with the greens and browns to tie into plant theme. You took a complicated topic and made it into something anyone can understand. I also liked the little effect of the polaroid pictures; it suited the whole infographic well. Excellent job!

  • Mario Ramirez

    Very well deserved award for this infographic! It’s engaging and provides tons of important info while not being overbearing. I personally knew very little about these trees outside of a couple dinosaur books I had as a kid, so being able to learn more about this was very fun. I’m slowly getting more into plants for aquascaping and gardening purposes, so I will be looking into modern lycophytes!

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