Mary Williams @PlantTeaching

Very happy about this nice piece of work by @eugeniapitsili.bsky.social on developmentally controlled cell death in plants @dev-journal.bsky.social‬ !
Special thanks also to @ingridtsang.bsky.social for a terrific editorial job bringing out the best of this manuscript!!
doi.org/10.1242/dev....

College students, professors are making their own AI rules. They don't always agree More than three years after ChatGPT debuted, AI has become a part of everyday life — and professors and students are still figuring out how or if they should use it.

More than three years after ChatGPT debuted, AI has become a part of everyday life — and professors and students are still figuring out how or if they should use it. n.pr/4biVAz8

We recommend a read of the new MBE editorial on how society journals work towards protecting the scientific record.

Publishing in society journals, such as @molbioevol.bsky.social or @genomebiolevol.bsky.social, promotes transparent science that benefits the research community.

Revisiting Europe's temperate forests: Palaeoecological evidence for an herbivory-driven woodland-grassland mosaic biome
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

We are very excited to share a new resource from our team: spatial subcellular proteome maps in plants! We developed an MS-based method that registers localizations of about 8000 proteins in Arabidopsis roots in a single experiment.

(1/9)
www.biorxiv.org/cgi/content/...

High resolution, proteome-wide mapping of subcellular protein localization in plants https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.27.708449v1

🚨Two fully funded PhD opportunities in Australia!

Improving C4 photosynthesis in vegetation models.
Supervised by Dani Way (ANU, Canberra) and myself (UTS, Sydney).

1. Lab- and field-based project at ANU – see flyer below

2. Modelling project at UTS – www.findaphd.com/phds/project...

Webinar: Plant Ecophysiology (Feb 26). Speakers: Amanda Cardoso, Thomas Williams, Sabina Villadangos. Hosted by Agustin Zsögön and moderated by Thomas Depaepe.

We had a great @plantphys.bsky.social webinar last week on the topic of Plant Ecophysiology. If you missed it, no worries. The recording is now available on YouTube!
blog.aspb.org/plant-physio...
📺 youtu.be/uhSXMdv2ZN0?...

There is a week left to apply for two available positions in my lab @ipbhalle.bsky.social

- PhD: ipb-halle.mhm.jobs/12-phd-posit...

- Postdoc: ipb-halle.mhm.jobs/13-postdocto...
Earliest start date: 01/05/2026.

We are interested in plant immune receptor biochemistry and evolution. Please share!

As a forest researcher, I very often (far too often) encounter questions such as: What does a forest researcher do in Spain? Do you even have forests there? The international image of Spain as a mostly desert-like country, and mainly associated with sun and beach,has contributed to this stereotype.

Oh that would be wonderful! I was considering a midnight raid in the park but would never sleep well again with the guilt!
Legit agamous Galanthus sounds would be perfect 💚.

As a developmental geneticist it brings me endless joy. A simple form but oh so wonderful 💚.

Hazel - a tree of wisdom and inspiration, that gives joy with early catkins - one of the very first pollen sources of the year and a lifeline for queen bumblebees now emerging from hibernation. #Wildflowerhour @wildflowerhour.bsky.social

Interreg North-West Europe REBORN. Co-funded by the European Union. Unlocking seagrass restoration in NWE as a BGI and natural capital opportunity Climate and environment. 11 partners from NL, BE, FR, IE, DE. Cooperating from 2026 - 2029. EU funding €2,9 million. Total project budget €4,9 million. Objectives: REBORN unlocks seagrass restoration at scale (>1 ha) in NWE for biodiversity and natural capital gains by simultaneously driving seagrass-related governance, practice and capacity-building to: Drive long-term seagrass restoration governance and policy change in NWE through a multi-actor community of >30 organisations; Test a novel restoration model in -15 ha in collaboration with 250 community members and facilitate its uptake to up to 50,000 ha across NWE; Increase the capacity of 40 organisations (practitioners, community members, businesses, policy makers) as seagrass restoration ambassadors through tailored capacity building modules. reborn.nweurope.eu Map:EuroGeographics Association for the administrative boundaries (NUTS regions).

🐟 Sunday 1st March marks World Seagrass Day🪿 Healthy seagrass is vital for the achievement of the SDGs.

This week, we launched the €4.9m Interreg NWE REBORN Project - feat. 11 partners across 5 countries. Learn more on our latest blog post: www.naturalcapitalireland.com/post/interreg-nwe-reborn

“White, as falls the fleecy shower,
Thy soft form in sweetness grows;
Not more fair the valley’s treasure,
Not more sweet her lily blows.”

