Ep. 416 - Duckweed Microbiomes
In Defense of Plants Podcast
In Defense of Plants
4.8 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 9 April 2023
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The group of plants collectively referred to as "duckweeds" are full of superlatives. Duckweeds boast the smallest flowers in the world, the smallest seeds in the world, and are among the fastest growing plants in the world. Despite their small stature, they also play host to a surprisingly diverse microbiome. How this microbiome affects duckweeds, especially in the context of environmental stresses like pollution has massive implications that stretch far beyond the plants themselves. Join me and Jason Laurich as we explore the fascinating world of the duckweed microbiome. This episode was produced in part by Dorothy, Katherine, Emily, Theo, Nichole, Paul, Karen, Randi, Caelan, Tom, Don, Susan, Corbin, Keena, Robin, Peter, Whitney, Kenned, Margaret, Daniel, Karen, David, Earl, Jocelyn, 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.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, everyone, and welcome to the In Defensive Plants Podcast, the official podcast of |
| 0:04.1 | Indefensiveplants.com. What's up? This is your host, Matt. Welcome to the show. How is everyone doing this week? Before we begin, I just want to say, if you're enjoying the show, consider supporting it. And one of the best ways to do that is to pick up some of our customizable merch. It's a lot of great vintage prints, and because they're customizable, you can find the style |
| 0:20.9 | that works for you. |
| 0:22.3 | All of those links can be found in the show notes over at indefensiveplants.com slash podcast. |
| 0:26.4 | You can also find it in the apparel section of the top of the website. |
| 0:30.4 | But yeah, I couldn't be doing this without support, so consider doing that. |
| 0:34.6 | But today, we're talking about microbiomes and duckweed. Microbiomes is a term |
| 0:40.3 | that's thrown around quite a bit in popular media. Oftentimes it's an abused subject matter |
| 0:45.7 | that is poorly interpreted. But today we have a scientist that is studying that in the coolest way. |
| 0:52.0 | Joining us to talk about this is Jason Lurich. He is a PhD candidate |
| 0:55.4 | working with lemna and their microbiome to try to understand how both the plants and their microbes |
| 1:01.5 | are affected by environmental stress. As you're going to hear, this is pretty important research, |
| 1:07.5 | especially in the greater context of theoretical understanding, but also applied |
| 1:11.1 | sciences. But I don't want to steal any of us thunder. I'm going to let him describe it all to you |
| 1:14.7 | because he's a great proponent of the science. So let's just jump right into it. Without |
| 1:19.1 | further ado, here's my conversation with Jason Larchich, welcome to the podcast. |
| 1:39.3 | I am super excited to talk to you today. |
| 1:41.3 | But for those that aren't familiar with your work, let's start off with an introduction. Tell us a little bit about who you are and what it is |
| 1:46.8 | you do. Yeah, thanks so much for having me here today, Matt. I enjoy your podcast. It was a pleasure |
| 1:53.3 | to be on as a guest. Nice. So I'm a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto, and I took a |
| 2:00.5 | somewhat circuitous route to the world of |
| 2:02.8 | the world and delights of plants. I started off in the marine biology realm, actually. I was out on |
... |
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