š» The Week in Botany August 12, 2024
The first perennial sunflower flower appeared this week by the shed. I wish Iād kept a phenology diary, as it feels the garden is still weeks behind where Iād expect.
This week, I also found I was slow to the news that thereās a Plant Health Seminar at Kew. Attendees will hear from a series of expert speakers, including representatives from the Centre for Forest ProtectionĀ who will be discussing their ongoing projects, as well as an overview of genomic and tree health research taking place at Kew.Ā Thatās on the 10th of October. Iāll be aiming to blog about it, and maybe post to social media, but not all the social media networks.
If youāre looking to leave Twitter but donāt relish the thought of setting up a new network, thereās a shortcut for Bluesky. This link will help you follow 50 plant-based accounts and mean thereās something botanical in your feed. The Sky Follower Bridge extension for Chrome will also help you find people that you follow on Twitter on Bluesky. Bluesky is probably the most Twitter-like of the Twitter alternatives.
I plan to take a break at the end of this week. Iāll still be doing the email while on holiday. That means there will be another collection of the stories and papers youāre sharing on Twitter, Mastodon, Bluesky and Threads, next week. Until then, take care.
Alun (webmaster@botany.one)
On Botany One
The Shy Beauty of Fritillaria delavayi: Balancing Pollination and Camouflage
Discover how the elusive Fritillaria delavayi uses camouflage and specialised pollinators to overcome the challenges of herbivory.
Computer Modeling Reveals Complexity Behind Phenotype-Yield Relationship in Soybean
There is a complex relationship between leaf area index and yield, which is influenced by an intricate interplay of genetic, environmental, and management factors.
News & Views
āPublish or Perishā is now a card game ā not just an academicās life
A player wins by racking up more citations than the competition, even if that means engaging in a little light plagiarism.
Thatās no leopard, thatās a phytoforaging feline
Thereās more to a snow leopardās diet than carnivore.
Air pollution makes it harder for bees to smell flowers
Contaminants can alter plant odors and warp insectsā senses, disrupting the process of pollination.
Take a look at the rare Agave Americana plant that's growing through the roof at Longwood Gardens
The Agave Americana plant has been housed with the other succulent plants at Longwood Gardens for decades. However, this plant gets only one bloom period before it dies.
The Soul of Soil
The eradication of soil could culminate in the collapse of complex terrestrial life ā unless we rethink our relationship to the world beneath our feet.
Should humanity build a doomsday vault on the Moon?
As Earth becomes more unstable, some scientists are advocating for storing biodiversity off-world.
UBC super-black wood can improve telescopes, optical devices and consumer goods
By sheer accident, UBC researchers created a new super-black material that absorbs almost all light and trademarked it as Nxylon.
Eerie ghost pipe plants found at Sleeping Bear are a sign of a healthy forest
Park staff wants to know: āHave you ever been haunted by the eerie beauty of a ghost pipe?ā
What the urban forest can do to tame summer heat
āEach material, such as asphalt, concrete have different thermal properties compared to grass and dirt. So when youāre measuring surface temperature under a tree canopy youāre also dealing with what kind of surface material youāre studying,ā Ferman said.
Scientific Papers
Convergent evolution of plant prickles by repeated gene co-option over deep time ($)
Satterlee et al. performed phylogenetic analyses across the genus Solanum and identified LOG family genes, enzymes underlying cytokinin biosynthesis, which when disrupted result in prickle loss in multiple species.
Impact of maintenance regimes on species richness in newly established perennial wildflower meadows (OA)
A three-year experiment was conducted to investigate the impact of maintenance regimes on newly established perennial wildflower meadows and the influence of sowing mix on species richness.
Chia (Salvia hispanica L.), a functional āsuperfoodā: new insights into its botanical, genetic and nutraceutical characteristics (OA)
This review article aims to provide an overview of the botanical, morphological, and biochemical features of chia plants, seeds, and seed mucilage. Additionally, Zare et al discuss the recent developments in genetic and molecular research on chia, including the latest transcriptomic and functional studies that examine the genes responsible for chia fatty acid biosynthesis.
