Hybrid Lunchbox Talk: If Not Us, Who? Rebuilding Botanical Capacity for the Southeast

Register Here with Joey Shaw, Distinguished Service and UC Foundation Professor, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Date: Thursday, April 16, 2026 Time: 12:00 – 1:00 PM ET Location: Hybrid – Virtual and In-person attendance options Fee: Free; preregistration required   The accelerating loss of biodiversity, coupled with a decline in botany programs, organismal biology and plant identification skills, has created an urgent need to rebuild botanical capacity. Botanical work depends on both traditional skills, like field observation and specimen identification, but we also need contemporary tools that improve worker efficiency, accessibility, and scale. The development of digital infrastructures such as digitized herbarium specimen portals, online plant atlases, keys (books and digital), and data-driven conservation metrics allows a small number of trained botanists to have outsized impact, supporting research, conservation, land management, and education. Floristics, herbarium science, and key-thinking build foundational skills that enable developing botanists to move beyond name recognition toward understanding species concepts, ecological context, and conservation relevance. When paired with more modern tools, this training produces young professionals capable of meeting today’s conservation challenges. This presentation explores how the deliberate integration of tool development, student training, and public outreach can strengthen the next generation of human infrastructure needed to document, understand, advocate for, and protect plant diversity.   Register Here