🌻 TWiB May 23, 2022
It might look like a quiet week this week, but it's report season. I'm putting in a couple of large ideas, and that all needed writing up. Now they're in, I'm hoping to make more time for writing about Botany again.
As well as writing, I'll also have time for reading. On my list is a surprise special issue from Annals of Botany on Seed biology in the Anthropocene. It's not out yet, but you can get a sneak preview with Rowan Sage's introduction that's just gone into advance access. You should have free access to that. If you don't have free access to the other papers in the special issue yet, you should have it once the issue is formally live.
I have a doctor's appointment today but, assuming they don't keep me, I should be around to send another newsletter next week. Until then, take care.
Alun (webmaster@botany.one)
In Botany One
Why don't plants need sunscreen? — botany.one Plants have no opportunity to get out of the sun into the shade, so how do they avoid damage by UV-B light? The answer lies in the cuticle, the outermost layer of a plant.
Modular models allow users to focus on biology rather than programming — botany.one Presenting BioCro II: an updated software package for modular crop growth simulations.
News & Views
The invaders destroyed the National Gene Bank of Plants of Ukraine — odessa-journal.com One of the world’s largest the National Gene Bank of named after V.Ya. Yuriev National Academy of Agrarian Sciences of Ukraine, located in Kharkiv, was destroyed during the war.
Using social media and open access can radically improve the academic visibility of chapters in edited books — medium.com However conservative your editors and publishers may be, you can get your chapter noticed, read and cited in the communities that matter to you.
Beyond flora and fauna: Why it's time to include fungi in global conservation goals — theconversation.com If you enjoy bread, wine or soy sauce, or have taken penicillin or immunosuppressant drugs, thank fungi, which make all of these products possible. Except for baker’s yeast and button mushrooms, most fungi remain overlooked and thrive hidden in the dark and damp. But scientists agree that they are valuable organisms worth protecting.
Plantwatch: the plants that kill their insect pollinators Jack-in-the-pulpit plants lure in gnats, cover them in pollen and trap them. As they struggle to escape they pollenate female flowers
Native plant gardening for species conservation — phys.org Declining native species could be planted in urban green spaces. Researchers from the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), Leipzig University and other institutions describe how to use this great potential for species protection.
Australia’s tropical rainforests have been dying faster for decades in ‘clear and stark climate warning’ Scientists compare findings of tree study to mass coral bleaching in Great Barrier Reef
Forest found inside massive sinkhole in China — www.washingtonpost.com Researchers say the hole, which spans more than 176 million cubic feet, could be home to previously unidentified plant and animal species.
How to turn a roof into a garden – successfully — www.smh.com.au To look at Andy Beales digging up Jerusalem artichokes and weeding around kale you wouldn’t think he was pushing boundaries. Like any sensible food grower he is shredding garden waste to speed up his composting and laying down straw to encourage worms. His shovel and wheelbarrow sit at the ready. But here’s the thing that I haven’t yet mentioned: he is on a roof – the roof of a suburban shopping centre, no less.
The coming food catastrophe — www.economist.com War is tipping a fragile world towards mass hunger. Fixing that is everyone’s business
Is the world’s oldest tree growing in a ravine in Chile? Conifer is more than 5000 years old, scientist estimates. But some experts are skeptical
What Will We Eat on Mars? Astronauts on the International Space Station have been conducting experiments to grow food, including peppers and radishes. Christina Johnson, a NASA postdoc fellow at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, has been working on a variety of techniques to grow food in space. Learn what she thinks about the future of growing food beyond our planet, including on Mars.
