Welcome to the Botanical News page where you will find news about recent botanical books, jobs, local and national legislation, rare plant action, research, conferences, etc. Click here for a list of links to web sites with additional Colorado botanical news.
If you have botanical news or news sources, please email the webmaster.
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Featured News
(Scroll down for Daily Botanical News)
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Botanical Meetings
March 16-20: The Utah Native Plant Society hosted the Southwest Rare Plants Conference, at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Click for details.
May 18 - 19: Annual meeting of the American Institute of Biological Sciences. Click for details.
July 25 - 29: Botany and Mycology Conference, Snowbird Utah. Click for details.
August 6-9: The Native Plant Society of New Mexico Annual Meeting will be held in Taos. Click for details .
September 11-13: The Colorado Native Plant Society Annual Meeting will be held in Fort Collins. Click for details. If your organization, agency, or company is interested in participating in this year's CoNPS Annual Meeting as an exhibitor, please submit the Exhibitor Registration Form. Email John Giordanengo or call him at 970-420-7346 for more details. Click for the Exhibitor Registration Form.
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The Rocky Mountain Society of Botanical Artists Exhibition
Forty contemporary illustrations of Colorado rare plants will be exhibited during 2009 and 2010. The exhibit is designed to promote awareness and conservation of these special plants.
• Denver Botanic Gardens March 7 to May 17, 2009
• Steamboat Art Museum, Steamboat Springs, Colorado May 23 – September 30, 2009
• Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College, Durango, Colorado October 2009 – May 31, 2010
• Business of Art Center Manitou Springs, Colorado July 1 – September 2010
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Synthesis of the North American Flora
John Kartesz of the Biota of North America Program (BONAP) has indicated that the final version of the Synthesis on a DVD will include county records for all plants, over 4,000,000 county records, over 150,000 images, family keys, and much more. The DVD will be for sale in 2009 or 2010.
BONAP of the North Carolina Botanical Garden at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, was founded in 1969 by Dr. Kartesz. The program's goal is to develop a unified digital system for assessing the North American biota. The BONAP database now includes data for all vascular plants and vertebrate species (native, naturalized, and adventive) of North America, north of Mexico.
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Books of Jack and Martha Carter
Jack and Martha Carter are selling their personal books with the proceeds going to the Native Plant Society of New Mexico. Click for details.
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Four Corners Flora
After eleven years of field work, Ken Heil and Steve O'Kane have turned over The Four Corners Flora to the final editors. The book will be available in 2009 or 2010.
For details about the project see Bolack San Juan Basin Flora Project (scroll down the page) and Project Details.
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Become a Colorado Native Plant Master
Sponsored by Colorado State University Extension, the field-based "Native Plant Master" courses are held in various counties across Colorado. Courses focus on plant identification, ecology, ethnobotany, landscaping, and other human uses.
Registration is limited, so get your registration form in as soon as possible. There is a fee for each course and each course consists of three, four-hour sessions. The cost is reduced for participants who agree to teach at least 20 people per year per course about Colorado plants. Participants who pass three courses and satisfy the teaching requirement become certified Native Plant Masters.
Click for more information or call the following Colorado State University Extension offices:
Boulder - (303) 678-6238
Custer - (719) 783-2514
Eagle and Garfield - (970) 328-8630
El Paso - (719) 636-8920
Jefferson and Gilpin - (303) 271-6620
Larimer - (970) 498-6000
Logan, Morgan, Kit Carson, Yuma, Phillips, Sedgwick, Washington - (970) 522-3200
Mesa, Delta, Ouray, E. Montrose - (970) 244-1841
Montezuma, Dolores, La Plata - (970) 565-3123
Pueblo - (719) 583-6579
San Miguel, W. Montrose - (970) 327-4393
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Colorado Native Plant Email Discussion Group
Do you have questions about Colorado native plants? Would you like to share information about Colorado native plants? Would you like assistance in identifying plants you find in Colorado? Join the Colorado botanical discussion group for amateurs and professionals. Send in photographs of your mystery plants for identification, discuss key issues about conserving Colorado's native plants, discuss growing native plants in your garden, learn about field trips, etc. Enter your email address below and click here for the group's web page.
