New virtual issue in AJB 🌿All Functional Trait Handbooks, from the landmark Cornelissen et al. (2003) to the latest on reproductive traits, are now collected in one place. 20+ years of protocols for measuring plant traits across species, ecosystems & continents. All free to read. 🔗 buff.ly/zXlFjQx

How do you age a tree that won't give up its rings? 🌳 Brigalow trees don't form annual rings — so researchers used radiocarbon dating to unlock their age. The result? These trees take ~150 years to mature, growing just 1.3 mm per year, informing the need for careful management. 📄 buff.ly/t4ZgpCA

An enormous congratulations to Dr Aaron Brace, winner of our 2025 Best Student Paper Award! Available here ➡️ doi.org/10.1071/BT24... 🧵

Finally, standardised protocols for measuring reproductive plant traits! This handbook covers 58 traits across flowers, fruits, seeds & seedlings. Designed for global applicability across diverse ecosystems and enables large-scale research 🌼 📖 buff.ly/TcagpiT

A plant species presumed extinct in the wild has been rediscovered in northern Queensland, thanks to a sharp-eyed observer, a smartphone camera & the #CitizenScience platform @inaturalist.bsky.social. #OpenAccess in @ausjbotany.bsky.social: connectsci.au/bt/article/7...#CitizenScience#OpenAccess#AusJBotany

Congratulations to Chieh Lin on winning the Best Student-authored Paper award for "A comprehensive functional trait database of seagrasses in tropical Queensland" 👏 Access the award-winning paper here: connectsci.au/bt/article/7...

A year of outstanding, award-winning student research ✨ A number of our journals offer prizes for papers by students and early career researchers, and we're proud to have celebrated their successes throughout 2025. Scroll on for their names and links to their research 🧵🧪 1/5

It was a big week for team AJB at #ESA2025! From the @csiropublishing.bsky.social stall to dinner tables, Social Media Editors/Guest Editors/Co-Editors in Chief caught up with colleagues to discuss all things ecology and publishing 🌱

📷 #ESA2025 6) Journal Manager Pat Hannah (@pattedplants.bsky.social) with @ausjbotany.bsky.social and @marinefreshwater.bsky.social editors. L-R: Tom Le Breton, Clare Vernon, #MarineFreshwaterRes EiC Shokoofeh Shamsi, Zoe Xirocostas, Pat Hannah, and #AusJBotany EiCs John Morgan and Mark Ooi.

📷 #ESA2025 3) Sam Lloyd (Alight) & Books Publisher Briana Melideo 4) Journal Manager Pat Hannah (@pattedplants.bsky.social) leading his 'Everything You Need to Know About Publishing' workshop 5) Shokoofeh Shamsi, Editor-in-Chief of #MarineFreshwaterRes (@marinefreshwater.bsky.social), and Briana

We had a great time at #ESA2025! We loved chatting with everyone & catching up with our authors, contributors and journal editors! 📷 1) Grace Heathcote (Ecology Matters) & Books Publisher Briana Melideo 2) Perpetua Turner, Grace & Briana, with Stephen van Leeuwen, Saskia Gerhardy & Heather Neilly

Today @csiropublishing.bsky.social launched ConnectSci, a new global destination for trusted science content, hosting our journal, eBooks and a science news service. You can now find Australian Journal of Botany here: connectsci.au/bt So, what's new for readers and authors?

If you're considering submitting your plant science research with us, these numbers might be useful for your decision-making process 🤔 At the Australian Journal of Botany, we had: - 52 days to first decision - 46% acceptance rate - 153K downloads in 2024 More metrics in the image below 📊⤵️

A new survey of flora in the Yazd-Kerman Endemism Hotspot has revealed more than 300 species - and more than 60 threatened species - call the Lalehzar and Hezar Mountains of Iran home

#openaccess New #LiDAR methods are revealing the influence of land use change and climate change on forest height, as Patrick Norman and colleagues write

🌱 New research from The Australian PlantBank reveals how 4 threatened Australian Grevillea species respond to temperature changes. Good news, 3 species show resilience to future warming, but G. iaspicula prefers cooler conditions & may struggle with climate change. Read more 🔗 buff.ly/b4pbbgv

Riverbank erosion in SW Australia exposed previously undocumented root clusters in Kingia australis. Research by Lamont et al. suggests these novel 'kingioid roots' enhance water and nutrient uptake rather than storage, linking with seasonal root-cluster types🫚 Paper here 🔗 buff.ly/Hi3BxLE

