PSB 67(3) 2021
A SCICOMM CELEBRATION At Botany 2021, the BSA hosted the second annual SciComm Celebration. Plant Science Bulletin is pleased to highlight several of the SciCommers active in the Botanical community. Editor Mackenzie Taylor reached out this fall to ask about their experiences and advice. Below are highlights from their responses and information about how to follow them. Tell us a little about yourself as a SciCommer. When did you become active? What platforms do you use? Naomi Volain (NV): I’ve always been a science communicator in some form in my career—nutrition, medical advertising, science teaching and education—but it wasn’t until 2020 that I started creating plant and science Comic strips. I put them on the Comics page of my website, Plants Go Global. Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are my social platforms. Giovanna Romero (GR): I started as a SciCommer a year ago. I use Twitter, Instagram and Facebook platforms. These platforms are linked to BIOWEB Ecuador. BIOWEB is a webpage managed by Catholic University of Ecuador. I post every Monday morning about native plants of Ecuador. The goal is that people get interested in Ecuadorian plant diversity. Generally, I upload pictures that I take every time I go to the field in private preserved areas or National Parks. When I go to the field, to me, it is challenging because plants in the Tropics have varying blooming times. I take pictures of plants that I think would be attractive to people (based on flower color, flower forms, sori form, endemism, habit). Then, I identify and post them. Sometimes, identification takes time and it can even require a visit to local herbaria, like QCA.
Teressa Alexander (TA): I love communicating plant science through intriguing articles I’ve read about different plants, but I mainly focus on cacao trees. My topics surround cropping systems, climate change, social and economic issues surrounding the cacao crop. I use Instagram and Twitter (fairly new to Twitter) to communicate this work. Jacob Suissa & Ben Goulet-Scott (SG): Let’s Botanize (@letsbotanize) is an Instagrambased science communication series using plant life to teach about ecology, evolution, and biodiversity through engaging photography and thoughtfully produced videos. As gardening and outdoor recreation increase in popularity, we are creating a digestible entry point for a broad audience to indulge their curiosity about plant life and biology more generally. We started in January 2021 and are active on Instagram and YouTube.
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