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Happy 90th Birthday
Dr. William Weber
In 2008 the Colorado Native Plant Society newsletter, Aquilegia, published a series of interviews with Bill conducted by Al Schneider. Click to read the interviews on the newsletter page. (Scroll down the newsletter page to access each 2008 issue with a Bill Weber interview.)
Photo by Jan Turner
Beaded lanyard by Betty Schneider
Knowing smile by Bill Weber
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DAILY BOTANICAL NEWS
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Posted May 27, 2009:
Click to read the call for posters for the Annual Meeting.
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Posted May 25, 2009:
The Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory at Colorado State University will provide invasive plant monitoring training for a citizen science program focused on training the public to map and monitor invasive plant populations.
The training will be held at Colorado State University and the Environmental Learning Center on July 11-12. Rain dates are July 18-19.
There will be training on Saturday, July 11th at CSU and then field work at the Environmental Learning Center July 12th.
For information email Greg Newman or call him (970) 988-6289.
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Posted May 15, 2009:
The Wilderness Society is hiring an ecologist with experience in natural resource issues and an interest in restoration for its Ecology & Economics Research department as part of an interdisciplinary regional conservation team working to protect Montana’s wildlands. Click for details.
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Posted May 9, 2009:
The Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden is looking for a Director of Conservation. Click for details.
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Posted May 5, 2009:
Click to read about pollinators of Aquilegia coerulea in the latest issue of Annals of Botany.
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Posted April 28, 2009:
The Bureau of Land Management in the Cheyenne, Wyoming area is hiring Biology Aid/Technicians to make observations and record data relating to plant studies; document occurrence and distribution of identified species; inventory rare and endangered species habitat; etc. Click for details.
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Posted April 21, 2009
The IK Foundation is publishing 8 volumes on the The Linnaeus Apostles, 17 of Linnaeus' scholars who were inspired by Linnaeus to travel the world to document local nature and culture. They traveled on their own or with expeditions across land and sea, and their travels covered every continent. Click for details.
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Posted April 17, 2009
The Ethnobotany Teaching Garden at the Mesa County Fairgrounds in Grand Junction is taking shape. Click for details.
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Posted April 14, 2009
The Bureau of Land Management is seeking a Seasonal Plant Technician who will be based out of Cheyenne, Wyoming. A major portion of the position will support the Seeds of Success program ( http://www.nps.gov/plants/sos/ ). The Technician will work with nearly all of BLM's lines of business, i.e., Wildlife, Reclamation, Sensitive Species, Invasive Species, Native Plant Materials Development, Land Use Planning, and Information Management and thus will receive an excellent general introduction to the BLM as well as specific experience in Botany-related projects. The position will start in May or June and will extend at least through September.
For information email Adrienne Pilmanis. Application submissions requested by Friday, April 17.
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Posted April 9, 2009
The North American Pollinator Protection Campaign has put online the first of their series of ecoregional guides (using Bailey's Ecoregions) on plants for pollinators. Click for details.
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Posted April 1, 2009:
From the latest American Institute of Biological Sciences Report:
1) The sixth volume of Teaching Issues and Experiments in Ecology, published by the Ecological Society of America, is now available online.
2) The National Association of Biology Teachers has established a Biology Educator Leadership Scholarship program “to encourage and support teachers who want to further their education in the life sciences or life science education.” To learn more about BELS and find out about eligibility and award requirements, go to the NABT website.
3) May 28-31, 2009--16th Annual ASM Conference for Undergraduate Educators, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO. The American Society for Microbiology Conference for Undergraduate Educators is an interactive event providing scientific updates and effective teaching strategies. The conference will feature plenary lectures, poster sessions, nuts and bolts sessions, and special interest groups. Click for more information.
4) June 2009–May 2010--BSCS Science Institutes, Colorado Springs, CO, and online. The Biological Sciences Curriculum Study is offering six week-long, inquiry-based science institutes starting in June for elementary and secondary science teachers. Institute topics include “Scientific Inquiry,” “Literacy and Science,” and “Content Deepening Series for Elementary Teachers.” All institutes will immerse participants in both indoor and outdoor activities, and the learning experience continues past the end of the face-to-face institute. During the school year each participant will have online access to a continuing education program and support, both of which will provide opportunities to reflect with other participants on the integration of the institute content and approaches and review student work, practices, and interactions. Click for details about the institutes’ topics and dates.
