đ» The Week in Botany April 10, 2023
Next weekâs email will be difficult. Each week I gather the links youâre sharing on Twitter and Mastodon. If I were to manually check Twitter, Iâd need to be online 24 hours a day, so I use a couple of computer systems. These use an interface, called an API, to talk to Twitterâs computer. This week, Twitter effectively shut off access to the API. That still leaves Mastodon as a source, but thereâs usually only one or two stories that are big on that network in a week. Iâll see what I can do for next week, but Twitterâs goal seems to be to shut third parties out from analysing what is happening on the network.
While writing the paragraph above, I found out that linking to this newsletter from Twitter is a problem too. The capricious way the rules change suggest thereâs someone either petulant or incompetent in charge. So I wonât spend too much time thinking about how to get round the problem yet. It might be an entirely different problem by the time next week comes around. Youâll be able to see what happened at the same time next week. Until then, take care,
Alun (webmaster@botany.one)
On Botany One
How Do Grapevine Leaves Adapt to Light? New Research Sheds Light on Plant Anatomy
Researchers have developed a new theoretical framework to understand how grapevine leaves adjust their structure and function under varying light conditions, revealing that thicker, less porous leaves with specific cell shapes are key to maximizing photosynthesis in high light environments.
Big gains to be made from small changes in attitudes to front gardens
A recent study highlights the health benefits of urban front garden greenery, emphasising the need to encourage planting and raise awareness about the positive impact on the local environment.
Farming Techniques Impact Biodiversity in Olive Groves
A study in southern Spain shows that using cover crops instead of tillage in olive groves can significantly increase biodiversity, suggesting organic farming with cover crops or abandonment of groves for natural vegetation may be beneficial for the environment.
Wildfires Stimulate Flower Power in Prairie Plants
A new study found that wildfires increased flower and seed production in two prairie plant species, but not a related species, highlighting how plant responses to fire can vary and impact the broader plant community.
Nectar Manipulates Bats into Perfect Pollinators
A Brazilian plant manipulates bats into more effective pollination by controlling nectar secretion patterns, which encourages them to visit a variety of flowers.
News & Views
Spring in Asheville time to reflect on plants: 'Amazing time to be a botanist'
Here in the Blue Ridge Mountains, the vibrant bursts of green emerging from bare soil and the tops of trees are a welcome sign that spring is here. Plants, along with a warm, colorful spring, are on the minds of many who are ready to leave winter behind and start spending more time outdoors.
New research roots out new mechanism for branching in plants
Researchers have revealed for the first time how a mechanism that controls root development in plants enables them to cope better with environmental stress conditions.
âAn opportunity I will never forgetâ â wheat researcher receives major award in Mexico
An outstanding early-career wheat researcher has received international recognition for her innovative and dedicated research.
Xi plants trees in Beijing, urging more afforestation efforts for green development, building beautiful China
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday attended a voluntary tree planting activity in Beijing and called for more efforts in afforestation to write a new chapter in building a beautiful China.
Learn about the scenic backdrop of the Masters
Take a closer look at how the Masters highlights the natural world's beauty and diversity through many different species of flowers throughout the course at Augusta National.
Droneâs-eye view earns cover of prestigious journal
Welcome to the snapshot of a Husker-made image that recently drew eyes and earned exposure beyond the confines of campus. Looking to learn (in <1,000 words) how our photographers and artists create the iconic?
Meet Joan Josephine C. Kimutai
Meet Joan Josephine C. Kimutai, winner of the âBest Talkâ award at the JR Biotek-PCA Africa Ph.D. Scholars Mentoring Program Celebration. Joan is a team-oriented plant breeder with experience in classical and molecular methods of crop improvement. Her goal is to develop stress-tolerant crop varieties suitable for smallholder farmers in different agro-ecologies of Kenya and sub-Saharan Africa in general.
Keeping competitors away drives colonization success in plant microbiota
In recent years, the microbiotaâcommunities of microorganisms composed primarily of bacteria and fungi that are found in all eukaryotic organisms, including humans, animals and plantsâhas come into focus due to their contributions to the health and growth of their eukaryotic hosts.
