In Defense of Plants Podcast

Chara represent the earliest stages of true plant evolution. They are also model organisms for a wide variety of research questions. Join me as we revisit an intriguing discussion with Dr. Mary Bisson from the University at Buffalo. This episode was produced in part by Sea, Shannon, Thomas, Will, Jamie, Waverly, Brent, Tanner, Rick, Kazys, Dorothy, Katherine, Emily, Theo, Nichole, Paul, Karen, Ran...

This episode celebrates moths as pollinators. We ignore or even malign moths at our own peril. Dr. Stephen Robertson joins us to talk about how even crop pests can act as important pollinators. From their bewildering numbers to the ways they interact with daytime pollinators, Dr. Robertson will open your mind to the amazing and understudied world of moth pollination. This episode was produced in p...

What drives orchid evolution? Why are places like Colombia so rich in orchid diversity? What constitutes a species across different orchid genera? Questions like these are what drive Dr. Tatiana Arias' research. Join us as we explore how she is attempting to tackle said questions and more. This episode was produced in part by Sea, Shannon, Thomas, Will, Jamie, Waverly, Brent, Tanner, Rick, Kazys,...

With approximately 60 species spread across four families, seagrasses are a wonderfully diverse group of marine aquatic plants. They are also extremely important both ecologically and economically. From supporting massive fisheries and reducing erosion to sequestering massive quantities of greenhouse gases, simply put, we can't overemphasize the importance of seagrasses across the globe. Unfortuna...

Lycopods and their relatives enjoy a nearly global distribution today, but extant diversity is still a mere shadow of what it once was. My guest today is Paleobotanist Meg Nibbelink and she is working to understand just how much this charismatic group of plants has changed over their long history on this planet. Join us for a fun and interesting conversation hundreds of millions of years in the ma...

What affects mycorrhizal communities? How do these communities influence trees and their seedlings? Do the relationships differ between angiosperms and gymnosperms? Where do we draw the line between science and conjecture? These questions and more are what drive Dr. Justine Karst's research. Join us as we explore what we do and do not know about common mycorrhizal networks. This episode was produc...

Plants and arthropods have a long evolutionary history that involves plenty of interaction. If you know where to look, evidence of such history can be found in fossil plant remains. We revisit a discussion with Dr. Gussie Maccracken who discovered the oldest remains of one of the most common, yet poorly understood plant/animal mutualisms on our planet. Did you know that many flowering plants produ...

Alabama is known for things like football, but thanks to the efforts of people like Dr. Brian Keener, it is also coming to be known for its bewildering plant diversity. North America's glacial past coupled with Alabama's unique geology means a lot of plants call this region home and some of them are found nowhere else in the world. Join me and Dr. Keener as we discuss Bama botany, describing speci...

In this episode, we continue our journey in the world of mycorrhizal interactions with Dr. Jason Hoeksema. Join us as we investigate the ecological and evolutionary consequences of interactions between trees and mycorrhizal fungi and learn how complex and complicated these relationships truly are. This episode was produced in part by Jamie, Brent, Tanner, Rick, Kazys, Dorothy, Katherine, Emily, Th...

How does habitat size affect plant populations? What happens to plants and insects when two smaller habitats are connected by a habitat corridor? These are the kinds of questions Dr. Julian Resasco likes to ask. Join us for a discussion about the dynamics of habitat fragmentation. This episode was produced in part by Jamie, Brent, Tanner, Rick, Kazys, Dorothy, Katherine, Emily, Theo, Nichole, Paul...

The concept of the wood wide web in which trees are connected with one another via underground fungal networks has captured imaginations around the globe. The idea that trees may be sharing resources and communicating in seemingly altruistic ways is enticing, but is it true? The data suggest that this is more journalistic fiction than fact. Joining us is Dr. Melanie Jones who has spent her entire...

Galls are perplexingly complex and, in many ways, mysterious structures. Galls are induced by another organism living within the tissues of the host plant. They can occur on a variety of plant organs and come in variety of shapes, sizes, and colors. Join and and Dr. Antoine Guiguet as we explore the wonderful world of galls and learn what his work can teach us about their formation. This episode w...

