In this episode of “A Botanical Podcast!” host Shiran Ben Zeev and Dr. Jessica Savage have a wide-ranging conversation about how flowering plants respond to shifting seasonal changes in temperatures, especially when those changes are unpredictable—early warming periods (false springs), followed by light or hard freezes. What is the difference between plants that flower and those that wait? What is the impact of freezing on plants in flower? Jessica draws on research by her and people in her l...
Is it better/more advantageous to be a juvenile or an adult? As with humans, in plants, "it’s complicated"! In this episode of “A Botanical Podcast!” host Shiran Ben Zeev and Erica Lawrence-Paul discuss vegetative phase change in plants, i.e., the transition between juvenile and adult phases of vegetative growth. This transition can be visually subtle and easy to overlook in many species; however, morphological and physiological differences between juvenile and adult phases can lead to meanin...
In this episode, the host Shiran Ben Zeev and guest Jordan Dowell nerd out on a discussion of how plants choose to defend themselves against predators and/or manipulate other organisms to help them live their best lives, and how plants use chemistry to communicate---and what we can learn from that. They talk about the special challenges of surviving and thriving in harsh environments and touch on the evolution of chemical diversity and the effects of chemical diversity on organismal interacti...
In this episode* of A Botanical Podcast, Dr. Andrea E. Berardi from James Madison University joins show host Dr. Shiran Ben Zeev to discuss the evolution of flower color and why plants change their colors. They discuss the role of plant-pollinator interactions and environmental relationships. This topic ties into the upcoming “Paradigm Shifts in Flower Color” special issue of the American Journal of Botany (https://botany.org/home/publications/ajb/ajb-special-issue-call-for-papers-paradig...
BSA Publications Director Amy McPherson and host/producer Dr. Shiran Ben Zeev offer a preview of the first season of the BSA's new podcast: "A Botanical Podcast"! The podcast features conversations with botanists explaining their research and their passion for plants (and allied organisms). We’re focused on authors who choose to publish in Society journals, such as the American Journal of Botany, Applications in Plant Sciences, and Plant Science Bulletin---and we’ll include some surprises alo...