🌻 The Week in Botany November 27, 2023

I’m trying a different method of spotting the popular stories and papers getting shared on social media. This week, they’re pulled from Twitter, Mastodon, LinkedIn and Threads. The idea is to be prepared for more people leaving Twitter. I think all the platforms have a problem with hate speech, but one, in particular, seems to think the best way to stop people from complaining about it is to sue the complainers. Musk has been making it clear I need to plan for a post-Twitter future.

It’s probably exactly the wrong time to start a new system as I plan to be away for the next week. Unfortunately I have to visit a COVID hotspot but, as long as I don’t get it, then I should be able to send another email at the same time next week.

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On Botany One

How to Live on a Hot, Dry Rock: Different Solutions to the Same Problem
Exciting new research unveils the ecological and physiological secrets for different plants to thrive and coexist in an extreme tropical environment.

Seaweed hitchhikers catch a ride on limpets
Scientists discovered that some invasive seaweed can travel from rocky shorelines out into seagrass beds by hitching rides on the backs of foraging limpets, helping the seaweed spread into new habitats and competing with native plants.

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News & Views

Plants are more productive on weekends thanks to cleaner air
Satellite data from Europe shows that rates of photosynthesis are higher when aerosol levels in the atmosphere are lower, and there is a regular weekly cycle

Canada's Forest Trust Corporation and EcoSchools Canada Launch a New National Green Fundraising Contest
Embarking on a mission to empower Canada’s youth to take action against climate change, EcoSchools Canada and Canada's Forest Trust Corporation (CFT) are thrilled to announce the launch of The Smart Forest Fundraising Contest. Set to run from November 20, 2023, to January 30, 2024, this nationwide initiative invites schools and students across Canada to engage in a unique green fundraising contest at their schools.

The botany behind why cranberries became a Thanksgiving staple
Cranberries are a staple in U.S. households at Thanksgiving – but how did this bog dweller end up on holiday tables?

Five of the Best Indoor Winter Flowering Plants (That Aren’t Poinsettias)
Make a decorative splash with these vibrant winter flowering plants for the holidays.

Florence Bell died unrecognised for her contributions to DNA science – decades on female researchers are still being sidelined
Almost 80 years ago, Florence Bell quietly laid the foundations for one of the biggest landmarks in 20th century science: the discovery of the structure of DNA. But when she died on November 23 2000, her occupation on her death certificate was recorded as “housewife”.

The Fastest Plants On Earth: Speedy Growers, Exploding Mosses, And Underwater Carnivores
These plants are unbeleafably fast.

Healthy plants grown in lunar soil for the first time
Adding a pinch of three types of bacteria to lunar soil could significantly increase its fertility. Here is the proof.

Why Are Some Apples Red Inside?
The color inside these apples is quite a-peel-ing.

Quinoa research punctures 100-year-old theory of odd little 'water balloons'
Quinoa and many other extremely resilient plants are covered with strange balloon-like "bladders" that for 127 years were believed to be responsible for protecting them from drought and salt.

How plants have evolved to fend off hungry predators
Plants are far from passive in the face of ravenous animals seeking to gorge themselves on leaves, flowers, seeds and even wood.

Can impermanent carbon credits really offset forever emissions?
A team of researchers has put forth a method that they say makes it possible to compare credits for carbon from forests projects against more permanent storage solutions.

Poisonous invasive plant exhibits twice as many genes as expected
For the first time ever, scientists have studied the genome of Sosnowsky's hogweed, a poisonous invasive plant whose juice causes skin burns. They found that its genome has nearly twice as many genes as most other plants.

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Scientific Papers

Genetic monitoring for effective plant conservation: An example using the threatened Saxifraga hirculus L. in Scotland (OA)
Many mountain plants persist in small, isolated patches on the verge of extinction. Observational methods of monitoring these populations, such as recording the number of flowering stems, do not indicate the number of genetically distinct individuals, which is crucial information for conserving small populations. Here, the rate of clonal reproduction and number of genetic individuals were measured in the threatened Saxifraga hirculus in Scotland.

H3.1K27me1 loss confers Arabidopsis resistance to Geminivirus by sequestering DNA repair proteins onto host genome (OA)
The H3 methyltransferases ATXR5 and ATXR6 deposit H3.1K27me1 to heterochromatin to prevent genomic instability and transposon re-activation. Wang et al. report that atxr5 atxr6 mutants display robust resistance to Geminivirus. The viral resistance is correlated with activation of DNA repair pathways, but not with transposon re-activation or heterochromatin amplification. They identify RAD51 and RPA1A as partners of virus-encoded Rep protein.

