š± TWiB April 26, 2021
One of the big stories this week was the forest fires in South Africaās Table Mountain National Park reaching the University of Cape Town. Nature's headline 'The damage is total', led to many people thinking the herbarium at UCT has been destroyed. This is not the case. There is damage to the Plant Conservation Unit, but part of the Botany building is unharmed. The Nature story concludes with UCT palaeoecologist Lindsey Gillson saying, āIām just happy nobody was in the lab. Weāve lost our home, but we havenāt lost our community.ā
Unfortunately, this isn't the same elsewhere. At Botany One our thoughts are with colleagues in India, Brazil and everywhere else suffering from COVID. You won't be surprised that COVID covered many of the other stories shared on Twitter. I'm in a fortunate position where I can ignore the worst of the news when I need to. I appreciate that's not the case for everyone.
I hope you stay safe, and that you'll be receiving another newsletter next week.
Alun (webmaster@botany.one)
Monday
People have shaped most of terrestrial nature for at least 12,000 years
Ellis et al.combine global maps of human populations and land use over the past 12,000 y with current biodiversity data to show that nearly three quarters of terrestrial nature has long been shaped by diverse histories of human habitation and use by Indigenous and traditional peoples.
Hybrid coffee cultivars may enhance agroecosystem resilience to climate change ā www.botany.one Your daily cup of coffee could be threatened by climate change, but targeted plant breeding may be here to help.
Climate change: Future-proofing coffee in a warming world Scientists say a "forgotten" coffee plant that can grow in warmer conditions could help future-proof the drink against climate change.
āThe damage is totalā: fire rips through historic South African library and plant collection University of Cape Town faces losing āirreplaceableā historical material on anthropology, ecology and politics.
Tuesday
Kling and Ackerly use newly developed āwindscapeā connectivity models in combination with a global multispecies forest genetics data set to demonstrate that wind shapes several distinct large-scale genetic patterns in many tree species, including population differentiation, migration direction, and genetic diversity.
Future Leader Fellowships in Plant and Fungal Science The Future Leader Fellowship in Plant and Fungal Science provides a unique opportunity for early-career researchers to develop their scientific portfolio and skills in a vibrant research environment, working with colleagues in Kew Science to make substantial contributions to these challenges facing humanity.
Embracing the variability within a single plant species: how and why we need to study it ā www.botany.one Scientists present 28 recommendations for studying plant intraspecific trait variation.
Wednesday
How One of the Worldās Oldest Science Experiments Comes Up From the Dirt Every 20 years under the cover of darkness, scientists dig up seeds that were stashed 142 years ago beneath a college campus.
Species delimitation and hybridization history of a hazel species complex ā www.botany.one The study combines genetic and physical data to define four groups of hazel plants.
"The Sainsbury Laboratory has proudly launched a one-year taught MSc in Global Plant Health. We invite applications from the best students from around the world for entry in late September 2021."
Guzman et al. demonstrate that crop diversity enriches AMF communities, counteracting the negative effects of agricultural intensification on AMF, providing the potential to increase agroecosystem functioning and sustainability.
Thursday
An introduced host plant alters circadian activity patterns of a rhinoceros beetle
Recently, Shibata and Kojima noticed many individuals of Trypoxylus dichotomus septentrionalis feeding on the sap and mating on the introduced ash tree during daytime in Japan. @AkiraSMori notes the first author is a 6th grade student in Japan. I think that's 11-12 years old.
Beets beat hidden viruses within in their genomes ā www.botany.one
Nicola Schmidt and colleagues wanted to test sugar beetās genome for buried, disassembled and inactivated endogenous pararetroviruses.
The Relationship between AGAMOUS and Cytokinin Signaling in the Establishment of Carpeloid Features
GĆ³mez-FelipeĀ et al. focus on the relationship between the MADS-box transcription factor AGAMOUS (AG) and cytokinin in Arabidopsis thaliana, and use the weak ag-12 and the strong ag-1 allele. They found that cytokinin induces carpeloid features in an AG-dependent manner and the expression of the transcription factors CRC, SHP2, and SPT that are involved in carpel development
Soil microbiome predictability increases with spatial and taxonomic scale
Averill et al. leverage multiple large-scale soil microbiome surveys to develop predictive models of bacterial and fungal community composition in soil, then test these models against independent soil microbial community surveys from across the continental United States.
Friday
There arenāt enough trees in the world to offset societyās carbon emissions ā and there never will be ā theconversation.com If we absolutely maximised the amount of vegetation all land on Earth could hold, weād sequester enough carbon to offset about ten years of greenhouse gas emissions at current rates. After that, there could be no further increase in carbon capture.
Naturally GM: Crops steal genes from other species to accelerate evolution Grass crops are able to bend the rules of evolution by borrowing genes from their neighbours, giving them a competitive advantage, a new study has revealed.
Underappreciated plant vulnerabilities to heat waves
Breshears et al. summarize recent findings related to heat wave impacts including: sublethal and lethal effects at leaf and plant scales, secondary ecosystem effects, and more complex impacts such as increased heat wave frequency across all seasons, and interactions with other disturbances.
Gardening, but not just for bumblebees ā www.botany.one A book that promises information about gardening for bumblebees delivers much more.
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