Madison Plunkert (she/her)

Madison Plunkert (she/her)

@madisonplunkert.bsky.social

Evolutionary genetics in monkeyflower. Plant biology PhD student at Michigan State University.

253 followers331 following54 posts

Madison Plunkert (she/her)
@madisonplunkert.bsky.social

Come join our lab!!

David Lowry@davidlowry.bsky.social

I am currently searching for a postdoc to work on the evolution of adaptations, cold acclimation, and freezing tolerance in switchgrass. The position entails lab, growth facility, bioinformatics, and fieldwork. careers.msu.edu/jobs/postdoc...

careers.msu.eduPostdoctoral Scholar-Fixed Term - East Lansing, Michigan, United StatesPosition Summary The Lowry Lab at Michigan State University is searching for a postdoctoral research associate to conduct field and laboratory experiments to understand the causes of genetic variation...
Madison Plunkert (she/her)
@madisonplunkert.bsky.social

See our new paper examining how monkeyflowers handle salt spray landing on their leaves! Salt spray lands on plant leaves in coastal habitats around the world, yet we know little about how plants survive this stress.

Botanical Society of America@botsocamerica.bsky.social

Foliar salt spray exclusion & tissue tolerance underlie local adaptation to oceanic salt spray New #AJB research by @madisonplunkert.bsky.social, @pcdurant.bsky.social, @davidlowry.bsky.social & Katherine Egeler doi.org/10.1002/ajb2... #botany #plantscience #monkeyflower #Mimulus

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Madison Plunkert (she/her)
@madisonplunkert.bsky.social

See our new paper examining how monkeyflowers handle salt spray landing on their leaves! Salt spray lands on plant leaves in coastal habitats around the world, yet we know little about how plants survive this stress.

Botanical Society of America@botsocamerica.bsky.social

Foliar salt spray exclusion & tissue tolerance underlie local adaptation to oceanic salt spray New #AJB research by @madisonplunkert.bsky.social, @pcdurant.bsky.social, @davidlowry.bsky.social & Katherine Egeler doi.org/10.1002/ajb2... #botany #plantscience #monkeyflower #Mimulus

Madison Plunkert (she/her)
@madisonplunkert.bsky.social

Compared to their inland counterparts, coastal monkeyflowers take up less salt through the leaf surface. Leaf disks from coastals also take longer to die on salt media, suggesting that tissue tolerance mechanisms (maintaining homeostasis after salt has entered the leaf) are also at work.

Madison Plunkert (she/her) reposted

Madison Plunkert (she/her)
@madisonplunkert.bsky.social

Pleased to share a new preprint with Ousseini Issaka Salia, Sam Pérez, Esther Woolcock, and @jeffreykconner.bsky.social! We used replicated mapping populations to investigate the genetic architecture of short stamen number variation in Arabidopsis thaliana. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

biorxiv.orgShared QTLs underlie loss of a conserved trait in replicate mapping populations of Arabidopsis thalianaThe evolutionary mechanisms leading to nonfunctional trait loss are not well understood. Some Arabidopsis thaliana populations display incomplete loss of short stamens, floral organs that do not contr...
Madison Plunkert (she/her)
@madisonplunkert.bsky.social

It turns out there are many ways to lose your short stamens, and not all of them affect flowering time too. See our preprint for more: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

biorxiv.orgShared QTLs underlie loss of a conserved trait in replicate mapping populations of Arabidopsis thalianaThe evolutionary mechanisms leading to nonfunctional trait loss are not well understood. Some Arabidopsis thaliana populations display incomplete loss of short stamens, floral organs that do not contr...
Madison Plunkert (she/her)
@madisonplunkert.bsky.social

But in self-fertilizing species like A. thaliana, pollinator visits are rare, and the short stamens don't reach the stigma. Some populations of A. thaliana often make flowers with 0-1 short stamens instead of the usual 2 (cool pics and a drift/selection test here): academic.oup.com/evolut/artic...

academic.oup.comEvaluating the roles of drift and selection in trait loss along an elevational gradientThe evolutionary mechanisms underlying loss or retention of traits that have lost function are poorly understood. Short stamens in Arabidopsis thaliana pro
Madison Plunkert (she/her)
@madisonplunkert.bsky.social

Since short stamens have little effect on fitness, we asked whether pleiotropy with other traits might drive short stamen number evolution. In natural accessions, short stamen number is correlated with traits like flowering time, which might matter more for fitness. academic.oup.com/evolut/artic...

academic.oup.comIncomplete loss of a conserved trait: function, latitudinal cline, and genetic constraintsAbstract. Retention of nonfunctional traits over evolutionary time is puzzling, because the cost of trait production should drive loss. Indeed, several stu
Madison Plunkert (she/her)
@madisonplunkert.bsky.social

In the Brassicaceae family, almost all species have four long stamens and two short stamens. This probably helps the flowers better contact the bodies of pollinators. royalsocietypublishing.org/rsos/article...

royalsocietypublishing.orgTesting adaptive hypotheses for an evolutionarily conserved trait through slow-motion videos of pollinatorsAbstract. Traits conserved across evolutionary time often provide compelling examples of key adaptations for a given taxonomic group. Tetradynamy is the pr

Madison Plunkert (she/her) reposted

Chenxin Li, PhD
@chenxinli2.bsky.social

Literally targeting people like me.

