Education

Plantae Presents: Future of NGS Technologies Featuring Sophien Kamoun, Mary Gehring, and Lothar Kalmbach   When: December 17, 2024, at 8:00 AM PST | 11:00 AM EST | 9:30 PM IST | 12:00 AM Beijing About this Webinar Join us for an insightful webinar, "The Future of NGS Technologies," where leading…

Plantae Presents: Understanding the Process of Choosing Your PhD or Postdoc Lab Featuring Sophien Kamoun, Mary Gehring, and Lothar Kalmbach   When: November 21, 2024, at 8:00 AM PST | 11:00 AM EST | 4:00 PM GMT | 12:00 AM Beijing About this Webinar Deciding on a PhD or postdoc lab is one of…

Plantae Presents: Dealing with Rejection & Finding Motivation During a Slow Patch in Your Research Featuring Daniel Oseiofosu and Pritha Kundu   When: Thursday, October 31, 2024, at 8:00 AM PDT | 11:00 AM EDT | 3:00 PM GMT | 11:00 PM Beijing About this Webinar Navigating the ups and downs…

The development of DNA sequencing technologies has experienced multiple paradigm shifts within just a few decades. From the early efforts to sequence biopolymers to the invention of electrophoretic methods for automated DNA sequencing, the journey has been remarkable (Shendure et al., 2017). As a bioinformatics…

Effective writing is an essential skill for plant scientists, playing a crucial role in various aspects of their professional lives. The skill of scientific writing is first developed during an undergraduate’s degree - where they face the challenges of writing a first protocol or thesis - this journey…

The journey to start a PhD is interesting but can also be challenging for some. Here are a few tips that can be helpful to avoid setbacks in mental health and maintain a peaceful life. This article is generally applicable to all but especially written in the context of plant biology students. Some…

Plantae Presents: Getting the Most Out of Your PhD Featuring Manoj Prasad, Jian You Wang, Somnath Koley, and Justine Braguy   When: September 20, 2024, at 7:00 AM PDT | 10:00 AM EDT | 3:00 PM BST | 10:00 PM Beijing About this Webinar Starting a PhD is both exciting and hard, with many potential…

Research and software sound like a ubiquitous pairing, and indeed STEM students and researchers often rely on software to enhance their productivity in their work. But with the ever-growing numerous software on the market, it can be frustrating to pick the right one to add to your arsenal, especially…

Plantae Presents: World Policies in Plant Science Featuring Susana Perera Valderrama, Félix Moronta and K.C Bansal   When: August 29, 2024, at 8:00 AM PDT | 11:00 AM EDT | 4:00 PM BST | 11:00 PM Beijing About this Webinar In this webinar, renowned experts from various fields of plant science…

Writing a scientific publication entails methodical documentation and communication of research findings to the scientific community. A well-written manuscript presents a clear, concise, and thorough overview of your research, including its context, methodology, findings, and significance. A scientific…

Plantae Presents: Achieving Recognition in the Lab Without Burning Out Featuring Ying-Chen (Jean) Lin, Ling Chuang and Charlotte Gommers   When: Friday, July 26, 2024, at 9:00 AM UTC | 5:00 AM EDT | 10:00 AM BST | 5:00 PM Beijing About this Webinar Join us for an insightful webinar about the…

Why science communication is an important skill? Communicating science is not trivial. It is a skill that requires a level of creativity, interest, and critical thinking. Nevertheless, it is an important skill for scientists. Science communication makes the impact of scientific findings real and…

Population growth and climate change threaten food security and exacerbate agriculture's environmental impact, necessitating a passionate, interdisciplinary community of plant science professionals to engage the public and students (Friesner et al., 2021). By involving young students in hands-on research…

Amidst this bustling world we inhabit, plants stand as silent yet powerful teachers, offering invaluable lessons on stress management. Following are the three key insights that plants provide: Know Your Environment: As sessile beings, plants have mastered the art of adapting to and tolerating the…

Plantae Presents: Navigating Conferences for Beginners Featuring Sjon Hartman and Anna Matuszyńska When: Tuesday, June 18, 2024, at 1:30 PM CET | 7:30 AM EDT | 4:30 AM PDT | 7:30 PM Beijing About this Webinar Attending conferences is more than just presenting research and having a few drinks.…

Plantae Presents: Greener Plates, Brighter Future: The Power of Plant-Based Diets Featuring Batuhan Inanlar and Aitor Sánchez  When: Wednesday, May 22, 2024, at 7:00 AM PDT | 10:00 AM EDT | 3:00 PM BST | 10:00 AM Beijing About this Webinar Join us for an exploration of the transformative potential…

Wherever you might be in your scientific career, whether you are just dipping your toes into science or already conducting research, reading scientific manuscripts, and referencing them in your work is going to be a big part of your life. It is easy to be quickly overwhelmed by the substantial amounts…

Plantae Presents: Exploring Plant Science Research Across the Globe: Insights from Leading Researchers Featuring Federico Ariel, Sónia Negrão, and Felipe Klein Ricachenevsky When: Friday, April 26, 2024, at 8:00 AM PDT | 11:00 AM EDT | 4:00 PM BST | 3:00 PM UTC About this Webinar In this webinar,…

Equality of access to and participation in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) careers paths has been a significant and well-documented social challenge worldwide during the past decades. STEM graduates can aid the development of a highly skilled technical workforce, enabling technological…

Genetic engineering stands at the forefront of scientific innovation, offering transformative possibilities for our world. By pushing the boundaries of molecular biology, scientists demonstrate the capacity to manipulate the genetic code of organisms, including plants, animals, and humans. The recent…

Plantae Presents: Celebrating Women in Plant Science Featuring Dr. Thelma Madzima, Dr. Burcu Alptekin, and Dr. Gitanjali Yadav When: Thursday, March 21, 2024, at 8:00 AM PDT | 11:00 AM EDT | 4:00 PM GMT | 8:30 PM IST About this Webinar Join us for an enriching webinar, "Celebrating Women in Plant…

This infographic presents an overview of four plant model species you might not have considered for your research: Zostera marina, Physcomitrium patens, Lemna spp., and Marchantia polymorpha. Each one is at a different stage of use as a model and we aim to highlight that they can be used to address questions…

Plantae Presents: Plant Science for Startups Featuring Kathleen Hefferon, Maria Sorkin, Adrián López Velarde, Daniel Westcott, and Weslee Glenn When: Friday, February 23, 2024, at 8:00 AM PST | 11:00 AM EST | 4:00 PM GMT | 9:30 PM IST About this Webinar Embark on a transformative journey through…

Plant sciences is a field of study that focuses on plant growth, reproduction, evolution, and adaptation. It is critical in providing food and nutrition to the growing global population, especially in the face of climate change. In addition, plant sciences also provide us with medicine, fibre, and ornamental…

Plantae Presents: Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Plant Science Featuring Sabina Leonelli, Aalt-Jan van Dijk, Alexander White, and Mohsen Yoosefzadeh When: Friday, January 26, 2024, at 7:00 AM PST | 10:00 AM EST | 3:00 PM GMT | 11:00 PM Beijing About this Webinar Plant scientists…

Artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly popular with the advent of its feature tools for research and study. These tools have the potential to make complex things simpler and stipulated time shorter. Integration of AI into plant science could help us to understand, interpret and manipulate…