Soil nutrients affect how attractive plants are to bees from the ground up, shows study
Pollination is vital for many plants, and nutrients present in the soil before these plants even sprout may affect how attractive they eventually are to pollinators, according to Penn State-led research.
Super-resolution microscopy reveals the manufacture of wood deep inside a living plant
The biosynthesis of the principle component of native wood in real time has been observed for the first time thanks to advances in deep tissue super-resolution microscopy â revealing the wood-forming cells to be highly efficient material makers.
Double-blind peer review affects reviewer ratings and editor decisions at an ecology journal
There is substantial evidence that systemic biases influence the scholarly peer review process, such as biases against women, or against researchers from developing countries. To reduce these biases, many scholars have advocated for double-blind peer review (also known as double-anonymous review), in which author identities are anonymized before review (this is called âdouble-blindâ because reviewers are also anonymous to authors). However, the effectiveness of doubleâblind review in eliminating biases is uncertain.
Scientific Papers
Seasonal activities of the phyllosphere microbiome of perennial crops
Understanding the interactions between plants and microorganisms can inform microbiome management to enhance crop productivity and resilience to stress. Howe et al. apply a genome-centric approach to identify ecologically important leaf microbiome members on replicated plots of field-grown switchgrass and miscanthus, and to quantify their activities over two growing seasons for switchgrass.
Mycorrhizas drive the evolution of plant adaptation to drought
Plant adaptation to drought facilitates major ecological transitions, and will likely play a vital role under looming climate change. Mycorrhizas, i.e. strategic associations between plant roots and soil-borne symbiotic fungi, can exert strong influence on the tolerance to drought of extant plants. Cosme shows how mycorrhizal strategy and drought adaptation have been shaping one another throughout the course of plant evolution.
From stress to responses: aluminium-induced signalling in the root apex
Wang et al. summarize the recent advances in the understanding of Al-induced signalling and regulatory networks in the root apex involved in the regulation of Al-induced inhibition of root growth and Al toxicity/resistance. This knowledge provides novel insights into how Al-induced signals are recognized by root apical cells, transmitted from the apoplast to symplast, and finally initiate the defence system against Al.
ï»żContributions to Ecuadorian butterworts (Lentibulariaceae, Pinguicula): two new species and a re-evaluation of Pinguicula calyptrata
PĂ©rez et al. describe two striking new species from Southern Ecuador that further condense the circumscription of Pinguicula calyptrata Kunth. Pinguicula jimburensis sp. nov. and P. ombrophila sp. nov. are clearly beyond the taxonomic scope of the known species and consequently described as new to science.
Major proliferation of transposable elements shaped the genome of the soybean rust pathogen Phakopsora pachyrhizi
Gupta et al. sequence three independent P. pachyrhizi genomes and uncover a genome up to 1.25âGb comprising two haplotypes with a transposable element (TE) content of ~93%. We study the incursion and dominant impact of these TEs on the genome and show how they have a key impact on various processes such as host range adaptation, stress responses and genetic plasticity.
Cell type-specific responses to fungal infection in plants revealed by single-cell transcriptomic
Tang et al. investigated the heterogeneity of plant responses in the context of pathogen location. A single-cell atlas of Arabidopsis thaliana leaves challenged by the fungus Colletotrichum higginsianum revealed cell type-specific gene expression that highlights an enrichment of intracellular immune receptors in vasculature cells.
Three-dimensional chromatin organization promotes genome evolution in a fungal plant pathogen
The spatial organization of eukaryotic genomes is linked to their biological functions, although it is not clear how this impacts the overall evolution of a genome. Torres et al. uncover the three-dimensional (3D) genome organization of the phytopathogen Verticillium dahliae, known to possess distinct genomic regions, designated adaptive genomic regions (AGRs), enriched in transposable elements and genes that mediate host infection.
