Category: Partner Institution

The Missouri Botanical Garden’s Herbarium goes digital to revolutionize species identification (Links to an external site)

The Revolutionizing Species Identification (RSI) project at the Missouri Botanical Garden uses advanced AI technology to digitize its vast herbarium collection, creating a global reference library for rapid plant species identification. This online platform will enable scientists to upload data from unidentified plants for automated identification, accelerating restoration and conservation efforts worldwide. Additionally, the project provides training in plant taxonomy and herbarium creation, cultivating the next generation of botanical experts.

Missouri Botanical Garden names first woman president (Links to an external site)

Missouri Botanical Garden has named international botanist and conservationist Dr. Lúcia G. Lohmann as the Garden’s next President and Director and George Engelmann Professor of Botany at Washington University in St. Louis. Lohmann will be the eighth president of the Garden and the first woman to hold the position.

Understanding the role of soil microbial communities in oak woodland restoration using DNA metabarcoding (Links to an external site)

Soil microbial communities play a crucial role in oak woodland restoration, influencing the success of conservative herbaceous species reintroductions. Using DNA metabarcoding, researchers at Missouri Botanical Garden’s Shaw Nature Reserve studied how different restoration ages affect soil microbial composition and plant growth. Their findings suggest that younger restorations may offer more beneficial microbial conditions for conservative plant species, potentially improving nutrient uptake and stress resistance.

MoBot uses AI to learn how trees move. And to save millions of plant specimens. (Links to an external site)

The Missouri Botanical Garden is leveraging AI to digitize its nearly 8 million plant specimens, creating an online database to support conservation efforts and preserve critical ecological data. By combining AI with historical and genetic information, the Garden is also advancing research on tree migration and ecosystem adaptation to climate change, while ensuring these technologies complement rather than replace human expertise.

Whitney and Anna Harris Conservation Forum examines urban heat islands, their impact and mitigation strategies (Links to an external site)

The Whitney R. Harris World Ecology Center at the University of Missouri–St. Louis used its annual Whitney and Anna Harris Conservation Forum last Tuesday night to explore the issue of urban heat islands, their impact and what can be done to mitigate them in an event titled, “It’s Getting Hot in Here: Urban Heat Effects and St. Louis.” LEC post-doc Kaylee Arnold was a featured panel member.

Shifting Climate Zones Pose a Major Threat to Terrestrial Ecosystems (Links to an external site)

New research published in Regional Environmental Change, funded in part by a Living Earth Collaborative seed grant, reveals that climate zone shifts in Kenya between 1980 and 2020 are leading to hotter and drier conditions, threatening ecological diversity and food security. The study found that tropical climate zones expanded, while arid regions grew by over 50,000 square kilometers. This shift, driven by rising temperatures and altered precipitation patterns, significantly impacts agriculture, particularly in regions dependent on rain-fed farming. The findings highlight the urgent need for adaptation strategies to mitigate the effects of climate change on ecosystems and livelihoods in Kenya and similar regions.

TGI-led research finds shifting climate regions leading to hotter, drier conditions across Kenya (Links to an external site)

Research published in Regional Environmental Change has shown that as climate zones shift toward hotter and drier conditions, ecological diversity will decline, posing a major threat to terrestrial ecosystems with far-reaching social and ecological impacts, This work was supported in part by the Taylor Geospatial Institute and a seed research grant from the Living Earth Collaborative at Washington University in St. Louis.

Forest Park Living Lab (Links to an external site)

Forest Park Living Lab is collaborative of six different partners: the Saint Louis Zoo, Washington University, St. Louis University, Forest Park Forever, the World Bird Sanctuary and the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center, where researchers from around the St. Louis area are tracking animals and trying to learn more about them and how they’re adapting to the urban area around the park.

Small flowers focus of big climate research at Missouri Botanical Garden (Links to an external site)

The Missouri Botanical Garden is known for its beautiful plants and flowers, but that’s not where you’ll find ecologist Matthew Austin.

Most days, you’ll find the post-doctoral fellow with Washington University’s Living Earth Collaborative combing the stacks, not of a library, but of the garden’s Herbarium, one of the world’s best research resources for all things plants.

Bunkered ex situ plant conservation and páramo biodiversity farms (Links to an external site)

The “páramo biodiversity farms” initiative in Colombia’s Sumapaz region represents an innovative approach to biodiversity conservation, emphasizing the creation of ex situ living collections of threatened plants like Espeletia. These collections serve as tools for research, education, and ecological restoration while fostering collaboration with local communities. By prioritizing sustainable, community-driven conservation efforts, the initiative challenges traditional “ark paradigm” approaches and promotes biodiversity management rooted in the ecosystems and populations most affected.

Forest Park Living Lab (Links to an external site)

A female three-toed box turtle has a small radio tag on its upper shell. The turtle is standing on a forest floor made of dried leaves.

St. Louis scientists including LEC postdoctoral fellow, Stella Uiterwaal, collaborate on new study of wildlife in one of America’s greatest urban parks called the Forest Park Living Lab. The Forest Park Living Lab received a LEC seed grant in 2022.

