Category: SciencePage 30 of 36
Latest science blog posts from the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
Here at the RBGE we have just finished digitising our collection of British Rhodophyta (Red Algae), a total of 7850 specimens. Our collection dates from present day right…
The mantra for many years for next generation sequencing has been, like “garbage in, garbage out”, that the optimal starting point is high quality, high molecular weight DNA….
In March this year, having already chosen and obtained the plant material that we were going to use for our NBAF project on using a hybrid bait protocol…
Having chosen Inga umbellifera as the study organism for our NBAF-funded project to test the use of hybrid baits for recovery of DNA sequences from herbarium material, we…
About 300 species of Inga (Leguminosae: Mimosoideae: Ingeae) grow in lowland and montane rain forest throughout the humid tropical zone, from Mexico to Uruguay. Most species diversity is…
In February this year, Dr Catherine Kidner, Dr Michelle Hart, Dr James Nicholls and I were awarded an NBAF pilot grant by NERC to explore the use of…
As part of the digitisation of the collections held at RBGE we are starting to barcode our microscope slide collections. As part of this we have been investigating…
Twenty-five participants from 13 countries have just attended a symposium on complex thalloid liverworts in Edinburgh #Marchantia2015. The meeting also included two teleconferences (from Australia, John Bowman, Monash…
Tucked away on a boundary wall near the glasshouses, but not on public display, is one of the oldest living Clematis specimens in our collection. This plant was…
A train and bus ride see me heading out west to a air pollution monitoring station out on the edge of a small town. My bus stop is…
Surveying in Alloa as part of my project Lichens as Air Quality Indicators led me to a local police station. This is not my first encounter with the…
Under a glorious canopy of blossom I find the Stirling’s automatic air pollution monitoring station, (part of the Automatic Urban & Rural Network). A rather battered looking station,…
The New to Science blog is a regular post about new plant species as they are being named, described and published for the first time. The only requirements…
This week saw the approval of the Birds of Peramagroon identification app in the Apple iTunes app store. It had been approved for the Google Live Android app…
The Redwoods are a fascinating group of conifers that include the largest and tallest trees on earth as well as some of the oldest. The group, now classified…
An internet search for Sutherland kale produces quite a lot of hits. This leafy brassica seems to be a bit of a sensation among foody types looking for…
The devastating earthquakes which hit Nepal on 25th April and 12th May along with the many significant aftershocks have focussed our attention on the immediate needs of the…
It might come as a surprise to learn that the discovery of species new to science is a regular occurance for scientists exploring plant diversity. At the Botanics…
Situated next to the theatre, this is quite a pleasant spot to be surveying in. I’m at the heart of the Musselbrough hustle and bustle, yet within…
Some sites are very quick to survey. Unfortunately this isn’t a good thing. It’s quick only because there are literally NO LICHENS to survey. Trees surveyed in this…