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Posted March 31, 2009:
Dinosaur National Monument has a position open for work on restoration and invasive species. For more information, email botanist Tamara Naumann.
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Posted March 23, 2009:
The Denver Botanical Garden offers numerous classes and field trips that CoNPS members will find interesting. Click for details.
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Posted March 21, 2009:
From this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: "Assessing dangerous climate change through an update of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change". Click for the article.
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Posted March 12, 2009:
Plans are being developed for a Ute ethnobotanical garden in Grand Junction. Click for details.
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Posted March 10, 2009:
New research on Tamarisk advises caution in using beetles to kill the Tamarisk and shows that Tamarisk does not consume nearly as much water as had previously been stated. Click for details.
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Posted March 4, 2009:
Volunteers across the nation are being recruited to get outdoors and help track the effects of climate on seasonal changes in plant and animal behavior. The USA-National Phenology Network, a consortium of government, academic and citizen-scientists, is launching a new national program built on volunteer observations of flowering, fruiting, and other seasonal events. Scientists and resource managers will use these observations to track effects of climate change on the Earth's life-support systems. Click for details.
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Posted March 4, 2009:
The Plant Atlas of Arizona Project is a partnership of the Arizona Native Plant Society, Grand Canyon Trust, Desert Botanical Garden, United States Forest Service, Northern Arizona University, and Museum of Northern Arizona to document the plant diversity of Arizona by training volunteer botanists to assist on research and collecting excursions. Botanists-in-training learn plant identification, collection, and documentation skills throughout the year in field and classroom settings from regional experts. In turn, they bring high-level technical skills to assist with vegetation monitoring and documentation. Click for details.
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Posted March 4, 2009:
Jobs available.
For information about both job listings below, email Steve Popovich or call him at (970-295-6641).
1) The Clear Creek Ranger District, Arapaho National Forest, Idaho Springs, Colorado,has a permanent full-time GS-11 Botanist position open. Applications must be received by March 20, 2009.
2) The Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest is advertising for summer seasonal botany technician field workers to conduct rare plant surveys. Applications must be received by March 30. Two-person crews will work under the Forest Botanist and will travel Forest-wide with overnight stays required. Job is 80% field, 20% office, from mid-May through mid-October. Duties primarily include planning and conducting rare plant field surveys and inventories, noxious weed inventories, documentation of survey efforts and findings with field forms and GPS, and working with forest staff to recommend protection or mitigation measures for rare plants. One or two positions will be filled at the GS-6/7 level as crew leaders.
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Posted March 1, 2009:
Selecting Plants for Pollinators gives ecoregional planting guides tailored to specific areas of the U.S. Click for details. Also see the The Xerces Society pollinators guides and the USDA - Natural Resources Conservation Service "PLANTS FOR POLLINATORS IN THE INTERMOUNTAIN WEST".
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Posted February 27, 2009:
The 2009 Annual Meeting of the American Institute of Biological Sciences will take place May 18-19, 2009 in Arlington, Virginia. Click for details.
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Posted February 27, 2009:
A Denver area environmental consulting firm, EcoPlan Associates, is soliciting resumes for temporary, seasonal, and as-needed field biologist/botanist positions for potential noxious weed inventory and mapping efforts along Colorado highways. Interested individuals must be proficient in plant identification and use of GPS. Pay is $15/hour plus per diem, accommodations, and mileage. Work will start in April and continue through the summer and will require extended travel (up to a week or more) to various portions of Colorado. Interested individuals should submit a resume or CV via e-mail.
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Posted February 27, 2009:
The Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre, and Gunnison National Forests are looking for two GS-6 or GS-7 Biological Technician (Plants) crew leaders for fen assessment work this summer from June 1 - Oct 1. Duty station, Delta, Colorado. The crew leaders need to have good plant identification skills. Housing may be available. If interested, please put in an application at www.avuecentral.com.
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Posted February 27, 2009:
Four more tons of seeds representing hundreds of crop species were recently delivered to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault as it celebrated its one-year anniversary. The vault in northern Norway is intended to serve as a fail-safe backup should the original samples be lost or damaged or to provide a Noah's ark for agriculture in the event of a global catastrophe. Click for details.
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Posted February 11, 2009:
Read "Darwin at 200", an editorial in the most recent edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Click for the editorial.
