A generalist-pollinated plant endemic to rock outcrops recently expanded to weedy roadside meadow populations where it exhibited reduced flower color variation and less pigmented flowers. A relations...

The Smith Lab at Mississippi State University studies diversification using genomic data, with a focus on terrestrial snails and slugs.

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Incorporation of evolutionary theory into experimental investigations of natural populations was important to the development of plant ecology. We review the prominent role grasses (Poaceae) have play...

Although DNA has built the framework for molecular insights from museum collections, the utility of archival RNA remains largely unexplored. Likely a consequence of the known instability of RNA relative to DNA, this has effectively precluded the use of herbaria for transcriptomics. Here, we challenge the assumption that herbaria cannot be used for transcriptomics by assembling transcriptomes from RNA extracted from herbarium specimens. Through systematic comparison of transcriptomes from fresh-collected, silica-dried, and archival specimens, we demonstrate the suitability of herbarium-derived RNA for transcriptomics. We show the practical applicability of archival mRNA by functionally validating a plant immune receptor synthesized from a specimen collected in 1956. These results contradict the community consensus regarding archival RNA and open the door to subsequent transcriptomic explorations of rare and extinct plant species. Our findings highlight the importance of preserving and utilizing the diversity embedded within herbarium collections.

Lea Richardson on the right, with the rest of the Spring Break 2023 field crew: Zoe Bautista, Daniel Dakduk, and Sebastien Postajian (jby) For more than a year, now, there’s been a hole in th…

University’s botanic garden will use study materials created by John Stevens Henslow, the naturalist’s mentor, 200 years ago Plant specimens and teaching materials that inspired Charles Darwin and qualified him to work as a naturalist on HMS Beagle have been unearthed from an archive in Cambridge and will be used for the first time to teach contemporary students about botany. The fragile specimens, ink drawings and watercolour illustrations of plants belonged to Darwin’s teacher and mentor, Prof John Stevens Henslow, and have been stored in Cambridge University’s herbarium for nearly 200 years. Continue reading...

Postzygotic reproductive isolation is often thought to accumulate as a byproduct of neutral divergence. Yet it frequently evolves rapidly, in line wit…

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Seabirds are top predators and nutrient cyclers in marine island ecosystems, but are threatened by risk of extinction. This Review explores the circular seabird economy around islands and discusses ho...

Premise Stable transformation is the biggest barrier to studying gene function in plants. In most species, transformation requires tissue culture and regeneration methods that may be arduous and cau...

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The large herbivores stimulate plant growth by cycling carbon and nitrogen in the soils of Yellowstone National Park, showing benefits of free-roaming wildlife

The Atlanta Botanical Garden seeks a highly qualified scientist with training in plant population genetics to serve in the role of Research Scientist in Genetics within the Southeastern Center for Con...

AbstractBackground. Floral diversity, a striking feature of angiosperm evolution, provides the impetus and rationale for linking pollinator-driven selectio

Most Texans picture honey bees or bumble bees when they think of pollinators, but the majority of the state’s native bees are solitary insects that make their homes underground