Diversification of flowering plants in space and time (OA)
The rapid diversification and high species richness of flowering plants is regarded as ‘Darwin’s second abominable mystery’. Today the global spatiotemporal pattern of plant diversification remains elusive. Using a newly generated genus-level phylogeny and global distribution data for 14,244 flowering plant genera, Dimitrov et al. describe the diversification dynamics of angiosperms through space and time.

Global warming impairs the olfactory floral signaling in strawberry (OA)
Using chemical analytical, electrophysiological, and behavioral approaches Duran Cordeiro & Dötterl tested whether temperature-induced shifts in floral scent of strawberry affect chemical communication with its main bee pollinators (Apis mellifera, Bombus terrestris, Osmia bicornis). While strawberry flowers in the optimum scenario released 10.4 ng/flower/hour, mainly p-anisaldehyde (81%) and seven other scent compounds, in the warmer scenario, the flowers did not emit any detectable scent. In the behavioral experiments, the pollinators were attracted by the scents of the optimum scenario.

Microbes, the ‘silent third partners’ of bee–angiosperm mutualisms ($)
While bee–angiosperm mutualisms are widely recognized as foundational partnerships that have shaped the diversity and structure of terrestrial ecosystems, these ancient mutualisms have been underpinned by ‘silent third partners’: microbes. Steffan et al. propose reframing the canonical bee–angiosperm partnership as a three-way mutualism between bees, microbes, and angiosperms. This new conceptualization casts microbes as active symbionts, processing and protecting pollen–nectar provisions, consolidating nutrients for bee larvae, enhancing floral attractancy, facilitating plant fertilization, and defending bees and plants from pathogens.

Tree mortality during long-term droughts is lower in structurally complex forest stands (OA)
Increasing drought frequency and severity in a warming climate threaten forest ecosystems with widespread tree deaths. Canopy structure is important in regulating tree mortality during drought, but how it functions remains controversial. Ma et al. show that the interplay between tree size and forest structure explains drought-induced tree mortality during the 2012-2016 California drought. Through an analysis of over one million trees, They find that tree mortality rate follows a “negative-positive-negative” piecewise relationship with tree height, and maintains a consistent negative relationship with neighborhood canopy structure (a measure of tree competition).

Higher global gross primary productivity under future climate with more advanced representations of photosynthesis (OA)
Gross primary productivity (GPP) is the key determinant of land carbon uptake, but its representation in terrestrial biosphere models (TBMs) does not reflect our latest physiological understanding. Knauer et al. implemented three empirically well supported but often omitted mechanisms into the TBM CABLE-POP: photosynthetic temperature acclimation, explicit mesophyll conductance, and photosynthetic optimization through redistribution of leaf nitrogen.

The 2020 to 2021 California megafires and their impacts on wildlife habitat (OA)
Fire activity during 2020 to 2021 in California, USA, was unprecedented in the modern record. More than 19,000 km² of forest vegetation burned (10× more than the historical average), potentially affecting the habitat of 508 vertebrate species. Of the >9,000 km² that burned at high severity, 89% occurred in large patches that exceeded historical estimates of maximum high-severity patch size. In this 2-y period, 100 vertebrate species experienced fire across >10% of their geographic range, 16 of which were species of conservation concern.

Integrated global assessment of the natural forest carbon potential (OA)
Forests are a substantial terrestrial carbon sink, but anthropogenic changes in land use and climate have considerably reduced the scale of this system. Remote-sensing estimates to quantify carbon losses from global forests are characterized by considerable uncertainty and we lack a comprehensive ground-sourced evaluation to benchmark these estimates. Mo et al. combine several ground-sourced and satellite-derived approaches to evaluate the scale of the global forest carbon potential outside agricultural and urban lands.

What is the value of biotic seed dispersal in post-fire forest regeneration? (OA)
Forest regeneration largely depends on plant adaptations to survive wildfires or on the recolonization of burnt areas through seed dispersal. However, the value of the service provided by wild animals to postfire forest regeneration remains unevaluated. Benedicto-Royuela et al. estimate the economic value of the biotic seed dispersal service in postfire restoration in Portugal.

