@BillJBaker

Tropical botanist at Kew Gardens, palm taxonomist, gardener, wannabe baritone & beleagured father of three

 London
palmweb.org
Joined November 2011
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Brand spanking new flowering plant tree of life! Hot off the press @Nature. Huge thanks to @KewScience and all 279 co-authors for tireless graft on this for past 8 years. We hope you all like it! #angiosperms353 nature.com/articles/s41586-0…
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Favorite sign I saw at San Francisco #HandsOff2025
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What do #rattan #palms tell us about the origin of #rainforest #biodiversity in tropical #Asia? Check out latest @ScienceMagazine for the answers! @KewScience @BenKuhnhaeuser @Chomicki_G @w_eiserhardt Free link: science.org/stoken/author-to…
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Our latest research in @ScienceMagazine explores how island geography 🌏🏝️ shaped the evolution of rattan palms 🌿🌴 in tropical Asia. 🔓 Read the paper using this free-access link: science.org/stoken/author-to… #Biodiversity #Evolution #Biogeography @BillJBaker @Chomicki_G
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🌿 Read the background story of our latest paper on the Origins of Asian rainforest diversity in #Science here🌏📖: kew.org/read-and-watch/ratta… 🌴🔬 @BillJBaker @Chomicki_G @JunYing @RowanSchley @w_eiserhardt

Rattan palms and the origins of tropical Asian rainforest diversity

How we combined newly discovered fossils and DNA from global palm collections to understand more about the evolution of one of the most species-rich places on Earth

kew.org
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Rediscovered: the forgotten palms of Gunung Gamalama 🦙, an active Indonesian volcano 🌴🌋 palms.org/wp-content/uploads… @KewScience @IPS_PalmSociety
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📖 Read more here: science.org/doi/10.1126/scie… @BillJBaker @Chomicki_G @JunYing @RowanSchley @w_eiserhardt
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4️⃣ In brief: 🔥 Radiators generate and distribute diversity. 🐣 Incubators produce diversity in isolation. 🔗 Corridors connect neighboring regions. 🗂️ Accumulators acquire diversity generated elsewhere.
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3️⃣ 🏝️The islands Java, Maluku & Sumatra act as Corridors, 🔗connecting species across the region. Meanwhile, 🦘 Australia, 🇮🇳 India and 🇵🇭 the Philippines are Accumulators, collecting diversity from elsewhere! 🌿 #IslandBiogeography
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2️⃣ 🔥 The 🏝️ island Borneo is a Radiator—it generates diversity and spreads it around! 🌿 Meanwhile, 🌏 Southeast Asia and the 🏝️ islands New Guinea & Sulawesi are 🥚Incubators, evolving new species in isolation. #TropicalBiology
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5️⃣ Why does this matter? 🤔 The unique island geography of the Asian tropics 🌏 helps drive its incredible biodiversity. Understanding these patterns is key to conservation and understanding the origins of life on Earth! 🧬🌱 #Ecology #Conservation
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1️⃣ 🌍 Fresh out in #Science! The Asian tropics are among the most biodiverse places on Earth, but where does all that diversity come from? 🤔🔍 We used 🌴 phylogenomics and 🦴 new fossils to unravel the roles of different regions in generating and distributing species! #Evolution
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LAE Herbarium is packed with gems! Day 1 of some Primulaceae/Myrsinaceae taxonomy (traditional fam used here). How it slowly started, progressed (piles of unnamed specimens) and how it ended (piles with names or to be named). Till tomorrow… #taxonomy #NewGuinea
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My lab is keen on recruiting grad students for 2025 (fully funded positions! Living wage!) on topics related to plant phylogenomics, macroevolution, and adaptation to dry environments: See: edelinegagnon.wixsite.com/ga… Job Details: docs.google.com/document/d/1...
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Lots of groovy plants in this great paper...Annonaceae, Winteraceae, Lauraceae, Aristolochiaceae, Himantandraceae...the whole gang is here!
Bill Baker@BillJBaker20 Jan 2025
A new classification of #magnoliids now out in American Journal of Botany @KewScience @hsauquet_bgsyd @ajhelmstetter @FelixForest1 bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.…
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A new classification of #magnoliids now out in American Journal of Botany @KewScience @hsauquet_bgsyd @ajhelmstetter @FelixForest1 bsapubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.…
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The Bentham-Moxon Trust is recruiting a part-time Finance and Administration Manager. This is a hybrid role with the office based at @kewgardens See here for more information: careers.kew.org/vacancy/bent…
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Palm plantations cannot replace forests, Mr. President thejakartapost.com/opinion/2…

Palm plantations cannot replace forests, Mr. President - Academia - The Jakarta Post

Prabowo’s claim that oil palm plantations can replace forests is fundamentally flawed when viewed through ecological, climatic and societal lenses.

thejakartapost.com
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Why do plant diversity and distribution matter? This Special Collection explores the patterns and processes of plant diversity and distribution, highlights risks to plant diversity, and informs future agendas for research and conservation: nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/… @antonelli_lab
Figure 1 from the Special collection Editorial by Alexandre Antonelli, et al. (2023): Why plant diversity and distribution matter.

ALT Figure 1 from the Special collection Editorial by Alexandre Antonelli, et al. (2023): Why plant diversity and distribution matter.

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Congratulations to Prof Charlie Heatubun! @BalitbangdaPap1 @UKinIndonesia
BRIDA Papua Barat@BalitbangdaPap111 Dec 2024
Pada perayaan 75 Tahun hubungan Diplomatik Inggris-Indonesia Kepala BRIDA Provinsi Papua Barat Prof. Dr. Charlie D. Heatubun, S.Hut, M.Si menjadi salah satu dari 75 Individu yang menerima Penghargaan Duta Besar untuk mengakui kontribusi individu luar biasa.
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We are advertising two fabulous jobs at the Cambridge University Herbarium. A Collections Manager (5 year fixed term) and a Collections & Digitisation Assistant (4 years fixed term). Incredible collection including most of Voyage of the Beagle material. Job links in thread below.
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