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Helpful papers for trainees #4:

Pot size matters: a meta-analysis of the effects of rooting volume on plant growth

This one is for the plant biologists. Experimental design matters!
🧪 🌱 🌏
#PlantBiology #AcademicSky

Link: www.publish.csiro.au/fp/FP12049

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The abstract for the paper reads: The majority of experiments in plant biology use plants grown in some kind of container or pot. We conducted a meta-analysis on 65 studies that analysed the effect of pot size on growth and underlying variables. On average, a doubling of the pot size increased biomass production by 43%. Further analysis of pot size effects on the underlying components of growth suggests that reduced growth in smaller pots is caused mainly by a reduction in photosynthesis per unit leaf area, rather than by changes in leaf morphology or biomass allocation. The appropriate pot size will logically depend on the size of the plants growing in them. Based on various lines of evidence we suggest that an appropriate pot size is one in which the plant biomass does not exceed 1 g L–1. In current research practice ~65% of the experiments exceed that threshold. We suggest that researchers need to carefully consider the pot size in their experiments, as small pots may change experimental results and defy the purpose of the experiment.
December 16, 2024 at 1:30 PM
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Helpful papers for trainees #5:

Plant–pollinator interactions along the pathway to paternity

This paper has excellent diagrams, explanation, & examples of the plight of pollen in most angiosperms. 🧪 🌱 🌏
#PlantBiology #AcademicSky

Link: academic.oup.com/aob/article/...

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(The second picture of the post is supposed to go directly under this one and act as a key - I split it up for ease of viewing). A conceptual diagram of the pathway to paternity (row 1). The pathway is divided into three phases: (1) pollen production, presentation, and pollen vector attraction (green); (2) pollen transfer (orange); (3) pollen germination and ovule fertilization (pink). Along these three main phases, a sequence of 16 siring barriers potentially diminish the probability of siring success (row 2). This part goes directly underneath the first picture in the post - I split it up for ease of viewing. Selection to increase male reproductive success through each siring barrier along the pathway is likely to act on certain suites of reproductive traits (blue icons, row 3) and the products of pollen vector interactions with combinations of these traits (black icons, row 3); the descriptions of these traits and the products of vector–trait interactions can be found in row 4. Graphic depiction of pollen landscapes that may form on a pollen vector’s body after visiting a sequence of five different plants. Each plant’s contribution to the pollen landscape is depicted in a different colour, ranging from blue (first plant visited) to red (the final plant visited—the focal male). Underneath these graphic depictions, we provide a comparative table of potential male fitness implications for each of the three, hypothetical pollen placement strategies. The rows of the table correspond to various potential plant–pollinator interactions that may influence siring success within the pollen transfer vs. pollen germination and ovule fertilization phases of the paternity depicted in Fig. 1.
February 8, 2025 at 1:11 PM
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Helpful papers for trainees #2:

Four simple ways to increase power without increasing the sample size

A good one to spark discussion about experimental design and a precursor to papers on effect sizes. 🧪 🌍
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Author, Stanley Lazic. Title, Four simple ways to increase power without increasing the sample size. Abstract Underpowered experiments have three problems: true effects are harder to detect, the true effects that are detected tend to have inflated effect sizes and as power decreases so does the probability that a statistically significant result represents a true effect. Many biology experiments are underpowered and recent calls to change the traditional 0.05 significance threshold to a more stringent value of 0.005 will further reduce the power of the average experiment. Increasing power by increasing the sample size is often the only option considered, but more samples increases costs, makes the experiment harder to conduct and is contrary to the 3Rs principles for animal research. We show how the design of an experiment and some analytical decisions can have a surprisingly large effect on power.
November 20, 2024 at 1:53 PM
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Helpful papers for trainees #3:

Data organization in spreadsheets

Reviews: consistency, columns vs rows, dates, informative names/labels, notes in separate columns, readme files, NO HIGHLIGHTING, etc.
👏🏼👏🏼 🧪 🌏 #AcademicSky

Link: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

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Data Organization in Spreadsheets
Spreadsheets are widely used software tools for data entry, storage, analysis, and visualization. Focusing on the data entry and storage aspects, this article offers practical recommendations for o...
www.tandfonline.com
November 29, 2024 at 1:03 PM
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#PapersForBeginningLearners
smwadgymar.bsky.social Susana Wadgymar🌿🔬 @smwadgymar.bsky.social · Nov 18
Helpful papers for trainees #1:

The art of growing plants for experimental purposes: a practical guide for the plant biologist

#PlantBiology #Botany 🌱 🧪
"The art of growing plants for experimental purposes: a practical guide for the plant biologist" is a research paper published in the journal "Functional Plant Biology" that provides detailed instructions and considerations for plant scientists on how to properly cultivate plants in controlled environments for research experiments, covering aspects like choosing the right plant species, managing environmental factors like light, temperature, and nutrients, and ensuring consistent growth conditions to produce reliable data.
November 29, 2024 at 2:36 PM