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Posted February 11, 2009:
The American Institute of Biological Sciences is accepting applications for the 2009 "Graduate Student Emerging Public Policy Leadership Award". Recipients receive a trip to Washington, DC, to participate in a Biological and Ecological Sciences Coalition Congressional Visits Day; they will attend briefings by key officials from the White House and Congress; and they will participate in meetings with their Senators and Representatives. Click for details.
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Posted February 5, 2009:
The Denver based Center for Native Ecosystems is looking for a full-time coordinator to manage its Habitat Connectivity Campaign. Click for details.
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Posted February 2, 2009:
The 23rd Annual Desert Symposium with a theme of
"Landscape Evolution at an Active Plate Margin: A Field Trip to the Owens Valley/Long Valley"
will be held April 24-27, 2009 at California State University's Desert Studies Center at Zzyzx, California (between Barstow and Baker, California). Click for details.
Click to read about the Desert Studies Center. Be sure to click the link on the right side of the Desert Studies Center web page for Spring, 2009 extended education courses which includes the following:
"Botanical Illustration as a Visual Journal of Native Desert Flora". Donald Davidson, Instructor.
"Desert Birds of the Eastern Mojave – Spring Migration". Kurt Leuschner, Instructor.
"Southwestern Desert Bats". Dr. Patricia Brown-Berry, Instructor.
"Lizards & Snakes of the East Mojave". Dr. William Presch, Instructor.
"Insects and Other Arthropods of the East Mojave Desert". Kurt Leuschner, Instructor.
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Posted January 25, 2009:
The Institute for Applied Ecology's Habitat Restoration Program is looking for a director with strong business and grant writing skills and a background in ecology, restoration, wildlife, and/or horticulture to lead and develop the program. Click for information about the Institute and email Melanie Gisler for details about the position.
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Posted January 23, 2009
"The Herbal Dispatch", the newsletter of the Mountain State University Medicinal Botanicals Program, is available on-line. Click for details.
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Posted January 22, 2009
The Colorado Natural Heritage Program has positions for field technicians and project leaders for summer field projects in wetland ecology and botany. Click for details.
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Posted January 16, 2009
New genetic model predicts plant flowering in different environments. Click for details.
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Posted January 15, 2009
Bob Hutchins died in December, 2008. Bob and Bill Martin authored the 1980 two volume, A Flora of New Mexico.
Quoting from a brief biography of Bob Hutchins by Gene Jercinovic:
"Bob Hutchins has done much to further the understanding of the plants of New Mexico and their distributions. He was not an academician. He was not one to publish articles in scientific journals. He was a careful observer and found his greatest rewards in the field, traveling tirelessly through the deserts and mountains of the state seeking the new and the different. He has often been misinterpreted. He was certainly tenacious in his domain. He never saw himself as an authority or a genius. He simply wanted to be a part of the botanical community and add as much as he could to the knowledge of the natural world."
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Posted January 15, 2009
The American Penstemon Society is requesting proposals for grants for projects that will enhance, expand, or otherwise contribute to the American Penstemon Society objective of promoting the enjoyment of Penstemons. Grants are available to members; individuals who are not members may choose to join APS in order to submit a proposal. Click for details. (Click the "Special Projects Funding" link.)
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Posted January 14, 2009
Read the Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science latest newsletter, "2009, The Year of Science". Click for details.
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Posted January 14, 2009
Student "Biological Technician" positions are available with Rocky Mountain Network of the National Park Service. Field technicians will work as a team sampling vegetation, soils, wetlands, and streams. $14.12 - $15.80/hr, Click for details.
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Posted January 13, 2009
Efforts to remove an invasive species from a sub-Antarctic island that has been named a World Heritage site accidentally triggered an environmental catastrophe, a study to be published on Tuesday says. Click for details.
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Posted January 7, 2009:
Click for the latest issue of Ecology and Society.
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Posted January 7, 2009:
The Institute for Applied Ecology has openings for a biologist and for summer interns. Click for details.
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Posted January 5, 2009:
The "Intermountain Native Plant Summit", sponsored by the Boise State University Department of Biology and the Agricultural Research Service of Logan, Utah will be held March 24-26 in Boise. The conference is free and open to everyone.
