In Defense of Plants Podcast
Plants are everything. They are also incredibly interesting. From the smallest duckweed to the tallest redwood, the botanical world is full of wonder. Tune in for a podcast celebrating everything botany.
- Update frequency
- every 7 days
- Average duration
- 52 minutes
- Episodes
- 301
- Years Active
- 2019 - 2025
Ep. 301 - Oaks in Trouble
Oaks (genus Quercus) are among the most culturally and ecologically important trees wherever they are native, which is what makes the next sentence so alarmingly depressing. The IUCN currently estima…
01:05:34 |
Sun 24 Jan 2021
Ep. 300 - Reconstructing a Cretaceous Flora
Imagine being able to travel back 120 million years to the Early Cretaceous and scoop up handfuls of the forest floor. The amount you would discover in that material would be mind blowing and, amazin…
01:12:51 |
Sun 17 Jan 2021
Ep. 299 - Aquatic Plants & Phytoremediation
Grab your snorkel and goggles because this episode takes us underwater. I sit down for a conversation with Assistant Professor Dr. La Toya Kissoon-Charles about the ways in which aquatic plants both …
00:56:03 |
Sun 10 Jan 2021
Ep. 298 - Living the Gypsum Life: How Geology Can Drive Speciation
You may have heard of the mineral gypsum through its use in making plasters, chalks, and drywall, but are you aware of its influence on plant speciation? Indeed, soils heavy in gypsum present unique …
00:51:09 |
Sun 03 Jan 2021
Ep. 297 - A Deep Dive on the Cashew Family
What do cashews (Anacardium spp.), mangoes (Mangifera spp.), pistachios (Pistacia spp.), and poison ivy (Toxicodendron spp.) have in common? They are all members of the family Anacardiaceae! In this …
00:51:32 |
Sun 27 Dec 2020
Ep. 296 - Expanding Your Barberry Horizon
In this episode, we do a deep dive into the barberry family, Berberidaceae, with environmentalist, author, and garden designer Lyndon Penner. Many of us will be familiar with the Mahonias or the pric…
01:02:31 |
Sun 20 Dec 2020
Ep. 295 - Sniffing Out Solutions: How Dogs Can Help Us Save Plants
Dogs are among our oldest companions. Our propensity for cohabitation and collaboration leads to unique bonds that are rare in the animal kingdom. In this episode we sit down with members of Rogue De…
00:45:13 |
Sun 13 Dec 2020
Ep. 294 - Herbaria: Past, Present, and Future
This episode takes a deep dive into the past, present, and future of herbaria. I sit down with Director of the William and Lynda Steere Herbarium, Dr. Barbara M. Thiers about her new book "Herbarium:…
01:03:11 |
Sun 06 Dec 2020
Ep. 293 - How Plants Fight Disease
From plant conservation to food security, we desperately need to understand how plants fight disease. As you can probably imagine, the world of plant-microbe interactions is vast and complicated but …
00:54:54 |
Sun 29 Nov 2020
Ep. 292 - Investigating the Black Market Trade in Dudleya farinosa
Plant poaching is abhorrent and we can't work towards a solution without a proper understanding of the motivations behind it. That's where people like Dr. Jared Margulies come in. In this episode we …
00:55:56 |
Sun 22 Nov 2020
Ep. 291 - Tales from the Cliff: Preventing Brighamia Extinction
From feral goats, pigs, and deer, to the extinction of it's suspected pollinator, the ʻŌlulu (Brighamia insignis) has a lot stacked against it. Yet, despite being extinct in the wild, the ʻŌlulu is s…
00:53:08 |
Sun 15 Nov 2020
Ep. 290 - The Chemical Symphony of Plant Perception
Plant perception: few topics are the subject of more pseudoscience and misinformation than this one. Luckily there are people like Dr. Lauren Erland who exist to shine a scientific light on the topic…
01:00:49 |
Sun 08 Nov 2020
Ep. 289 - The Personal Journey of Gardening
Writer, naturalist, and gardener Dan Hinkley returns to the podcast to talk about his new book "Windcliff: A Story of People, Plants, and Gardens," which is a touchingly honest tale of his own journe…
01:06:40 |
Sun 01 Nov 2020
Ep. 288 - Doin' Good by Grasses
Whether we realize it or not, this planet and all life on it are influenced by grasses. Among the most important are grasses belonging to the tribe Andropogoneae. Members of this group include crops …
01:04:46 |
Sun 25 Oct 2020
Ep. 287 - Invasion Meltdowns
Invasive species are second only to habitat destruction in causing loss of biodiversity on this planet. Moving one species to a habitat where it didn't evolve or even giving native species a new adva…
01:12:49 |
Sun 18 Oct 2020
Ep. 286 - Grappling With Plant Extinctions
This episode is all about one of the most difficult topics in natural history - extinction. Plants set the foundation for nearly all life on Earth and yet they receive a mere fraction of the attentio…
01:04:24 |
Sun 11 Oct 2020
Ep. 285 - Eyes in the Sky: Plant Conservation's Aerial Assistant
Treacherous topography can often serve as a safeguard for rare plant populations. Being difficult or even impossible to reach can protect plants from the myriad pressures that threaten them. Imagine …
00:47:35 |
Sun 04 Oct 2020
Ep. 284 - Trees in a Changing Climate
Climates have always changed but thanks to human activity it is happening at an ever-increasing rate. For sessile organisms like trees, this often means either adapting in place or risk going extinct…
01:01:24 |
Sun 27 Sep 2020
Ep. 283 - The Cultural and Ecological Implications of the Salep Orchid Trade
This episode is dedicated to the trade of a culinary ingredient that involves multiple orchid species. Salep is derived from the tubers of many terrestrial orchids and no one really understands how m…
00:51:07 |
Sun 20 Sep 2020
Ep. 282 - The Rosid Radiation
When we think of biodiversity and evolution, the tropical regions of our planet are frequently touted as hotspots for speciation. Indeed, the tropics house more species than most other regions, howev…
00:47:56 |
Sun 13 Sep 2020
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