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In Defense of Plants Podcast

Ep. 298 - Living the Gypsum Life: How Geology Can Drive Speciation

In Defense of Plants Podcast

In Defense of Plants

Botany, Natural Sciences, Ecology, Nature, Plants, Science

4.81.3K Ratings

🗓️ 3 January 2021

⏱️ 51 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

You may have heard of the mineral gypsum through its use in making plasters, chalks, and drywall, but are you aware of its influence on plant speciation? Indeed, soils heavy in gypsum present unique challenges to plant growth but that doesn't mean plants haven't been able to conquer such substrates. In this episode, I sit down to talk with Dr. Mike Moore about his research on how gypsum-based soils have resulted in remarkable evolutionary radiations on a global scale. Along the way we gain important insights into how soils can drive evolution and why some plant lineages may be more likely to adapt to gypsum than others. This podcast was produced in part by Garrett, John, Ashley, Peter, Cathrine, Melvin, OrangeJulian, Porter, Grif, Jules, Joan, Les, Marabeth, Ali, Margaret, Southside Plants, Robert, Keiko, Bryce, Brittany, Helen, Amanda, Mikey, Rhiannon, Michelle, Kate, German, Joerg, Alejandra, Cathy, Jordan, Judy, Steve, Kae, Carole, Mr. Keith Santner, Dana, Chloe, Aaron, Sara, Kenned, Vaibhav, Kendall, Christina, Brett, Jocelyn, Kathleen, Ethan, Kaylee, Runaway Goldfish, Ryan, Donica, Chris, Shamora, Alana, Laura, Alice, Sarah, Rachel, Joanna, Griff, Philip, Paul, Matthew, Clark, Bobby, Kate, Steven, Brittney, McMansion Hell, Joey, Catherine, Brandon, Hall, Vegreville Creek and Wetlands Fund, Kevin, Oliver, John, Johansson, Christina, Jared, Hannah, Katy Pye, Brandon, Gwen, Carly, Stephen, Botanical Tours, Moonwort Studios, Liba, Mohsin Kazmi Takes Pictures, doeg, Clifton, Stephanie, Benjamin, Eli, Rachael, Plant By Design, Philip, Brent, Ron, Tim, Homestead Brooklyn, Brodie, Kevin, Sophia, Mark, Rens, Bendix, Irene, Holly, Caitlin, Manuel, Jennifer, Sara, and Margie.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

Hello everyone and welcome to the Indefensive Plants podcast, the official podcast of

0:04.4

Indefensibleplants.com. What's up? This is your host, Matt. Welcome to the show. How's everyone

0:08.6

doing this week? Let me start off by saying, Happy New Year, everyone. Let's hope for a better year in

0:13.6

2021. Now, when I say gypsum, some of you might think of drywall. In fact, many of you are probably

0:20.1

living or listening to this in a structure that involves some gypsum-based materials.

0:24.9

But gypsum in and of itself is a really interesting mineral, and it does some really cool things to plant biology.

0:30.9

That's because gypsum is extremely difficult for plants to make a living in, especially when it's a big part of the soil environment.

0:38.7

And because of this, you find a lot of really cool adaptations among plants that can live in

0:43.6

gypsum soils, some of which have gone so far into being able to live in gypsum soils that

0:47.6

they don't occur on any other kind of soil type. We call these Adafic Endemics, and that's

0:52.6

exactly what my guest today studies.

0:55.4

Joining us from Oberlin College is Dr. Mike Moore, who is a plant systematist trying to

1:00.3

understand the relationships in evolutionary history, and he is particularly interested in

1:05.2

the evolutionary adaptations that allow some plant species to not only grow but thrive in

1:09.9

heavy gypsum soils.

1:11.6

More amazingly, you're going to find out that this is occurring all over the globe with multiple

1:15.6

independent evolutionary origins of gypsum adaptations.

1:19.6

So I don't want to keep you from it any longer.

1:22.6

Let's jump right into it.

1:23.6

This is going to be pretty mind-blowing from an evolutionary perspective.

1:26.6

So without further ado, here's my conversation with Dr. Moore.

1:29.9

I hope you enjoy.

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