Susan Gritton Medcalf

Long-term nitrogen deposition reduces the diversity of nitrogen-fixing plants Anthropogenic nitrogen deposition reduces nitrogen-fixing plant diversity, but nitrogen-fixer losses are context dependent.

Cool new paper from my colleague @djli.bsky.social out today on nitrogen deposition and loss of diversity of nitrogen fixing plants! www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Three photos. On the left the yellow flower, leaves and lond seed pods of Horned Poppy. Top left a close-up of the flower, lower left the whole plant in shingle.

On the beach at Minsmere #Suffolk Yellow Horned-poppy, Glaucium flavum, still in flower on the shingle.
#WildFlowerHour

A wonderful #wildflowerhour, huge thanks to everyone that took part this evening! A little more tricky in some places to spot those blooms, with cooler temperatures on the way, is it about to get even harder? Let’s meet again next Sunday to find out! ☺️🌿🌸

Headley Heath, Surrey: a minimum of 30 Hawfinches in the western valleys, mostly active and frequently in view #UKBirding

Integrating datasets from herbarium specimens and images to treat a Neotropical myrtle species complex AbstractBackground and Aims. Herbaria are the most important source of information for plant taxonomic work. Resources and technologies available today, su

Integrating datasets from herbarium specimens and images to treat a Neotropical myrtle species complex ($)
https://botany.fyi/2zhm2w

Gaem et al employ an integrative methodology relying exclusively on herbarium specimens to investigate species boundaries in the Neotropical Myrcia neoobscura complex

Two #plantscience #jobs #fungi #algae #plants 👇🏽

Critically endangered palm planted at Eden Project in Cornwall The Tahina spectabilis is one of the rarest plants on earth with only 29 adult individuals in the wild.

Critically endangered palm planted at Eden Project
https://botany.fyi/e1tti3

One of the rarest plants on earth has been planted in the rainforest biome at the Eden Project in Cornwall.
#Botany

Public Looks to Universities for Climate Change Solutions, New Poll Reveals A majority of British adults expect global research universities to lead the way in developing innovations to combat climate change, according to a recent

A new poll shows that 61% of UK adults believe universities like Cambridge will develop key technologies to reduce climate change impacts, outpacing expectations for government and businesses @Cambridge_Uni scienceblog.com/548787/publi...

Accepting graduate student applications for Ph.D. student in Fall 2025 to work on community assembly mechanisms and prediction in restoration of plant communities. damschenlab.zoology.wisc.edu/2024/10/21/a...

Anyone else going to the Ecological Society of Australia conference in Melbourne this December? I need 5 more people before Blue Sky will let me put together a starter pack to connect us!

Two delightful Snow Bunting on the beach at Budleigh Salterton, Devon. Very confiding, coming within 6 feet of me. A great show for the local birders and of interest to lots of locals asking what they were #UKBirding

Lurking in the compost bin this morning was a meal Moth.
#moths #MothsMatter #TeamMoth #ento #UKwildlife

Lovely to see a Yellow Horned-poppy in flower at Snettisham beach.
#WildflowerHour

Thankful to have some winter bird surveys going on here in Hampshire. Dark-bellied Brent Geese and Curlews the target species. The geese will move on in spring, and then it'll be serious botany time again!

Weasel's Snout Misopates orontium in Hampshire yesterday, at the edge of a maize field.

Details of a spicate cudweed Gamochaeta sp. from Southampton, Hampshire. 1) showing two bisexual florets; 2) individual involucres; 3) stem leaves, upper and lower surfaces; 4) inflorescence. Scale in mm.

I was just forwarded communications from Duke admins that this is true: one of the largest and most active herbaria in the United States is being closed in the middle of an extinction crisis, because Duke leadership does not wish to support the infrastructure costs.

Botanical University Challenge Botanical University Challenge is a fun and educational quiz celebrating plants and the next generation of botanists and plant-aware students. BUC2022 is the biggest ever since we started back in 201...

Exciting team names traditional Botanical University Challenge. Which will you like in BUC2024? Go with the phloem? Cereal killers? The merry STEMs? 28 to choose from. Competition for audience to pick their favourite!! Watch from 14:00 Wednesday 14 February on YouTube youtube.com/@BotanicalUn...