It is impossible to make broad generalizations about the complex relationships between plants and microbes, but such challenges have not stopped Dr. Anny Chung from studying them. As you will here, there is a wide spectrum of possibilities between pest and mutualist, and where any plant/microbe combination falls on that line can depend heavily on context. Moreover, trying to understand how these r...

What makes some plants invasive? This is an extremely complex question with many possible answers, but that hasn't stopped Dr. Kali Mattingly from tackling a piece of the puzzle. From leaf, root, and flower traits to DNA and hybridization, Dr. Mattingly has tackled this work in a variety of ways. Join us as we discuss what she has learned from looking at invasive plants such as lesser celandine (F...

The world of floral mimicry really busts open traditional views on pollination. This spectrum of strategies involves things like poop and carrion mimicry, sexual mimicry, and possibly even fruit mimicry. That is where today's guest comes in. We revisit a conversation with Dr. Kate Goodrich, a chemical ecologist from Widener University who studies floral chemistry in the context of mimicry. Her sys...

As our world becomes increasingly urbanized, understanding how plants adjust to such conditions has never been more important. Cities like New York have a lot to teach us about urban botany. Join me and Botanist Marielle Anzelone as we explore the ups and downs of botany in the Big Apple and learn what she is doing to put native plants in the spotlight. This episode was produced in part by Tanner,...

What started as a question about some strange "seeds" in ant ant nest turned into an explosion of scientific investigations into the links between oaks, gall wasps, and ants. We revisit a conversation with Dr. Robert Warren in which we discuss the mind-blowing evolutionary insights that can come from natural history observations and what they could mean for seed dispersal in spring ephemerals. Thi...

The hemlock woolly adelgid has devastated hemlock populations throughout eastern North America and climate change is only going to make things worse for native Tsuga species. Understanding how to combat such invasive pests is vitally important for species survival and ecosystem health. One fruitful avenue of research involves understanding the capacity for natural resistance in some hemlock trees....

Environmental change is something that all organisms must deal with throughout their life. This is especially true for long-lived plants. Adapt or die is often the only options available for most plants, but predicting their responses can be extremely difficult. That is where people like Dr. Megan DeMarche come in. Using long term datasets on centuries old alpine plants, Dr. DeMarche and her colle...

The group of plants collectively referred to as "duckweeds" are full of superlatives. Duckweeds boast the smallest flowers in the world, the smallest seeds in the world, and are among the fastest growing plants in the world. Despite their small stature, they also play host to a surprisingly diverse microbiome. How this microbiome affects duckweeds, especially in the context of environmental stress...

Thoughts, Memories, Personalities... These aren't concepts that readily jump to mind when someone says bees, but Dr. Stephen Buchmann is here to tell you they should! Join us as we discuss his new book "What a Bee Knows" and what it can teach us about how bees' perception of the world has shaped plants over evolutionary time. This episode was produced in part by Dorothy, Katherine, Emily, Theo, Ni...

When it comes to habitat rehabilitation, making native plant diversity a high priority will greatly increase your chances of success. Healthy, diverse plant communities set the foundation for biodiversity. Such a realization was what set my guest Jeff Talbert on his current career path. This college football coach turned wetland restoration specialist considers himself an accidental botanist but w...

When it comes to plants, there are more unknowns than knowns, even for very familiar species. You never know where even seemingly simple questions can lead you. Such was the case for Dr. Jorge Alberto Santiago-Blay when he decided to ask a question about the beloved redbud tree (Cercis canadensis). What followed was multiple years of collaborative research projects aimed at understanding the life...

The links between plant taxonomy, evolution, geology, and conservation are not always obvious. It can be very difficult to seamlessly tie these worlds together in a meaningful way, but Botanical Curator of the Wertheim Conservatory Dr. Andre Naranjo has managed to do just that. The scrub mints (e.g. Conradina and Dicerandra) have provided him with an amazing window back in time that allows he and...

When Dr. Jon Rebman decided to take on the diversity of cholla cacti, little did he know what he was getting into. Luckily, this work led him down a road stoked by a deep passion for understanding the biodiversity of not only cacti, but the entire flora of southern California and the Baja Peninsula. Dr. Rebman believes in maintaining a classical botanist’s approach to his work and as you will hear...