A black-and-white studio portrait photograph of Emma Lucy Braun, the pioneering American botanist and plant ecologist widely regarded as one of the most influential scientists in the study of eastern North American forests. Shown from the shoulders up against a soft, neutral gradient background, Braun appears in her later years with a calm, intelligent gaze directed straight at the viewer. Her white hair is neatly styled and swept back from her face, and she wears delicate round wire-rimmed glasses. A gentle, knowing half-smile softens her expression, conveying quiet authority, warmth, and scholarly poise. She is dressed in a light-colored, pleated blouse with a gathered neckline and a prominent dark floral brooch pinned at the center of her chest; the visible sleeve features subtle decorative patterning. The tight, centered composition focuses entirely on her face and upper torso, creating an intimate and dignified mood that emphasizes intellect and dignity over ornamentation.

Botanist/plant ecologist E. Lucy Braun is one of the most influential ecologists in North American history.

+ First woman President, Ecological Society of America, 1950
+ Helped establish plant ecology as a rigorous academic discipline

She was born #OTD in 1889. #WomenInSTEM #conservation #ecosky

Love the title, and wish I could have seen the talk! 🫘

‘Science needs defending’: record number of researchers run for office in US mid-terms Many Democrats making the switch to politics are motivated by the Trump administration’s cuts to science — whereas energy and AI are a pull for some Republicans.

“We need people who actually care about the truth sitting in these seats.”
www.nature.com/articles/d41...

If you paid taxes for 2025, you likely paid:

$124 — school lunch & nutrition programs
$49 — diplomacy to prevent wars
$19 — USPS
$19 — Federal Aviation Administration
$18 — national parks

and

$4,049 — weapons and war.

These priorities are hurting us all. We need change. #TaxDay

🦦 🛟🍹😎

Native Plant Trust (Wayland, MA) is hiring a Plant Conservation Scientist!
🌱 maintain research program on native plant conservation and ecological restoration
🫘 curate the conservation seed bank and herbarium
🎓MS, PhD or equivalent experience
💸 $75-85k

www.nativeplanttrust.org/about/jobs-i...

Reconciling wild foods, wildlife management, and ecosystem restoration land uses and values in the UK at University of Kent on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - Reconciling wild foods, wildlife management, and ecosystem restoration land uses and values in the UK at University of Kent, listed on FindAPhD.com

Come do a PhD on ecological restoration and multifunctional landscapes in the UK at DICE @dice-kent.bsky.social, focussing on food, health, and nature 🦌🌱🪸🍗🫀

Fully funded🚨, with both UK and international applicants welcome... Deadline 14th May 23:55!

www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Congrats!! And that first true leaf for black cohosh is the gosh darn cutest!

24 new species found in ocean zone eyed for battery metals mining Researchers pulled 24 tiny new creatures from a deep abyss in the central Pacific Ocean, some with long, spindly legs and others with more squat, compact bodies. Some appeared to feed on the sediment ...

news.mongabay.com/2026/04/24-n...

“While the pair both wanted to be conservationists as children, neither knew they would be on the frontline of Wales' insurance policy against plant extinction.”

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Okay CTA. This is a good sign.

Our colleague needs your help keeping a 1,200-year dataset alive!

If you have botanical expertise or are based near Arashiyama, Kyoto — DM her or email tuna@ourworldindata.org.

The ‘unfair’ job of being a conservationist in a world working against nature Jessie Panazzolo was given a stuffed gorilla when she was 3, and from then on, she always wanted to be a conservationist. But a reasonable career track of being gainfully employed or on a livable…

Conservationists face grueling conditions, low pay, & a rising mental health crisis.

On the Mongabay Newscast with @mikedigirolamo.bsky.social, Jessie Panazzolo discusses "eco-grief" & why the industry must stop exploiting passion to build a more sustainable future for those protecting the planet.

Well this is unexpected

The Gamecocks are incredible, but give me an underdog any day of the week and I’ll take it. Let’s have some great basketball today 🏀

**OMFG! We're playing in the National Championship!**

Yes you are !!

It'll be UCLA/South Carolina on Sunday!