Climate and forest properties explain wildfire impact on microbial community and nutrient mobilization in boreal soil
The boreal landscape stores an estimated 40% of the earth's carbon (C) found in terrestrial vegetation and soils, with a large portion collected in thick organic soil layers. These ground stores are subject to substantial removals due to the centurial return of wildfire, which has strong impacts on the soil microbial community and nutrient cycling, which in turn can control ecosystem recovery patterns and process rates, such as C turnover.
Gibberellins promote polar auxin transport to regulate stem cell fate decisions in cambium
MÀkilÀ et al. show that the positioning of an auxin signalling maximum within the cambium determines the fate of stem cell daughters. The position is modulated by gibberellin-regulated, PIN1-dependent polar auxin transport. Gibberellin treatment broadens auxin maximum from the xylem side of the cambium towards the phloem.
A repeatable scoring system for assessing Smartphone applications ability to identify herbaceous plants
The ubiquity of Smartphone applications that aim to identify organisms, including plants, make them potentially useful for increasing peopleâs engagement with the natural world. However, how well such applications actually identify plants has not been compressively investigated nor has an easily repeatable scoring system to compare across plant groups been developed. This study investigated the ability of six common Smartphone applications (Google Lens, iNaturalist, Leaf Snap, Plant Net, Plant Snap, Seek) to identify herbaceous plants and developed a repeatable scoring system to assess their success.
Careers
5 Five PhD Funded Positions in Forest or Plant Science at The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences in Sweden
Details at Agristok.
Funded PhD Positions, Montreal
A study on floral organs.
PhD Position, Improving photosynthesis to enhance crop salt tolerance, Sydney
The PhD student will be responsible for gene cloning and their functional characterisation of water and ion transporter genes relevant to the chloroplast in model plants and crops. The PhD student will conduct laboratory and greenhouse experiments to test the salinity tolerance of model plants as well as selected transgenic plants.
Identifying host genetic factors shaping rhizosphere microbiome during root disease
The project will be led by Dr. Sanu Arora with co-supervision from Dr. Jacob Malone and in collaboration with Elsoms Seeds. The successful candidate will receive training in plant pathology and genetics, metagenomics, molecular biology, and bioinformatics and will join an international and collaborative team.
Postdoc position in Plant Oxygen Sensing and Stem Cell Maintenance (1.0 FTE), Utrecht
Are you excited to use your experience in plant biology and contribute to our research in a relatively under-explored but highly relevant area? Then join our team as postdoctoral researcher (PD). You will be working on an ERC Starting Grant funded project investigating how oxygen distribution acts to guide plant development and stem cell protection.
10 Ten PhD Positions in Plant and Soil Sciences Fully Funded by the European Union in 9 European Countries
Applications are invited for 10 PhD positions (Doctoral Researchers) in the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Root Phenotyping Integrated Educational Doctoral Network âROOTEDâ.
2 post doc positions within ERC GLOBAL project: start September 2023, France
The ERC Consolidator project âGLOBALâ aims to unravel the evolutionary history, diversification and impact of extinction of tropical rain forests (TRF) at a global scale. The project focuses on the pantropical Annonaceae plant family, an important component of TRF worldwide with around 2500 species. During the project we aim to sequence all (ca. 2500, one individual per species) species with 300 Annonaceae-specific exons and the angiosperm universal exons (353). Within this project we have two post doc positions opening for the fall of 2023. The start dates are between September and October 2023.
Research Associate, Sheffield
We have an exciting opportunity in the School of Biosciences for a Research Associate specialising in plant physiology and remote sensing. The Research Associate will work on a multi-disciplinary, international project investigating the use of photovoltaic panels in agricultural systems (AgriPV), and their impacts on plant physiology and crop yield. The project will also involve developing sensor-based techniques to dynamically monitor crop abiotic stress and physiological function.