Meet the plant detective helping gardeners and fighting crime Cataloguing biodiversity is just one part of the job for the scientists at the National Herbarium of NSW, whose forensic skills are putting Australia’s plants under the microscope
Scientific Papers
Six decades of warming and drought in the world’s top wheat-producing countries offset the benefits of rising CO2 to yield — www.nature.com
Helman and Bonfil present the first evidence that warming and drought in the world’s leading wheat-producing countries offset the benefits of increasing [CO2] to wheat yield in the last six decades. Using country-level wheat yield census observations, [CO2] records, and gridded climate data in a statistical model based on a well-established methodology, they show that a [CO2] rise of ~ 98 μmol mol−1 increased the yield by 7% in the area of the top-twelve wheat-producing countries, while warming of 1.2 °C and water depletion of ~ 29 mm m−2 reduced the wheat grain yield by ~ 3% and ~ 1%, respectively, in the last six decades (1961–2019).
Plant hormone regulation of abiotic stress responses — www.nature.com
Waadt et al. discuss recent advances in understanding how diverse plant hormones control abiotic stress responses in plants and highlight points of hormonal crosstalk during abiotic stress signalling. Control mechanisms and stress responses mediated by plant hormones including abscisic acid, auxin, brassinosteroids, cytokinins, ethylene and gibberellins are discussed.
Functional susceptibility of tropical forests to climate change create estimates of plant functional diversity and redundancy across the tropics by combining a dataset of 16 morphological, chemical and photosynthetic plant traits sampled from 2,461 individual trees from 74 sites distributed across four continents together with local climate data for the past half century. Our findings suggest a strong link between climate and functional diversity and redundancy with the three trait groups responding similarly across the tropics and climate gradient.
Global forest management data for 2015 at a 100 m resolution
Lesiv et al. produce the first reference data set and a prototype of a globally consistent forest management map with high spatial detail on the most prevalent forest management classes such as intact forests, managed forests with natural regeneration, planted forests, plantation forest (rotation up to 15 years), oil palm plantations, and agroforestry. They developed the reference dataset of 226 K unique locations through a series of expert and crowdsourcing campaigns using Geo-Wiki (https://www.geo-wiki.org/).
The mosaic oat genome gives insights into a uniquely healthy cereal crop — www.nature.com
Kamal et al. present a high-quality reference genome of Avena sativa and close relatives of its diploid (Avena longiglumis, AA, 2n = 14) and tetraploid (Avena insularis, CCDD, 2n = 4x = 28) progenitors. We reveal the mosaic structure of the oat genome, trace large-scale genomic reorganizations in the polyploidization history of oat and illustrate a breeding barrier associated with the genome architecture of oat.
Coupled effects of soil drying and salinity on soil–plant hydraulics
Abdalla et al. used a non-invasive root pressure chamber to measure the E(ψleaf-x) relationship of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) treated with (saline) or without 100 mM NaCl (non-saline conditions). The results were reproduced and interpreted with a soil-plant hydraulic model. Under non-saline conditions, the E(ψleaf-x) relationship became progressively more non-linear as the soil dried (θ ≤ 0.13 cm3 cm−3, ψsoil ≤ -0.08 MPa). Under saline conditions, plants exhibited an earlier non-linearity in the E(ψleaf-x) relationship (θ ≤ 0.15 cm3 cm−3, ψsoil ≤ -0.05 MPa). During soil drying, salinity induced a more negative ψleaf-x at predawn, reduced transpiration rate, and caused a reduction in root hydraulic conductance (from 1.48 × 10−6 to 1.30 × 10−6 cm3 s−1 hPa−1). The model suggested that the marked non-linearity was caused by salt accumulation at the root surface and the consequential osmotic gradients.
Heliotropism in Trillium grandiflorum provides increased reproductive success
Gradito et al. report heliotropism in the white trillium, an early spring blooming species from the temperate forests of eastern North America. The white trillium shows horizontal seasonal heliotropism with flowers mainly facing South throughout their life, but it also exhibits daily horizontal and vertical heliotropism with the orientation of the flower tracking the sun during the day. The study of 479 tethered plants indicated that seasonal heliotropism provides a reproductive advantage to the white trillium with South-facing individuals showing a 12% increase in fertilized ovules compared to North-facing plants.