Dynamic soil hydraulic resistance regulates stomata (OA)
Manandhar et al investigate the dynamic patterns of leaf ABA levels, plant hydraulic conductance and the point of failure in the soilāplant conductance in the highly embolism-resistant species Callitris tuberculata using continuous dendrometer measurements of leaf water potential during drought.
Growing in phosphorus-impoverished habitats in south-western Australia: How general are phosphorus-acquisition and -allocation strategies among Proteaceae, Fabaceae and Myrtaceae species? (OA)
Shen et al compared the P-acquisition and leaf P-allocation strategies of Fabaceae and Myrtaceae with those of Proteaceae growing in the same severely P-impoverished habitat. Myrtaceae and Fabaceae exhibited multiple P-acquisition strategies: P-mining by carboxylates or phosphatases, P uptake facilitated by carboxylate-releasing neighbours, and dependence on the elevated soil P availability after fire.
Early Eocene infructescences from Argentine Patagonia expand the biogeography of Malvoideae ($)
The fossils have a unique combination of characters that does not conform to any previously described genus, justifying the erection of a new genus and species, Uiher karuen. This new taxon constitutes the first known Malvoideae reproductive fossils of the Southern Hemisphere, expanding the distribution of Malvoideae during the early Eocene.
Recent evolutionary divergence in a plant ring-species is not accompanied by floral phenology or pollinator shifts (OA)
PiƱa-de la Rosa et al evaluate shifts in phenology or in pollination systems as potential barriers to gene exchange and thus promoters of divergence at the population-species boundary in the plant ring-species Euphorbia tithymaloides in the Caribbean.
Chromosome-scale assembly and annotation of eight Arabidopsis thaliana ecotypes (OA)
Kileeg et al sequenced the genomes of eight natural variants of A. thaliana using nanopore sequencing. This resulted in highly contiguous assemblies with >95% of the genome contained within 5 contigs. The sequencing results from this study include 5 ecotypes from relict and African populations, an area of untapped genetic diversity.
The phosphorylation landscape of infection-related development by the rice blast fungus (OA)
Cruz-Mireles et al present a quantitative mass-spectrometry-based phosphoproteomic analysis of infection-related development by the rice blast fungus Magnaporthe oryzae, which threatens global food security. They mapped 8,005 phosphosites on 2,062 fungal proteins following germination on a hydrophobic surface, revealing major re-wiring of phosphorylation-based signaling cascades during appressorium development.
Changes in the leaf area-seed yield relationship in soybean driven by genetic, management and environments: Implications for High-Throughput Phenotyping (OA)
High-throughput crop phenotyping (HTP) in soybean [Glycine max L. (Merr.)] has been used to estimate seed yield with varying degrees of accuracy. Research in this area typically makes use of different machine learning approaches to predict seed yield based on crop images with a strong focus on analytics. On the other hand, a significant part of the soybean breeding community still utilizes linear approaches to relate canopy traits and seed yield relying on parsimony. Chiozza et alās research attempted to address the limitations related to interpretability, scope and system comprehension inherent in previous modelling approaches.
In AoBC Publications
Genetics and plasticity of white leaf mark variegation in white clover (Trifolium repens L.) ($)
Nutritional convergence in plants growing on gypsum soils in two distinct climatic regions ($)
Careers
Senior Research Technician, Warwick
We are seeking an enthusiastic, hard-working and dedicated individual to support our dynamic labās research on various aspects of plant immunity. You will join a well-funded lab (predominately BBSRC supported) undertaking interdisciplinary discovery research on plant disease resistance, systemic immunity and suppression of plant defence.
Assistant Professor (Education) in Plant Biology and Evolution, Birmingham
We are now seeking to invite applications for an education focussed Assistant Professor position in plant biology and evolution with a background in broad aspects of plant biology, cell biology and plant evolution who is looking to gain further teaching experience in higher education and develop their teaching across multiple levels of undergraduate and postgraduate courses.
