đ» The Week in Botany November 4, 2024
I saw âHalloweâen Roses for sale this week, which were white or orange roses with a black fringe at the edges of the petals. It reminded me of the time I tried making black flowers for World Goth Day. The blog post on the topic proved surprisingly popular.
Also this week we had a post on âbleedingâ plants. Iâll have to make a mental note to re-promote them next year, a little more in advance for people who want to use them for Halloweâen.
I also made a small change in how I blog again, this time limiting the in brief posts to just two a day. I can do three on a good day, but I need some slack in the system, I think, in case something unexpected comes up.
If youâre looking for an escape from the big news story of the week next week. thereâll be another collection of the botanical stories and papers youâre sharing on Twitter, Mastodon, Bluesky and Threads. Until then, take care.
Alun (webmaster@botany.one)
On Botany One
Understanding the Mechanics Behind Bark Formation
MODELBARK provides valuable insights into the dynamics of bark formation through computer simulations.
The Scary Side of Botany: âbleedingâ plants
Alongside grinning pumpkins and creepy skeletons, the botanical world brings its own spine-tingling magic to Halloween. Letâs uncover the secrets of some fascinating plants with hidden surprisesâlike those that produce blood-red juices.
Plant ID Apps Can Match Expert Botanists at Species Recognition
Giant Marri Trees Are Secret Saviours of Western Australiaâs Native Bees
The warmer your home, the better you will germinate at higher temperatures
News & Views
âItâs appallingâ: original bramley apple tree being neglected, say campaigners
Tree still fruiting on site owned by Nottingham Trent University but afflicted by honey fungus infection.
One Tree Hill
A historic hill of tall tales, with one rather special tree.
The Rebellion of a Fruitless Apple Tree
As the rest of our culture thrives on overexposure, why shouldnât a garden have the right to retain an air of mystery?
Staving off the horde: Is your beloved tree a zombie? Local arborists say check on it
Whether it be from damaging weather conditions, diseases, fungi or insect infestations, a sick or dying tree can be dangerous â and hard to spot.
How a Swiss gardener became Bulgariaâs âminister of flowersâ
More than a century ago, Swiss landscape architect Lucien Chevallaz had a profound impact on the southern Bulgarian city of Plovdiv. He introduced new plants and modern horticultural techniques to the young nation state in southeast Europe.
Japan-style âtiny forestsâ are taking root in British cities
A staggering one in three people in England lack access to nature-rich spaces within a short walk from their homes. Now, a growing movement is bringing nature back to cities across the UK. The Miyawaki forest method involves planting a diverse mix of densely packed native woodland trees â or âtiny forestsâ â that grow quickly in small areas, around the size of a tennis court.
An impatient personâs guide to making black flowers
For World Goth Day, I have tried to make a black flower. It didnât work, but I have failed in a way that might explain why itâs not easy to make a Rainbow Rose.
'Haunted ghost forest' studied in new research
When sea level rises and salt water floods coastal forests, it kills the trees. Whatâs left behind is called a ghost forest.
âCloud-milkingâ: the zero-energy technique keeping young trees alive
The project that began in the Canary Islands mimics the way leaves capture water droplets from fog in order to produce water.
Scientific Papers
Waning snowfields have transformed into hotspots of greening within the alpine zone ($)
Choler et al show that over the last four decades the greenness trend in European mountains increases with the annual date of the seasonal snow cover disappearance.
Read free with ReadCube: https://rdcu.be/dYWT9
More than rapid identificationâFree plant identification apps can also be highly accurate (OA)
A 2023 study of of five plant identification apps gave varying accuracies per app, ranging from 86.9% to 46.4%. Rzanny et al re-evaluated the image dataset using another plant identification app (Flora Incognita) and reached an accuracy of 98.8% on the same image dataset.
Lichen ecophysiology in a changing climate (OA)
Stanton et al focus on lichen ecophysiology as a key to predicting responses to present and future climates, highlighting recent advances and remaining challenges.
Parasitic plants show striking convergence in host preference across angiosperm lineages (OA)
Hatt et al reveal a disproportionality in host preference across host lineages: the Asteraceae contains 10% of angiosperm diversity but is infected by 31% of parasite species; meanwhile Monocots comprise 23% but are infected by just 3.2%.
Plant diversity drives positive microbial associations in the rhizosphere enhancing carbon use efficiency in agricultural soils (OA)
Domeignoz-Horta et al implement a diversity gradient by intercropping undersown species with barley in a large field trial, ranging from one to eight undersown species. They find that increasing plant diversity strengthens positive associations within the rhizosphere soil microbial community in relation to negative associations.
The plant ecology of nature-based solutions for people, biodiversity and climate (OA)
Buckley et al provide a collection of mini-reviews that presents concise and focused analysis of the plant ecology of nature-based solutions.
Global rise in forest fire emissions linked to climate change in the extratropics ($)
Anthropogenic climate change has made wildfires bigger, hotter, and more common. Jones et al. used a machine learning approach to break down the âwhyâ and âwhereâ of the observed increases.
