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Plants matter: Introducing Plants, People, Planet

2018; Wiley; Volume: 1; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1002/ppp3.14

2572-2611

Simon J. Hiscock, Paul Wilkin, Sarah Lennon, Bennett Young,

Animal and Plant Science Education

The force that through the green fuse drives the flower Drives my green age; that blasts the roots of trees Is my destroyer And I am dumb to tell the crooked rose My youth is bent by the same wintry fever Dylan Thomas, 1934 When Dylan Thomas wrote "The Force That Through The Green Fuse Drives The Flower," it is unlikely that he had photosynthesis in mind. However, the above verse from the poem neatly captures how connected and intertwined we as humans are with plants and the "forces" of nature. We rely on plants for food, shelter, fuel, and fibers for clothing, as well as for our gardens, landscape, and artistic inspiration; and this is all driven by photosynthesis. We live on a planet where life is powered by plants through photosynthesis on land and in the sea, and one could argue that this is indeed the force that connects us all. Plants, people, and the planet share more than just the same initial, they exist because of the force that through the green fuse drives the flower. Human civilizations exist because of plants. The transition from hunter-gatherer to farmer, and the development of agriculture has allowed us to grow our settlements into the villages, towns, cities, and megacities we know today. Likewise, the planet's atmospheric oxygen, which allows us and all other aerobic organisms to breathe and release energy from food, has been created by plants. Celebrating and highlighting this deep connection is core to the aim of this new journal. Plants, People, Planet is a cross-disciplinary Open Access journal from the New Phytologist Trust, which will focus on the interface between plants, society, and the environment, highlighting plants, and plant-based research, in its broadest sense. Plants, People, Planet's vision is to promote and celebrate all plant-based research, and our wish is for the journal to become a natural home for everything new, innovative, and exciting in the world of plants that is relevant to society and people's daily lives. Plants, People, Planet seeks contributions from across all disciplines, not just from the broad spectrum of plant sciences. We are especially keen to receive submissions of interdisciplinary research and research of immediate or potential benefit to society, recognizing that such work may be conducted in collaboration with for instance: practitioners, policymakers, social scientists, economists, members of the public, and a range of scientific disciplines. Through the pages of the journal, we aim to showcase the most novel and cutting-edge research involving plants in the broadest contexts. As an example of this breadth, one forthcoming special issue will explore the phenomenon of "Plant Blindness" and will feature contributions from plant scientists, as well as researchers in the arts, humanities, and social sciences, while another on "Tree Resistance" will feature policymakers and practitioners as well as scientists. The journal's wide interests are reflected in the varied article types we publish, from Research articles and Reviews, to Opinion pieces, Brief Reports, Interviews, and Editorials, as well as our unique Flora Obscura category, which you can read more about below. Our aim is for Plants, People, Planet to be a vibrant and exciting new forum that appeals not just to the academic community, but to anyone with a general interest in plants. A key element of this will be the Societal Impact Statements that will accompany each article. These short, accessible statements form an important part of the ethos of the journal and will be used to help raise the wider profile of authors' work. The New Phytologist Trust's plan to publish Plants, People, Planet was announced at the International Botanical Congress in Shenzhen, July 2017 (Figure 1a). This was an especially fitting forum for the launch, as "Plants and Society" was a key theme across the congress, and clearly an area that plant scientists care about deeply, and appreciate as a core area for their attention. The congress featured a number of outstanding plenary and keynote lectures, as well as five special public lectures. As part of our first issue, we are delighted to publish five articles arising from these stimulating public lectures (Figure 1b). Highlights of the congress include the ratification of the Shenzhen Declaration, which outlines seven priorities for strategic action in the plant sciences. Plants, People, Planet endorses these principles, as fundamental to the journal's ideology, and as such the Shenzhen Declaration is reproduced in its entirety in this issue (Crane et al., 2019). The Shenzhen Declaration is further highlighted in the article by Peter Raven, which describes the threats we face, and why the Shenzhen Declaration's seven action points can help create a sustainable future (Raven, 2019). In the article, Raven issues a rallying call for plant scientists, and the wider community, to safeguard the diversity of the planet before it is too late. Barbara Schaal's article highlights the rich coevolutionary history of plants and humans and also discusses how this long, mutually beneficial relationship is in a precarious state currently (Schaal, 2019). Schaal