Ecological and metabolic implications of the nurse effect of Maihueniopsis camachoi in the Atacama Desert ($)
Plant–plant positive interactions are key drivers of community structure. Yet, the underlying molecular mechanisms of facilitation processes remain unexplored. Díaz et al. investigated the ‘nursing’ effect of Maihueniopsis camachoi, a cactus that thrives in the Atacama Desert between c. 2800 and 3800 m above sea level. They hypothesised that an important protective factor is thermal amelioration of less cold-tolerant species with a corresponding impact on molecular phenotypes.

Assaying effector cell-to-cell mobility in plant tissues identifies hypermobility and indirect manipulation of plasmodesmata ($)
In plants, plasmodesmata establish cytoplasmic continuity between cells to allow for communication and resource exchange across the cell wall. While plant pathogens use plasmodesmata as a pathway for both molecular and physical invasion, the benefits of molecular invasion (cell-to-cell movement of pathogen effectors) are poorly understood. To establish a methodology for identification and characterization of the cell-to-cell mobility of effectors, Ohtsu et al. performed a quantitative live imaging-based screen of candidate effectors of the fungal pathogen Colletotrichum higginsianum.

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Careers

PhD Studentship: Does Fertilizer Placement Play a Key Role in Crop Establishment? Nottingham
The studentship will be based within the group at the University of Nottingham’s world-leading Hounsfield Facility at Sutton Bonington and involve collaboration with scientists at Anglo-American and will also provide a fully funded placement of three months at their facilities. The student will undertake a range of field and laboratory-based experiments where full training (as a beginner) will be provided opportunities to gain key skills across a wide range of interdisciplinary areas including in soil physics/mechanics, X-ray CT imaging, laser ablation tomography and plant-soil interactions. The student will also be able to access the generic training courses offered by the University of Nottingham Researcher Academy.

Research Fellow in Molecular Seed Science, Leeds
Seeds underpin sustainable agriculture and food security, providing the majority of global food. This project will use new data on seed genome stress responses to develop novel markers for seed quality. Genetic, biochemical and high throughput analytical approaches will enable the development of sensitive, robust and high throughput markers applicable to a broad range of crop species. You will use your experience as a seed biologist and skills in molecular analysis of seed quality to design novel assays based on key germination performance indicators for testing in commercial seed lots. The short duration of the project will require someone with proven skills in analysis of gene expression, protein chemistry, seed physiology and DNA damage responses, supported by relevant high impact publications and an international profile in molecular seed biology.

Research Fellow in Aeroponic Willow Cultivation, Surrey
We are delighted to announce an exciting opportunity within the Centre for Environment and Sustainability for a postdoctoral research fellow position in the area of SRC willow production in aeroponics. The position is available for 1.25 years, starting in January 2024. In this role, the research fellow would provide essential support in the delivery of a multi-million large-scale demonstration project, part of the BEIS Biomass Feedstock Innovation Programme. Led by the University of Surrey, you will be joining a team of 15 other scientists, innovators, and industry experts from the University and beyond, including Rothamsted Research, LettUs Grow, and UK Urban AgriTech (UKUAT).

Museum Collections Manager - Botany, Colorado
The CU Museum of Natural History is encouraging applications for The Museum Collections Manager - Botany position. The manager works collaboratively with the section Curator in meeting the goals of the section as they apply to the mission of the museum—contributing to the knowledge of the natural world and human history through research, teaching, and public education—as well as together serving as the stewards for the collections in preservation and accessibility for future generations.

Postdoctoral Research Associate in Plant Comparative Genomics & Phylogenomics, Durham UK
Applications are invited for a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Plant comparative genomics and phylogenomics. The project focuses on the impact of mutualism breakdown on the genome, using the ant-plant symbiotic clade Hydnophytinae (Rubiaceae). The Hydnophytinae contain 105 epiphytic plant species in Australasia, and involve plants with several levels of mutualistic dependence on ants: facultative species inhabited by generalist arboreal ants, obligate species depending on one or two specialized ant species, and species that have secondarily lost the association with ants. The Hydnophytinae offers unmatched evolutionary replication for studying mutualism breakdown due to its abundant breakdown events relative to clade size. The project, funded by ERC/UKRI, is led by Professor Guillaume Chomicki and will investigate the consequences of mutualism breakdown, using Hydnophytinae as a model system.

