Mission
Our mission is to discover, maintain, and transmit knowledge concerning basic plant biology and provide leadership in the biological sciences.
In dangerous fungal family’s befriending of plants, a story of loss
Researchers show that gene loss — not the evolution of new genes — helped drive the fly amanita mushroom into its symbiotic relationship with plants.
Blazes of light reveal how plants signal danger long distances
The plants produce a protein that only fluoresces around calcium, letting the researchers track its presence and concentration. Then came caterpillar bites, scissor cuts and crushing wounds.
An ocean apart, carnivorous pitcher plants create similar communities
Asian pitchers transplanted to Massachusetts bogs can mimic the living communities of natives so well that the pitcher plant mosquito — a specialized insect that evolved to complete its life cycle exclusively in North American pitchers — lays eggs in the impostors, new research shows.
Events
- November
- November 15Biology Colloquium: Pamela GeddesIdentifying cattail species and their hybrids using molecular markers: lessons learned3:30 PM, B302 Birge Hall
- November 29Biology Colloquium: Jeannine Cavender-BaresDiversification, adaptation and community assembly of the American oaks (Quercus), a model clade for integrating ecology and evolution3:30 PM, B302 Birge Hall
- December
- December 6Biology Colloquium: Veronica di StilioReconstructing the ancestral role of flowering pathway genes3:30 PM, B302 Birge Hall
- December 13Biology Colloquium: Thomas GivnishThe Green Empire Strikes Back! Ecology and evolution of carnivorous plants3:30 PM, B302 Birge Hall
