We are in uncharted territory for resource extraction in the west. If K2's Mojave project is approved it opens the floodgates to countless other destructive projects.

Conglomerate Mesa is one of the most incredible sky islands in the West—rising like a giant cupcake above the desert, frosted with rare plants like the Inyo rock daisy.

Now, Canadian mining company K2 is nearly approved to drill it for gold.

#ProtectConglomerateMesa #PublicLands #botany

Join us July 27th the day before #Botany2025 for a free phylogenetic biogeography workshop in RevBayes!

Taught by @landismj.bsky.social +Sarah Swiston (WUSTL), Felipe Zapata (UCLA), and myself, with surprise guests!

Details: www.botanyconference.org/workshops/wo...

3900!

Correction: the venmo handle is "@shawnaB3-" with the dash on the end.

Digital donations can be made through VenMo to Arnold student Shawna Begay (@ShawnaB3) - with the note "Carrizo Mountain Herbarium Support"

Checks to "Arnold Clifford" can be sent to:
Shawna Begay
1750 E Elm St. APT G203
Farmington, NM 87401

A Gofundme may be coming soon. Plz repost 🙏

CMH is a priceless and unique collection. It is an herbarium collection curated and maintained entirely by an indigenous botanist Arnold Clifford and his indigenous students.

Donations are needed for a storage shed to protect the collection from weather before it is lost, every dollar helps.

🚨Urgent: Help Save Decades of Work by Navajo Botanists🚨

For decades, Arnold Clifford has built up the Carrizo Mountain Herbarium. Now, this collection is at risk—snowstorms are causing the roof to cave in, putting >30,000 specimens in danger.

#IndigenousScience #Conservation #MutualAid #botany

It has been wonderful to see all the enthusiasm for the #woolydevil in the midst of everything else going on. This is a wonderful write up by @npr.org @jamesdoubek.bsky.social

Just in time for spring! New research led by @ioana-anghel.bsky.social on the evolutionary origins of desert wildflowers in genus #Linanthus, the desert snow or sand blossoms.

For the first time in nearly 50 years, a new plant genus and species has been discovered in a U.S. national park.

🔗 @pensoft.net blog post: blog.pensoft.net/2025/02/19/t...

🔗 Research paper: doi.org/10.3897/phyt...

@calacademy.bsky.social @ca-naturalist.bsky.social

The 'wooly devil' is the first new genus and species of plant discovered in a U.S. national park for nearly 50 years.

Read about it on the @pensoft.net blog: blog.pensoft.net/2025/02/19/t...

@calacademy.bsky.social @ca-naturalist.bsky.social

The new species is very rare and we may have only recognized this species on its way out. We were lucky in this case, but there are countless other species of plants and animals on the brink of extinction - even in U.S. National Parks - that have not been studied yet or given a scientific name.

Right away, an international, multi-generational team of botanists --Team Wooly-- assembled to solve the mystery....

Cal Academy has a nice write up on their site about how that mystery unraveled here:
www.calacademy.org/press/releas...

This mysterious plant was first encountered last spring and posted to @inaturalist.bsky.social by NPS volunteer and desert botanist extraordinaire Deb Manley while trekking through the low Chihuahuan desert.

www.inaturalist.org/observations...

Very excited to introduce the newest genus of wild sunflowers, a tiny desert annual covered in dense wool and heads with just two small ray florets.

Ovicula biradiata, a new Composite from Big Bend National Park in Trans-Pecos Texas doi.org/10.3897/phyt... via @phytokeys.pensoft.net

Enhorabuena al #biodiverso M.March por el editorial publicado en Basic and Applied Ecology sobre investigación y conservación de flora de acantilados "Cliff ecosystems: A critical yet uncharted frontier for research and conservation" @ca-naturalist.bsky.social www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

A bright spot in a dark week. The International Compositae Alliance (TICA) has just put out the newest volume of the bi-annual publication Capitulum 3(2) and this issue has STYLE. 😎🌼

OA, here: www.compositae.org/capitulum_03...

#botany #plantscience #ecology #biodiversity #evolution #asteraceae

NSF PRFB fellows: talk to your POs and transfer the remaining year’s balance of salary and research funds by 5pm today!! Dm me if you want to join the prfb slack where fellows are sharing info with each other #nsf #nsfprfb

A really nice effort led by Martí March-Salas (Rey Juan Carlos University-ESCET) with a great group of guest editors.

Here is the link to the editorial we put together to introduce the articles, define some terms, and point out some future directions.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Cliff ecosystems are rich in bizarre, unique plants and animals but many facts about their ecology, evolution, and conservation remain mysterious.

Now out, open access, is an entire special issue devoted to cliff research in Basic and Applied Ecology:

www.sciencedirect.com/special-issu...