About

The field of plant silicon research is fascinating and fast growing – through paleontology, archaeology, agronomy, entomology, biochemistry, physiology and ecology.  Here we seek to collate the latest new knowledge about plant silicon research, and promote it on various platforms using #siliceousplants. We are:

  • Julia Cooke: I’m interested in the functional ecology of plant silicon.  I examined the role of silicon in the leaf dry mass economics spectrum, patterns in responses of stressed plants to silicon fertiliser, the distribution and anti-herbivore defence role of silicon in natural systems and the effect of silicon on leaf biomechanics. You can find me here and on X @CookeJulia.
  • Sarah Thorne: I’m interested in genotypic variation in silicon accumulation and the effect of this on plant stress tolerance. To date I’ve examined differences in silicon accumulation and deposition in wheat and rice genotypes and how this relates to differences in drought and salinity tolerance. I tweet @Sarah.Thorne14.

If you are about to publish, or have recently published a paper on plant silicon, plan or have recently attended a conference with a plant Si session, and are ready to write a blogpost summary of 500-800 words, please get in touch through the comment box below. We’ll work with you to post it on this site, and tweet about it with #siliceousplants. We can try to reblog too if you have already written something for the journal publishing your work.