Genome editing  Genome editing is a technique to alter DNA of specific cells or organisms including bacteria, plants and animals. Genome editing has extensive advantages starting from agricultural research to human disease research. Recent advancement of bacterial or engineered nucleases target and…

In recent years, plant single-cell transcriptomics has been developing rapidly and enabling researchers to study plant organs with high resolution and high throughput information. Single cell transcriptome technology was first reported in 2009 (Tang et al.,2009) and as the name suggests, single cell…

Plantae Presents: Finding Ways to Enhance the Science Public Perception Featuring Craig Cormick, Maria Claudia Segovia Salcedo, and Erin Posthumus When: Monday, December 11, 2023, at 01:00 PM PST | 4:00 PM EST | 9:00 PM GMT | 5:00 AM Beijing About this Webinar Scientific discoveries hold the…

Plantae Presents: Shifting to a New Species/Research Subject Featuring Arif Ashraf, Stacey Harmer, and Norma Pérez Rosas When: Wednesday, November 22, 2023, at 09:00 AM PST | 12:00 PM EST | 5:00 PM GMT | 10:30 PM IST About this Webinar Join us for a groundbreaking webinar as we delve into…

Scientific discoveries can truly revolutionize human society, even though public perception on this matter might be far behind its relevance. In an increasingly interconnected and technologically advanced world, science plays a pivotal role in shaping our lives, addressing global challenges, and driving…

Plant Physiology Webinar: Plant Cell Polarity Celebrating the September 2023 Focus Issue on Plant Cell Polarity Recorded Monday, September 25, 2023 About This Webinar Plant cell polarity plays a pivotal role in the fundamental processes that dictate plant growth, development, and adaptation.…

Plantae Presents: Enhancing Teaching Skills for Plant Scientists Featuring Debayan Bose, Ronda Hamm, Andrea Paterlini, and James Piercy When: Tuesday, September 19, 2023, at 08:00 AM PDT | 11:00 AM EDT | 4:00 PM BST | 11:00 PM Beijing About this Webinar Join us for an engaging webinar where…

In contemporary society, outcomes often take precedence in determining one's identity. During job interviews, a few lines on a CV become the barometer of one's professional experience. Academic prospects hinge on the numerical value of a GPA. All too frequently, self-worth becomes intertwined with measurable…

Plant Cell Webinar: Biomolecular Condensates Celebrating the September 2023 Focus Issue on Biomolecular Condensates Recorded Wednesday, September 13, 2023  12:00 pm UTC   About This Webinar Biomolecular condensates are membrane-less organelles or bodies that often form via liquid–liquid…

Search engines, databases, and literature searches, oh my!   Finding and managing references is a complex task. Luckily there are a number of digital tools that can help this task. In this infographic, ASPB Plantae Fellow Ángel Vergara Cruces presents a series of articles to find, access, organize…

Plantae Presents: Building up the Next Generation of Scientists Featuring Abimbola Owoseni and Sophien Kamoun When: Tuesday, August 29, 2023, at 02:00 PM WAT | 9:00 AM EDT | 2:00 PM BST | 9:00 PM Beijing About this Webinar Cultivating the next generation of scientists is crucial for the continuous…

We are currently being confronted with a multitude of global challenges encompassing critical issues such as climate change, pollution, conservation efforts, and public health concerns. Given the gravity of these issues, it is crucial to be well-informed in order to make responsible decisions for the…

A carefully crafted CV, resume, and cover letter are essential for successfully presenting yourself in today's cutthroat job market. By showcasing your abilities, accomplishments, and credentials, these documents act as your introduction to prospective employers. This article will guide you in creating…

Plantae Presents: How to Write Cover Letters and CVs for Your Dream Job Featuring Jiawen Chen, Rainer Melzer, and Hector Wheatley When: Monday, July 24, 2023, at 09:00 AM PDT | 12:00 PM EDT | 5:00 PM BST | 12:00 AM Beijing About this Webinar This live and interactive discussion will feature…

In plant biology, like any scientific discipline, the ability to efficiently express complex data and ideas is essential both for building knowledge amongst specialists and for disseminating information to the broader public. Graphic design skills have become increasingly important in this regard, as…

In this hands-on guide on how to use R, we hope to provide a general guide on how to use R for your (plant) science needs. Whether you are new to R, or a frequent R-user, through this article we hope to inspire you to take your data analysis to the next level! We provide code examples on how to import…

Plant Cell Webinar: RNA Biology (Part 2) Celebrating the June 2023 Focus Issue on RNA Biology Recorded Wednesday, June 28, 2023 About This Webinar If DNA is the playbook of life, then RNA, in all its forms, is the company of actors that brings life into being. RNA is likely the original organic…

Plantae Presents: Navigating a STEM Career as a Member of the LGBTQ+ Community Featuring Sterling Field, Tim Mak, Michel Geovanni Santiago-Martínez, Kelly Gómez-Campo, Isabel Martinez Rugerio When: Wednesday, June 21, 2023, at 08:00 AM PDT | 11:00 AM EDT | 3:00 PM GMT | 11:00 PM Beijing About…

Plantae Presents: How to Create Widely Accessible and Easily Digestible Research Outputs Featuring Detlef Weigel and Arunabha Bose When: Wednesday, May 31, 2023, at 06:00 AM PDT | 9:00 AM EDT | 1:00 PM GMT | 9:00 AM Beijing About this Webinar The growing need for accessibility of research outputs…

Section I: What to do before writing  There are many researchers and students who have little expertise in writing scientific literature. Scientific writing is a complicated activity, and many people presume that scientific literature is hard to read. However, the skill of scientific writing can be…

Plantae Presents: Setting SMART Goals Featuring José Dinneny and Antonio Molina When: Friday, April 21, 2023, at 10:00 AM PDT | 1:00 PM EDT | 5:00 PM GMT | 1:00 AM Beijing About this Webinar Setting SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) goals is crucial for providing…

Plantae Presents: Building Your Professional Scientific Network Featuring Selene Fernandez-Valverde, Sjon Hartman and Cade Kane When: Tuesday, March 21, 2023, at 07:00 AM PST | 10:00 AM EST | 2:00 PM GMT | 11:00 PM Beijing About this Webinar In this one-hour workshop, Dr. Selene Fernandez-Valverde,…

Plantae Presents: How to Build a Diverse and Inclusive Academic Space Featuring Renetta Garrison Tull and Gurleen Kaur When: Thursday, February 23, 2023, at 09:00 AM PST | 12:00 PM EST | 5:00 PM GMT | 1:00 AM Beijing About this Webinar This one-hour Q&A webinar is designed to provide a…

Plant Cell Webinar: Crop Breeding for Climate Resilience Celebrating the January 2023 Focus Issue on Climate Change and Plant Abiotic Stress Recorded Wednesday, February 22, 2023 About This Webinar In many regions of the world, climate change is leading to increased exposure to abiotic stresses…

It has often been said that the difference between “science” and “messing around” is that in science, you have to write stuff down. Keeping a good written record of your research is a key skill to learn as you progress as a scientist, no matter if you're working in academia, industry, or in the…

Plant Cell Webinar: Plant Responses to Abiotic Stress Celebrating the January 2023 Focus Issue on Climate Change and Plant Abiotic Stress Recorded Tuesday, February 7, 2023, About This Webinar In many regions of the world, climate change is leading to increased exposure to abiotic stresses for…