— from ‘To a Snowdrop’ by John Langhorne (1735–1779)

Marsh Clubmoss (Lycopodiella inundata) shoots creeping across a wet, bare substrate. The shoots are bottle-brush like, bright yellow-green with narrow, untoothed leaves sticking out from the main stem.

A series of Marsh Clubmoss shoots criss-crossing the flush, looking like a group of yellow-green centipedes running across the muddy ground

**BREAKING NEWS** - Marsh Clubmoss refound in Dunbartonshire, at a site where it was last recorded in 1854!

Being more-or-less evergreen, clubmosses make great botanical targets all year round. With that in mind, I set out to hunt for Marsh Clubmoss near Inveraran on the shore of Loch Lomond 🧵

Top left to right... Red Dead-nettle, Primrose, Daisy, Field Forget-me-not, Winter Aconite, Small nettle, Cowslip, Field Speedwell; Shepherd's Purse, Lesser Celandine, Sweet Violet var. Sulphurea, Dandelion, naturalised Glory of the Snow, Common Snowdrop, Common Storksbill, Eastern Cyclamen, White Dead-nettle; Lesser Periwinkle, Blue Anemone, Petty Spurge, Greater Periwinkle, Yellow Nonea, Purple Toothwort, Dog Mercury, budding Ragwort, Common Chickweed; Daffodil, Groundsel; Intermediate Periwinkle var. alba, Colt's Foot, Red Clover, Comphrey, Sweet Violet, Sweet Violet var. alba, Common Whitlowgrass. (Phew! 😅)

Spring has most definitely sprung around Cambridge this week, Hawthorn and Hazel in leaf, Cherry, Blackthorn and Apple all blossoming - and I found 35 flowers for the final #WildflowerHour #TheWinter10 🙂
Looking forward to the weekly challenges restarting...
Names in ALT text.

Himantoglossum robertianum - Giant Orchid

Female Alder ‘flower’, Malus sp (Cherry), Germander Speedwell, Stinking Hellebore, Lesser Celandine, Dandelion, Wood Avens, Violet, Red Dead-nettle, Ash, Groundsel, Giant Orchid, Cowslip, Blackthorn, White Dead-nettle, Gorse.

Well ! I wasn’t expecting to be adding an orchid to my #thewinter10 but here we are ! 😮 Lots of other lovely spring flowers to choose from too. See ALT text for details @wildflowerhour.bsky.social #WildflowerHour

Hazel flowers. #wildflowerhour

Plants and Habitats: An Introduction to Common Plants and Their Habitats in Britain and Ireland Buy Plants and Habitats (9780957608115): An Introduction to Common Plants and Their Habitats in Britain and Ireland: NHBS - Ben Averis, Ben and Alison Averis

A 2nd edition of my Plants and Habitats book is now out and available from the Natural History Book Store: www.nhbs.com/plants-and-h.... Main differences from 1st edition: many species added and nomenclature & further information (e.g. habitat classifications) updated. I hope people find it useful!

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."

-Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953

First of many! Bluebell in ancient woodland, Plumpton Green, East Sussex #wildflowerhour

Sweet Violet illuminated by winter sunlight against a backdrop of trees, shrubs and just visible below the tree lined horizon a lake.

A sunlit swathe of Sweet Violet making its way through urban Lincolnshire lakeside woodland. #WildflowerHour

Three white violets

One white violet with bright green leaves

A yellow primrose in flower plus two buds.

A childhood favourite. White violets and primroses #Wildflowerhour.

Cherry Plum tree flowers, also in the rain

Thanks to everyone's help last week, I know that these are Cherry Plum flowers! #WildflowerHour

White blossom on a branch, against a blurred grey sky.

Cherry plum, West Cambridge. #WildflowerHour

First flowers of Cow Parsley, Anthriscus sylvestris, in Cherry Hinton Hall Park #Cambridge. Off to a good start as they must bloom and set seed before they are mown down before the Folk Festival 1/2 August. 😬
#WildflowerHour

Ooh, my favourite plant of all.

#WildflowerHour #WildflowerAllotment The thale cress continues to grow and spread...

Field speedwell growing in a crack between pavement and wall outside my house finally opened its petals this week after 4 months in bud, surviving frost and snow. A hardy soul. #WildflowerHour