Plant Cuttings Available Online at News in Botany: Nigel Chaffey Presents a Round-Up of Plant-Based Items from the World’S Media
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Annals of Botany 110: iv–vi, 2012 Plant Cuttings Available online at www.aob.oxfordjournals.org News in Botany: Nigel Chaffey presents a round-up of plant-based items from the world’s media Bigging-up the AoB Blog [or, Cann can – and does!] being a pronouncement by the venerable naturalist – or maybe The communication of science because of that? – the assertion was controversial at the time and (and particularly discussion not without its detractors. Nevertheless, this incident helped to thereof and thereon, which often place the notion of insect–plant co-evolution firmly onto the takes the form of post-publication agenda and started a debate that continues into the 21st century review) has many opportunities in (e.g. Miguel Rodrı´guez-Girone´sandAnaLlandres,PLoS One 3: this electronic age. One such outlet e2992, 2008). Sadly, the Great Man never lived to see his is the plethora of social networking prediction confirmed and his prescience vindicated – that only fora. In this regard I’m happy to happened in the late 20th century, but a fitting tribute to this put in a plug for the Annals of remarkable story has been produced by Joe Arditti and colleagues Botany’s own ground-breaking (Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 169: 403–432, 2012). Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/aob/article/110/3/iv/2769184 by guest on 23 September 2021 work, noticeably via its blog (http://aobblog.com/), which is For many years the identity of the nectar-sucking moth was not cared for by ‘the two Alans’ – Alun Salt (http://aobblog. known. Although the appropriately named Xanthopan morganii com/author/alun/), ‘creative genius’ and the blog’s web ssp. praedicta (Morgan’s sphinx; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ developer, and Alan Cann (http://aobblog.com/author/ajcann/), Xanthopan_morganii_praedicta) was mooted as the likely Internet Consulting Editor for Annals of Botany. But rather pollinator, this was not conclusively demonstrated until 1992. It is than use my words, let me quote another’s, who was a fascinating tale that is richly illustrated – both with images and commenting upon Cann’s talk at the recent European quotes from the correspondence that passed between the major Association of Science Editors (EASE) conference in Tallinn players in this saga – and is a nice bringing together of plants, (Estonia), ‘Alan goes on to describe the Annals of Botany people and personalities (including the ever-interesting if much own social media strategy. Its explicitly low-cost approach over-shadowedAlfredRusselWallace;http://en.wikipedia.org/ has succeeded in extending the reach of the journal through wiki/Alfred_Russel_Wallace). But those beneficial long tongues using blogs as hubs for distributing content via RSS, Twitter come with costs, as Brendan Borrell has demonstrated for orchid and Facebook while leveraging emerging tools like Flipboard bees (The Journal of Experimental Biology 209: 4901–4907, to facilitate content discovery on new platforms such as tablet 2008), not least of which is the need for their owners to have a computers. By doing all this Annals of Botany is succeeding firm grasp of the physics of fluid flow! Closer to home, long in addressing new audiences and new demographic groups’ tongues amongst humans are rare enough to be considered an (http://blog.publishingtechnology.com/blogs/masterclass- ‘abnormality’ and ownership thereof may incur serious ‘lost social-media-academic-publishers/). A video of Alan’s opportunity’ costs as one hyperglossic boy discovered when he presentation can be seen at that same URL, and ‘is a real lost his place at a school in Malavalli (in the Mandya district of masterclass in how academic publishers can make really India) as a result (http://www.deccanherald.com/content/256999/ creative use of social media’. So, is this an example of the long-tongue-cost-him-school.html). [For the record – maybe ‘Heineken effect’ (http://www.versacreations.net/advertising/ literally – the mean tongue (technically, a proboscis) length of 177/business-slogan-44-heineken-refreshes-the-parts-other- the hawkmoth is a staggering 22 cm; the mean spur length of the beers-cannot-reach/) – with the journal reaching the parts flower is 33 cm – Ed.] other journals cannot reach? Maybe. In any event, blogging is Image: Thomas William Wood, in ‘Creation by Law’ by Alfred clearly seen as a good thing as PLoS Biology has now started Russel Wallace, The Quarterly Journal of Science vol. 4, 1867. its own, PLoS Biologue (http://blogs.plos.org/biologue/). Where the Annals leads, others surely follow. Cheers, Alan and Alun! Rejoice, ‘tis the real Bloom’s Day (to be sure) Image: Wikimedia Commons. June 16th is the date upon which certain individuals around the world celebrate Irish writer James Suck on this: predictions and patience in Joyce’s 1904-set literary classic phytobiology Ulysses. Termed Bloom’s One of the great strengths of the Day – after Leopold Bloom, the scientific method (http://en.wikipedia. famously impenetrable novel’s org/wiki/Scientific_method)isits main character, whose Dublin ability to make predictions that can comings-and-goings are minutely be tested. One of the most famous of catalogued over a 24-hour period those predictions is Charles Darwin’s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Blooms_day) – this is only a Charles_Darwin) oft-cited 1862 day-long phenomenon. A recently discovered bloom of inference that a long-throated flower another – phytoplankton – kind, and which lasts far longer (‘with a nectary a foot long’ – than one day, is reported by Kevin Arrigo et al.