Many in the scientific community attended the webinar this week with speakers Mary Williams and Michelle Facette, moderated by ASPB Plantae Fellow Xiaohui Li, but for those who didn’t or who want a resource to keep on-hand to help navigate a scientific paper, ASPB Plantae Fellows Rose McNelly and…

Plantae Presents: How to Read a Scientific Paper Featuring Mary Williams and Michelle Facette When: Tuesday, January 17, 2023, at 08:00 AM PST | 11:00 AM EST | 4:00 PM GMT | 12:00 AM Beijing About this Webinar In this one-hour workshop, Dr. Mary Williams and Dr. Michelle Facette will discuss…

In 2022, exciting news broke of Norfolk Plant Sciences’ purple tomato and its USDA approval. Beyond citing the tomatoes’ high antioxidant levels, how can plant biologists best explain how this superfood was made and how it works? ASPB Plantae Fellow Yen Peng Apple Chew prepared infographics to help…

In this episode, we speak with Jennifer Robison, an Assistant Professor of Biology at Manchester University in Indiana. Jennifer received her Bachelor’s degree from Dickinson College, her Master’s degree from the University of Delaware and her PhD from Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis.…

Plant Physiology Webinar: Celebrating the October 2022 Focus Issue on Circadian Rhythms (Part 2) Recorded Tuesday, October 18 2022   About this Webinar Circadian rhythms are ubiquitous across eukaryotes, but are perhaps of particular importance to plants. In all model organisms…

Plant Physiology Webinar: Celebrating the September 2022 Focus Issue on Evolution of Plant Structure and Function Recorded Friday, September 16, 2022   About this Webinar Plant morphology, physiology, and development are shaped by a combination of internal, external, and historical factors…

Plant Cell Webinar: Celebrating the May 2022 Focus Issue on Plant Biotic Interactions Plant Biotic Interactions (Part 2) Recorded May 24, 2022.  About This Webinar As much as half of all the calories produced by plant crops is lost to pathogens. Efforts to strengthen plant immunity have led…

Plant Cell Webinar: Celebrating the May 2022 Focus Issue on Plant Biotic Interactions Plant Biotic Interactions (Part 1)  Recorded Tuesday, May 17, 2022   About This Webinar As much as half of all the calories produced by plant crops is lost to pathogens. Efforts to strengthen plant immunity…

Gene Editing and its Applications Recorded Thursday, April 28, 2022 About This Webinar Recent advancements in gene editing provide unprecedented tools for plant biology research and offer unlimited potential for improving existing crops and de novo domesticating new crops. The Plant Physiology…

The Plant Cell Atlas Focusing New Technologies on the Kingdom that Nourishes the Planet Recorded Thursday, February 10, 2022 8 AM PST (UTC - 8) | 11 AM EST  (UTC - 5)| 4 PM GMT   About This Webinar Recent years have brought technological breakthroughs that provide a new perspective on…

This webinar was held, January 25, 2022 About This Webinar In January 2022, The Plant Cell presents a Focus Issue on Cell Biology. In this Focus Issue, we go back to the “roots” of the journal, and the basis for its name, turning our attention to the many fascinating facets of plant cell biology.…

Recorded Thursday, January 13, 2022 About This Webinar In January 2022, The Plant Cell presents a Focus Issue on Cell Biology. In this Focus Issue, we go back to the “roots” of the journal, and the basis for its name, turning our attention to the many fascinating facets of plant cell biology.…

Membrane transport is essential for nutrition and cellular homeostasis, it plays key roles in signaling and development, and it is a vital component of responses to biotic and abiotic stress. The December 2021 Plant Physiology Focus Issue highlights recent advances in our understanding of the molecular…

This webinar was recorded Thursday, November 18, 2021  About This Webinar This webinar was organized celebrate the November 2021 Plant Physiology Focus Issue on Architecture and Plasticity. It was hosted by the Focus Issue editors, Ronald Pierik, Christian Fankhauser, Lucia Strader, and Neelima…

Plantae Presents: Julia Bailey-Serres and Rashmi Sasidharan “Life in the wet zone: how plants and two moms survive inundation" Recorded April 28  – 10am EDT, 3pm GMT, 4pm CET Julia Bailey-Serres Julia Bailey-Serres is a distinguished professor of genetics and the MacArthur Foundation…

Plantae Presents: Jim Birchler, Evan Forsythe, and Tom Jacobs Special Event: The Plant Cell Focus Issue on the Biology of Plant Genomes Recorded Wednesday, April 21st Advances in genome sequencing have yielded insights into aspects of plant biology; elucidating the course of evolutionary…

  Plantae Presents: Sophia Stone and Sjon Hartman Recorded April 14  Sophia Stone: The ubiquitin-proteasome system at the crossroads of abiotic and biotic stress tolerance Sophia Stone earned her PhD at York University, Canada, and completed an HFSP long-term fellowship at the University…

Plantae Presents: Ksenia Krasileva, Christine Diepenbrock, and Rory Craig Special Event: The Plant Cell Focus Issue on the Biology of Plant Genomes Recorded Wed April 7th – 4 pm EDT, 1 pm PDT 9 pm BST, Thurs April 8th 8 am NZT Advances in genome sequencing have yielded insights…

Plantae Presents Special Event: Claudia Vickers and Guillaume Barbier Special Event: Plant Synthetic Biology Recorded March 31 - 4pm EDT, 9pm BST, Thursday April 1, 7am in Sydney Save the date for the 2021 Plant Synthetic Biology conference (virtual) September 25 – 27. More details…

In November 2018, NAASC hosted an NSF-funded* workshop entitled "Broadening the Impact of Plant Science Through Community-Based Innovation, Evaluation and Sharing of Outreach Programs" at the University of California, Davis. The 3-day workshop was organized by members of NAASC**, and before it started…

Plantae Presents: Yuling Jiao and Lilan Hong Recorded March 24 Yuling Jiao: Stochastic gene expression drives mesophyll protoplast regeneration in Arabidopsis Yuling Jiao is a Research Group Leader at the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences,…

Plantae Presents: Sheng-Yang He and Jonathan Jacobs March 17  -  10am EST, 2pm GMT, 3pm CET Recorded March 17   Sheng Yang He: Plant-pathogen interactions facing a changing climate Sheng-Yang He is a Professor at Duke University and an Investigator at Howard Hughes Medical…

Plantae Presents: Yvon Jaillais, Rosa Laura López-Marqués, and Antje Heese Special Event: Plant Physiology Focus Issue on Dynamic Membranes Recorded March 10th Membranes are highly dynamic structures, with the timescales for turnover of lipid and protein spanning orders of magnitude…

Plantae Presents: Usha Vijayraghavan and Ramesh Sonti March 3:  6am EST, 11 am GMT, 4:30 pm Delhi Usha Vijayraghavan. Codes rice floret development: leads from studies on OsMADS1 regulated gene networks Usha Vijayraghavan obtained her Ph.D. in 1989 from California Institute of Technology,…

Plantae Presents: Malcolm Bennett and Edith Pierre-Jerome Feb 17 -  10am EST, 3pm GMT, 4pm CET Malcolm Bennett: BREAKTHRU: uncovering how roots can sense and penetrate hard soils The hidden half of plant biology has been an enduring interest throughout Malcolm Bennett's 20-year research…