Logos of teams, QR codes to streaming site and for play along sheets at website https://botanicaluniversitychallenge.co.uk/watch-buc-2024-online/

Botanical University Challenge 2024 starts tomorrow 14:00 GMT Wednesday 14 February. Competition of plant knowledge between UK & Irish teams that love plants! See teams, & plant-related courses they study on our YouTube channel. Quiz streams from same channel.🧪🌱🌹🌴🌵🌿🌍
www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZ3r...

UK’s leading agricultural research facility facing funding crisis Exclusive: Rothamsted Research is having to pause ‘non-essential’ work, according to a letter from its director

This could be a major setback for agricultural research. Long term field trials are extremely rare. We need these institutions to prepare agriculture for what's to come with climate change.

www.theguardian.com/science/2024...

Microplastic fibres affect soil fungal communities depending on drought conditions with consequences for ecosystem functions In watered soils, leaching of microplastic toxic substances into the soil decreases fungal richness, while by contrast in droughted soils, microplastics ameliorate soil properties increasing fungal r...

Final version published:

Microplastic fibres affect soil fungal communities depending on drought conditions with consequences for ecosystem functions

🧪🦠🌱

Lozano et al. Environmental Microbiology
doi.org/10.1111/1462...

Find out more about working at Plantlife See all our current vacancies and how to apply. Find out more about working at Plantlife

Interesting opportunity to tender for working with Plantlife to produce a definition of UK Ancient Grassland and to develop a metholodogy for identifying such grassland www.plantlife.org.uk/about-us/car... brought to my attention by @pennymarshwort.bsky.social

An image of a wetland. Overlay text reads: "Areas that are subject to inundation or soil saturation at a frequency and duration, such that the plant communities present are dominated by species adapted to growing in saturated soil conditions, and/or that the soils of the area are chemically and physically modified due to saturation and indicate a lack of oxygen."

📗Nature's Lexicon: Unlocking the enigmatic language of #biodiversity🌱🌏🧪
‌
🔹Peatlands
🔹Marshes
🔹Swamps
🔹Sloughs
🔹Fens
🔹Bogs
🔹Wet meadows...
... are some of the names often used to describe #wetlands.
‌
But what is a wetland according to @‌IPBES? ⬇️
‌
#ForNature #WorldWetlandsDay

Siskins on a feeder

How well do you know your birds?

With the Big Garden Birdwatch taking place this weekend, get prepped and ready by taking our just for fun bird identification quiz.

Test your knowledge and see how many you can successfully identify.
sussexwildlifetrust.typeform.com/to/Homyyhnf

Dates of Botanical University Challenge 2024.

Team joining contest from university hosting live semi & final Botanical University Challenge 2024! University of Oxford. Queens College and Oxford Botanic Garden & Arboretum providing the venue. All contest will be streamed on YouTube for viewing at home!

New research from the lab and Emily Conway's first dissertation chapter: out and #openaccess at Restoration Ecology! Local site conditions, not landscape context, influence restored plant communities within urban contexts

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

An archive shot of the early-flying mining bee Andrena clarkella, always the first to appear at the nest site in the last post

First 2 pages The Thymes, newsletter Botanical University Challenge Issue 6 January 2024

Latest Issue 6 The Thymes, newsletter about 2024 Botanical University Challenge 2024 competition. How to enter. About people asking the questions. Taster questions! How different is it being a post-doc from doing a PhD? Get your copy from: botanicaluniversitychallenge.co.uk/the-thymes/

Dates of Botanical University Challenge 2024. Durham University team has registered.

Another student team in Botanical University Challenge 2024 University of Durham Active with plants from ecology to molecular sciences

New Phytologist desk calendar amid tropical foliage.

New Phytologist is 122 years old today! 🎉

To celebrate, we're giving away copies of our 2024-25 calendar. Everyone who signs up below will get a digital copy, and 122 people will be selected to receive a hard copy.

Sign up by 6th February 2024! 👇
lancasteruni.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...