Cross-biome synthesis of source versus sink limits to tree growth
Cabon et al. examined temporal correlations between trees’ carbon uptake and woody growth by combining data on tree rings and gross primary productivity measures from 78 forests with carbon dioxide flux towers. They found weak correlations between productivity and woody growth, which responded differently to seasonal temperatures and water availability.
Soil carbon sequestration by root exudates Soil carbon sequestration by plant root exudates is an important means for net removal of CO2 content from the atmosphere. The rhizosphere environment in natural ecosystems, such as forests and grasslands, can help to stabilize root exudates in soil, while conditions in croplands do not appear favorable to stabilize root exudates as a soil organic carbon (SOC) source. Thus, preserving forests and grasslands with plant species secreting a high amount of carbon compounds might increase the SOC content in the soil of these ecosystems.
Synthetic biology and opportunities within agricultural crops
Sargent et al. draw upon case studies to demonstrate the potential application of SynBio to improve crop productivity and resistance to various challenges. They outline specific solutions to challenges including fungal diseases, insect pests, heat and drought stress and nutrient acquisition in a range of important crops using the SynBio toolkit.
Differential regulation of flower transpiration during abiotic stress in annual plants
Sinha et al. report that, during a combination of drought and heat stress, soybean plants prioritize transpiration through flowers over transpiration through leaves by opening their flower stomata, while keeping their leaf stomata closed. This acclimation strategy, termed ‘differential transpiration’, lowers flower inner temperature by about 2–3°C, protecting reproductive processes at the expense of vegetative tissues.
Careers
Finding the missing links in salt and water transport in plants | University Scholarships The PhD Scholarship “Finding the missing links in salt and water transport in plants” is fully funded by the University of Adelaide to support a full-time PhD student who is commencing research in the field of Plant Biology. The successful candidate will be working within a team funded by an Australian Research Council grant to Emeritus Professor Steve Tyerman and Dr Megan Shelden and including a Postdoctoral Research Fellow.
Junior Specialist/Ronald lab We are seeking a motivated Junior Specialist in the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of California Davis, to assistant to carry out genetic analysis of rice. Applicants are expected have an interest in genetics, molecular biology and large datasets. The incumbent must be a motivated, organized, independently driven individual who is able to work and collaborate with members of the lab in a professional manner. She/he must therefore have excellent organization skills, including abilities for short term and long term time management. As the major contributor to research studies, the incumbent expected to contribute to scholarly manuscripts, outreach publications and reports, and present work at lab meetings. Work will be conducted in the lab and in campus greenhouses.
Postdoctoral Researcher (Dodd Group) Candidates should have a PhD in chronobiology, plant biology, microbiology, molecular plant-microbe interactions or a related discipline, and demonstrated expertise in molecular or cell biology, or microbiology. Excellent oral and written communication skills are required, alongside quantitative abilities and a demonstrated ability to work independently, effectively and productively within a collaborative scientific research team.
Intermediate Plant Biology Technician A laboratory technician (0.8 FTE, or 1.0 FTE) is required to support research activities within the plant vascular development group based in the Department of Biosciences. The research group works with Arabidopsis thaliana to study developmental biology in plants. You will support the day-to-day operation of the laboratory and will be expected to assist in the laboratory tasks necessary to maintain plant lines under the guidance of academic and postdoctoral staff. You will also contribute to ongoing experimental work and participate in group meetings. Tasks required for general upkeep of the lab will also form part of the workload.
Jr. Specialist - Kliebenstein lab — recruit.ucdavis.edu The Kliebenstein lab (https://psfaculty.plantsciences.ucdavis.edu/kliebenstein/) in the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of California Davis is seeking a Junior Specialist to join the team. The successful candidate will help on projects to the evolution of plant/Botrytis interactions. The Junior Specialist will work closely with postdoc and graduate students, and undergraduate researchers.
VIP² Post Doc Program VIP2 is a postdoctoral fellowship program at the Vienna BioCenter (VBC) offering three – year fellowships that are open to candidates with backgrounds in biology, chemistry, physics, medicine, engineering, computer science, and bioinformatics.
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