🌱 Great energy at our TropiRoot Fall 2025 meeting! Had a wonderful talk and discussions on several ongoing synthesis projects, data initiatives and new ideas for collaborative work on below ground dynamics! 👇 Read more and join us: 🔗 tropiroottrait.github.io/TropiRootTrait #TropiRoots #Roots

June issue: A Journal Club from Om Prakash Ghimire. go.nature.com/445jR6P

TropiRoot Updates 📢📢📢 TropiRoot held a large group meeting on May 19th, featuring engaging presentations and insightful discussions on various aspects of below-ground traits. If you are interested to joining us or learning more, please visit tropiroottrait.github.io/TropiRootTra... #tropiroots

🎉 Our collaborative TropiRoot data paper “TropiRoot 1.0: Database of tropical root characteristics across environments” is out in Ecology! Explore 8,000+ standardized tropical root trait records from 104 studies across 25 countries. Data are freely available ! 🌿 doi.org/10.1002/ecy.... #tropiroots

We're organizing an invited talk series featuring authors of recent publications on roots and belowground dynamics, focusing on their role in shaping aboveground functions and ecosystem processes. Please feel free to comment or email us relevant paper suggestions at [email protected]. Thanks

Check out our research featured in a Clemson news story! We share exciting findings on root traits that enhance crop productivity and adaptability. #roots #fineroots #roottraits news.clemson.edu/adaptable-ro...

@baizalla.bsky.social me, Sarah Batterman, Jennifer Powers, Dani Yaffar, Amanda L Cordeiro, Kelly Andersen, Carol Miron, @lauratoro.bsky.social @laylugli.bsky.social

Why are not all whales dead from cancer? A simple calculation reveals that an animal 1000 times larger than us should be much more prone to develop cancer. This is not the case. Why? Maths suggests an answer. Check this @royalsocietypublishing.org paper royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/abs/10.1...

Happy to share a new publication on root imaging, linking below-ground root dynamics and above-ground traits, "Better root length distribution in the deep soil profile enhances upland cotton performance" #roottraits #fineroots @tropiroot.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Please feel free to read the quick short summary of the above research article "Studying how roots behave. Root dynamics over time in a hyperdiverse tropical forest" #tropiroots #tropicalforest #fineroots #belowground fesummaries.wordpress.com/2025/01/07/s...

We are happy to share the new research findings on below-ground root trait dynamics, led by TropiRoot members: Oscar Valverde‐Barrantes, @laylugli.bsky.social @loutsi.bsky.social @kmander7.bsky.social @kaaze7.bsky.social besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... #fineroots #tropiroots

New Leadership team: #Jenniferpowers @laylugli.bsky.social #DaniYaffar @loutsi.bsky.social @lauratoro.bsky.social @carolmiron.bsky.social @baizalla.bsky.social #SarahBatterman #AmandaCordeiro @kmander7.bsky.social @daniela-cusack.bsky.social @nathalygr.bsky.social @kaaze7.bsky.social #tropiroots

📢📢TropiRoot has transitioned to a new leadership team for next two years and is gearing up for exciting projects ahead! We’re expanding our outreach efforts and networking. If you’re a tropical root researcher, interested in synthesizing and mobilizing your data, we’d love to connect with you!

NSF Career Award supported invention of Foldscope - now reached 3 million kids globally with ~1 million kids in US - bringing joy of science to grassroots & communities with very little support. It’s brought communities working together on global problems. www.goldengooseaward.org/01awardees/f...

I'm really into humanoid robots. You know, the ones that can walk on two legs, have arms, all that. In the past year there has been an explosion of these robots, at least 10 advanced varieties. For me, the possibilities are exciting. Check out my YouTube list and... youtube.com/playlist?lis...

Please join this starter pack if you are connected or interested to the TropiRoot Network. go.bsky.app/3jG9f7z

Its fun reading a long waited history book “The Decline and Fall Of The Roman Empire” by Edward Gibbon #weekends

Its fun reading “Some Assembly Required “ by prof @neilshubin.bsky.social ! #evolution

Thanks to @ymalhi.bsky.social for this alert to good climate news: www.nature.com/articles/s43...

Imagine a plant, which forgets all the traditional rules! Escaping dormancy, stress, and even death!

New Editorial: "Dry matters" rdcu.be/d38JX December is traditionally a time for looking back at the year that has passed. For plant biology, drought has been a frequently raised topic in 2024 — and 2025 is unlikely to be any different.

New Correspondence: "Time to end the vascular plant chauvinism" rdcu.be/d38L4 The emphasis on vascular plants reveals a bias that leaves the non-vascular plants — the tiny, overlooked, inconspicuous plants — hidden in the shadows, literally.

Our editors write: - Plant cytoskeleton: How villin subclasses coordinate actin remodelling rdcu.be/d38Oh Villins are actin-binding proteins that function in Ca2+ dependent actin severing or actin bundling. Arabidopsis encodes 5 villin genes of different subclasses...

New collection: "Diffusion barriers in plants" nature.com/collections/... Biogenesis of diffusion barriers like Casparian strip, suberin lamellae or root exodermis. Primarily focused on root diffusion barriers, but homologous structures were recently discovered in trichomes.