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Posted December 30, 2008:
A new book on wildflowers of our area is receiving very favorable reviews. "Mountain Wildflowers Of The Southern Rockies" by Carolyn Dodson (University of New Mexico General Library) and William W. Dunmire (Associate in Biology at the University of New Mexico) can be purchased through the CoNPS Bookstore. Scroll down the Bookstore page to the "Recent Additions" section.
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Posted December 20, 2008:
The Colorado Weed Management Association is looking for a new Executive Director. Click for details.
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Posted December 17, 2008:
A new book, Wildlands Philanthropy: The Great American Tradition, tells the uplifting story of American philanthropists who protected wild areas. Click for details.
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Posted December 17, 2008:
Citizens in Utah and Colorado have just asked the courts to overturn the Interior Department's decision to deny Endangered Species Act protection to Penstemon grahamii which is threatened by oil and gas drilling, tar sands development, and oil shale mining. Click for details. Click again for more details.
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Posted December 9, 2008:
From the latest Proceedings of the National Academy of Science: "Movement Ecology". "There is a growing recognition of the need to understand and predict movement processes driving biological invasions, the spread of pests and diseases, and the persistence of local populations and entire species in light of ongoing global environmental changes. Combined with drastic improvements in our ability to track and analyze movement, it is hoped that movement ecology will pave the way for developing a unified theory of organismal movement." Click to read the article. And click again for a second "Movement Ecology" PNAS article. And click again. The December 9 edition of PNAS features articles on movement ecology. Click for the table of contents.
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Posted December 9, 2008:
Per Axel Rydberg's 1906 Flora of Colorado is available on line. Click to read.
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Posted December 8, 2008:
Click to read about Lepidium as a model for studying the evolution of fruit development in Brassicaceae.
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Posted December 7, 2008:
We hear daily about global warming but seldomly about the root cause: over population. If human population were one/sixth of what it is now, and we remained the polluting individuals that we presently are, we would have far fewer of the massive environmental problems we now face. Says Science Newsletter, "Some people may live lightly on the land, but the demands of the world's [human] population as a whole consume nearly a quarter of Earth's total biological productivity". Click for details. And click again. And again.
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Posted December 6, 2008:
Grazing lands in the Asian Steppes and the rangelands in the western United States and other parts of the world share similar climates, vegetation, land-use practices, and problems. A search has been initiated to find and preserve native plants in the Steppes that might be used to sustain and restore arid grasslands in other parts of the world. Click for details.
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Posted December 3, 2008:
Click to visit the American Institute of Biological Sciences web site.
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Posted December 3, 2008:
Click to visit the "Year of Science" web site.
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Posted December 3, 2008:
The Center for Invasive Plant Management recently put on-line the second of two learning web pages developed in collaboration with the US Fish and Wildlife Service National Wildlife Refuge System. The website, "Managing Invasive Plants: Concepts, Principles, and Practices", provides an overview of invasive plant management and planning supported by case studies, quizzes, scientific literature, and web-based resources.
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Posted November 19, 2008:
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will consider formally protecting essential habitat for the clay-loving wild buckwheat (Eriogonum pelinophilum), an endangered wildflower found only on the Adobe Hills of western Colorado. The Center for Native Ecosystems' sustained pressure recently compelled the Service to commit to issuing a decision within the next year on whether to expand the area protected as critical habitat for the rare plant. This decision will likely determine the fate of the endangered buckwheat since species with critical habitat designated under the Endangered Species Act are twice as likely to be recovering as those without formally protected habitat. Click for details about Eriogonum pelinophilum.
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Posted November 16, 2008:
From the Oxford Journal, Annals of Botany: "Impacts of a Native Parasitic Plant on an Introduced and a Native Host Species: Implications for the Control of an Invasive Weed". Click for details.
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Posted November 10, 2008:
The "Sustainable Sites Initiative" is an interdisciplinary effort by the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, and the United States Botanic Garden to create voluntary national guidelines and performance benchmarks for sustainable land design, construction, and maintenance practices. Click for details.
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Posted November 9, 2008:
On August 4, 2008 a new species of Gutierrezia was discovered by Peggy Lyon and Al Schneider at the new Lone Mesa State Park (23 miles north of Dolores, Colorado). The description is available on-line in the December issue of the Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas. Click for the description, photographs, and complete details on Al's web site.
