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 Renske Onstein, who describes herself as an evolutionary ecologist, particularly interested in global and deep time patterns and drivers of plant diversity. She finished her PhD at the University of Zurich in 2015, as part of the ‘Cenozoic radiation team’ – led by the inspiring Peter Linder. During that time, she studied how the evolution of plant functional traits has driven evolutionary radiations across different plant lineages by providing opportunities for (ecological) speciation or as buffers against extinction. Onstein further developed this line of research as a postdoc and later group leader – moving from France, to the Netherlands, to Germany, and back to the Netherlands. Since 2022, she has been based at Naturalis Biodiversity Center, co-leading a new research group on ‘Biodiversity Hotspots’ with Dr Luis Valente. She is also passionate about communicating her science to the general public, either by giving public talks, writing a blog or editing short videos. You can follow her work on Bluesky.
What made you become interested in plants?
When I was 18, after finishing secondary school, I decided to take off to Southeast Asia for nine months. I travelled across different countries, and was particularly interested in seeing the different ecosystems and biomes, and their diversity. It was my first time in the tropics, and I was overwhelmed by the diversity of shapes and form in different organisms, and realized quickly that plants provide the basis of these hyper-diverse systems, showing typical characters that define the biomes – such as large leaves with drip tips in rainforests, and succulent growth forms in dry biomes. Having quite a ‘statistical’ mind, I realized that this diversity can provide the sample size needed to understand repeated evolutionary events, such as the independent evolution of similar traits across geographically-isolated but climatically similar biomes.
What motivated you to pursue your current area of research?
During my PhD, I realized that I am most motivated by understanding large-scale general diversity patterns, by asking ‘big’ questions on evolutionary origins of lineages, traits, and biomes. I can’t focus when things get into too much detail, but, in contrast, I am so excited and passionate about identifying generalizable patterns and drivers. This complexity requires the integration of different disciplines –evolution, functional ecology, comparative biology, geology and paleobiology. It never gets boring! This diversity – also in terms of approaches, moving from the field, to the lab, to the computer, has motivated my current research program.
What is your favourite part of your work related to plants?
Diversity and variation in forms and functions – and encountering this in the field or herbarium. And then thinking of hypotheses that could explain this, and test them!
Are any specific plants or species that have intrigued or inspired your research? If so, what are they and why?
To me, any system you focus or spend time on becomes interesting. In my case, that has been particularly the case with the Proteaceae, Rhamnaceae, Arecaceae and Annonaceae families. However, most of my work is driven by specific hypotheses —for example, why are Mediterranean-type ecosystems so diverse?—and then I find a suitable model system to test those, such as the Proteaceae and Rhamnaceae families, in this case. I am also intrigued by ‘misfits’ – weird species or clades that are often quite morphologically or ecologically unique and occur on isolated evolutionary branches. However, they often lack the sample size to quantitatively test why they are so different or species-poor!
Could you share an experience or anecdote from your work that has marked your career and reaffirmed your fascination with plants?
No single event – but the most influential experiences have happened in remote field locations. The survival mode that comes when being in such places opens up the senses, somehow, and the appreciation and contact for/with nature. This happened often, but an example is last year in Marojejy in Madagascar, an amazing tropical forest that changes along an altitudinal gradient, where we travelled with an international research team to study fleshy-fruited plants and their (potential) seed dispersed.
What advice would you give young scientists considering a career in plant biology?
Keep on doing what motivates and inspires you, what gets you up in the morning, rather than what is expected from you by peers or supervisors. To follow an (academic) career, you will need that intrinsic motivation and perseverance. Ask questions, be curious, and do not be afraid to make mistakes, they give you the best opportunity to learn quickly.
What do people usually get wrong about plants?
I work in a wonderful Natural History Museum (Naturalis in the Netherlands), but plants are underappreciated among the general public (and even my colleagues) – the so-called ‘plant blindness’. As botanists, it is our duty to communicate the wonders of plants, to make them accessible to non-scientists. So, what people get wrong, is that they think that they are not exciting. They are just as exciting as dinosaurs or polar bears!
Carlos A. Ordóñez-Parra
Carlos (he/him) is a Colombian seed ecologist currently doing his PhD at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (Belo Horizonte, Brazil) and working as a Science Editor at Botany One and a Communications Officer at the International Society for Seed Science. You can follow him on BlueSky at @caordonezparra.
The post Renske Onstein: A Passion for “Big” Plant Questions appeared first on Botany One.
