Date:
Sandy Hetherington
UKRI Future Leaders Fellow
The University of Edinburgh
In search of the roots of roots: 400 million years of plant root evolution
Abstract: "Plant blindness" is the term used to describe the phenomena where plants often go unnoticed or underappreciated by humans. Plant blindness is observed in many contexts including in the study of palaeontology where plants are often overlooked simply as food for animals rather than as the fundamental underpinnings of all terrestrial ecosystems. A major goal of my research is to promote and communicate the importance of land plant evolution and the vast changes plants have made to the Earth System. In my research I utilise a diversity of techniques, including classic comparative methods, new imaging techniques and molecular approaches such as comparative genomics, to shine a spotlight on the evolution of the hidden half of plants – the rooting systems. Rooting systems are the interface between plants and the terrestrial surface and their evolution has therefore played a key role in driving plant evolution and changes to the Earth system. In this lecture I will deliver a journey about root evolution including new insights from the world famous 407 million-year-old Rhynie chert, the roots that underpinned the iconic Carboniferous coal swamp forests and finally the hidden history of roots written in the genomes of living species.
Host: Professor Javier Ortega-Hernández
