Kayla and I spent a gorgeous few days in Arkansas collecting maternal population vouchers of Crateagus ouachitensis for our team’s Priority US Trees Conservation Grant. Big thanks to the folks at Arkansas State Parks for helping us get the timing just right! #conservation #botanicgardens #usbg #bgci
Image with text to email your senators to urge them not to confirm Jim O’Neill as Director of the National Science Foundation.
Email your senators to urge them not to confirm Jim O’Neill as Director of the National Science Foundation.
He's not a scientist, has no relevant expertise, promoted vaccine misinformation, helped gut the CDC, and his Silicon Valley ties raise questions about protecting the public interest.
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Our paper is out in MBE! doi.org/10.1093/molb...
We tracked TF binding site evolution across 589 grass species, and found that while binding preferences are pretty stable over 80 million years of evolution, individual binding sites have turned over a lot.
Thread here: bsky.app/profile/char...
Super proud of @alyssa-phillips.bsky.social 's paper, now out on biorxiv! She resolves the origin(s) of polyploid big blue-stem, a dominant species in the midwest tall-grass prairie. Her common garden analysis also informs on environmental adaptation and hints at the impacts of polyploidy.
Congrats @alyssa-phillips.bsky.social !
In Ste. Genevieve, volunteers with Abide in Love are helping ICE detainees stay in touch with their families.
“Can you imagine not knowing where your spouse is for five or six days?" said one Abide in Love volunteer.
Had a wonderful time at #botany2025 this year in Palm Springs with my work bestie! Already missing the desert 🏝️ #botany #plantconservation
Marian Lea presents a slide showing the layout of a NEON site.
Starting off the final day at #Botany2025 with an analysis of post-fire change in vegetation at National Ecological Observatory Network #NEON sites. #Rosaceae and #Poaceae showed biggest changes with big gains for Bromus tectorum and Vulpia spp.
#Botany2025 moratorium on
“But it’s a dry heat.”
Heading to #Botany2025? Curious how plants thrive in extreme deserts and drylands? Don't miss our Dryland Floras colloquium, we've lined up a great session! 🌵☀️
🗓️ Monday, July 28 | 🕗 8:00am–12:00pm | 📍 Mojave Learning Center
Not a lot has been said about the inside covers of the new Southern Reach paperbacks, but take a look at the ones for Absolution. Gorgeous morphing of swamp sunflowers. Really, the whole package is so beautiful.
Can't wait for #Botany2025! If you like Andropogoneae or Tropicos, please stop by my poster session for "The Andropogoneae Extended Specimen Project: Implementation"
I know some of my climate colleagues have been downloading documents and website content from both climate.gov and globalchange.gov websites before they were stripped of content or shut down entirely.
But is there a single new mirror site that has these all together? Anyone know?
BREAKING NEWS: Senator Mike Lee Forced to Withdraw Plan to Sell Public Lands
Thank you to everyone who spoke up by emailing and calling your senators. Your opposition worked, and over a million acres of public lands have been saved as a result.
NONE in Life science?! NONE?!
Hey #botany2025 friends, is anyone going to the conference who wants to volunteer to be the "host" of the Botanists of Color affinity group meetup? The initial host can't attend the meetings :( Being host = being the contact person w/ BSA, and maybe saying a few welcome statements before event.
Let me tell you how well iNat works right now.
3 yrs ago, I saw & posted something unusual for an arid sagebrush ecosystem. Noted it as Coral Fungi, confirmed ID & good enough.
But this past Spring, humans with real experience & knowledge constructively debated the observation.
This is the way.
The Los Angeles Police Department has stated that demonstrations in the city have remained peaceful. Let that sink in.
Thanks for the shout out 💚 @mobotgarden.bsky.social
I work with some phenomenal women
discoverandshare.org/2025/03/18/m...
Screenshot of the Botanical Society of America's statement on Supporting our Community and Making our Voices Heard.
🌱 BSA issues statement on Supporting our Community & Making our Voices Heard 🌱
"We are absolutely committed to supporting the well-being of all our members by providing safe spaces where they can connect, collaborate, and develop professionally."
mailchi.mp/botany.org/b...
#botany #iamabotanist
Image text: ASPB Reaffirms Its Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion. Statement from ASPB’s Board of Directors, February 11, 2025. Featuring ASPB logo.
ASPB "remains committed to robustly supporting and strongly advocating for diversity and inclusion in the plant sciences, period."
Read full statement 👉 blog.aspb.org/aspb-reaffirms-its-commi...
Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood. Marie Curie, Physicist and chemist.
Today is International Day of Women & Girls in Science.
Marie Curie, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize. Her contributions have left an indelible mark on the world of science & health & continue to inspire generations of scientists & innovators. 🔬 #WomenInScience #WomenInSTEM
Thank you!
This image shows part of the capitol in DC and the text: Botanical Society of America Public Policy Award. Deadline February 21, 2025.
Early-career botanists: Apply for the BSA Public Policy Award!
Attend Congressional Visits Day (April 28-30, 2025) in DC, receive policy training & advocate for science.
Apply by Feb 21!
botany.org/home/awards/...
#BSAawards #BSAEarlyCareerScientists #IamaBotanist
list of banned keywords
🚨BREAKING. From a program officer at the National Science Foundation, a list of keywords that can cause a grant to be pulled. I will be sharing screenshots of these keywords along with a decision tree. Please share widely. This is a crisis for academic freedom & science.
Make them tell you, specifically, what you're not allowed to do. Don't make changes you guess that they want. Don't offer them a menu of things that you infer they might be telling you not to do. Do the work you proposed, and received funding to do, unless instructed otherwise in specific detail.
My NSF panel later this week finally officially cancelled. "Aim to reschedule." I'm so sad for the early career folks who this will impact - I hope this can get rescheduled so that funding decisions can still be made... 🧪
A screenshot of the linked website, with nine Andropogoneae species (Andropogon chinensis, Andropogon gerardi, Andropogon burmanicus, Anatherum virginicum, Bothriochloa laguroides, Chrysopogon serrulatus, Cymbopogon citratus, Cymbopogon refractus, Elionurus tripsacoides, Hemarthria compressa, Heteropogon contortus, and Ischaemum rugosum).
A monumental effort -- huge thanks to everybody involved! And see what individual plants and their genomes look like here: mcstitzer.github.io/panand_assemblies
I'm brand new here!
I had an absolute blast searching, coordinating, and collecting wild Andropogoneae for this project. Congrats to Michelle Stitzer and everyone involved!