News

Intact soil cores were incubated in centrifuge tubes (blue caps) with artificial roots connected to a manual pump system delivering different exudate solutions to each core (Credit: Nikhil Chari)

Researchers discover root exudates have surprising and counterintuitive impact on soil carbon storage

November 28, 2022

Ecosystem ecology studies often focus on what’s happening to plants above ground, for instance exploring photosynthesis or water loss in leaves. But what is happening below the ground in plant roots is equally important when evaluating ecosystem processes.

In a new study in Nature Geoscience researchers in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University examined root exudates and their impact on soil carbon storage revealing surprising and counterintuitive results...

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Aquilegia by Amanda Slater on flickr

New study reveals novel interactions in the key processes that establish floral morphology

February 17, 2022

A new study in Development reveals novel interactions between cell division and cell expansion in the key process that establishes floral morphology.

The study, led the PhD candidate Ya Min, co-author postdoctoral fellow Stephanie J. Conway, and senior author Professor Elena M. Kramer, used a newly developed live-imaging technique to visualize detailed processes that underlie floral primordium initiation and floral meristem...

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William (Ned) Friedman

Ned Friedman awarded the Medal of Honor

January 11, 2022
Congratulations to William (Ned) Friedman awarded the Medal of Honor by The Garden Club of America. The Medal of Honor, awarded for outstanding service to horticulture, is presented to Friedman for his research on the evolution of flowering plants.
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Global database of plants reveals human activity biggest driver of homogenization of plant communities

December 6, 2021

Species extinction, the introduction of non-native plants, climate change, and pollution are all major drivers of changes in biological communities due to human activity. Though these patterns have been well studied, most investigations focus on only one of these drivers and often in a localized area rather than more globally.

In a study published December 6 in Nature Communications researchers have compiled a dataset of over 200,000 plant species worldwide to demonstrate the extent to which...

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Pomme by Kristina Servant

How apples get their shapes

October 5, 2021

L Mahadevan, the Lola England de Valpine Professor of Applied Mathematics, of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, and of Physics at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and a team of mathematicians and physicists have used observations, lab experiments, theory and computation to understand the growth and form of the cusp of an apple. 

The team collected apples at various growth stages from an orchard at Peterhouse College at University of Cambridge in the U.K. They then mapped the growth of the dimple, or cusp...

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Charles Davis

Herbaria awarded $4.7 million to mobilize digital collections of Asian plant biodiversity

September 15, 2021

Charles Davis, OEB Professor and Curator of Vascular Plants at Harvard University Herbaria, has been awarded $4.7 million from the National Science Foundation’s Advancing Digitization of Biodiversity Collections Grant for his team’s collaborative project "Bringing Asia to digital life: mobilizing underrepresented Asian herbarium collections in the US to propel biodiversity discovery.”

Asia is the largest continent on Earth, and includes the world’s tallest mountains, lowest...

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Benton Taylor

Benton Taylor awarded Harvard Climate Change Solutions Fund

August 22, 2021

Professor Benton Taylor along with seven other Harvard research teams will share $1 million in the seventh round of the Climate Change Solutions Fund (CCSF). The award was established by President Emerita Drew Gilpin Faust in 2014 to support research and policy initiatives intended to reduce the risks of climate change. Taylor won for his proposal, "Using Volcanic Vents to Combat Climate Change".

 

Full story and list of all recipients in ...

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L. Mahadevan

L. Mahadevan Named 2021 Simons Investigator

August 6, 2021

Professor L. Mahadevan, OEB and John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, has been named a 2021 Simons Investigator.

Simons Investigators are outstanding theoretical scientists who receive a stable base of research support from the foundation, enabling them to undertake the long-term study of fundamental questions.

Tree Canopy

New Study Finds Leaf Surface Water Contributes to Total Canopy Water Content

June 7, 2021

Water availability is essential to terrestrial plants, especially tall canopy trees. Satellite observations at microwave frequencies make it possible to assess total canopy water content and plant stress. However, leaf surface water -- water coming from dew, fog and rainfall -- is often overlooked when interpreting changes in canopy water content. An increasing body of evidence, though, indicates that plants might rely more than originally thought on these nonconventional water sources.

In a recent study in ...

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