College of Letters & Science
UW fungi researchers across many disciplines have created a world-class supergroup to improve our lives. Professors Ken Cameron and Anne Pringle are both featured in this On Wisconsin Magazine story. Read more
Peatlands are powerhouses when it comes to improving water quality, minimizing flood risks, providing habitat and storing carbon. Yet, most people are unaware of these important ecological places. Researchers and students from UW–Madison and UW–Green Bay hope to change that. Read more.
Words: Elise Mahon | Photos: Sarah Friedrich One hundred million years ago, long before human intervention, ancestors of grasses, like wheat, rice and maize generated “bypasses” of chemical pathways that are used to create two critical compounds: lignin and starch. These more efficient pathways could explain why grass plants are so successful in nature and …
By Elise Mahon Researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison recognize a new species of baobab tree, Adansonia bozy, unique to Madagascar, according to a study published in the journal Taxon. Previously, members of A. bozy were classified within a different species of Malagasy baobab, Adansonia za. While both species look similar, careful genetic analysis revealed …
Kristina Young joined the UW–Madison faculty in January 2026 as an assistant professor of climate change ecology. As an ecologist, she studies how human land use reshapes ecosystems, with an eye toward sustainable land management and methods to halt and reverse land degradation. Before joining the College of Letters & Science, she worked for the …
The Biology Colloquium is a series of lectures hosted by the Department of Biology. In the fall, the Biology Colloquium takes place on Thursdays at 3:30 in Birge Hall, room B302, unless otherwise noted. In the spring, the Biology Colloquium takes place on Thursdays at 3:30 in Noland Hall, room 168, unless otherwise noted. To subscribe to the Biology Colloquium mailing …
A paper by Nathan Kiel (PhD iBio ’24), undergraduate student Eileen Mavencamp (’23), and Professor Monica Turner has been awarded the W.S. Cooper Award for Outstanding Contributions in the Fields of Geobotany and/or Physiographic Ecology. Their paper, “Sparse subalpine forest recovery pathways, plant communities, and carbon stocks 34 years after stand-replacing fire“, emphasizes that post-fire …
A message from Professor Anne Pringle, ’25-’26 Department of Botany Chair and ’26-’27 Center for Botany Faculty Director. Dear Botanists, Greetings! I hope that wherever you are, there are flowers. In Madison we are almost to high summer, and our prairies are bursting with milkweeds, rattlesnake master, and as many difficult-to-identify-species-of-Asteraceae (and grasses) as your …
PhD candidate Tymofii Sokolskyi and professor David Baum published a new paper that investigates pre-biotic chemical reactions in vesicles to better understand the origins of life. Read more.
Department of Biology graduate students Hannah Ashe, Jillian Neece and Shaneya Miriyagalla have received Arboretum Research Fellowships. These graduate fellowships support early career scientists doing work that aligns with the Arboretum’s mission and advances a long tradition of research in restoration ecology and conservation. Read more.