(Science 336: approx. 30 cm for non-Imperial 1408, 2012). But such blooms – a ‘rapid increase or readers) from Madagascar (Angraecum sesquipedale or Darwin’s accumulation in the population of algae... in an aquatic orchid; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angraecum_sesquipedale) system’ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algal_bloom) – are would be pollinated by an equally long-tongued insect. Despite common enough, and the well-documented, annual spring iv bloom (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_bloom) is crucial these stereotypes’. Its straightforward goal is to ‘attract young in driving the productivity of the oceans, so what’s so special women to research careers in order to increase the total about this one? Well, it’s only gone and ‘developed beneath number of researchers in Europe’ (http://europa.eu/rapid/ the 0.8- to 1.3-m-thick first-year sea ice on the Chukchi Sea searchAction.do, reference IP/12/633, 21 June 2012). Nobel continental shelf’, in the Arctic. Hitherto light levels beneath aims, and at a time when plant scientists (OK, botanists) will ice have been considered too low to promote blooming be at the forefront of solving many of the most urgent global of algae. Although algal blooms can be harmful (http:// problems (e.g. Claire Grierson et al., New Phytologist 192: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmful_algal_bloom), this one, 6–12, 2011), what employment initiative could be more apt, which was identified in July 2011, extended more than 100 and timely? Well – and you really couldn’t make it up – the km laterally beneath the ice to depths of greater than 50 m EC campaign has not been without its ‘knockers’ (UK and consisted predominantly of diatom genera, which are not English colloquial term for detractors). It’s not that the idea harmful. Furthermore, phytoplankton biomass in open waters is bad, but there were serious ‘issues’ with the video that in that region was markedly lower than in the sub-ice bloom. accompanied the initiative’s launch. In the interests of Whether any much-publicised ice-thinning (which has been balanced reporting I watched the video (http://www.youtube. linked to global warming; http://www.ecology.com/2011/09/ com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=g032MPrSjFA). I 11/earth-warms-thinning-arctic-ice/) in that area might have concur with the outraged news item which starts, ‘A man permitted greater light penetration, thus encouraging with a chiseled face dons his horn rims for a better look as Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/aob/article/110/3/iv/2769184 by guest on 23 September 2021 blooming, and/or if extra supplies of the essential three barely adult women in micromini dresses and stilettos micronutrient iron are being introduced in the region from catwalk toward him. As he stares in shock, lust, and awe, melting icebergs (http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/ each woman strikes a pose as a bass beat throbs in the id/74307) is partly responsible remains to be seen, but it background’ (http://www.blogher.com/how-do-we-interest- would be a paradoxical bonus to that otherwise doom-and- girls-science-not). Widely denounced on various social gloom scenario because phytoplankton are regarded as one media sites and in respected news media (http://alicerosebell. hope for sequestration of excess atmospheric CO2 (http:// wordpress.com/2012/06/25/science-a-people-thing/), and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_sequestration#Ocean-related). satirised on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch? One thing’s for sure: this revelation not only means that the feature=player_embedded&v=5vyAWyAUHpI), the video textbooks will need to be rewritten (again...), but also – and has since been removed on the grounds that the EC ‘does more importantly – estimates of ocean productivity in those want it to distract from the main campaign’ (http://blogs. cold northern waters will require serious revision – upwards! nature.com/news/2012/06/hey-girl-science-wants-you-but- The legendary reproductive powers of these protists – in dont-forget-the-lipstick.html). I think – hope! – that a ‘not’ which their numbers can increase 100% in a day (and known has been inadvertently omitted from that sentence in Mark allegedly as the Dublin rate) – makes these more than Peplow’s article on the usually unimpeachable Nature news fec-und enough for even the most sedentary of TV-based blog site.