The "living fossil" Wollemi pine🌲can self-fertilise! New research from #CharlesSturtUni shows this critically endangered conifer produces viable seeds without cross-pollination - which helps explain their low genetic diversity in natural systems 🧬 Open access paper 🔗 buff.ly/l3yG5Rt

A new journal category: Reflections. We're inviting reviews authored by research field leaders to reflect on a topic of their choosing, exploring the history of and provide context for the current state of our discipline. Our first guest is Prof. Mark Westoby #openaccess

African lovegrass (Eragrostis curvula) is a fast growing, aggressive invasive species in Australia & North America. Early trials to control this agressive invader in the biodiversity hotspot of SW Australia are promising, writes Carl R. Gosper & colleagues #openaccess OA 🔗➡️

Traits such as spines & water storage vessels allow #cacti to thrive in #aridecosystems. These traits are also useful indicators of #ecosystemintegrity. Paredes Cubas & colleagues from @universidadjaen explore 12 standardised measures of functional traits in #Cactaceae 🌵🔗https://buff.ly/Rc1J5K4

A HIDDEN SABOTEUR: Pilostyles hamiltoniorum is a parasitic plant that lives INSIDE its host, only revealing itself through tiny flowers on the stems. New research shows this endoparasite slashes flower production by 52% in its host plants, despite being almost invisible! OA paper ➡️ buff.ly/gArS9tO

Are you eligible for APC-free #OpenAccess? 🌱 Researchers from institutions with agreements in place between their library and CSIRO Publishing can publish #OA in our journal without needing to pay Article Processing Charges (APCs). Find your institution: www.publish.csiro.au/journals/ope...

Leaf your assumptions at the door... Tim Entwisle is here to untangle fact from fiction in the botanical world. 🌿 Botanist, broadcaster & author, Professor Tim Entwisle has 30+ years’ experience as head of the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sydney & Melbourne, and in a senior role at Kew Gardens, London.

🔥Are you investigating how plants respond to shifting fire regimes? Submit to our new Special Collection🌱 Title: "After the fires: Plant responses and resilience under shifting fire regimes" 📖 Submit by 30 Sept 2025. 🧪 Details 👉 www.publish.csiro.au/bt/content/C... #Fire #Botany #Plantscience

In New Caledonia’s rainforests, the rare monocarpic tree Cerberiopsis candelabra may owe its success to fast seasonal growth and high juvenile survival. Salmon et al. tracked 134 individuals for 18 months, revealing traits that may help them thrive after disturbance 🌱 🔗Read more: buff.ly/CUN2V5V

🌿 How did plants respond to postglacial warming near Tasmania’s treeline? New research by Astorga et al. shows that some species survived the Last Glacial period locally, while others, like fire-adapted shrubs, arrived much later. Read more in Australian Journal of Botany 🔗 doi.org/10.1071/BT24...

👋 We're at #ICCB2025! Come visit us at our @csiropublishing.bsky.social‬ booth and connect with our team. 📝 Don’t miss our "Everything You Need to Know About Publishing" Workshop this Thursday at 1pm — get insider tips on how to publish your research and navigate the academic publishing process.

We're delighted to announce the reappointment of @jwmorganecology.bsky.social and @markooiecol.bsky.social as Co-Editors-in-Chief of Australian Journal of Botany! Their continued leadership ensures the journal remains at the forefront of botanical research in Australia and beyond 🌱 📖

The germination success of tussock grass #Themeda triandra, a keystone species of many #grassland #ecosystems is hampered by variable seed quality and a lack of standardised germination protocols, according to Marne Durnin and colleagues from University of Adelaide 🌱 doi.org/10.1071/BT24...

Soil-born fungi infects seeds and reduces germination success of Nassella trichotoma (serrated tussock), an invasive species in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Bárbara Angeletti and colleagues. doi.org/10.1071/BT24....

Several of our journals are on Bluesky! Follow them for updates: @ausjchem.bsky.social 🧪 @ausjbotany.bsky.social 🍃 @ausjph.bsky.social 🩺 @ijwildlandfire.bsky.social 🔥 @pacificconsbio.bsky.social 🐢 @repfertdev.bsky.social 🥚 @wildliferesearchj.bsky.social 🐾

Quantifying the life history (fire tolerance) of six shrub and tree species reveals the historical, highly variable fire history of #banksia #woodlands in south-western #westernaustralia, according to Russel Miller and colleagues from @murdoch.edu.au doi.org/10.1071/BT23...

