Botany

We are proud of Botany graduate student Zoe Ryan, who was selected to be a Lead Teaching Mentor for the L&S Teaching Mentors Program! And we are also proud of grad student Shaneya Miriyagalla, who is a Teaching Mentor in the program. Each Teaching Mentor is chosen through a competitive selection process for their enthusiasm and capacity to help others develop as effective and equitable teachers. They not only serve as role models, but also as sources of support and knowledge for both new and returning TAs.
https://teachlearn.ls.wisc.edu/ta-programming/teaching-mentors/

A collaboration between Sam Anderson (McCulloh Lab) and Dr. Dave Rogers at UW-Parkside (A UW-Botany alumnus) combined plant traits and historical survey data of Wisconsin to show that changing forest composition is impacting how Wisconsin forests interact with disturbance and stress. While closely related tree species still tend to grow on similar sites, our findings demonstrate marked shifts in drought tolerance, fire adaptation, and more acquisitive functional strategies of Wisconsin forests.

Functional and Phylogenetic Implications of Canopy Mesophication in Temperate Hardwood Forests Mesophication describes the shifting of forests fire-adapted systems to those dominated shaded-adapted species, but the functional underpinnings of forest mesophication have received less quantitativ...

The Death Cap mushroom is spreading across North America, and evolving to create new chemicals along the way. Professor Anne Pringle and colleagues are investigating why these mushrooms are now producing previously unknown natural products...

The Changing Chemistry of Invasive Death Cap Mushrooms University of Wisconsin–Madison researchers just released a groundbreaking study on the same mushrooms behind an uptick in poisonings in California.

A trip to the ER where doctors were able to quickly resolve her son's breathing emergency got Botany alumna Stacey Smith thinking about the scientific advancement that made that recovery possible and the hidden value of basic research:

The Research That Saved My Son's Life When Stacey D. Smith’s son struggled to breathe, medical practitioners skillfully and knowledgeably gave him the care he needed. In processing the scary event, Smith looked back in gratitude at all of the researchers who contributed to the creation of the medicine needed to open up his airways.