The Week in Botany August 19, 2024
While writing this week's email a pipe broke in the airing cupboard, tripping the electrics, and leaving me holding two ends of pipe for an hour and a half while I waited for an emergency plumber. My respect for the Dutch boy who put his finger in the dyke has skyrocketed. I'm finishing up this email by phone.
Next week’s email might be more Spartan, as I'm on holiday this week but there should be another collection of the stories and papers you’re sharing on Twitter, Mastodon, Bluesky and Threads, next week. Until then, take care.
Alun (webmaster@botany.one)
On Botany One
RIPE team models connection between enzyme activity and yields for the first time
New model connects dynamic enzyme activity of photosynthesis with whole canopy growth and yield for soybean.
The science behind chia: a journey into its nutritional power
Scientists are studying chia seeds closely using genetics to understand what makes them so healthy, hoping to use that knowledge to make chia and other foods healthier.
Bluesky as a Twitter alternative
Missing the old Twitter? A new alternative captures some of the old site’s feel.
News & Views
L.A. contractors razed a native plant garden for kids. What happens now?
“It was a magical environment,” said Shari Lee, a nearby resident who’s been walking the site for years. “Now it just seems sort of ... blank.”
Botanic gardens new owner on mission to preserve legacy of tragic botanist
Matthew Young is restoring a garden created by Jim Taggart and his son Jamie, who died on a plant-hunting trip to Vietnam in 2013.
World First Map Of Antarctica's Plant Life Shows Rapidly Sprouting Continent Under Climate Change
Lawn grass is increasingly common along the Antarctic Peninsula.
We pumped extra CO₂ into an oak forest and discovered trees will be ‘woodier’ in future
Oak trees accumulate more wood when there is more carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the atmosphere. That’s the key finding from our new study, carried out in a long-established forest in Staffordshire, England, that we have turned into a huge field experiment by injecting with extra CO₂.
What a bioluminescent petunia had to teach me
I bought a glowing plant. It led me down a rabbit hole of radiant mushrooms, 19th century experiments and a modern rivalry between scientists in Russia and the Americas.
Gene-Edited Salad Leaves Could Be Making Their Way To Your Plate This Year
Mustard greens engineered to be less bitter were the first CRISPR-edited food introduced to the US market. (Lots of clicks, but no one seemed to like the idea)
Using Geomorphology and Botany for Settings in Fiction
I have been fortunate enough to travel rather widely in my lifetime which helps me create settings in my fiction. But, I have also studied both geomorphology and botany which informs the salient features to describe settings realistically in my writing. I believe these both contribute levels of detail which add to the verisimilitude of my storytelling.
The urban forest that is slowly taking shape in the heart of Malaga
A group of volunteers have been planting trees on the site for several years with the hope that, once established, it will be a refuge from the heat as the temperature here could be up to 6C cooler than the concrete and asphalt jungle surrounding it.
Scientific Papers
Assisted tree migration can preserve the European forest carbon sink under climate change (OA)
Chakraborty et al modelled assisted migration scenarios for seven main European tree species and analysed the effects of species and seed provenance selection, accounting for environmental and genetic variations, on the annual above-ground carbon sink of regrowing juvenile forests.
Orchid species diversity across a forest disturbance gradient in west Mau forest, Kenya (OA)
This study assessed the influence of forest degradation on orchid species richness and abundance in West Mau Forest, Kenya.
Species that require long day conditions to flower are not advancing their flowering phenology as fast as species without photoperiod requirements (OA)
Zeng et al combined data on flowering time advancement with published records of photoperiod sensitivity to try to predict which species are advancing their flowering time. Data availability limited us to the Northern Hemisphere.
Connecting detailed photosynthetic kinetics to crop growth and yield: a coupled modelling framework (OA)
He et al present a fully coupled modelling framework that integrates a metabolic model of C3 photosynthesis (ePhotosynthesis) and a semi-mechanistic crop growth model (BioCro).