Nonlethal parasites reduce how much their wild hosts eat, leading to ecosystem effects (Links to an external site)

A caribou browsing

Deer, caribou, bison and other similar animals are often infected by a range of internal parasites, including worms called helminths. Although many of these infections are not lethal, they can still impact health or animal behavior. A new study led by Washington University in St. Louis senior scientist, Amanda Koltz, uses a mathematical model and a global meta-analysis to highlight the cascading consequences of common parasitic infections in wild animals on terrestrial ecosystems. This work was funded by a LEC Seed grant.

Canid conservation program launched (Links to an external site)

Washington University in St. Louis and the Living Earth Collaborative are part of a new Missouri-based conservation initiative led by the Saint Louis Zoo. Working with the Endangered Wolf Center, scientists are looking to answer ecological and health-related questions about canids — red foxes, gray foxes and coyotes — as well as bobcats, which live in close association with canids.

Researchers start study on health of Missouri foxes, coyotes, and bobcats (Links to an external site)

Researchers from the St. Louis Zoo, Washington University, and the Endangered Wolf Center have initiated the Canid Conservation Initiative to study the health and ecological roles of Missouri’s foxes, coyotes, and bobcats. The study is conducted at two sites: the Tyson Research Center near Eureka and the Saint Louis Zoo WildCare Park in north St. Louis County. To date, the team has collected samples from 16 opossums, 12 raccoons, one red fox, and two bobcats, with the red fox and bobcats now being monitored via GPS tracking devices.

Foxes, Coyotes, Bobcats, Oh My! A New Conservation Initiative (Links to an external site)

Researchers from WashU, Saint Louis Zoo, and the Endangered Wolf Center have have launched a collaborative research effort to investigate the ecological roles and health of Missouri’s native canids—red foxes, gray foxes, and coyotes—as well as bobcats. The research focuses on two distinct sites: the rural Tyson Research Center and the suburban Saint Louis Zoo WildCare Park, aiming to determine if these species can serve as indicators of ecosystem health.

In search of refuge (Links to an external site)

Two building and cars sit next to a forest in fall

With funding support from LEC, researchers look at whether Ozark oases at Tyson Research Center — climate change refugia — could help species persist in spite of rising temperatures.

Yes, spring flowers are blooming earlier. It might confuse bees. (Links to an external site)

“Climate change is altering when plants are blooming, and it’s disrupting the historic relationships between plants and their pollinators,” said Matthew Austin, an ecologist and biodiversity postdoctoral fellow with the Living Earth Collaborative at Washington University in St. Louis. “But we know remarkably little about what effect that has on how plants interact with one another and the evolutionary consequences of altered plant-plant interactions.”

Peter Raven autobiography just released!

Older white man wearing a hat and smiling at the camera in front of green hills

Peter H. Raven, George Engelmann Professor Emeritus of Botany at Washington University and Missouri Botanical Garden President Emeritus, has released Driven by Nature, his newly released autobiography that takes readers across multiple continents and decades.

PBS NewsHour program on wildlife trafficking includes LEC Biodiversity Fellow, Odean Serrano (Links to an external site)

The Congo Basin is home to the world’s second-largest rainforest and a unique array of biodiversity. But the ecosystem’s remote location cannot protect it from the threat of poaching. Special correspondent Monica Villamizar and videographer Phil Caller traveled to the Central African Republic before the pandemic to report on indigenous tribal hunters working to protect endangered wildlife.

Mankind is the problem, and we appear to be hastily destroying life around us, says a Washington University in St. Louis biodiversity expert about new research with a WashU connection. (Links to an external site)

A new study co-authored by LEC Biodiversity Fellow and president emeritus of Missouri Botanical Garden, Peter Raven, appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The research highlights the alarming rate of vertebrate species extinction, attributing it primarily to human activities.

Spotlight on Science: Adam Smith (Links to an external site)

Adam Smith, Assistant Scientist at the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Center for Conservation and Sustainable Development, uses models to predict how climate change will reshape ecosystems. His work has uncovered startling projections, like rare plants shifting thousands of miles or Madagascar’s forests vanishing entirely by 2080. By integrating past and future climate data, Smith’s research helps guide conservation efforts, including seed banking and habitat preservation, while exploring innovative topics like urban expansion driven by self-driving cars and the importance of microrefugia for biodiversity resilience.

Stop and Smell the Anthuriums (Links to an external site)

Monica Carlsen is one of the Missouri Botanical Garden’s aroid experts, who specializes in Anthurium research. Through a grant from the Living Earth Collaborative, she is investigating the role scents play in plant/pollinator interactions in Anthurium.

Seeding St. Louis (Links to an external site)

For 160 years, the Missouri Botanical Garden has been committed to the growth of St. Louis. Each generation has cultivated the seeds planted by those who came before to advance our mission across the region and beyond. In this season of gratitude and thanksgiving, Vice President of Education Sheila Voss reflects on the role the Garden plays in our community today.

Caught on camera (Links to an external site)

A satellite map of the greater St Louis region with a pink polygon outlining the Henry Shaw Ozark Cooridor

Wildlife of greater St. Louis area comes into focus in new biodiversity project. The St. Louis Wildlife Project is a collaboration between St. Louis College of Pharmacy and the Tyson Research Center at Washington University in St. Louis. The project aims to quantify biodiversity and improve the understanding of wildlife ecology in the greater St. Louis area.