also considers the threats to our future, as well as the challenges and opportunities that face plant scientists today. Sandra Knapp's article explores whether plants need us as much as we need them (Knapp, 2019). Knapp discusses how we can all contribute to creating a society that is in harmony with nature, highlighting the importance of citizen science, and how crop cultivation and distribution can empower individuals and develop communities. Huanming Wang Yang, Xiaoling Wang, and Juan Tian's article views plant science through the lens of genomics (Yang, Wang, & Tian, 2019). Huanming Yang is a co-founder of the Beijing Genomics Institute and a key figure in China's work on the International Human Genome Project. In their article, Yang and colleagues discuss how plants have shaped genomics research. They also note how plants can help us learn more about ourselves and expand our knowledge, concluding that protecting plant diversity is crucial to furthering this knowledge, especially in the field of drug discovery. Peter Crane's paper explores the enigmatic Ginkgo biloba (Crane, 2019). Ginkgo has been a muse to artists, poets, and scientists for many, many years, and the cultural history presented in this article is a fascinating insight into one our most revered and widely cultivated tree species. Given this example of a long and complex shared history, one could perhaps say that our coevolution with plants is not just biological, it is also cultural. Moving away from the International Botanical Congress, in the first of our Flora Obscura series Chris Thorogood profiles the unusual genus Hydnora (Thorogood, 2019). Flora Obscura articles will feature regularly in the journal and will highlight all that is new and unusual in the world of plants, including newly discovered species, and new or unusual insights into the biology of plants and their interactions with other organisms (Figure 1c). Flora Obscura will also showcase some of the most extraordinary plants in the world, such as the very "weird" genus Hydnora, a poorly understood group of parasitic plant and quite possibly the strangest plant in the world, which once seen is never forgotten. Collaboration and networking is centre stage in a Brief Report by Dodd and colleagues, which describes the formation of a small, unstructured, international plant science network, which has been allowed to self-organize through the aspirations of early career scientists (Dodd et al., 2019). The authors consider how networks of this type can help equip the next generation of plant scientists with the necessary breadth of skills and experience required to overcome the challenges of the 21st century and to progress to leadership roles. In a thought-provoking opinion piece, Paul Smith outlines the challenges currently faced by botanic garden science (Smith, 2019). Smith suggests that botanic gardens are seen less as scientific institutions and more as visitor attractions, despite the crucial role they play at the interface of conservation and research. He issues a call for action, suggesting that botanic gardens should refocus their efforts on producing research with deep societal impact. At Plants, People, Planet, we are especially keen to receive submissions from researchers working in botanic gardens, and we recognize the importance of the research that is undertaken in these institutions at all levels. Original research is presented in the article by Coker and colleagues, who offer a timely meta-analysis that estimates the mortality rates of European Ash (Fraxinus excelsior) under the ash dieback epidemic (Coker et al., 2019). Ash dieback is the result of infection by the fungus Hymenoscyphus fraxineus, which has devastated ash tree populations across Europe. This work highlights the delicate balance that exists between plants and other organisms, and how a better understanding of the pathogens of plants can help us protect plant diversity. When Dylan Thomas published "The Force That Through The Green Fuse Drives The Flower" in 1934, the world's population was fewer than 3 billion. Almost 90 years later, we are heading toward 8 billion, and 55% of the world's population live in urban environments where many have lost their connection with plants (United Nations, 2018). The phenomenon of "plant blindness" would have been anathema to Thomas, but it is now a real and present cultural (societal) phenomenon in much of the "developed" world. For many people, the plants and plant products all around them in their everyday lives are invisible—they are "phytologically blind." Through Plants, People, Planet, the New Phytologist Trust aims to confront this plant blindness by highlighting the importance of plants to society and people's everyday lives. This first issue sets the scene and in future issues we will be publishing more exciting articles with societal impact. We welcome your feedback, ideas, and suggestions for articles, special collections or any activities that you think we might be interested in. We thank our editorial and strategic advisory boards for their ongoing support and enthusiasm for the project. We also extend thanks to the researchers working on plant-based topics who have reached out to us to offer their encouragement. Plants, People, Planet aims to be a community journal, providing a forum for the inter-disciplinary work taking place across our green planet, whether it be in a laboratory, library, rainforest, mountain, or ocean.