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SMITHSONIAN BOTANICAL SYMPOSIUM: “PLANT SYMBIOSIS: THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE COMPLICATED”
The Smithsonian’s Department of Botany and the U.S. Botanic Garden

Plants, like all organisms, exist in collaboration and competition with other life forms. As primary producers, plants form the basis of most food webs. In many cases, they also depend on insects, vertebrate animals, bacteria, and/or fungi to survive and reproduce. Sometimes, these interactions are especially close and long lasting and such symbioses are among the most fascinating relationships in the natural world. The 18th Smithsonian Botanical Symposium will explore current research in the diversity of plant symbioses, examining the relationships plants have with insects, fungi, bacteria, and even other plants. It will culminate with a panel Q&A session followed by poster presentations and a reception at the U.S. Botanic Garden. Speakers will include botanists, ecologists, microbiologists, and geneticists, whose research unravels the complicated relationships that plants have with their collaborators and competitors in the natural world.

Please note: This symposium is being held at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. Registration opens at 9 a.m. and presentations start at 9:30 a.m. The reception and poster presentations following the symposium will occur at the U.S. Botanic Garden. Email sbs@si.edu for more information.

Interested in a presenting a poster? 
Abstracts for poster presentations may be emailed to sbs@si.edu. Topic must be related to the study of plant symbioses (e.g., lichen, mycorrhizae, pollination, root nodules, seed dispersal) and contain original research. The deadline for abstract submission is April 10, 2020.

Abstract submissions should include the following:

• Author(s) name(s) including affiliation(s) and email address(es)
• List the title in sentence case
• Titles are limited to 150 characters
• Abstracts may not exceed 1,500 characters including spaces.
• Posters should be no larger than 30" x 40" (portrait orientation).

Presenting authors are required to attend the poster session (6:30 pm – 8:30 pm) to take advantage of opportunities to discuss their work with symposium participants.

DATE:
Friday, May 15, 2020

TIMES:
Symposium: 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
Reception and Poster Presentations: 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

LOCATIONS:
Symposium: Baird Auditorium, Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History
Reception and Poster Presentations: U.S. Botanic Garden.

COST:
$5, Pre-registration required at https://usbg.doubleknot.com/event/2020-smithsonian-botanical-symposium/2627079
If you are unable to pay the registration fee, please call 202-225-1116 for assistance.

Highlights

The Botany Digitization Conveyor hits 2 million scans!  

After three years of production, we are excited to announce that the Botany Digitization Conveyor Belt has reached 2 million scans of botanical specimens this December 2018.    This number also coincides with the transcription of 1.5 million conveyor specimen images. Total number of inventoried specimens from the US Herbarium has now reached over 3 million records, and can be found in our online catalog (https://collections.nmnh.si.edu/search/botany/). 

News and Highlights

Newsletter  -- The Plant Press is the quarterly newsletter from the Department of Botany and the U.S. National Herbarium. The purpose of The Plant Press is to provide information about the activities of the Department. Included are articles about staff research and travel, visitors, new publications, and plant conservation highlights.