Here we present the first empirical evidence to support the hypothesis that a gender-heterogeneous problem-solving team generally produced journal articles perceived to be higher quality by peers than a team comprised of highly-performing individuals of the same gender. Although women were historically underrepresented as principal investigators of working groups, their frequency as PIs at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis is now comparable to the national frequencies in biology and they are now equally qualified, in terms of their impact on the accumulation of ecological knowledge (as measured by the h-index). While women continue to be underrepresented as working group participants, peer-reviewed publications with gender-heterogeneous authorship teams received 34% more citations than publications produced by gender-uniform authorship teams. This suggests that peers citing these publications perceive publications that also happen to have gender-heterogeneous authorship teams as higher quality than publications with gender uniform authorship teams. Promoting diversity not only promotes representation and fairness but may lead to higher quality science.

Hybridization is a biological phenomenon increasingly recognized as an important evolutionary process in both plants and animals, as it is linked to speciation, radiation, extinction, range expansion and invasion, and allows for increased trait diversity in agricultural and horticultural systems. Estimates of hybridization frequency vary across taxonomic groups, but causes of this variation are unknown. Here, we ask on a global scale whether hybridization is linked to any of 11 traits related to plant life history, reproduction, genetic predisposition, and environment or opportunity. Given that hybridization is not evenly distributed across the plant tree of life, we use phylogenetic generalized least squares regression models and phylogenetic path analysis to detect statistical associations between hybridization and plant traits at both the family and genus levels. We find that perenniality and woodiness are each weakly associated with an increased frequency of hybridization in univariate analyses, but path analysis suggests that the direct linkage is between perenniality and increased hybridization (with woodiness having only an indirect relationship with hybridization via perenniality). Weak associations between higher rates of hybridization and higher outcrossing rates, abiotic pollination syndromes, vegetative reproductive modes, larger genomes, and less variable genome sizes are detectable in some cases but not others. We argue that correlational evidence at the global scale, such as that presented here, provides a robust framework for forming hypotheses to examine and test drivers of hybridization at a more mechanistic level.

The burgeoning cannabis market requires evidence-based science such that farmers can quickly and efficiently generate new plants. In part, horticultural operations are limited by the success of cloning procedures. Here, we measured the role of environmental conditions and cultivar identity on the success of generating long branch material with many meristems in planting stock (mothers) and in rooting success of stem-derived clones. To evaluate the influence of lighting treatments on the optimal production of branching mothers, four lighting conditions (Fluorescent High Output T5s [T5], Metal halide lamps [MH], Plasma lamps [PL], or Metal halide lamps augmented with far red LED lights [MH+FR]) were applied to two cultivars of container grown plants (Cannabis sativa L. ‘Bubba Kush’, ‘Ghost Train Haze’) grown in peat-based organic substrates in mylar grow tents. To evaluate the influence of lighting, cutting tool (secateurs or scalpels), and stem wounding (present/absent) on optimal rooting of stems, three lighting conditions (Fluorescent T8s, T5, PL) were applied to three cultivars of peat pellet grown plants (C. sativa L. ‘Bubba Kush’, ‘Ghost Train Haze’, ‘Headband’). Mothers grown under T5 and MH (vs MH+FR) produced ~30% more meristems. However, growing mothers under MH+FR were 19% taller than mothers under T5, with ~25% longer internodes on dominant stems than plants under any other lighting condition. Canopies were denser under T5 because petiole length was ~30% shorter under T5 and fan leaves were longer and narrower under MH+FR and MH+FR and PL, respectively, than under other lighting conditions. Cultivar Ghost Train Haze stems rooted most frequently and most quickly. Wounded stems were 162% more likely to root than unwounded stems and rooted 1.5 days earlier. Our results will guide producers attempting to maximize the rate of clone production in licensed facilities; although results may differ among cultivars, where cultivars differed in their average phenotype as mother plants, and their propensity to root from cuttings, and the speed with which they produced those roots.

Cannabis sativa L. is an annual, short-day plant, such that long-day lighting promotes vegetative growth while short-day lighting induces flowering. To date, there has been no substantial investigation on how the switch between these photoperiods influences yield of C. sativa despite the tight correlation that plant size and floral biomass have with the timing of photoperiod switches in indoor growing facilities worldwide. Moreover, there are only casual predictions around how the timing of the photoperiodic switch may affect the production of secondary metabolites, like cannabinoids. Here we use a meta-analytic approach to determine when growers should switch photoperiods to optimize C. sativa floral biomass and cannabinoid content. To this end, we searched through ISI Web of Science for peer-reviewed publications of C. sativa that reported experimental photoperiod durations and results containing cannabinoid concentrations and/or floral biomass, then from 26 studies, we estimated the relationship between photoperiod and yield using quantile regression. Floral biomass was maximized when the long daylength photoperiod was minimized (i.e., 14 days), while THC and CBD potency was maximized under long day length photoperiod for ~42 and 49–50 days, respectively. Our work reveals a yield trade-off in C. sativa between cannabinoid concentration and floral biomass where more time spent under long-day lighting maximizes cannabinoid content and less time spent under long-day lighting maximizes floral biomass. Growers should carefully consider the length of long-day lighting exposure as it can be used as a tool to maximize desired yield outcomes.

Cultivated plants that cannot survive on their own often have maladaptive domestication traits. Unharvested crop seeds may generate feral populations, at times causing serious weed problems, but little is known about the evolution of ferality. We explored the potential for cultivated radish, Raphanus sativus, to become feral, given that closely related taxa (e.g., R. raphanistrum and crop–wild hybrids) are well‐documented weeds. First, we measured the population growth of five experimental, cultivated, self‐seeding radish populations in Michigan, USA, for three generations. Three late‐flowering populations went extinct, and two others apparently hybridized with local R. raphanistrum. A common garden experiment showed that the two surviving populations had earlier flowering, smaller root diameters, and greater individual fecundity than did nonhybridized populations. We also used artificial selection to measure the evolutionary potential for earlier flowering. After two generations of strong selection, two of three lineages flowered earlier and produced more seeds than control lineages, but insufficient genetic variation prevented dramatic evolution of crop phenotypes. In summary, it seems unlikely that radishes could spontaneously become feral in our study area without gene flow from R. raphanistrum. Applying these approaches to other cultivated species may provide a better understanding of mechanisms promoting the evolution of feral weeds.