News

L. Mahadevan elected Fellow of American Academy of Arts and Sciences

April 21, 2023

Congratulations to Professor L. Mahadevan, Lola England de Valpine Professor of Applied Mathematics at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), and Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, and of Physics...

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...

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.

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...

Global database of plants reveals human activity biggest driver of homogenization of plant communities

December 06, 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...

How apples get their shapes

October 05, 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...

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...

L. Mahadevan Named 2021 Simons Investigator

August 06, 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...

More Species of Trees with Naked Resting Buds than Previously Believed

May 24, 2021

The bud scales of resting buds (buds that form at the end of a growth season which lie dormant until the next growth season) of temperate trees are thought to provide essential winter protection. However naked buds (buds without bud scales) are often...

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

June 07, 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...

Andrew Davies Lab Awarded Star-Friedman Challenge

April 29, 2021

Congratulations to Professor Andrew Davies​ and postdoctoral fellow Tyler Coverdale​ awarded Harvard's Star-Friedman Challenge for Promising Scientific Research for their proposal, “Anthropocene Savannas: The Future of Humans, Wildlife & Livestock"...

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...