Flora Quest. Exploring Plant Diversity (Grades 7-8, rising) Embark on an exciting journey of discovery as we explore the amazing diversity of plants all around us. In this hands-on class, you'll visit a greenhouse, explore the dry pressed plants at the herbarium, and take walks around campus to learn about the fascinating plants that surround us every day. As part of the class, you'll create your own mini plant collection, with the opportunity to contribute your best specimens to the UT Herbarium. Along the way, you'll deepen your understanding of the diverse world of plants and grow your appreciation for the natural world. This camp is supported by a grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation (DEB-2046467).

Calling all curious middle schoolers! 🌿 Join us on a Flora Quest, a KidsU Summer Camp @utknoxville.bsky.social!

Please help us spread the word! @utkherbarium.bsky.social @wildones-smokymts.bsky.social

Coffee with a Curator Join us for our monthly seminars on the last Friday of the month at 1 PM Central/2 PM Eastern. We hope to see you there! Please submit your information and we will send you the zoom link prior to the talk.

(Note this is not our typical time, the last week of the month, due to the Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage in the Smoky Mountains).
Anyone interested can join us! Here’s a link to sign up: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

The @herbariumcurators.bsky.socialSE USA Chapter is pleased to invite you to Coffee with a Curator:
Our next installment of Coffee with a Curator is Megan King presenting a tour of the Chrysler Herbarium at Rutgers University (CHRB) on Friday, April 17th at 1pm CT/ 2pm ET.

The state of herbarium specimen backlogs: Perspectives from bryophyte collections An herbarium must have its specimens processed, identified and accessioned so that members of the botanical community can readily consult these materials. However, many herbaria struggle to keep up wi...

@herbariumcurators.bsky.social @botsocamerica.bsky.social @utknoxville.bsky.social @utkherbarium.bsky.social

Then these specimens can be moved into the active collections and the specimen data can be shared with researchers from around the world via public databases.
bryophyteportal.org/portal/index...
lichenportal.org/portal/index...
mycoportal.org/portal/

The state of herbarium specimen backlogs: Perspectives from bryophyte collections An herbarium must have its specimens processed, identified and accessioned so that members of the botanical community can readily consult these materials. However, many herbaria struggle to keep up wi...

Check out our new paper focusing on unaccessioned herbarium specimens. nhcm.pensoft.net/article/1829...
We found that bryophytes and fungi/lichens were over-represented in the specimen backlog, compared to vascular plants. This highlights the need for more bryophyte and fungi/lichen identification!

Scholarships are available for students to help offset the registration costs for this 3-credit, on campus, in-person course that does not have prerequisites (May 15-29, 2026). For more info, to reserve your spot in this course, and apply for the scholarship, please email Dr. Budke - jbudke@utk.edu.

In this course, students will gain skills in plant ID, DNA sequence generation, herbarium specimens, and morphological evolution. The skills students gain will enhance their ability to succeed in scientific research careers, such as field biology, natural history collections, and molecular biology.

Dive deep in a two-week, May mini-term course, with a hands-on learning experience focusing on Fieldwork and molecular biology research using plant natural history collections. EEB 466: Immersion in Collections Research

We are currently recruiting @utknoxville.bsky.social students to sign up for our May-term course, EEB 466: Immersions in Collection Research. Please share widely!

Coffee with a Curator Join us for our monthly seminars on the last Friday of the month at 1 PM Central/2 PM Eastern. We hope to see you there! Please submit your information and we will send you the zoom link prior to th...

Anyone interested can join us! Here’s a link to sign up:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

The @herbariumcurators.bsky.social SE USA Chapter is pleased to invite you to Coffee with a Curator:

Demetra Kandalepas will present a tour of the Glen N. Montz Herbarium at Southeastern Louisiana University (SELU) on Friday, March 20th at 1pm CT/ 2pm ET. (Note this is not our typical time.)

My former grad student Eric Shershen just published the researcher from his second chapter! @utknoxville.bsky.social @utkherbarium.bsky.social Check it out at the link below!

Coffee with a Curator Join us for our monthly seminars on the last Friday of the month at 1 PM Central/2 PM Eastern. We hope to see you there! Please submit your information and we will send you the zoom link prior to th...

Anyone interested can join us! For those who are not already SHC-SEUSA members, here's a Google Sign-up to receive the Zoom link: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Line drawing of coffee plant.

The @herbariumcurators.bsky.social SE USA chapter invites you to Coffee with a Curator:
Our next installment will be Clara Minnich from Marshall University Herbarium (MUHW) presenting on Herbarium DNA: A Complicated History of the Destructive Sampling Paradox on Friday, Nov 21st at 1pm CT/2pm ET.

Scholarships are available for students help offset the registration costs for this 3-credit, on campus, in-person course without prerequisites (May 15-29, 2026). For more information, to reserve your spot in this course, and apply for the scholarship, please email Dr. Budke - jbudke@utk.edu.

In this course, students will gain skills in plant identification, DNA sequence data, specimen collection, & morphological evolution. The skills students gain will enhance their ability to succeed in scientific research careers, such as field biology, natural history collections, & molecular bio.