Addition and removal experiments by McDougall et al. in subalpine grassland within Kosciuszko National Park reveal that the invasive Ox-eye daisy affects grassland diversity. Luckily, undisturbed communities seem resilient to the daisy's invasion despite its abundance. 🔗 ⬇️

Pitcher this: a gigantic carnivorous plant covered in reddish 'hairs' like an orangutan. Time for a #WorldCarnivorousPlantDay thread 🧵 1/7

A surprising discovery was made by CSIRO botanists which revealed the daisy fleabane (thought to be a rare Australian species) is an introduced plant! Molecular data suggests it likely hails from the Northern hemisphere as it is not distinctly different from the widespread bitter fleabane. 🔗⬇️

Freshwater biota rely on #silicon, often from rock weathering. But in #Argentina, the sedge Schoenoplectus californicus is providing an important #ecosystemservice as a key silicon source to freshwater ecoystems. Mara De Rito & colleagues, Uni. Nacional de Mar del Plata-CIC doi.org/10.1071/BT23...

The stunning Southwest Australian Floristic Region is #biodiversityhotspot - and a hotspot of equally diverse plant pollination strategies. Mark Brundett and colleagues from Uni. Western Austalia catalogue pollination mechanisms of > 8800 species doi.org/10.1071/BT23...

Christopher Mgimba and colleagues report on the impact of shrub encroachment on orchid populations in the mountainous grasslands of Tanzania

Throwback to our 2016 special issue on rare plants, where we explored the genetics, ecology, and conservation of highly threatened species across Australia.

Not all of Australia's flora can tolerate fire - and vegetation communities can take decades, if not centuries to recover. Ellen-Rose Sorensen and Jamie Kirkpatrick explore the complexities of post-fire recovery in Tasmanian alpine heathland 75 years after fire doi.org/10.1071/BT23...

Elizabeth Wenk & colleagues from @unswbees.bsky.social are making it easier for scientists to align databases with the current taxonomic classifications of their study species #R #APCalign #AustralianPlantCensus doi.org/10.1071/BT24...

Genetic diversity is often shown above ground: plant physiology (looks), phenology (behaviour), or where the plant originates. But we should also look below ground - especially for wildrace varieties of sorghum. Harry Myrans & colleagues #MonashUni #westernsydneyuni doi.org/10.1071/BT23...

Surviving the dry Brazillian #Cerrado means reducing moisture loss & staying cool. Nayara Magry Jesus Melo & colleagues contrast the survival strategies of deciduous trees (leaf emergence to grow during wet season) & evergreen trees (self-shading to avoid moisture loss)

Two #amazon tree species commonly grown for food & rubber could be effective phytoremediators of heavy-metal (copper) contaminated agricultural land, according to Ana Caroline de Jesus de Castro and colleagues from the National Institute of Amazonian Research, Brazil doi.org/10.1071/BT23....

We're proud to publish the work of scientists at all career stages. Congratulations to Cheih Lin from @jcuofficial.bsky.social, 2024 winner of our Student Prize for best student-authored paper: "A comprehensive functional trait database of seagrasses in tropical Queensland" doi.org/10.1071/BT24...

Five of our journals are now on Bluesky! Aus J Botany: @ausjbotany.bsky.social 🌱 Aus J Chem: @ausjchem.bsky.social 🧪 Aus J Primary Health: @ausjph.bsky.social 🩺 Reproduction, Fertility & Development: @repfertdev.bsky.social 🥚 Wildlife Research: @wildliferesearchj.bsky.social 🐾

#InternationalRiversDay The 2015 #SamarcoMine tailings dam failure flooded parts of the #AtlanticForest in #Brazil. José Gustavo Santana Neves & colleagues from #UniversidadeEstadualdeMontesClaros describe the plant communities impacted & share how flora is recovering doi.org/10.1071/BT23...

How will the spread of varroa impact feral bees and the pollination of native plant species? Our paper in @AusJBotany.bsky.social asks that question. Led admirably by @tomlebreton.bsky.social with @saltandbrine.bsky.social and Amy-Marie Gilpin #UNSWScience www.publish.csiro.au/BT/BT24020

#openaccess Many enviro fields rely on accurate estimates of vegetation cover, from risk assessments to accounting. A new spatial product developed by Randall Donohue & Luigi Renzullo @csiro.bsky.social could transform how we estimate cover in Australia🌱🛰️https://doi.org/10.1071/BT24060