Postdoctoral Researcher, Norwich
The John Innes Centre maintains a unique and genetically diverse Pisum collection which will be used by the Researcher in genetic screens, using major root rot pathogens of pea to identify the basis for the underlying genetic variation. You will use gene silencing approaches to validate the functions of associated candidate genes. There will be an opportunity to set up Virus-Induced Gene Silencing approaches in pea and implement state-of-the-art bioinformatics pipelines.
UCD Post-doctoral Research Fellow Level 1, Dublin
The scientist will work on identifying genes and wheat-microbiome interactions that minimise the risk of diseases, including Septoria tritici blotch and Fusarium head blight. Working with the EU team on the Horizons 2020 grant âInnoVarâ the scientist will conduct association transcriptomics (using existing RNA data) to identify genes associated with resistance to Septoria tritici blotch disease in wheat. Within the joint FACCE-JPI EU project âWheatSecurityâ, they will conduct contained environment studies and access samples from EU demonstrator field trials to assess the resilience of diverse wheat germplasm to biotic stress and conduct DNA-based microbiome studies to assess the impact of genotype x environment interactions on the microbiome studies of roots, leaves and flowering wheat heads. Their work will demonstrate how we can rapidly expedite the development of cultivars imbued with morpho-physiological features that are more resilient under multi-stress environments and management regimes less reliant on chemical inputs.
PhD Studentship in Tropical Ecology, Ceske Budejovice
We are looking for a candidate to join a project exploring plant-insect food webs in tropical rainforests in Papua New Guinea, using manipulative experiments with entire communities to examine the effects of climate change on rainforest regeneration.
Research Associate/Fellow, Nottingham
The purpose of this role is to support the new multi-million ÂŁ BBSRC project âDelivering Sustainable Wheatâ (DSW). Wheat will play a crucial part in feeding a global population of 10B by 2050 but its production is fragile as more than half the global supply is from just five countries. Future increases in wheat production have to be achieved without equivalent growth in fertiliser (nitrogen fertilisers are a major source of greenhouse gasses) and water use (all wheat growing regions are suffering ground water decline). While facing these challenges farmers are also confronted with yield limiting effects of climate change and new diseases. Adaptations are needed to achieve sustainable production in the coming decades. A key focus of this new role is to assess the impact of changing soil management practices such as reduced tillage on wheat production. The high-level objective of the research is to improve root function for enhanced resource use efficiency and carbon sequestration throughout the soil profile.
Online Adjunct Faculty, Maine
Unity College Distance Education is seeking enthusiastic individuals to teach Biology courses for our online baccalaureate degree programs. Courses are online and run for five weeks in eight terms for baccalaureate programs.
Research Scientist II, Collection Manager, Moscow, Idaho
Designs and manages all aspects of a research portfolio complimentary to that of other research scientists or research faculty. Often maintains active research collaborations external to the university.
Conservatory Manager, Miami, Ohio
Duties include, but are not limited to: Management of daily operations of The Conservatory, its grounds, and maintenance contracts; development and implementation of public programming and community outreach centered on The Conservatory; maintenance of records, budget management, supervision of student workers, pest management, classroom teaching in biology (such as: field botany, horticulture, and plant propagation), and support of related courses.
Research Fellow, Biological Sciences, Singapore
We are looking for a self-initiated, energetic research fellow to join the group with background and interest in computational biology and handling large biological/molecular data-sets. He will work with a cross-disciplinary team to build and develop guided models for nutrients-nutraceuticals resource partitioning for specialized pathways and metabolic networks of interest targeting plant phytochemicals and plant-microbiome environment relationships.
Research Fellow, Forest Ecology (Biological Sciences), Singapore
The Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions at the National University of Singapore (NUS) invites applications for a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Forest Ecology. The position will focus on tropical forest carbon stock assessments. Prior experience on tropical forest dynamics plots, particularly in Southeast Asia, is an advantage. The position is expected to begin in March 2023 or soon thereafter. The appointment is for an initial period of one year with possibility of renewal.
Research Assistant, Biological Sciences, Singapore
The successful candidate will work with Project Investigator on the shelf-life extension of leafy greens under a project on Sustainable Urban Food Production.