Plantae Presents: Eric Schranz and Caroline Pont Recorded Feb 10 -  10am EST, 3pm GMT, 4pm CET Eric Schranz: Context Matters: Phylogenomic synteny analysis of plants and animals Eric Schranz is currently the professor of Biosystematics at Wageningen University. He was a an undergraduate…

We’re pleased to announce the next in our series of webinars that are drawn from contributed short videos, followed by a panel discussion. This week we’ll look at the topic of specialized metabolites, featuring scientists from the US, Israel, and India, moderated by Gitanjali Yadav. Plants are…

We’re pleased to announce the next in our series of webinars that are drawn from contributed short videos, followed by a panel discussion. This week we’ll look at the topic of specialized metabolites, featuring scientists from France, England, and Brazil, moderated by Gitanjali Yadav. Plants are…

We'll be back! Join us in 2021 for more free Plantae Presents webinars. Here's our schedule so far - mark your calendars! We'll be updating this post regularly with titles and registration links as they are ready. Visit this page for more information about each of these events. All webinars…

Plantae Presents – Zach Lippman and Arjun Khakhar Recorded Wednesday, December 9, 10 am EST, 4 pm CET Zach Lippman: Cis-regulatory control of quantitative trait variation and pleiotropy Zach Lippman is a Professor of Plant Biology at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) and a Howard…

A collective of young plant scientists, known as GeneSprout Initiative, share their research in a December webinar series. What is GeneSprout Initiative? GeneSprout Initiative is a collective of young plant researchers based in the Netherlands and Belgium. We want to increase public engagement…

Plantae Presents: Ning Zheng and Destiny Davis Recorded Wednesday Dec 2 9 pm EST, 6 pm PST Ning Zheng: Structural insights into salicylic acid signaling via NPR proteins Ning Zheng obtained his PhD from University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in 1997 after he attended Fudan University…

Plantae Presents - Carlos Ballaré and Haim Trebes Recorded Wednesday November 25 10am EST, 4pm CET Carlos Ballaré: Phytochrome, jasmonate, and the balance between growth and defense Prof. Carlos L. Ballaré studies the mechanisms by which plants obtain environmental information. Carlos…

Creating Crops for the Future: Challenges, Technology, and Sustainable Solutions A special event hosted by Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis and Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Plant Energy Biology Recorded November 11, 11…

Plantae Presents – Gustavo MacIntosh and Jyothi Vaddasery Recorded Wednesday November 4  10am EST Gustavo MacIntosh: Colonization strategies and resistance responses in soybean-soybean aphid interactions Gustavo MacIntosh joined Iowa State University in August 2003 and he is now a…

Plantae Presents - Evo-devo. What can we learn from comparative studies? Recorded Wednesday, October 28 - 10 am EDT We're pleased to announce the second in our series of webinars that are drawn from contributed short videos, followed by a panel discussion. This week we'll look at the topic of…

Plantae Presents – Elizabeth Vierling and Rodrigo Gutierrez Wednesday October 21 10am EDT, 4 pm CET Elizabeth Vierling: From Chaperones to Mitochondria: Surviving Stress Elizabeth Vierling is  Professor at the University of Massachusettes Amherst and Founding Member of the ASPB Legacy…

Plantae Presents - Claudia Köhler and Sunil K. Kenchanmane Raju Wednesday October 14 10am EDT, 4pm CET   Claudia Köhler: Epigenetic regulation in the endosperm drives plant speciation Claudia Köhler is a Professor of Molecular Cell Biology at the Department of Plant Biology at…

Please enjoy a special edition of Plantae Presents, featuring four Australian Society of Plant Scientists awardees: the joint-winners of the Jan Anderson Award, Crystal Sweetman and Kristine Crous; the winner of the Peter Goldacre Award, Alex Wu; and the winner of the ASPS-FBP Best Paper Award,…

Plantae Presents - Plants and their microbiome, from molecules to ecosystems Recorded Tues Sept 22 (6pm PDT or 9pm EDT) /Wed Sept 23 (10:30 am Adelaide) We're pleased to announce the first in our series of webinars that are drawn from contributed short videos, followed by a panel discussion. This…

Plantae Presents - Sophien Kamoun and Phil Carella Recorded Wednesday September 16 10am EDT, 4pm CET Sophien Kamoun: Evolutionary dynamics of NLR immune receptors in plants Sophien Kamoun is senior scientist at the Sainsbury Laboratory and professor of biology at the University of East Anglia.…

Plantae Presents - Alejandra I. Huerta and Paola Reyes-Caldas  Recorded Tuesday Sep 8, 2020 9:00 PM EDT (6:00 PM PDT) Alejandra I. Huerta: In pursuit of durable disease resistance in rice: Exploiting effectors, allelic variation and MAGIC Alejandra I. Huerta is an Assistant Professor of Phytobacteriology…

Research network presents action plan for the plant science community to maximize impact on pressing global issues such as human health and climate change.  Plant science research has tremendous potential to address pressing global issues including climate change, food insecurity and sustainability.…

With society summer conferences going online, the Plant Science Research Network has hosted a series of virtual discussions on the new Plant Science Decadal Vision 2020 - 2030. On August 26, BTI President Dr. David Stern presented on the Plant Science Decadal Vision 2020–2030, a holistic vision for…

Like a Phoenix rising from the flames, the Plantae Presents webinar series was created in response to the shutting down of labs and universities in early 2020. Our first season ran from April 1 to July 1, during which time we hosted 26 speakers on topics spanning from auxin to terpenes. Each live…

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic many seminar series and conferences have been canceled or postponed. In response to this, and to make sure plant scientists can continue to communicate their latest work to their peers, The American Society of Plant Biologists launched a virtual seminar series via our online…

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic many seminar series and conferences have been canceled or postponed. In response to this, and to make sure plant scientists can continue to communicate their latest work to their peers, The American Society of Plant Biologists launched a virtual seminar series via our online…

Recorded Wednesday, June 17, 'Virtual' Lunch~N~Learn Seminar via Webinar PLANT SCIENCE DECADAL VISION, 2020-2030 Reimagining the Potential of Plants for a Healthy and Sustainable Future The Decadal Vision for Plant Science will be the subject of a National Coalition for Food and Agricultural…

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic many seminar series and conferences have been canceled or postponed. In response to this, and to make sure plant scientists can continue to communicate their latest work to their peers, The American Society of Plant Biologists launched a virtual seminar series via our online…

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic many seminar series and conferences have been canceled or postponed. In response to this, and to make sure plant scientists can continue to communicate their latest work to their peers, The American Society of Plant Biologists launched a virtual seminar series via our online…

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic many seminar series and conferences have been canceled or postponed. In response to this, and to make sure plant scientists can continue to communicate their latest work to their peers, The American Society of Plant Biologists launched a virtual seminar series via our online…

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic many seminar series and conferences have been canceled or postponed. In response to this, and to make sure plant scientists can continue to communicate their latest work to their peers, The American Society of Plant Biologists launched a virtual seminar series via our online…

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic many seminar series and conferences have been canceled or postponed. In response to this, and to make sure plant scientists can continue to communicate their latest work to their peers, The American Society of Plant Biologists launched a virtual seminar series via our online…

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic many seminar series and conferences have been canceled or postponed. In response to this, and to make sure plant scientists can continue to communicate their latest work to their peers, The American Society of Plant Biologists launched a virtual seminar series via our online…