Michael Clemens@mclem.org

Yesterday the US Administration supercharged its explicit effort to bar international students from staying in the US after graduation. All Americans should know: 1/3 of *all* STEM PhDs working in the US are immigrants who graduated from US universities, then stayed. www.piie.com/index%2Ephp/...

Madison Plunkert (she/her) reposted

Brendan Cantwell
@cantb.bsky.social

I find it literally insane that people don’t respond to the experience living in this smoke by demanding a transition away from fossil fuels.

Madison Plunkert (she/her) reposted

David Lowry
@davidlowry.bsky.social

I am thrilled to see this paper finally out. The study faced many challenges, including a field season upended by the global pandemic and then saved by heroic efforts. The results were also complex and unexpected. Great work by Kathy Toll to see this through. academic.oup.com/jeb/advance-...

academic.oup.comPlant hormone manipulation impacts salt spray tolerance, which preempts herbivory as a driver of local adaptation in the yellow monkeyflower, Mimulus guttatusAbstract. A major challenge in evolutionary biology is identifying the selective agents and phenotypes underlying local adaptation. Local adaptation along

Madison Plunkert (she/her) reposted

Stand Up for Science!
@standupforscience.net

🚨 HEADS UP: If you haven't submitted a comment on the OMB proposal yet, there's still time - but it's running out! There are only 2 days left to push back against Russell Vought's attempt to give political appointees unprecedented control over federal research funding. Take Action: zurl.co/qTjQP

Madison Plunkert (she/her) reposted

Chenxin Li, PhD
@chenxinli2.bsky.social

Write to your representatives. Talk to your scientific society about what it can do. There is a partisan effort to discredit, restrict, and dismantle the US scientific enterprise. We can't just shut up and take it.

Crystal D. Rogers@rogerslabucd.bsky.social

This is actually really scary to read. No guarantees that grants will be awarded or won’t be cancelled. Projects must align with Presidential goals. All grants must include text about “gold standard” science. All grants will be approved by political appointees without consideration of reviews.

Madison Plunkert (she/her)
@madisonplunkert.bsky.social

Little micro-action (that falls short of what's needed here) is click the NSF feedback form and indicate that this page was *not* helpful.

Leslie Rissler@ljrissler.bsky.social

I am shocked to see this language from the NSF. “The U.S. National Science Foundation's Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Request reflects a strategic alignment of resources in a constrained fiscal environment while eliminating woke and weaponized grant programs that previously funded radical DEI projects.”

nsf.govFiscal Year 2027 Budget Request to Congress
Madison Plunkert (she/her)
@madisonplunkert.bsky.social

Join me from 1-3pm in Lansing, Michigan! fight2win.standupforscience.net/Lansing-March/

fight2win.standupforscience.netStand up for ScienceStand up for Science
Stand Up for Science!@standupforscience.net

TODAY IS THE DAY. NATIONWIDE rallies in your local city are kicking off today to SAVE SCIENCE, PROTECT HEALTH, and DEFEND DEMOCRACY. Visit standupforscience.net/march7 to find your local rally! GET OUT THERE SCIENCE ACTIVISTS!!! #March7 #standupforscience #science #rally #savescience

standupforscience.netStand Up for Science: March 7th, 2026 — STAND UP FOR SCIENCE

Madison Plunkert (she/her) reposted

Indivisible Central Michigan
@indivcentralmi.bsky.social

Are you standing up for Science on Saturday? Our nearest rally is at Michigan State Capitol!

Stand Up for Science!@standupforscience.net

LANSING!! Visit this link:zurl.co/vpQA0? to learn more about your local SATURDAY MARCH 7TH RALLY to TAKE BACK OUR SCIENCE! See map for location! Rally starts at 1pm and goes till 3pm! #March7Lansing #standupforscience #science #savescience

Madison Plunkert (she/her) reposted

Chenxin Li, PhD
@chenxinli2.bsky.social

$128 million can pay for more than a hundred NSF proposals. A handful of NSF awards over a 15-year period can establish and launch multiple careers for the PI and trainees alike. We could have supported entire cohorts of young scientists, but we get concentration camps instead. #AbolishICE

Christopher Webb@cwebbonline.com

ICE just bought a massive warehouse in Social Circle, Georgia for $128.6 million. Call it what it is: an internment camp expansion happening in town across the country. 1/2

Madison Plunkert (she/her) reposted

David Lowry
@davidlowry.bsky.social

I am currently searching for a new postdoctoral researcher to study the evolution, genetics, and physiology of cold acclimation and freezing tolerance in switchgrass at Michigan State University. This work will be funded by a newly funded five-year DOE grant. careers.msu.edu/jobs/researc...

careers.msu.eduResearch Associate-Fixed Term - East Lansing, Michigan, United StatesPosition Summary The Lowry Lab at Michigan State University is searching for a postdoctoral research associate to conduct molecular and physiological experiments to understand the causes of genetic va...
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Madison Plunkert (she/her)
@madisonplunkert.bsky.social

Previous work showed that height and flowering time differences let coastal monkeyflowers reduce salt spray exposure. We tested two later-acting mechanisms: after salt spray lands on the plant, coastals reduce its entry into leaf tissue, and prevent necrosis once salt gets in, better than inlands.