It feels like winter today in Knoxville, but I am already thinking about spring! Spread the word to any students looking for advanced EEB classes. Students can send me an email to pre-register for the course now!

If you want the Forest Service to be anything other than just a logging company get in those public comments, people

Bryophytes hold a larger gene family space than vascular plants - Nature Genetics A super-pangenome analysis incorporating 123 newly sequenced bryophyte genomes reveals that bryophytes exhibit a larger number of unique and lineage-specific gene families than vascular plants.

Very important paper and resource. Bryophyte genomes expanded by one order of magnitude. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

This is no bird! The White Egret Orchid uses its "unique" shape to attract pollinators. 🐞 🦋 🐝

The text at the top reads: “APPS Special Issue Call for Papers: Beyond phylogenomics: Innovative applications of target capture data”. The image beneath the title: On the left side of the image is a large circle divided in two halves: the left side of the circle comprises four images of flowers/herbarium specimens and the right side of the circle contains the text “Target Capture.” Five dotted line arrows point from the large circle to five smaller circles on the right. Smaller circles (clockwise from top): (1) “Off Target”, (2) “Biodiversity assessments”, (3) “Population genomics”, (4) “Evo-Devo”, (5) “Species identification”. The text beneath the image reads: “Proposal deadline November 30, 2025”. The Applications in Plant Sciences logo is in the bottom left corner, and a QR code is in the bottom right corner. Image credit: Yannick Woudstra.

SPECIAL ISSUE CALL FOR PAPERS

#AppsPlantSci invites proposals for “Beyond #phylogenomics: Innovative applications of target capture data,” led by @emcassey.bsky.social, @erikarmoore11.bsky.social, Mafe Torres Jimenez & ‪@yannickwoudstra.bsky.social‬

Deadline 30 Nov 2025

botany.org/home/publica...

Flyer for Botany 2026, themed “Biodiversity at the Boundaries.” The event will be held August 1–5, 2026 in Tucson, Arizona. The circular logo shows a desert landscape with colorful cacti and flowering plants. Large text reads: “Call for symposia, colloquia, and workshop proposals!” The website www.botanyconference.org is listed, along with sponsor logos at the bottom: Botanical Society of America, ASPT, Society of Herbarium Curators, ABLS, IAPT, and American Fern Society.

We’re excited to announce the Call for Symposia, Colloquia, & Workshop Proposals for #Botany2026, Aug. 1–5, 2026 in Tucson, AZ.

Help us explore this year’s theme: Biodiversity at the Boundaries.

There is a hard deadline of October 16 for Symposia and Colloquia proposals.

www.botanyconference.org

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)

The GRFP lives!! (due end of October)
www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

An image of a proposed redesign for the Massachusetts flag: it is a photo collage with a huge Dunkin Donuts at the center with the Harvard "Veritas" seal on the front of the building and a huge lobster plush doll walking out the front of it. The enormous smiling head of Governor Maura Healey rises up from behind the building, with heart-shaped sunglasses pasted over her eyes. Three bros in the lower left of the photo are raising a toast in red Solo cups, and in the lower right a (possibly drunk) young white person wearing a white T-shirt and sunglasses is waving a huge rainbow flag and wearing a rainbow boa. The word "MASSACHUSETTS" appears in the upper right in enormous pink-sprinkled letters in the Dunkin Donuts font.

The submissions for the new Massachusetts seal, flag and motto are up, and my friends, they are a *trip* www.mass.gov/doc/massachu...

MSU Plant Bio is hiring a new herbarium director! Our herbarium is a wonderful resource on campus and I'm excited to have the opportunity to make it even better by bringing in a new director. Details here: plantbiology.natsci.msu.edu/job-postings...

🍄 UGA Plant Pathology is hiring TT faculty in Mycology/Fungal Biology/Fungal Ecology at the Asst/Assc level! Please pass along this opportunity to anyone you know who may be interested. I'm on the search committee and happy to answer questions. 🍄 www.ugajobsearch.com/postings/445...

Logo of the Department of Ecology & Evolution at Stony Brook University, consisting of a tree whose roots are a cladogram.

🚨 Job Alert! 🚨

Assistant Professor in Global Change and Disease Ecology at Stony Brook University, Department of Ecology & Evolution. Deadline: October 1.

#AcademicJobs #tenuretrack #facultyjobs

apply.interfolio.com/171403

(I love being here. Come join!)

@stonybrooku.bsky.social

New PhD position in Plant Ecophysiology🌳 Study how atmospheric & soil drought shape tree carbon & water relations at the VPDrought experiment in Switzerland. Start Jan 2026. Apply here: m.refline.ch/273855/1759/... @wslresearch.bsky.social

Moss-derived microbiome improves crop growth in lunar and Martian soil simulants This study evaluates the potential of a moss–microbe complex, composed of Hypnum plumaeforme and its associated microorganisms, as a bio-based biofert…

Let's go to mars with moss!
Moss-derived microbiome improves crop growth in lunar and Martian soil simulants
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...