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Posted November 9, 2008:
The "New Mexico Botanist" makes available "floristic and taxonomic information of interest to the botanists of [New Mexico]". The latest issue contains a summary of the flora of New Mexico. Click for details.
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Posted November 5, 2008:
Some new research on Tamarisk might make us rethink Tamarisk eradication policies. Click for details.
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Posted November 4, 2008:
New research shows that "mean mass-specific metabolic rates are strikingly similar across life's major domains [giving] evidence for life's metabolic optimum". Click for details.
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Posted October 29, 2008:
Researchers have found that over the past 150 years, some of the plants in Thoreau's woods have shifted their flowering time by as much as three weeks as spring temperatures have risen while others have been less flexible. Many plant families that have proven unable to adjust their flowering time have experienced sharp declines or even elimination from the local landscape. Click for details.
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Posted October 28 , 2008:
If you want to learn about market-based solutions to environmental problems look into a Kinship Conservation Fellowship. The grants for 2009 have been increased from $4,500 to $6,000. Eighteen applicants will be selected to participate in the program held at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington from June 24 through July 24, 2009. Kinship’s intensive, month-long program focuses on training conservation professionals in the use of market-based approaches to environmental issues. The program combines leadership training with business and economic tools while offering Fellows the opportunity to apply what they learn to an independent project. Ultimately, Fellows become part of Kinship’s active global network of conservation leaders. Click for details.
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Posted October 23 , 2008:
New book: A Field Guide to the Plants and Animals of the Middle Rio Grande Bosque. Click for details.
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Posted October 22 , 2008:
Botanic Gardens Conservation International has released its ninety-eight page report, Plants and Climate Change, Which Future? Click to read the informative report on the role plants play in global climate stability.
BCGI has also developed an education pack of case studies designed to get older children thinking about the ways in which plants are being effected by climate change. Click to read.
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Posted October 1 , 2008:
The "No Child Left Inside" bill has passed the U.S. House of Representative. If passed by the Senate and signed by the President, environmental education grants would be used for the development of state environmental literacy plans, implementing academic standards and curricula, evaluating the effectiveness of environmental education programs in improving student's scores in other academic areas, and increasing the number of environmental educators in elementary and secondary schools. Click for details.
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Posted September 29, 2008:
Northwestern University and the Chicago Botanic Garden will offer a one-of-a-kind doctoral degree in plant biology and conservation. Click for details.
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Posted September 20, 2008:
The summer newsletter of the "Rocky Mountain Society of Botanical Artists" is now available. Click to read. _____________________________________________________
Posted September 19, 2008:
Paul and Anne Ehrlich's new book, The Dominant Animal, is available now. Click for details.
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Posted September 9, 2008:
The Jepson Herbarium, University of California at Berkeley, is seeking a Coordinator of Public Programs. Click for details.
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Posted September 8, 2008:
Dean Pearson, research ecologist with the U.S.D.A. Forest Service’s Rocky Mountain Research station and lead author on a study of the effectiveness of biological control of Spotted Knapweed has found that Deer Mice are feeding and prospering on the larvae of gallflies introduced to control Spotted Knapweed. Pearson concludes that although biocontrol agents are carefully selected for specificity to their host plants, these restrictions do not prevent them from drastically altering the community food web, which can have far-reaching repercussions. Click for details.
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Posted August 30, 2008:
Click to read about the community cooperative effort, the "Burn Canyon Salvage Timber Sale Community Monitoring Project" in the Grand Mesa/Uncompahgre National Forests. Also click to read about the "Uncompahgre Project".
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Posted August 28, 2008:
Click for the latest Fish and Wildlife Service Endangered Species Bulletin.
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Posted August 13, 2008:
In the latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences: " A phylogenetic Perspective on the Distribution of Plant Diversity". Click for the article.
And in the same issue: "Maximum Height in a Conifer is Associated with conflicting Requirements for Xylem Design". Click for the article.
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Posted July 31, 2008:
Pollen tubes from grains of pollen in the rare vine Austrobaileya are providing insight into how flowering plants have evolved. Click for details.
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Posted July 31, 2008:
Recent research indicates that plants communicate with each other and also pick up other plant's chemical signals. Click for details.