The irreplaceable role of surviving megafauna in long-distance seed dispersal: evidence from an experiment with Neotropical mammals ($)
The downsizing of disperser assemblages by selective defaunation is a worldwide phenomenon thought to have important consequences in animal-dispersed plants. Numerous large-seeded Neotropical plants currently depend on the last megafaunal survivors, the large tapirs Tapirus spp., and medium-sized frugivores. The extent to which medium frugivores are functionally equivalent to tapirs remains unresolved.
ModelBark: a toy model to study bark formation in woody species (OA)
Gutiérrez-Climent et al introduce a computer model designed to simulate bark formation based on mechanical stimuli acting on the various types of cells comprising this tissue. Their model can be conceptualized as a cellular automaton of variable size with non-local updating rules.
In AoBC Publications
Mucilage facilitates root water uptake under edaphic stress: first evidence at the plant scale (OA)
Latin America: A hub for agrobiotechnological innovations (OA)
Careers
Note: These are posts that have been advertised around the web. They are not posts that I personally offer, nor can I arrange the visa for you to work internationally.
Research Technician (Molecular Biology and Microbiology), London
The successful candidate will join a BBSRC-funded project to study the fungal pathogen Botrytis cinerea and develop strategies to manage this important disease in strawberry cropping at the University of Greenwich.
UK Digital Ecological Landscapes - PhD, Bedfordshire
This is an exciting PhD opportunity in collaboration with the Peak District National Park, the first in the established in 1951. This research aims to automate the production of high-resolution habitat maps for diversity monitoring across UK landscapes for the first time at Cranfield University.
Tenure Track Assistant Professor or Associate Professor in Disease Management of Arable crops, Aarhus
Are you a plant pathologist with an interest in future sustainable disease management strategies for arable cropping systems? Will you contribute to and support the green transition of Danish and European crop protection? If so, the Department of Agroecology at Aarhus University, Denmark, offers an attractive position in the Crop health section, where you will perform team-based research projects to reduce the reliance on chemical pesticides.
University Lecturer in Plant Biology, Helsinki
The university lecturer will primarily teach in the faculty's bachelor's programs in the field of plant biology, including laboratory teaching as well as plant physiology and anatomy courses. The university lecturer will develop the teaching in the field together with other teachers in the program, act as a supervising teacher, guide thesis work, and conduct scientific research in the field.
Postdoctoral Research Scholar, North Carolina
This Postdoctoral Research Scholar will work in the Translational Plant Phenomics program and work to advance the application of remote sensing, robotics, and data science in breeding and producing crops with an emphasis on horticultural and specialty crops.
Assistant Professor, Plant Ecology â Biology (Tenure-Track), Ohio
Youngstown State University invites applications for a full-time tenure-track faculty position to begin August of 2025. The successful candidate is expected to develop a competitive research program in plant ecology at the population, community, or ecosystem level. The successful candidate is expected to be competitive for extramural funding, be dedicated to training undergraduate and masterâs degree graduate students, and have a strong commitment to teaching.
Program Director - Feed the Future Innovation Lab, Kansas
Kansas State Universityâs College of Agriculture seeks a highly qualified Program Director to lead the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Climate Resilient Cereals (CRCIL).
Assistant Professor - Soil Conservation, Wisconsin
This is a full-time 9-month tenure-track undergraduate teaching position focused on Soil Conservation and Soil Health in UW River Fallsâs Crop and Soil Science program. The faculty member will develop and maintain engaging courses that provide students with hands-on experience that showcases the importance of soils in providing ecosystem services and sustaining agricultural production through the utilization of regenerative practices.
Turfgrass Agronomy Assistant Professor, South Carolina
Clemson University is seeking to fill a 12-month, tenure-track position at the Assistant Professor level in Turfgrass Agronomy. The appointment will include responsibilities in Extension (60%) and research (40%).
Assistant Professor - Turfgrass Management, Alabama
The successful candidate will be expected to develop a dynamic, impactful, and innovative research program focused on understanding and managing issues related to turfgrass management. The successful candidate will work with private businesses and trade associations, as well as federal and state agencies, to address the needs of the turfgrass industry. The successful candidate will be expected to take a strong leadership position at the Auburn Universityâs Turf Unit and work closely with Auburn University athletic programs.
Assistant Professor Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Plant Resilience for Food Security, British Columbia
The University of British Columbia in Vancouver invites applications from exceptional emerging scholars for a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair (Tier 2 CRC) appointment in Plant Resilience for Food Security. This full-time tenure-track faculty position is at the rank of Assistant Professor, with a start date set for no earlier than July 1, 2025.
Professor/Associate Professor of Forest Botany/Biology/Ecology, Papua New Guinea
The incumbent will be expected to develop a nationally recognized research and outreach program focused on Forest Botany, Biology, Ecology, Plant Taxonomy, and forest wildlife habitat and management. Potential research areas would include, but are not limited to: plant taxonomy of the Melanesian region, wildlife and conservation.
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Queensland
As a promising early career researcher, you will have an ambition to work with a multi-disciplinary team of scientists and engineers to research and develop new deep learning models and techniques for detecting sugarcane weeds in remote sensing images. The position will also involve designing and delivering training materials for the ARC Training Centre in Plant Biosecurity at James Cook University.