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic many seminar series and conferences have been canceled or postponed. In response to this, and to make sure plant scientists can continue to communicate their latest work to their peers, The American Society of Plant Biologists launched a virtual seminar series via our online…

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic many seminar series and conferences have been canceled or postponed. In response to this, and to make sure plant scientists can continue to communicate their latest work to their peers, The American Society of Plant Biologists launched a virtual seminar series via our online…

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic many seminar series and conferences have been canceled or postponed. In response to this, and to make sure plant scientists can continue to communicate their latest work to their peers, The American Society of Plant Biologists launched a virtual seminar series via our online…

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many seminar series and conferences have been canceled or postponed. In response to this, and to make sure plant scientists can continue to communicate their latest work to their peers, The American Society of Plant Biologists launched a virtual seminar series via our online…

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic many seminar series and conferences have been canceled or postponed. In response to this, and to make sure plant scientists can continue to communicate their latest work to their peers, The American Society of Plant Biologists launched a virtual seminar series via our online…

Attending the Plant and Animal Genome (PAG) 2020 meeting? Join representatives from the Plant Science Research Network (PSRN) to discuss the Decadal Vision for Plant Systems Science. The workshop will highlight ongoing progress, opportunities, challenges, and breakthroughs in advancing towards…

The Plant Science Research Network attends two conferences each fall to support undergraduate research and education: SACNAS and ABRCMS. Connecting undergraduate students to research opportunities in the plant sciences is a goal of the PSRN, which curates resources to support student research, careers,…

Plant Biology 2019 is fast approaching! If you’ll be attending for the first time, don’t worry—you’re in good company! You’ll be among 1400+ other plant biologists from nearly 40 countries, from grad students to professionals with 20+ years of experience, so no matter what you do, you’re…

Authors: JP Dundore-Arias, Jacque Fletcher, and Brett Tyler This article originally appeared in Phytopathology News (May 2019, Volume 53, Issue 5) “The goal of a sustainable future, with a more nimble and innovative workforce and a highly competitive research enterprise, is in the national interest….…

What tools and skills do tomorrow’s plant scientists need, and how can we as a community ensure that today’s students get appropriate training? The Plant Science Research Network (PSRN), a consortium of plant science organizations and societies, has organized a series of workshops and discussions…

Preparing graduate students and postdocs for diverse careers Changes in the workforce are challenging academia to prepare scientists to be adaptable and adept at communicating across boundaries. To meet these demands, the Plant Science Research Network (PSRN, plantae.org/PSRN) is shifting the focus…

The Plant Science Research Network (PSRN) was established in August 2015 through the support of a National Science Foundation Research Coordination Network (RCN) award to the Boyce Thompson Institute (BTI) and the American Society of Plant Biologists (ASPB), to further the goals outlined in the 2013…

A hands-on activity posted by Lucas Busta @PlantsRChemists In this activity, participants will work with test tubes of red cabbage juice to determine the pH of various other (plant-based) liquids and solutions. It's a fun activity for all ages - even if participants are too young to understand acid/base…

PLOS One. Katharine Hubbard (@KEHplantsci) and Sonja Dunbar (@PlantSciSonja) are enthusiastic proponents of student-centered teaching, including guiding undergraduate students through the reading of scientific papers. In this new work they’ve evaluated how  undergraduate students compare to graduate…

In a new Commentary in Plant Physiology, Friesner et al. write a compelling vision for next-generation training for plant scientists. We asked three of the 39 authors, Joanna Friesner, Molly Megrew and Siobhan Brady, to tell us about their motivations and goals for writing this commentary. You…

Today’s biology students need to be trained to work with large datasets, meaning that mathematics, statistics and computer science should regularly be integrated into their biology courses. Williams et al. carried out a survey to determine the extent to which this occurs. Although 95% of respondents…

Earlier this year I gave a Plantae seminar on "Images for Impact" - simple, free tips about how to source and create images to use in your science writing and communicating. Here is the text of the handout I created to accompany the seminar. You can get this as a PDF here. You can download the…

Meet the newest member of the Teaching Tools in Plant Biology family, Phenomics of root system architecture: Measuring and analyzing root phenes -By Larry York and Guillaume Lobet. This teaching tool discusses the relatively young field of root system architecture quantification. It introduces the concepts…

We're delighted to welcome our newest class of Plantae Fellows, selected from an outstanding pool of applicants. This year's Plantae Fellows span from Graduate Student to Professor, and come from many countries and states, from Western Australia and Vietman in the east to California in the west. They…

The September Plantae competition asked plant scientists to write and submit haiku about plant science. With nearly 100 submissions, our judges struggled to make their decision. Most of the submissions embodied the spirit of the haiku form, many were lovely, nearly all expressed the author's fascination…

Making Science Make Sense (MSMS) has entered its 22nd year of making a positive STEM education impact on students across the United States. Since the program’s nascent year in 1995, Bayer’s MSMS has brought educational experiments to the classrooms that are kid-friendly and designed to intrigue and…

PlantingScience is an online mentoring program that virtually connects scientists with junior high or high school students as they participate in inquiry-based activities with plants. Mentors commit to an hour or so per week over roughly two to four weeks, during which they respond to student questions…

Publications are important, but these days it takes more than a couple of nice papers to move your career to the next level. Also, increasingly scientists are looking outside the (academic) box for their next career move. ASPB provides many ways through which scientist can build their careers and…

From abstract algebra to zoology, women participate in science, technology, engineering and medicine (STEM), but sometimes their stories are not as well known as those of their male colleagues. To remedy this, PhD student Josie Maidment is conducting a one-year Twitter education campaign called "@365womeninSTEM,"…

Magdalena is a Reviewing Editor for The Plant Cell and a Professor at UMass Amherst. Here she describes her research interests in a series of videos published by iBiology.  A set of three video lectures, published by iBiology on May 2, 2017 Part 1: Understanding cell shape: Big insights from…

Setting something to music is a well-known method for supporting learning (think about the alphabet song that you learned as a child). Gregory J. Crowther has assembled a searchable database of science-themed songs, along with lesson plans and suggestions for how to use songs in your teaching.…

An NPR interview with Alan Alda about his efforts to help scientists learn to communicate. "People are dying because we can't communicate in ways that allow us to understand one another," he writes. "It sounds like an exaggeration, but I don't think it is. When patients can't relate to their doctors…

Author Katherine Wu highlights some of the challenges that interfere with scientists communicating. She says, "Both scientists and non-scientists must commit to not only communication, but also a drastic reassessment of how we communicate with each other. I believe mending the rift starts with…

Here's a fascinating plant in honor of Fascination of Plants Day #PlantDay By Tim Low, published in Australian Geographic AUSTRALIA HAS A PARASITE believed to be the largest in the world, a tree whose greedy roots stab victims up to 110m away. The Christmas tree (Nuytsia floribunda) has blades…

Cross-posted from Kelsey Wood with permission. Kelsey is a PhD student at U.C. Davis. How to make a DNA bracelet, from any organism and any gene! I study plant-pathogen interactions, so I chose to make a sequence from a wild tobacco gene that is important for plant defense against pathogens. What…

May 18th is the Fascination of Plants Day, and we want to help in this international effort to highlight the importance of plants and plant science. Therefore, we’re supporting the #BotanyLive e-event! In a nutshell, we’re asking planty folks (curious, enthusiasts, professionals) to share something…