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Posted July 17, 2008:
A Circumboreal Vegetation Mapping Workshop will be held in Helsinki, Finland, November 3-6, 2008 to develop a global map of the circumboreal forest biome with a common legend. The goal is to develop a strategy to map the circumboreal vegetation including most of the watersheds emptying into the Arctic Basin. Click for details.
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Posted July 17, 2008:
The Convention on Biological Diversity 2008 Plant Conservation Report is available on-line. Click for the report.
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Posted July 17, 2008:
The American Public Gardens Association June 22-26, 2009 Annual Meeting will be hosted by the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis. Three major gardens in the world celebrate anniversaries next year: Royal Botanic Garden at Kew, 250 years; Singapore Botanic Gardens, 150 years; and the Missouri Botanical Garden, 150 years. The world is a garden and the conference will celebrate the role gardens play in communities and on the planet. Peter Raven will be a speaker and major presence at the celebration conference. Click for details.
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Links to web sites with additional
Colorado, regional, and national botanical news
The American Institute of Biological Sciences
The American Society for Plant Taxonomists promotes research and teaching of taxonomy, systematics, and phylogeny of vascular and nonvascular plants.
Botanic Gardens Conservation International
Botanical Electronic Information Sites
Botanical Post-doctoral, Fellowship, and Career Opportunities
The Botanical Society of America promotes botany, studying and inquiring into the form, function, development, diversity, reproduction, evolution, and uses of plants and their interactions within the biosphere. The objectives of The Society are to: sustain and provide improved formal and informal education about plants; encourage basic plant research; provide expertise, direction, and position statements concerning plants and ecosystems; and foster communication within the professional botanical community, and between botanists and the rest of humankind through publications, meetings, and committees.
Boulder County Nature Association
Bureau of Land Management, Colorado
The Center for Native Eco-Systems, based in Denver, works to protect and recover all of the native plants and critters, and their homes, in the Greater Southern Rockies ecosystem.
Center for Plant Conservation News
Colorado Coalition of Land Trusts promotes and supports land conservation efforts in Colorado.
Colorado Conservation Trust is a statewide non-profit organization that protects special places of Colorado.
Colorado Department of Natural Resources News
Colorado Natural Areas Program, a division of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources, protects areas that contain at least one unique or high-quality natural feature of statewide significance.
Colorado Natural Heritage Program tracks and ranks Colorado's rare and imperiled species and habitats and provides information and expertise on these topics to promote the conservation of Colorado's valuable biological resources.
Colorado Open Lands is a non-profit land trust dedicated to protecting working farms and ranches and the diminishing natural heritage of Colorado.
Colorado State University Cooperative Extension Current Topics in the uses of plants.
Colorado State University Research
Colorado Weed Management Association Newsletter
Employment: Botanical Post-doctoral, Fellowship, and Career Opportunities
Endangered Species Coalition speaks for several hundred organizations and works to ensure that the Endangered Species Act and endangered species are preserved.
The Grand Canyon Trust is committed to protecting and restoring the Colorado Plateau.
Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) Trust Fund dedicates a portion of state lottery proceeds to projects that preserve, protect, and enhance Colorado's wildlife, parks, rivers, trails, and open spaces.
High Country News
High Country News Listing of Conservation Conferences, Events, and Education.
Horticulture on-line from Colorado State University Cooperative Extension
International Association for Plant Taxonomy
Jobs: Environmental Jobs in Colorado
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
The Land Trust Alliance promotes voluntary private land conservation to benefit communities and natural systems.
The National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring Program collects, organizes, and makes available natural resource data. Southwest Region Rocky Mountain Region
League of Conservation Voters Newsroom
National Park Service Retirees Coalition News Press Releases
Natural History Electronic Journals, Newsletters, and Monographic Series
Natural Resources Conservation Service News
The Nature Conservancy in Colorado
NatureServe is a non-profit conservation organization that provides scientific information and tools needed to help guide effective conservation action. NatureServe and its network of natural heritage programs are the leading sources for information about rare and endangered species and threatened ecosystems.
Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility News
Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory News
San Juan Citizens Alliance News
Society for Ecological Restoration, Central Rockies Chapter News/Events
Society of Systematic Biologists News
U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service Endangered Species Bulletin
Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado
Western Colorado Botanical Gardens