Ep. 373 - The Sex Lives of Yucca Revisited

In Defense of Plants Podcast

In Defense of Plants

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

4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 12 June 2022

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We dive into the back catalogue this episode to explore the world of Yucca pollination. Yuccas are cool plants just based on appearances but their pollination ecology is downright fascinating. All members of the genus Yucca rely on moths for pollination and the moths themselves could not exist if it wasn't for Yucca flowers. What started as a parasitic relationship has since evolved into an extremely specific mutualism. Join Syracuse University's Dr. Kari Segraves and I as we discuss her research on this system and learn what Yucca pollination can teach us about evolutionary arms races, parasites, and climate change. This episode was produced in part by Gary, Krysta, Elizabeth, Southern California Carnivorous Plant Enthusiasts, Pattypollinators, Peter, Judson, Ella, Alex, Dan, Pamela, Peter, Andrea, Nathan, Karyn, Michelle, Jillian, Chellie, Linda, Laura, Miz Holly, Christie, Carlos, Paleo Fern, Levi, Sylvia, Lanny, Ben, Lily, Craig, Sarah, Lor, Monika, Brandon, Jeremy, Suzanne, Kristina, Christine, Silas, Michael, Aristia, Felicidad, Lauren, Danielle, Allie, Jeffrey, Amanda, Tommy, Marcel, C Leigh, Karma, Shelby, Christopher, Alvin, Arek, Chellie, Dani, Paul, Dani, Tara, Elly, Colleen, Natalie, Nathan, Ario, Laura, Cari, Margaret, Mary, Connor, Nathan, Jan, Jerome, Brian, Azomonas, Ellie, University Greens, Joseph, Melody, Patricia, Matthew, Garrett, John, Ashley, Cathrine, Melvin, OrangeJulian, Porter, Jules, Griff, Joan, Megan, Marabeth, Les, Ali, Southside Plants, Keiko, Robert, Bryce, Wilma, Amanda, Helen, Mikey, Michelle, German, Joerg, Cathy, Tate, Steve, Kae, Carole, Mr. Keith Santner, Lynn, Aaron, Sara, Kenned, Brett, Jocelyn, Ethan, Sheryl, Runaway Goldfish, Ryan, Chris, Alana, Rachel, Joanna, Lori, Paul, Griff, Matthew, Bobby, Vaibhav, Steven, Joseph, Brandon, Liam, Hall, Jared, Brandon, Christina, Carly, Kazys, Stephen, Katherine, Mohsin Kazmi Takes Pictures, Manny, doeg, Daniel, Tim, Philip, Tim, Lisa, Brodie, Bendix, Irene, holly, Sara, and Margie.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello everyone and welcome to the Indefence of Plants podcast, the official podcast of
0:04.4	IndefenceofPlants.com.
0:06.0	What's up this is your host Matt, welcome to the show.
0:08.1	How is everyone doing this week?
0:10.4	This week we're taking another dive back into the Indefence of Plants podcast library
0:14.6	to dig up a conversation that really helped me see mutualisms in a new light.
0:21.0	And it's timely because I've recently been doing some traveling and come across some
0:24.8	Yucca's flowering and for the first time in my life I have seen a Yucca moth inside
0:29.9	a Yucca flower.
0:30.9	It is very exciting and it reminded me of this conversation I had with Dr. Kerry Seagraves
0:35.8	back in July of 2019.
0:38.6	Dr. Seagraves studies among other things one of the most intentional pollination syndromes
0:43.4	on the planet and it's a mutualism that blew my mind to learn about and I hope it blows
0:48.2	yours as well.
0:49.2	And again, makes you look at the world of plants and insects in a whole new way.
0:53.7	She studies the relationships between Yucca and Yucca moths and I'm not going to spoil
0:57.7	any of the fun.
0:58.7	It was a great conversation.
0:59.7	I really enjoyed having it and it's one I am really excited to bring back especially
1:03.8	for all of the new ears that this show has been reaching since 2019.
1:07.9	So let's just jump right into it without further ado.
1:10.2	Here's my conversation with Dr. Kerry Seagraves.
	...

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