Crowdsourcing leverages the inputs, ideas and talents of many people in parallel to achieve a goal. Crowdsourcing or “citizen science” can also be an effective approach for science outreach that engages the public by enabling them to collect and analyze data. Willis et al. have developed and assessed…

Amazing - over 1.5 million views in less than 24 hours - this is a popular video series! Here is a list of sources from the YouTube page: SOURCES: #What is natural: GM insulin: http://bit.ly/2ncHaW5 Genetic engineering for thousands of years: http://bit.ly/2eCHKfi http://bit.ly/2mLCvPm CRISPR: http://bit.ly/2ncI2uN #…

“Reporting science clearly and accurately is a fundamental part of the scientific process, facilitating both the dissemination of knowledge and reproducibility of results.” In this way, Plavén-Sigray et al. introduce us to their preprint in which they analyzed readability in over 700,000 abstracts…

Scott Abbott and View ORCID ProfileDaniel J. Fairbanks Genetics October 1, 2016 vol. 204 no. 2 407-422; https://doi.org/10.1534/genetics.116.195198 Reprinted here under CC-BY permission. Available in PDF form here. Here, translated into English, GENETICS republishes…

This resource provides a set of videos and a practical investigation aimed at supporting working scientifically in the classroom and relating science to real world experiences. In the first video Professor Brian Cox joins a teacher to find out how to set up and run an investigation to find out if plants…

Have you got a passion for plant science that you are eager to share? Do you have a favorite paper, experiment, topic, or method that you like to share with undergraduates? Have you found a clever way to engage students and stimulate their curiosity? We want to hear your ideas for new content…

Chris Martine is a Professor of Biology at Bucknell University. He is also an excellent communicator of plant science, through his YouTube series "Plants are Cool Too". In 2016 he was awarded the New England Biolabs Passion in Science Award. You can see him talk about his science communication efforts…

A free curriculum for grades 5 - 7 Download at http://ucbiotech.org/backyardmystery/ About Backyard Mystery Backyard Mystery is part of the STEMware™ project, “Collaborative Research Strategies: STEMware™ – Designing Immersive Biology Learning Simulations for Formal and Informal Settings”.…

The All In the Touch curriculum was developed by Dr. Peggy G. Lemaux and her assistant, Science Communication Specialist Ms. Barbara Alonso at the University of California, Berkeley with funding from the American Society of Plant Biologists (http://aspb.org ). Dr. Cristina Reynaga-Pena also contributed…

Botanical terms can seem obscure. Why not help your students master some terminology through a word search puzzle? Download it here: http://aspb.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Plant-Evolution-SearchaWord.pdf

Help eradicate plant blindness as students explore the plants that comprise their indoor environent. This quick, classroom-ready page (PDF) is ideally suited for  middle grade students. "Plants are all around us. Plants are used for their fiber, oil and nutritional content. They help us have clean…

Help eradicate plant blindness as students explore plant biology concepts and hands-on activities related to a hamburger. This quick, classroom-ready page (PDF) is ideally suited for  middle grade students. The back of the sheet lists the plants needed to make a burger, from barley to wheat! How…

One of the most important skills a young scientist needs to learn is how to read (and write) scientific papers. Some students begin to learn this in a high school biology classes, and others as they begin their university coursework. To help instructors teach these critical skills, we created two articles…

The Arabidopsis Biological Resource Center (ABRC) has developed numerous investigative activities using Arabidopsis. Most of the activities are suitable for high school or college level students. You can order seeds (usually free to educators) and download teaching guides from the Education and Outreach…

Instructions for activities using brassica, suitable for students of all ages. Through activities spanning the life cycle of Wisconsin Fast Plants®, you and your students can explore many aspects of plant growth and development and reproduction. In its 35 – 45 day life cycle, the Wisconsin Fast…

The other day I was talking to a friend about the need to demystify plants, so that teachers feel as confident in their teaching of plant biology as they do about animal biology. I wonder if sometimes we teach plants too much in isolation, so it’s not always clear how plants relate to other organisms…

We've assembled a collection of relatively accessible talks by scientists. These include: TED talks, which are directed at a general audience, the iBiology series, where speakers deliver a general talk followed by a research-focused talk, and videos of lectures at the Gatsby Plants summer school for…

  Digging Deeper: Developing a Model for Collaborative Teacher/Scientist Professional Development Are you passionate about science education? Would you like to build connections with high school biology teachers and their students? Are you excited about an opportunity to share what's so exciting…

Medicinal plants, which the majority of people use to some degree for their health needs, provide a platform for engaging students in scientific inquiry. Straus & Chudler present an overview of online teaching resources focused on medicinal plants and ethnobotany. The sites highlighted provide a…

Guest post by Rosanne Quinelle, an Associate Professor in the School of Life and Environmental Science at the University of Sydney, Australia. Proficiency in any discipline requires exposure to both breadth and depth, where “breadth” is akin to acquiring the vocabulary and “depth” is akin…

Science In Real Life (IRL) is an educational YouTube series that’s here to show you how textbook science concepts come to life in the lab. Since each episode revolves around an experiment that a scientist does every day in the lab or field, our viewers also get to see what being a scientist is like,…

Rose Hendricks, University of California, San Diego We humans have collectively accumulated a lot of science knowledge. We’ve developed vaccines that can eradicate some of the most devastating diseases. We’ve engineered bridges and cities and the internet. We’ve created massive metal vehicles…

A summary of recent research onto the recognition of strigolactones by parasitic plants, written for high school students, including a glossary. Source: Science News for Students View resource

New York Times article (July 27, 2013) by Amy Harmon that describes the bacterial disease of citrus, citrus greening disease, and its impact on producers of oranges and orange juice. One strategy to compbat the disease involves the use of GM technology; would consumers rather drink GM orange juice, or…

Ideal for flipped classrooms or as a discussion starter anywhere, this 8-minute video features a science journalist and researchers explaining specific issues and solutions for meeting the challenge of feeding 9 billion people by 2050. GMO crops, the nature of science and the politics of food delivery…

An excellent set of 7 fact-sheets, produced by the European Plant Science Organisation, explaining how crop genetic improvement techniques work. Fact-sheet titles are: Site-Directed Nucleases Oligonucleotide-Directed Mutagenesis RNA-directed DNA Methylation Cisgenesis Grafting using…

"Debates rage over what to do about genetically modified organisms, but we rarely stop to ask a more basic question: Do GMOs really exist? It’s an important question, because no one in this debate can tell you precisely what a GMO is. I’ve come to the conclusion that “GMO” is a cultural construct.…

In the past week you’ve probably eaten crops that wouldn’t exist in nature, or that have evolved extra genes to reach freakish sizes. You’ve probably eaten “cloned” food and you may have even eaten plants whose ancestors were once deliberately blasted with radiation. And you could have bought…

What are genetically modified (GM) plants? Is genetic modification safe? Where are GM crops grown and eaten? Food security is one of this century's key global challenges, as noted in our earlier report Reaping the Benefits, and due to the scale of the challenge, we should really think carefully before…

Official SUCCESS STORIES Report for FoPD 2015 Thanks to the voluntary contributions and hard work of many people in the plant science community around the world the Fascination of Plants Day 2015 was a huge success.  This publication celebrates how so much diversity -  in terms of individual demographics,…