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Oxford
The Ćstergaard laboratory at the Department of Biology is looking for a postdoctoral researcher in legume developmental genetics. This post aims to understand the biosynthesis of an auxin variant during pea pod growth. Through molecular and genetic approaches, the work will reveal how this auxin variant is synthesized and studying its role in inducing post fertilisation pod growth.
Entomology Research Assistant, Norwich
An exciting opportunity has arisen for a enthusiastic and motivated Research Assistant to join the Crop Genetics Department at the John Innes Centre. Working on targeted RNAi approaches to controlling cabbage stem flea beetle (CSFB; Psylliodes chrysocephala).
Head of Plant Genetics, Cambridge
As the Head of Plant Genetics, you will provide scientific leadership and manage a significant portfolio of research work. Your key responsibilities will include Leadership, Research Funding, Research Management & Outreach and Engagement.
Professor of Plant Disease Dynamics, Zurich
The ideal candidate centers their research on the organismal biology of plant-pathogen interactions as related to global environmental problems (e.g., emerging and introduced plant diseases, biodiversity change) and solutions (e.g., ecosystem management, sustainable agriculture).
Postdoctoral Research Associate - Organic and Sustainable Vegetable Cropping Systems Lab, Florida
A postdoctoral research associate position is available in Dr. Xin Zhaoās Organic and Sustainable Vegetable Cropping Systems laboratory in the Horticultural Sciences Department at the University of Florida, Gainesville. The postdoc researcher will join multi-disciplinary project teams to lead studies on organic strawberry production, soil anaerobic disinfestation, and integrated nutrient management in watermelon production.
Post-doctoral Research Associate ā AI-Based Targeted Pesticide Application Project, Florida
This position will join a team focused on improving chemical application technology in agriculture as well as the use of AI-powered technology to monitor, detect, identify, and manage pests and relevant crop characteristics. The desired individual will focus on the development of pertinent software for embedded computers used in farm equipment and training of AI models on GPU-accelerated servers.
Assistant Scientist, Florida
This is a 12-month non-tenure-accruing position that will be 100% research (Florida Agricultural Experiment Station), available in the Indian River Research and Education Center, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, at the University of Florida. This assignment may change in accordance with the needs of the unit.
Ethel and O.N. Allen Chair of Phytobacteriology, Wisconsin
The University of Wisconsin-Madison Department of Plant Pathology is seeking highly motivated and talented candidates for the Ethel and O.N. Allen Chair of Phytobacteriology at the Associate or Full Professor level. We seek applicants with successful research programs investigating the biology, ecology and/or evolution of plant-associated bacteria, inclusive of pathogenic, commensal, and beneficial plant-bacterial interactions.
Assistant Professor of Weed Ecology, South Dakota
The Department of Plant Science at South Dakota State University (SDSU) is seeking a highly motivated and innovative individual for the position of Assistant Professor of Weed Ecology. The successful candidate will be expected to develop a nationally recognized, externally funded research program in weed science, with a focus on weed ecology, biology, and the development of sustainable weed management systems. This position is located in Brookings, South Dakota and is a 9-month, full-time, benefits-eligible and tenure-track position.
Assistant Professor - Plant Developmental Biology, California
The department seeks applicants conducting fundamental research on the molecular, cellular, and organismal principles and processes that organize how plant form emerges in time and space, determine how plant development responds to the environment, or influence how plant form has diversified over evolutionary timescales.
Research Fellow, Alabama
The Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology at Auburn University is seeking a highly motivated individual to assist with and conduct original research including planning, maintaining, and completing research projects involved in generation of new knowledge and concepts. The candidate will provide professional research assistance in basic and translational aspects of plant-microbe interactions.
Digital Phenotyping Coordinator, Sydney
Are you passionate about technology and agriculture? The Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment is on the lookout for a tech-savvy Digital Phenotyping Coordinator to be at the forefront of plant science innovation.
The Digital Phenotyping Coordinator will facilitate the development, implementation, and use of digital and image-based phenotyping platforms in the Australian Plant Phenomics Network (APPN) node at Western. The Coordinator will be the central point of contact for researchers and partners in plant phenotyping applications and data management in horticulture and agriculture crops.