It gives me great pleasure to pass the EiC baton to my colleague Prof Maarja Öpik, from Tartu University, Estonia. I wish her great success and hope that she enjoys the role as much as I have.

Although I am stepping down from the role of EiC, I will be staying on as an Editor, with particular responsibility for the Forum. I look forward to continuing working with you in that capacity.

Chan et al. report findings from a remarkably fortuitous combination of anemometer and LiDAR data that captured the impact of Typhoon Mangkhut on Hong Kong’s forests in 2018, providing valuable insights into how cyclones shape tropical forest dynamics.

Troy S. Magney provides an excellent summary of the recent work by Wu et al., noting in particular the potential utility of hyperspectral reflectance for generalising metabolic processes normally measured at the leaf scale to much larger scales:

Julia Lambret Frotte and colleagues developed and applied an AI tool to show the effect of increasing chloroplast numbers in bundle cells in rice, including a notable increase in the numbers of tillers and panicles:

This is a fascinating look at the identification of seeds of an unknown juniper species in the La Brea tar pits, and subsequent use to reconstruct the contribution of climate to the extirpation of juniper in the late Pleistocene:

Finally, it has been a joy to interact with the cohorts of Early Career Researchers who have made our New Phytologist next generation scientists meetings such a success. Photo: NP Editorial Board members and Central Office colleagues at the 2024 Editorial Meeting, Dublin. (3/3)

I also want to thank the numerous members of the international community of plant scientists who have authored papers and, or acted as reviewers and in so doing have ensured the success of the journal. (2/3).

The posts over the next few days will be my last as Editor in Chief of New Phytologist as I am stepping down after 12 years. I would like to express my sincere thanks to the Editors, Advisors and members of NP Central Office for their support. (1/3).

This instructive review by Yong Li and colleagues sets out the opportunities and challenges afforded by protein isoforms for future research in plant molecular biology:

New Phytologist next generation scientists 2025 will be in Birmingham, UK on 4-7 August. These meetings are an excellent opportunity for early career plant scientists and highly recommended – apply to attend by 27 January:

It’s great to see this Tansley review, co-authored by previous Tansley Medal winners Anna Trugman and Leander Anderegg, published in New Phytologist. An extensive look at source versus sink limitations on tree growth:

Our recent New Phytologist Now webinar with fantastic speakers Sally Assmann and Keiko Torii, expertly hosted by Hanna Hõrak, is now available to watch on demand. Highly recommended!

A very interesting Viewpoint by Wilf and Kooyman casts a new light on historic management practices in Australia’s tall eucalypt forests, given evidence in the fossil record:

Sia and colleagues demonstrate the potential for data-driven machine learning approaches to reveal established and novel components of plant immune responses:

This important Commentary by Daniel Montesinos, describing work by Zhu et al., highlights a problem with pot experiments: that they may lead us to ignore important predictive traits or factors present in field studies, resulting in more false negatives:

Zhang and Baucom find that Ipomoea purpurea plants that are resistant to glyphosate are also resistant to herbivory, suggesting that these traits might be evolving in tandem:

Understanding when plants photosynthesise is critical for optimising agricultural production. Li & Gendron summarise our current understanding of the metabolic daylength measurement system in this excellent Tansley insight:

Carlos Hernán Barrera-Rojas and colleagues review the role of small RNAs in regulating the biosynthetic pathways responsible for plant pigments, and suggest some interesting questions for the future:

I thought that I would share the wonderful autumn colours I encountered during a walk in Bleasdale near where I live in the UK.