From The Conversation, by Angela White. Accessible article about how plants defend themselves from herbivore. View full article

The California drought gets headlines, but few in California will go hungry. There's a different situation in Ethiopia, also dealing with a severe drought. Source: Aljazeera, September 5, 2015 View full article

"California leads the nation in production of fruits and vegetables, its nearly 80,000 farms and ranches taking in total revenues of $46.4 billion in 2013, state data show. But the relatively dry parts of the state where much of its farming is rely on irrigation rather than rainwater, and environmental…

JAMBEZI, Zimbabwe, Sept 11 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - For more than 20 years, Dalarex Ncube grew maize in arid Jambezi District, one of Zimbabwe's driest regions, and his family ate maize porridge, the national staple. But seven years ago, he began switching to growing sorghum and millet - both…

What better advertisement for plant sciences than an important drug developed from plants, and recognition of that achievement by a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine? Source: New York Times, October 6, 2015 View full article

The story of how humans changed corn and how corn changed human history. Topics include domestication, hybrid vigor, genome sequencing, jumping genes, and biofortification. The Weed to Wonder site is a flexible "e-book" that can be viewed as a website, an app, or a printable PDF. The site features…

NPR (National Public Radio) story from 2012 discusses how drought kills trees. Read full article

In February 2016, Death Valley in California (the place where the hottest temperature ever was recorded) had a "superbloom" as millions of seeds of desert ephemeral plants germinated, leading to a massive floral bloom. See pictures and a video of this once-in-a-decade event. View full article

By Lou Del Bello If a few decades ago environmental and climatic changes were the remit of scientists and activists only, now concerns over the future of the planet have gone mainstream. Climate change and industrial pollution are now threatening the availability of food, and given the current…

PlantingScience is a learning community where scientists provide online mentorship to student teams as they design and think through their own inquiry projects. Engaging in the science process and becoming familiar with science practices enhances science learning. The ability to collaborate, discuss,…

An introduction to wheat stem rust, a disease caused by the rust fungus Puccinia graminis, and efforts to breed resistant wheat varieties. View full article

PLOS Genetics Review article by Marijn Knip, Maria E. Constantin and Hans Thordal-Christense (2014). Knip M, Constantin ME, Thordal-Christensen H (2014) Trans-kingdom Cross-Talk: Small RNAs on the Move. PLoS Genet 10(9): e1004602. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1004602 View full article

Baulcombe, D.C. and Dean, C. (2014). Epigenetic Regulation in Plant Responses to the Environment. Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology. 6:a019471. Comprehensive review article, open access, excellent overview of our understanding of epigenetic regulation in plants. Source: Cold Spring Harbor…

Overview of how Agrobacterium tumefaciens infects plants and causes disease. Published by APS. Crown gall by Kado, C.I. 2002. Crown gall. The Plant Health Instructor. DOI:10.1094/PHI-I-2002-1118-01 Excellent introducation to parastici plants. Nickrent, D.L. and Musselman, L.J. 2004. Introduction…

Overview of how Agrobacterium tumefaciens infects plants and causes disease. Published by APS. Crown gall by Kado, C.I. 2002. Crown gall. The Plant Health Instructor. DOI:10.1094/PHI-I-2002-1118-01 View resource

This special issues of New Phytologist is full of Open Access articles, reviews and commentaries about mycorrhizas and a good resource for students who want to learn more about this important topic. A Supplemental Resource for TTPB "Plants and their microsymbionts" View resource

An introduction to seven of the more serious biological threats to food security, including wheat stem rust, potato blight, black sigatoka, witchweed (Striga hermonthica), rice blast, Asian soybean rust, and cassava brown streak virus. View resource

Nice Open Access overview of auxin history and signaling, good for teaching. Enders, T.A. and Strader, L.C. (2015). Auxin activity: Past, present, and future. American Journal of Botany. 102: 180-196. "Long before its chemical identity was known, the phytohormone auxin was postulated to regulate plant…

This April 2014 Special Issue on Water is freely accessible and includes reviews on all aspects of plant water use from guard cells to cavitation. Great resource for teaching undergraduate or graduate plant physiology. View resource

A Supplement from Nature about how drought affects agriculture (Free Access). "Climate change means the coming decades are likely to bring more frequent episodes of severe drought, with potentially devastating impact on the world's ability to feed a growing population. We therefore need a sustainable…

California's current extreme drought must be a lesson for managing water in a warmer, more densely populated world, say Amir AghaKouchak and colleagues. View full article

In 1935, Japanese scientist Gonjoro Inazuka crossed a semi-dwarf Japanese wheat landrace with two American varieties resulting in an improved variety, known as Norin 10. Norin 10 derived varieties eventually ended up in the hands of Norman Borlaug, beginning one of the most extraordinary agricultural…

Useful article for Plant Nutrition lessons - how P use has changed over the past 400 years in China. "The biogeochemical cycle of phosphorus (P) has been massively altered in China, challenging its food security and causing eutrophication of freshwaters. This study shows, for the first time to our knowledge,…

Useful article for Plant Pathology lessons - an in-depth look at our current understanding of plant-pathogen interactions, including interviews from leaders in the field. "Just like animals, plants have to fight off pathogens looking for an unsuspecting cell to prey on. Unlike animals, however, plants…

These free modules catalyze exploration of Arabidopsis and heredity, cellular processes, characteristics of life, and responses to the environment. Modules include seed stocks, protocols, teaching guides, and videos. Aligned with Ohio Department of Education standards for grades 8-10.  Most modules…

Free resources to bring a global dimension to science lessons Make The Link offers four units looking at topics like the provision of clean water, the impact of climate change across the world, the development of clean, fuel-efficient stoves for cooking meals in areas with limited infrastructure and…

Earth science is emerging as a demanding high-school science course that prepares learners for college admissions and informed citizenship. Earth science classes integrate physics, chemistry, and biology to introduce students to a rich body of concepts and knowledge with which to understand the world…

In this lesson from National Geographic Education, students explore the resources that make up our agricultural system. Students examine land uses and soil quality through graphs of land use and crop production and use computational models to compare the effect of different management strategies on the…

In this lesson from National Geographic Education, students will explore the distribution and uses of fresh water on Earth. They will examine models of porosity and permeability, run experiments with computational models, and hear from a hydrologist working on the same question. At the end of the lesson,…

The Geitmann Lab is here to help... Are you (or students) not quite sure what the term "cytomechanics" means? Or what beasts "pollen tubes" are? Use the Geitmann Lab Primers to get oriented to plant reproduction, pollen tubes and cytomechanics. Include plant lore in your celebrations of Valentine's…

An Open Access review article posted in the journal Genetics that provides an excellent overview of maize as a genetic and genomic system for study. Published March 2015, by Natalie J. Nannas and R. Kelly Dawe. View resource

Excellent set of educational resources from Learn.Genetics including activities and videos. The video "Epigenetics of Identical Twins" is an extremely clear explanations of epigenetics. View resource

Supplemental resources for TTPB "Plants and their microsymbionts" - Incredibly comprehensive web resource on the biology and study of mycorrhizal associations, © Mark Brundrett, CSIRO 2008. View resource

"Researchers from a dozen institutions recently completed a three-year effort to combine tens of thousands of trees into one diagram, most readable as a circle. The lines inside the circle represent all 2.3 million species that have been named. Biologists have genetic sequences for only about 5 percent…