Lecturer / Assistant Professor in Applied Plant Biology, Dublin
Applications are invited for a temporary post of a Lecturer/Assistant Professor in Applied Plant Biology within UCD School of Agriculture & Food Science. This is a temporary post in the UCD School of Agriculture & Food Science within the Environment & Sustainable Resource Management Section. The appointee will join a team of 19 full-time academics within the Section who are involved with teaching and research in agri-environmental sciences, crop protection, soil science, nutrient management, wildlife conservation, forestry and horticulture. The appointee will be responsible for teaching in applied plant biology, soil science and research skills in agriculture and horticulture.

Laboratory and Research Technician, Oxford
The Section of Molecular Plant Biology (Dept. of Biology) is seeking to recruit a Research Technician. This is a full-time post funded by the BBSRC, working under the direction of Professor Paul Jarvis on the molecular mechanisms of chloroplast functions in plants. We are looking for a suitably experienced researcher to provide technical support and scientific expertise to the research group. The work is to be conducted in the Department of Biology, South Parks Road, Oxford.

Postdoctoral Researcher (Sablowski Group), Norwich
Recent work in the group has focused on the genetic control of cell size. From bacteria to humans, cell size is important for many processes, including exchange of nutrients and signals, cell division and the function of specialized cells. However, how cells achieve and maintain their genetically controlled size has been a longstanding mystery. The Sablowski team has recently shown that in meristem cells, DNA content is used as a reference to adjust cell cycle progression to cell size (doi:10.1126/science.abb4348). The aims of the next phase of this project include identifying protein-chromatin interactions at the core of the cell size control mechanism, revealing how cell size control is linked to cell fate decisions, testing whether the mechanism explains why cell size correlates with genome size, and whether cell size control has been re-calibrated during the evolution of polyploid plants.

Senior Research Officer, School of Life Sciences, Essex
The RIPE project aims to address the challenge of food security through improvement of photosynthesis and at Essex our group has made significant advances in this area. This post offers an exciting and exceptional opportunity for a highly motivated postdoctoral researcher to join our multidisciplinary RIPE group of five post-doctoral researchers, and research technician focussing on the improvement of photosynthesis. We are looking for a candidate with an interest in and an understanding of the photosynthesis and who has experience in the areas of plant biochemistry and/or plant metabolism. This project will focus on the characterization of photosynthetic enzymes and the production and analysis of transgenic plants with improved photosynthesis. Candidates should have excellent communication skills, the ability to work both independently and as a productive member of the team. This post is available immediately and is funded for an initial period of 18 months.

Freelance science writer opportunity for the SEB
The SEB is looking for new science writers to commission articles for the website and magazine. This is an excellent opportunity to create/increase your portfolio and build experience as a freelance science writer. It is important to highlight we already have freelance science writers who work with SEB, but we are expanding our cohort. We have two spots available for this paid opportunity, and the work is on-demand based on articles commissioned. If successful, you will get paid by invoice. We can help you to put together an invoice for the first time if needed. Articles are commissioned at a standard rate of £100 per 500 words.

PhD student (M/W) : Revealing the role of autotoxicity protection for defense metabolism innovations in Solanaceae using a multiomics approach, Strasbourg
The PhD student (M/W) will be affiliated with the Institut de Biologie Moléculaire des Plantes (IBMP) and the doctoral school 414 “Health and Life Sciences” of Strasbourg, France. The IBMP is the largest CNRS institute working on plant biology, located on the Esplanade campus of the University of Strasbourg, near the city's historic center. The IBMP provides a research of excellence aiming, through the study of fundamental processes of the life of plants, to answer social challenges in nutrition, health and environment. The institute hosts 16 teams and state of the art platforms in imaging, metabolomics, gene expression analyses and plant production. The doctoral thesis will be carried out in the team “Evolution and Diversity of Plant Metabolism” led by Emmanuel Gaquerel (IBMP) and involves regular exchanges and visits, as part of the ANR-DFG EVOMET project, with the partner laboratory of Prof. Dr. Shuqing Xu from the University of Mainz.

Assistant or Associate Professor of Biology, Tenure-Track, Virginia
The University of Lynchburg invites applications for a full-time, tenure-track position in botany or plant biology at the Assistant or Associate Professor level beginning in the 2024-25 academic year. The candidate should demonstrate exceptional potential as a teacher and scholar who can contribute to our undergraduate programs and complement existing departmental strengths. The ideal candidate will have a strong background in plant biology and will be able to teach departmentally-designed introductory core major courses, a 200-level course in plant biology, and additional courses in the major core and in the candidate’s area of expertise. In addition, candidates should be able to mentor students in undergraduate research projects.