Widespread horizontal gene transfer between plants and bacteria (OA)
Haimlich et al hypothesized that the spatial vicinity and the long-term relationships between plants and their microbiota may promote cross-kingdom horizontal gene transfer (HGT), a phenomenon that is relatively rare in nature. To test this hypothesis, they analyzed the Arabidopsis thaliana genome and its extensively sequenced microbiome to detect events of horizontal transfer of full-length genes that transferred between plants and bacteria.
Growing gardens into neighborhoods through transdisciplinary research (OA)
In transdisciplinary research, Egerer et al are developing, implementing, and testing biodiversity conservation interventions focused on promoting insect diversity with gardeners and neighborhood residents from Berlin and Munich, Germany.
Dissection of rhizosphere microbiome and exploiting strategies for sustainable agriculture (OA)
Xun et al propose to divide the rhizosphere microbiome into environment-dominated and plant genetic-dominated components based on their different assembly mechanisms. Subsequently, two strategies to explore the different rhizosphere microbiome components for agricultural production are suggested, that is, the precise management of the environment-dominated rhizosphere microbiome by agronomic practices, and the elucidation of the plant genetic basis of the plant genetic-dominated rhizosphere microbiome for breeding microbiome-assisted crop varieties.
When is lethal deceptive pollination maintained? A population dynamics approach (OA)
Nakazawa et al aimed to theoretically investigate how lethal deceptive pollination can be maintained from a demographic perspective and how plant and pollinator populations respond to different types of disturbance.
Characteristics of free air carbon dioxide enrichment of a northern temperate mature forest (OA)
BIFoR FACE has demonstrated over its first operation season that it will provide an extensive, consistent and reliable data set for the analysis of e[CO2] in a seminatural, temperate, deciduous, mature forest.
Connecting plant science education in undergraduate life science courses to plant awareness disparity, Vision and Change, and sustainability careers ($)
Ensuring that botany and plant sciences are being included in undergraduate life science curricula is necessary for developing a future global sustainability workforce. To gain a baseline understanding, Zhu et al surveyed life science educators in the U.S. about current botanical education.
In AoBC Publications
Careers
Lecturer in Biodiversity Science, Salford
The University of Salford is looking to appoint a Lecturer in the Biology & Wildlife Subject Area. Applicants should be committed to high quality research-led teaching across a range of relevant programmes and should demonstrate their independent research potential.
Postdoctoral Researcher, Norwich
The successful applicant will study the biochemistry of meiotic recombination proteins in Arabidopsis. Determining the activity, putative targets and oligomerisation properties of the recombination machinery in Arabidopsis will be vital for addressing key, open questions relating to meiotic crossover formation, such as what are the underlying biophysics behind recombination protein coarsening dynamics and how might this drive crossover designation?
Doctoral Researcher in Biodiversity Change Science, Helsinki
The Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences and Prof. Anna-Liisa Laine are seeking a highly motivated PhD student study how ongoing biodiversity change – change in host population size and change in host community composition – alter disease risk and what the underlying mechanisms are.
Postdoctoral Research Associate, Washington
The Gang Lab in Washington State University’s Institute for Biological Chemistry seeks a Post-doctoral Research Associate to participate in a new multi-institutional collaborative project funded by USDA-NIFA that is developing a new class of dry beans, known as “popping beans”. These beans pop/puff when heated and have very interesting properties for human health and nutrition as well as for energy saving properties when cooked/processed. The Post-doctoral Research Associate, who will be a PhD level scientist, will spearhead efforts to screen developing popping bean varieties for disease resistance.
Associate in Research, Washington
The Associate in Research will design and conduct research experiments in the apple and pear orchards, and fruit lab focusing on breeding selection and evaluation protocols, and rootstock assessments. This will require a thorough understanding of the scientific method for experimental design, coordination with other lab members, collaborators, and stakeholders, ability to supervise other project employees; have the capacity to collect, process, and analyze field and laboratory data, help in coordinating data collection and logistics, prepare project reports, and help write manuscripts for peer-reviewed journals and presentations for conferences.