This is a nice downloadable, printable fact-sheet from CIMMYT on Wheat Blast Disease that includes information on the key features of Wheat Blast, how to control it, where it is found in the world and its global significance, and a comprehensive references section for further reading. View resour…

Mysterious Mycorrhizae? A Field Trip & Classroom Experiment To Demystify the Symbioses Formed Between Plants & Fungi. Published in the American Biology Teacher VOLUME 71, NO. 7, SEPTEMBER 2009 p 424 - 429. NANCY C. JOHNSON, V. BALA CHAUDHARY, JASON D. HOEKSEMA, JOHN C. MOORE,ANNE PRINGLE, JAMES…

Published in the American Biology Teacher, 2014 by Tomomi Suwa and Brad Williamson. Guided inquiry into how rhizobia affect soybean growth. View resource

This protocol allows students to investigate the effects of the hormone auxin (Indole Acetic Acid or IAA) as a plant growth regulator, giving opportunities to look at auxiliary bud development, root development, and leaf abscission in Coleus. The method is suitable for independent investigations by students.…

The APS Education Center includes peer-reviewed publications, which constitute the online journal, The Plant Health Instructor, as well as additional resources for plant pathology education. Resources for a broad range of educational activities are available, including outreach to K-12 teachers, materials…

This 17 page PDF guides the reader step-by-step through a paper published in Plant Physiology. The paper examines the genetics of flower color in pea and is attached as part of the PDF. The resources helps a student to understand the types of content found in various sections of a research article, and…

This introduction to epigenetic regulation in plants, with nice graphics, is suitable for high school students or older. Source: Science and Plants for Schools View resource

From PBS, 2015. An engaging summary of a fascinating Open Access article - Plant defenses against ants provide a pathway to social parasitism in butterflies. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences. 282: 20151111. Patricelli, D., Barbero, F., Occhipinti, A., Bertea, C.M.,…

A step-by-step pictorial summary of how researchers use mutant and transgenic plants to understand plant immunity - suitable for teachers, high school students and others. Source: HHMI, University of North Carolina, Anna Stallman View resource

This resource is for science educators and others interested in learning more about biotechnology and its role in food production. There are seven lessons and activities covering topics such as DNA, selective breeding, agricultural biotechnology, and more. Lessons Include: Design 'Y'er Genes …

This free guide (PDF) has over forty hands-on activities for PreK-12th grade students and the public. Activities are succinctly & beautifully presented. Each one includes goals, materials, procedures, age guidelines and teaching tips useful photos on 1-2 pages. Overarching themes include: Art,…

Student and teacher guides for hands-on investigation into how auxin affects root growth. Source: Science and Plants for Schools (SAPS) View resource

Help eradicate plant blindness as students explore plant biology concepts and hands-on activities related to everyone's favorite clothing item: denim jeans. These quick, classroom-ready pages (PDFs) are ideally suited for  middle grade students: Plants in Your Pants: Find out how the cotton plant…

Students take a close look at the math & biology involved in the creation of seed, leaf, and petal spiral patterns. These multi-modal, inquiry-oriented activities align with NGSS and CCSS and are scalable for middle and high school/AP students. View resource

In this investigation, students explore how various amounts of fertilizer affect growth and development of plants. Source: Wisconsin Fasts Plants View resource

Students use barley, radish or algae to explore how various macronutrients and micronutrients affect growth. View resource from the Nuffield Foundation

Explore the verdant garden of words and phrases rooted in plants through science-oriented word play suitable for sophisticated middle schoolers & up. View resource

The goal of this project is to explain leaf decomposition and how it relates to the Earth's carbon cycle and climate. This website contains a series of animated lessons about decomposition, an interactive model that lets you predict how different types of leaves will decompose in different climates,…

This experiment using agar plates and white mustard seeds allows students to visualise the development of roots, their root hair cells, and observe the zones of elongation and differentiation. They will then use a graticule to measure their length. Students can then extend their investigations to observe…

Students grow both wild-type and dwarf rosette mutants of Wisconsin Fast Plants and experiment with application of gibberellic acid to help provide a visual example of the effects of this plant hormone on plant growth and development. View resource See also Investigating Plant Physiology with Wisconsin…

Science and Plants for Schools (SAPS) develops lots of useful resources for teachers of the UK's A-level biology syllabus (OCR, AQA, EdExcel and Eduqas specifications). This is an improved and simplified protocol that allows students to observe mitosis in root tips. Toluidine blue is used to stain…

Science and Plants for Schools (SAPS) creates opportunities for teachers and students to find out more about plants and to become more interested in plant science. We are based at the Sainsbury Lab, Cambridge with close links with the Cambridge University Botanic Garden, University of Cambridge Department…

The Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE) is a distributed community effort involving educators, students, and scientists working together to improve the quality, quantity, and efficiency of teaching and learning about the Earth system at all levels. DLESE supports Earth system science…

A charming ~7 minute animation (with regular photos interspersed) featuring two youngsters talking about the many ways plants support all life and provide products everyone needs and uses every day. Relaxed but concise use of key vocabulary terms will expand young viewers understanding of plants and…

The objective of this curriculum is to encourage conceptual understanding of plant diversity, cell structure and function through tactile exploration of these topics. It has been recognized that human senses of touch, smell and taste are effective and meaningful ways of educational engagement. Focusing…

Get hands-on experience with the plants around you with these plant science fair project ideas. Ideas are sorted as Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced. Plants have developed an amazing variety of strategies to succeed in the struggle for survival. In addition to the science itself, plant biology…

The Nutrients for Life Foundation is an educational non-profit that provides information and resources to educators and the public about the vital role fertilizers play in feeding our world. Through donations, we are able to offer free educational materials on soil science to educators. All of our resources…

An extensive set of resources for various grade levels to help children explore the relationships between plants and pollinators. View resource

This free guide (PDF) has over forty hands-on activities for PreK-12th grade students and the public. Activities are succinctly & beautifully presented. Each one includes goals, materials, procedures, age guidelines and teaching tips useful photos on 1-2 pages. Overarching themes include: Art, Recreation,…

Smarty Plants, a plant seller based in Australia, offers clear and kid-friendly plant explorations for primary-aged learners. These plans are adaptable, no matter the source of your plants. The well-organized 'Classroom' tab of their site lists curriculum and kid-friendly lesson plans and experiment…

Sally Sunflower and her pals inspire kids (PreK-2) to explore the world of plants.This interactive story created by ASPB Education Foundation Grant program winner Alan Jones with co-PI Jane Ellis and science educator Janice Anderson, is a fun first foray into the 12 Principles of Plant Biology.  …

Scientific illustrator and educator Gail Selfridge publishes activity book to engage learners and enhance awareness of plants. She will send six complimentary copies (including shipping) to anyone who agrees to use them as part of an educational program in exchange for photos of the event and a short…

Videos are excellent ways to communicate about plant science. They can stimulate curiosity, explain a complicated idea, or make the invisible visible. Here is a curated list of some of our favorite short plant science videos. Crash Course Biology: Plant Cells (10 min), Photosynthesis (13 min), The…

November of this year marked the 50th anniversary of the official release of IR8, the “miracle rice” that changed the world. The rice, developed at IRRI (International Rice Research Institute) greatly increased yields compared to other varieties of the time, and is thought to have saved the…