#MarchMadness #WCBB

U.S. Forest Service unveils extensive closures of research facilities Cost-cutting move is expected to cause resignations and turmoil

What will happen to the 82 USFS experimental forests around the country? Many sites have decades-long experiments that are tracking how forests are changed by timber harvesting practices and climate change. As I say here, “you can't just pick up an experimental forest site and move it to SLC.”

Cyclists have more fun

Trump says the U.S. cannot afford child care in wartime. History says otherwise. The U.S. government did “take care of day care” once – and used the defense budget to pay the bill.

"Put simply, 'child care or war' is a false choice. The U.S. has the money to pay for child care, even if we are also funding a costly, unpopular and arguably unconstitutional war. That money is just stuck in the wrong hands."

My latest for @ms.now :

www.ms.now/opinion/trum...

From the state that is going to be in charge of all of the US National Forests.

Trump administration orders dismantling of the U.S. Forest Service Late Tuesday afternoon, with the subtlety of a wrecking ball and the morality of a foreclosure notice, the Trump administration announced the most devastating attack on the U.S. Forest Service in the ...

“They’re destroying more than fifty research facilities across thirty-one states, labs that house decades of irreplaceable long-term science…And they’re replacing all of it — the offices, the scientists, the institutional knowledge, the professional independence — with fifteen political appointees”

A piece of by Martha Rich. Two cat heads on a horizontal piece of card stock with a painterly background. There is a green head on the left and a light orange head on the right. Above the heads are the words “all racists” and below the heads is “are losers.” The text is hand cut from orange-painted paper. Copyright 2026 Martha Rich.

Making art today. Cats know what is what. Martharichartprojects.bigcartel.com

!! Wow, NPR article highlighting botanist @naomibot.bsky.social !!

Green metallic sweat bee hanging out on top of a black eyed susan flower.

Half of my thesis was published today! 🐝🌻 esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

🎉🎉🎉 congrats!!!

a possum carrying three baby possums on a cut off map with a pond barely visible labeled possum party park

A single mom who works two jobs
who loves her kids and never stops

Not All Seeds Survive the Vault: Rethinking Seed Banking for Chile’s Trees The discovery that one in five Chilean tree species has desiccation-sensitive seeds challenges a cornerstone of conservation and calls for innovative solutions.

In my latest post for @botany.one, I present promising research mapping species with recalcitrant seeds among Chile’s tree flora, revealing that one in five cannot be stored in traditional seed banks. doi.org/10.1017/S096...

#Botany #PlantScience 🧪
www.botany.one/not-all-seed...

Chart showing Average Daily ICE Arrests by Criminal Record, 7-Day Rolling Average, October 1, 2024 to March 5, 2026. The data shows that arrests of people with any prior conviction or any pending charge fluctuated between 300-400 a day from June 2025 to March 2026, never spiking much below or above that. By March, arrests of that group had fallen from 380 a day in June 2025 to around 300 a day in March 2025 Arrests of people with any pending charge have fluctuated between 250 and 375 a day. In June 2025 it was around 300 a day. As of March 2026, it is also around 300 a day. By contrast, arrests of people with no criminal record spiked to nearly 600 a day during the Los Angeles operation, and have consistently been above 350. Arrests of this group were above 500 a day from the start of Operation Midway Blitz in September through January. As of March 5, they had fallen to just over 400 a day.

The data we are getting out of ICE now conclusively destroys their "worst of the worst" narrative. Since the Los Angeles raids began in June last year, there has been a massive expansion of ICE arrests against people with no criminal record, while arrests of others remained flat.

Maryland Coalition to Stop the Camps NO CAMPS in Maryland

stopthecampsmaryland.com

Open letter: A call to integrate plant regeneration into sustainability science and policy This Open Letter highlights plant regeneration as a critical and overlooked dimension of ecosystem resilience under global environmental change. Biodiversity monitoring, conservation and agricultural....

Ecosystem resilience depends on successful regeneration - not just adult plant performance - yet these processes remain largely overlooked in monitoring and risk assessments.

Read more: nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...