PlantPeople

PLANT // PEOPLE

Pondering plants and the people who study them.

Taking the acid test to bits

3/15/2018

1 Comment

 
Becky Barak is a plant community and restoration ecologist, a 2017 David H. Smith Fellow and a founder of the website Plant Love Stories. She has wondered about the “acid test” quote for years. 

[Becky writes...] Restoration is an acid test for ecology. 

Raise your hand if you’ve heard that statement before. I’ve heard it before -- in restoration ecology talks, classes and papers. I thought it was a restoration cliche. But when I asked on twitter, I was surprised that more than 70 percent of respondents (thanks for responding, respondents!) hadn’t yet heard this quote. So, what does it mean? Where does it come from? And what the heck is an acid test?

Read More
1 Comment

Firehawks: Nature's Arsonists

2/3/2018

0 Comments

 
​[Anna writes...] Would a bird intentionally spread fires?

Wildfires are known to attract certain birds of prey. These birds aren’t looking to warm their feathers; they’re hoping their next meal will come from the insects and small mammals fleeing the blaze.

​Some raptors have even been reported to spread fires themselves.

Read More
0 Comments

Big green things start tiny

9/19/2016

0 Comments

 
Becky Barak is a Ph.D. candidate in Northwestern University and Chicago Botanic Garden's Graduate Program in Plant Biology and Conservation. She gave an "ignite" talk at this August's Ecological Society of America meeting in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Ignite talks are only 5 minutes, and slides advance automatically every 15 seconds. Becky, and others in her session,  described their research using only the 1,000 most commonly used words in the English language. This fun challenge was inspired by xkcd's "Upgoer Five" cartoon.

Read More
0 Comments

Ecology at a Crossroads

9/16/2016

3 Comments

 
[Anna writes...] The following piece won runner-up in UWE Bristol's SCU Science Writing Competion. for a 700 word article on the "next big thing in science." Read the judge's comments on Anna's work, and the other winners' pieces, here. 

Read More
3 Comments

"No, no, no, you first!" And other species interactions.

6/7/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture this: you're standing out in nature. Look down. What do you see?

Is it plants in your yard? Is it barnacles on a rocky sea shore? Is it a forest floor?

It doesn't matter what it is, as long as you're picturing it! (Mine's a prairie.)

Read More
0 Comments

Are native wildflowers always the best way to attract native pollinators to your garden?

5/22/2016

0 Comments

 
Nearly every eco-savvy gardener knows that native plants are best for attracting native animal species. We plant milkweed for the monarchs and thistles for the finches. With native plants themselves in increasingly short supply in their wild habitats, and increasing evidence that pollinators are in trouble (e.g., Potts et al 2010 in Trends in Ecology & Evolution), the more natives we can plant for the pollinators, the better.
​
But a scientific research paper published in the Journal of Applied Ecology last year (Salisbury et al. 2015) is challenging the assumption that natives are always the way to go.

Read More
0 Comments

    Andy on Twitter
    Anna on Twitter
    Nate on Twitter

    This site is no longer regularly updated, but if you're an early-career plant scientist with something to say, you're welcome (and encouraged!) to submit a post. Contact Anna Funk using this form for information.

    Archives

    July 2020
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    February 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    December 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015

    Categories

    All
    Academia
    Anna's Research
    Birds
    Blog Updates
    Careers
    Climate Change
    Data & Statistics
    Ecological Restoration
    Ecology
    ESA
    Evolution
    External Posts
    Faith+Science
    Field Work
    Food
    Gardening
    GMOs
    Grad School
    Guest Post
    Meyers-Briggs
    Miley Cyrus
    Natural History
    Nature
    Outreach
    Plant Breeding
    Plants
    Pokémon
    Pokémon Go
    Published Research
    Science Communication
    Science News
    Scientific Meetings
    Scientists
    Teaching
    The Legend Of Zelda
    Twitter
    UpGoer Five
    Video Games
    Wildflowers
    Wine

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.