The Week in Botany November 2, 2026

I think we've hit peak Fall in my part of the world. A day ago the trees were all green, and now there is a blanket of red maple leaves on the ground. Tree canopies are brilliant shades of purple, red, orange, and yellow. It's amazing how quickly it all changes. As I take in the views of Autumn, some of you are taking in the sights of Spring. For me, both seasons bring a sense of renewal.

And while we enjoy the seasonal changes, some things will stay the same – there will be another email sharing what we've posted, as well as the stories you're sharing on Mastodon and Bluesky, and career postings at the usual time next week.

Until then, take care,

Sarah (webmaster@botany.one)

On Botany One

Seasons and Fire Set the Bee Menu in the Brazilian Cerrado
Study reveals that weekly floral turnover outweighs spatial distance and demonstrates how fire rebalances resource sharing among bees

Seeds of Change
Black spruce seeds get smaller as trees get farther north, but this change holds hidden advantages to survival and germination

Sean Hoban: Turning Plant Science into Conservation Action
Botany One interviews Dr Sean Hoban, a conservation biologist investigating the genetic diversity hidden within plant species and how we can better protect it.

The Perfect Crime in Slow Motion: The Bugs That Steal From Australia’s Carnivorous Plants
A fascinating study in Austral Ecology shows how Setocoris bugs have perfected the art of opportunism. Instead of hatching at random, these tiny thieves awaken just as Drosera species reach peak stickiness, securing a continuous feast of stolen prey.

How closely related plant species stay separate
A new study shows how differences in flower traits, pollinators preferences and other reproductive barriers help keep two closely related plant species separate, even though they can still produce healthy hybrid offspring.

There was also Science Shared, Sudoku Garden celebrated Nos Calan Gaeaf, and Tagetes erecta (Mexican marigold) was Plant of the Week in honour of Día de los Muertos. You can also see last week's Week in Botany too.

In AoBC Publications

• The interplay between root morphological plasticity and mucilage production facilitates drought adaptation across soil textures
• Developmental constraints on bisexuality in compound cones of Ephedra (Gnetales) and implications on the independent origin of bisexual flowers
• Convergent evolution of inflorescence-like units and syncephalia in Asteraceae
  

News & Views

Gene-edited bananas that don’t go brown could hit UK supermarkets
Scientific breakthrough could reduce food waste and make it easier to add the fruit to prepackaged food
theguardian.com

Solar power and smarter farming reshaping Ethiopian lives and livelihoods
Solar irrigation helps farmers cut fuel costs and adapt to climate change, while stakeholders explore scaling.
iwmi.org

Botanical Photographer of the Year
The BSBI is for everyone who cares about the wild plants of Britain and Ireland.
bsbi.org

2027 ROOT & SHOOT travel awards now open! – ROOT & SHOOT
rootandshoot.org

Poster contest| World Food Day | Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
What comes to your mind when you think of a water and food secure world? Join the World Food Day Poster Contest and show your creativity by designing a poster. To participate, you must be aged 5-19. The deadline for entries is 6 November.
fao.org

The threat of global change for Arctic vegetation
When standing on the top of a mountain in northern Scandinavia on a cold spring day, I find it easy to be impressed by the vastness and harshness of the Arctic. A wilderness that seems to fit the v…
the3dlab.org

Vegetation shifts in boreal ombrotrophic peatlands following road construction
Peatlands are wetlands that are almost always waterlogged, where decaying plant fragments have been accumulating for thousands of years. This process...
vegsciblog.org

What can Scottish Farmers Learn from the Norwegian Approach to Integrating Forestry, Farming and Nature Restoration? | Helping farmers in Scotland
Despite being separated by the North Sea, Norway and Scotland share many characteristics that have shaped both their rural landscapes and farming systems.
fas.scot

Beyond nitrogen: hidden traits could unlock the secrets of tropical legumes
Tropical forests are full of quiet architects. Among them, one plant family stands out for its sheer abundance and diversity: the legumes, known scientifically as Fabaceae. For decades, ecologists...
scienmag.com

Otago man fills farmland with sprawling kauri forest – by hand
It's likely to be the largest hand-planted New Zealand kauri forest in existence.
1news.co.nz

Science Shared

Three botany papers widely shared on Bluesky this past week were:

1. Fern phloem evolution records a trend of decreasing conductivity through geological time
Fu, Z. et al. · Nature Plants · 1 post · 51 likes · 28 reposts on Bluesky

Here we substantially extend the evidence for phloem evolution by carrying out a histological investigation of phloem conducting cells, termed sieve elements, in 26 extant fern species spanning 21 families and making over 18,000 measurements.

2. Root hairs and mycorrhiza represent alternative phylogenetically conserved strategies for belowground absorptive surface maximization
Bergmann, J. et al. · New Phytologist · 2 posts · 47 likes · 17 reposts on Bluesky

Root hairs – a major structure for nutrient uptake and cheap to build – increase the absorptive root surface. As such, they are an important component of plant resource economics but largely neglected in root economic concepts so far.

3. Embryonal degreening and seed longevity require plastid
LEA
proteins
Brandt, D. et al. · New Phytologist · 2 posts · 35 likes · 20 reposts on Bluesky

By serendipity, we observed a stay‐green seed phenotype in an Arabidopsis thaliana mutant lacking two LATE EMBRYOGENESIS ABUNDANT (LEA) proteins, LEA42 and LEA48, which we identified as the most abundant LEA proteins in seed mitochondria and plastids.

You can see the full list with more details at Science Shared: October 31.

Careers on Bluesky

Please note these are not jobs I am offering. Nor can I help you with any visa requirements. At time of writing there are around 60 other jobs posted at Botany One.

Cover Image: Drosera capensis: the Cape Sundew. Image by Don Loarie (iNaturalist, CC BY 4.0).