Winter break reading collections!

New paper out on which I am a co author on studies of metagenomes from Tramway Ridge in Antarctica phylogenomics.me/2024/12/19/n...

These bayes tutorials are the first ones i've actually understood. Looking forward to the rest of the being finished. Go @easystats.bsky.social teams! easystats.github.io/bayestestR/i... #rstats

A fan of #Bryophytes? You are (almost) not alone! #Bryophytes rule...they can grow almost anywhere, host a fascinating world of #microbes (incl. #nitrogen-fixing #Cyanobacteria), are key in #biogeochemistry, and hold huge potential for #biotechnology. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Wonderful read on the history of plants, their migrations and adaptations to different environments “The Incredible Journey of Plants” by Stefano Mancuso !!! #plants

Nucleotide Second Messenger Signaling in Bacteria, from #microLife Learn about key molecular information processing networks that allow #bacteria and #archaea to adapt to an ever changing external world. https://academic.oup.com/microlife/pages/second-messenger-signaling-in-bacteria #MicroSky

Khaleque et al. conducted in-depth comparative genomic analysis to predict carbon, nitrogen, and phosphate assimilation pathways in the halotolerant, acidophilic genus Acidihalobacter. Check out the obtained results https://academic.oup.com/femsec/article/100/12/fiae145/7875255 #FEMSMicrobiolEcol

THIS type of course needs to be more widespread! See the reply for the link to the course homepage. My university doesn't offer anything like it, does yours?

Proud to share our new @plantphys.bsky.social review exploring the anatomical and molecular basis for root adaptations to the environment. Prashanth Ramachandran and Andrea Ramirez detail cell types and pathways that help plants stay resilient in a changing world. academic.oup.com/plphys/advan...

TropiRoot Updates 📢📢📢 TropiRoot leadership team met today to discuss about some exciting stuffs: the upcoming leadership elections, new grant proposals and out reach efforts. If you are interested to joining us or learning more, please visit tropiroottrait.github.io/TropiRootTra... #tropiroots

Looking for the latest global #fluxnet carbon NEE, water, GPP, transpiration upscaling 2001-2021 (daily 0.25 degree, monthly 0.05 deg) - Fluxcom-X paper now out in Biogeosciences: @jakenelson.bsky.social and crew, X-BASE: bg.copernicus.org/articles/21/... Data at: meta.icos-cp.eu/collections/...

Please share! The Grand Challenges Initiative is one of the most innovative postdoctoral research and teaching fellowship programs in the country. We have a >85% placement rate into faculty positions! The secret sauce is that we invest in building a supportive postdoctoral community. Join us!

Interested in how and where trees move water? I'm hiring a plant ecophys postdoc to study hydraulic redistribution in Indiana forests. If you'll be at AGU and want to discuss, please reach out! jobs.carnegiescience.edu/jobs/postdoc...

I made a Starter Pack for #MathSky, since the one @tienchihmath.bsky.social made (go.bsky.app/66Us7WW), is at max capacity. But I need your help! Let's crowdsource this to make it better. Reply with suggestions. **Please don't feel shy to self-nominate!** go.bsky.app/GiRFQ8D

Are you interested in Root responses to climate change? Read our latest synthesis article about tropical root responses to global changes led by Daniella Yaffar and Laynara Lugli @laylugli.bsky.social on Global Change Biology. #fineroots #tropicalroots onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Check out the website of the HHMI Janelia Open Science Software Initiative (OSSI) ossi.janelia.org You can find an overview of the projects we support with links to the code & documentation. We are also always looking for people to contribute to these projects! @hhmi.bsky.social

Darwin’s methods were not so mathematically sophisticated, of course, and he was constructing a tree of organisms rather than genes, but he was all over the idea that the patterns generated by evolutionary processes are scale invariant. 🐋🌱🦋🦫🧪 #EvoBio #PhilSci #HistSTM

Get ready for MicrobeVision

Finally, I give lectures and tell stories on podcasts. Here’s a talk I gave about whether viruses are alive. youtu.be/Tryg5UCp6fI?... And here’s an episode of the Daily where I try to sing like a whale. www.nytimes.com/2024/05/24/p... Ok, that's it. Thanks for your time! 8/8

My new book, out in February, is Air-Borne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe. Ed Yong says it will “leave you agog.” David Quammen says, “from the first page, you know you’re in the hands of a master.” Take it from them! Pre-order here www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/724793... 7/8

Starter packs seem to be a thing, so I’m putting one together for those pushing cutting edge ecology and ecosystem science into the marketplace to advance conservation. Comment here if you’d like to be included in the “Ecology Innovators” starter pack! go.bsky.app/CBYaGrj

I still love this figure. Submitting revisions this week. SNPs in transcription factor binding sites (green) explain the majority of additive genetic variation for >70% of ~150 phenotypes (rows) in maize. See Alt for detailed figure legend. See www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... for more!

I'd like to encourage folks to publish their code. Not only does it make studies more transparent and reproducible, but it also increases citation rates! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Reply here if you want to be added to the Tropical Plant Ecology Starter pack go.bsky.app/FSQE1vP