Mastodawn

Did #seabird poop fuel rise of #Chincha in #Peru?
“#Guano dramatically boosted the production of #maize (#corn), and this agricultural surplus crucially helped fuel the Chincha Kingdom’s economy, driving their trade, wealth, population growth and regional influence, and shaped their strategic alliance with the #Inca Empire. In ancient Andean cultures, fertiliser was power.”
https://arstechnica.com/science/2026/02/did-seabird-poop-fuel-rise-of-chincha-in-peru/

in silico Plants 5d ago

📢 Scientific researcher (PhD position) Integrating genetics into crop models at Georg-August-University of Göttingen
Application deadline: 3/16/2026
https://obp.uni-goettingen.de/de-de/OBF/Index/76359
#maize #genetics #drought #PlantSciJobs

Online-Bewerbung - OBMplus

Gay Curmudgeon 6d ago

"IS CORN GRASS?" is one of our favorite Rifftrax shorts, but corn has been one of my ideal plants since childhood. Juniata County Corn Field, 1973. #corn #cornplant #cornplants #cornstalk #cornstalks #cornshalk #cornshalks #autumn #fall #summer #endofsummer #highasanelephantseye #growingcorn #maize #indiancorn #farm #farmer #farming #farmette #familyfarm #familyfarms #rifftrax #riffing #riffers #mikenelson #kevinmurphy #billcorbett #entertaining #entertainers #comedian #comedians

JIPB Mar 16

🌽"The future is the past." Sounds corny? You bet!

⌛️Understanding our #crop ancestors will help #PlantScience create the #food of the future.

🍿In this #review, Yuan et al. explore the hybrid origin and #phenotype #evolution of modern #maize!

🔗https://doi.org/10.1111/jipb.70122
@WileyLifeSci
#botany

in silico Plants Feb 27

🌽 🌾 Disentangling the contribution of trait plasticity to improve the productivity of a #maize – #soybean intercrop system for the Midwest, USA
by Elena Pelech, Jochem Evers, Carl Bernacchi
https://doi.org/10.1093/insilicoplants/diag003 #PlantScience #model

in silico Plants Feb 24

Successful Predictive Modeling of #Pollen Fitness Phenotypes Is Enabled by Measures of Expression Specificity
by Sebastian A.F. Mueller, Zuzana Vejlupkova, Molly Megraw, John E. Fowler
https://doi.org/10.64898/2025.12.05.692487 via BioRxiv #PlantScience #maize

in silico Plants Feb 24

🌾 Identifying and quantifying the contribution of #maize plant traits to nitrogen uptake and use through plant #modelling
by Jie Lu, Tjeerd Jan Stomph, Guohua Mi, Lixing Yuan, Jochem Evers
https://doi.org/10.1093/insilicoplants/diae018 #PlantScience

JIPB Feb 24

✅Crucial #crop #plant
✅Valuable model organism.

🌽This near-complete reference #genome of an important transformable #maize germplasm provides a valuable resource for functional genomics & genome editing.

🔗https://doi.org/10.1111/jipb.70099
@WileyLifeSci
#PlantSci #JIPB #agriculture #botany

in silico Plants Feb 17

NEW!
Disentangling the contribution of trait plasticity to improve the productivity of a maize-soybean intercrop system for the Midwest, USA
by Elena Pelech, Jochem Evers, and Carl Bernacchi
https://doi.org/10.1093/insilicoplants/diag003 #PlantScience #yield #soybean #maize

GrrlScientist ⧖ Ⓥ SciComm 🇺🇦Feb 17

Did Seabird Guano Shape The Expansion Of Peru’s Pre-Inca Society?

"The use of seabird poop as a fertilizer for corn and other food crops supported the expansion of pre-Inca civilizations despite living in an extremely arid environment."

#SciComm by @grrlscientist

#ChinchaKingdom #PreIncaSocieties #Seabirds #birds #Guano #Maize #Ecology #Archaeology #Anthropology https://www.forbes.com/sites/grrlscientist/2026/02/16/did-seabird-guano-shape-the-expansion-of-perus-pre-inca-society/