Molecular Breeding Data Analyst, North Dakota
NDSU Agricultural Data Analytics develops innovative digital solutions for agricultural research. The unit seeks a skilled Molecular Breeding Data Analyst with a strong background in plant or animal breeding, quantitative genetics, and bioinformatics to join our dynamic team. The ideal candidate will be pivotal in working with our team to implement analysis tools and oversee molecular breeding data solutions.
Post-Doctoral Associate, Minnesota
Dr. Ce Yang's Agricultural Robotics Lab at the University of Minnesota is hiring a postdoc researcher for
invasive species detection using drone- and satellite-based remote sensing as well as the development
of an integrative detection scheme to best utilize data collected from all levels. The qualified candidate
is required to hold a PhD position in agricultural engineering, plant phenomics, electrical engineering or
computer science.
Program Associate - Weed Science, Arkansas
Program Associate located in Fayetteville, AR. The individual will be responsible for organizing and overseeing Dr. Jason Norsworthy’s field, greenhouse, and laboratory research in weed science. This person will be responsible for managing approximately 100 field trials per year, analyzing and interpreting data, and writing annual reports and summaries.
Post Doctoral Fellow, Michigan
The Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology at the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture seeks qualified candidates for the Postdoctoral Associate position, which is a twelve-month, non-tenure-track position with 100% research responsibilities. The Postdoctoral Associate will take an active part in the National Predictive Modeling Tool Initiative (NMPTI) for cotton disease management. The postdoctoral associate will be actively involved in collaboration with multiple laboratories in the southern Cotton belt processing samples from spore traps, summarizing data, and assisting with model development that may predict disease.
Assistant Professor in Plant Ecology, New Hampshire
Dartmouth College seeks candidates in Plant Ecology who combine field and laboratory approaches to address the interactions of algae or plants with other organisms, such as microbes, mutualists, competitors, or herbivores, in terrestrial, freshwater, or marine systems.
Assistant Professor in Plant Biology
Dartmouth College seeks candidates who use molecular, cellular and/or genetic/genomic approaches to address broadly relevant concepts in plant biology including, but not limited to: the interactions of plants and other organisms (e.g. microbes, fungi, animals, or other plants), evolutionary development, genetics, and cell biology.
Tenure Track Faculty of Biology, Massachusetts
The Biology Department at Framingham State University invites applicants for a full-time, tenure-track position beginning 01 September 2025. The successful applicant will be broadly trained in the life sciences with specialization in Botany. The candidate should have the ability to teach general biology for majors and non-majors as well as Vascular Plant Taxonomy including field identification of species native to New England and the northeast, and will have the opportunity to develop an upper-level course in their area of specialization.
Post-doctoral Research Associate – Nutrient Bioavailability and Management, Florida
Agricultural and Biological Engineering (ABE) Department and Southwest Florida Research and Education Center, University of Florida (UF), seeks a post-doctoral associate in soil/plant science or engineering to work on a state-funded multi-disciplinary project that is evaluating and developing phosphorus best management practices (BMPs) and site-specific nutrient management.
Research Fellow (Plant Energy Biology), Western Australia
As the appointee, you will lead research and development initiatives aimed at discovering novel genes, proteins, traits, and plant characteristics affecting protein accumulation and nitrogen use efficiency in wheat. Working under broad direction, your focus will be on investigating the role of wheat protein accumulation and nitrogen assimilation or use enzymes through experimental and informatics methodologies.
Technical Assistant, Canberra
The Australian Plant Phenomics Facility (APPF) is a national research collaboration facility with nodes at ANU, CSIRO and The University of Adelaide. The Technical Assistant is a part time position that reports to the Senior Technical Officer and is responsive to the business and administration manager and the APPF Director.