Plants are incredibly diverse, and so are botanists! In its mission to spread fascinating stories about the plant world, Botany One also introduces you to the scientists behind these great stories.
Today, we have Dr Karolina Heyduk, who holds a double bachelor’s degree in economics and conservation biology from the University of Wisconsin Madison, and a Ph.D. in Plant Biology at the University of Georgia (United States). After being a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Georgia and Yale University, Heyduk started her first faculty position at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. Then, in 2023, she moved to the University of Connecticut in 2023, where she works as an assistant professor in the Ecology and Evolution Biology Department and director of the George Safford Torrey Herbarium.
Heyduk’s lab seeks to understand how plants function in tough environments. Those environments range from the driest deserts to aquatic ecosystems, where plants face challenges in obtaining CO2 for photosynthesis. She and her team work on a diversity of species, using a combination of physiology, phylogenetics, and genomics to understand the evolution of photosynthetic adaptations. You can learn more about her research at her lab’s website and Bluesky.
What made you become interested in plants?
I grew up with plants; my mom is an avid gardener and I helped her a lot in the yard. One of my summer jobs in college was on a local farm, where I learned how to grow and harvest vegetable and fruit crops. But in college, I met the right people at the right time. I was working at a USDA lab in the greenhouse—not because I loved plants yet, but because I needed the money. But the PI I worked for asked if I wanted to learn how to extract DNA in the lab and I said sure, why not, even though I had no idea what that entailed. In the lab I was trained by the lab tech who, when I told him I wasn’t sure about the whole economics degree, suggested I take a plant systematics course. After that, I was lost to plants. My final job was helping a graduate student with his research, and I was fortunate enough to take a trip with him to the desert for collecting samples. That was the first time I saw (and became enraptured by) the desert.
What motivated you to pursue your current area of research?
When I started graduate school, I knew I wanted to work on plants adapted to desert or dry conditions, but that was pretty much it. I read a ton in that first semester and learned about CAM photosynthesis, a modified form of photosynthesis that some plants use to save water while taking in CO2. I had never learned about a different kind of photosynthesis before! It seemed so fascinating. It also turned out that another graduate student in the lab was studying species of Yucca, a genus where some species use CAM and others do not. Everything kind of fell into place after that.
What is your favourite part of your work related to plants?
I think this answer has changed a lot over the years. In graduate school, I would have probably said that I most enjoyed how my work used different fields to synthesize an understanding of the evolution of CAM—I was in the greenhouse some days, in the lab others, or doing bioinformatic analyses. Now, though, I think my favourite part about being a plant biologist is working with others. I absolutely love the new collaborations I’ve been lucky enough to be a part of. Bringing together really amazing people to work toward a common scientific question is a thrill. Likewise, working with the incredibly talented people in my lab brings me joy every single day.
Are any specific plants or species that have intrigued or inspired your research? If so, what are they and why?
I will always have a fondness for Yuccas, which are the first species I worked on in graduate school. I am still working on understanding photosynthetic diversity in the same species I started my career exploring. I’ve also been working on Joshua trees (another species of Yucca) recently with a really great collaborative team, and we’ve been finding exciting new things about their photosynthetic physiology.
Could you share an experience or anecdote from your work that has marked your career
and reaffirmed your fascination with plants?
CAM photosynthesis is a partially nocturnal phenotype—these plants take up CO2 at night, then refix it into sugars during the day through the normal photosynthetic pathway. But the nighttime part of it all means that I’m often staying up for multiple nights, measuring plant photosynthesis at midnight, 2 am, 4 am… it’s pretty intense sometimes. But sometimes you see something you didn’t expect, a new CAM species that hasn’t been documented before, and it makes it all worthwhile.
What advice would you give young scientists considering a career in plant biology?
I have two pieces of advice. The first is to find what brings you joy. Careers in plant biology can mean a lot of things: it can mean research, or teaching, or science communication or government work. Find the part of plant biology that will keep bringing you excitement and fulfilment, even when the funding is low or the students aren’t interested or when people tell you that saving that species isn’t worth it. The second piece of advice is to surround yourself with people who you want to be around. Whether it’s mentors or collaborators or friends in grad school, build a support network that has your back and wants you to succeed in attaining your dreams!
What do people usually get wrong about plants?
People usually think plants need way more water than they do in reality (stop overwatering your houseplants!). They also think that plants only photosynthesize during the day, but CAM plants do part of it at night!
Carlos A. Ordóñez-Parra
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