In Defense of Plants Podcast

Puerto Rico may not be a very large island but its forests certainly are complex. Historically, Puerto Rico lost nearly 95% of its forest cover due to human activities but humans are also playing an important role in how they grow back. Understanding how historical land use and human management have influenced the regrowth of Puerto Rico's forests has been a major part of Dr....

Epiphytes of one kind or another are ubiquitous components of ecosystems around the globe, but we still know little about what they are doing up in the forest canopy. For instance, how do epiphytes influence the water cycle of various ecosystems? Figuring out how epiphytes interact with the water cycle can help us refine models of drought, climate change, and so much more. Jo...

Rare plants aren't rare for the same reasons. They aren't even rare at different points in time. Figuring out the causes and consequences of plant rarity on a species by species basis is both very hard and very important. Ecologists have to get creative with time, money, and other resources. Join me and Dr. Varina Crisfield as we explore the topic of plant rarity in Canada's ...

Cloning may seem like a futuristic topic largely reserved for science fiction but plants are doing it all the time. Clonality is one of the many aspects that can make plant species successful across the landscape. It can also greatly impact the way we approach plant conservation efforts. Despite the importance of cloning in plants, we still know very little about how its infl...