On April 30th and May 1st, the annual Botany–Zoology Postgraduate Research Symposium 2026 took place at Trinity College Dublin, bringing together postgraduate researchers from across the School of Natural Sciences to share research spanning ecology, social science, zoology, and botany.
On the second day of the symposium, Dr Sate Ahmad delivered the keynote presentation on ecological restoration – the process of assisting the recovery of native ecosystems that have been degraded, damaged, or destroyed. The talk highlighted both the scientific and practical importance of restoration in responding to biodiversity loss and environmental change.
Plant Climate Lab postgraduate researcher Siddiq Muhammad also presented a 10-minute talk on the PlantChem Project: Investigating the Shift in Plant Chemistry Due to Climate Change – A Multidisciplinary Approach.
The presentation explored how rising atmospheric CO₂ and climate change may be altering the elemental composition of plants themselves — the fundamental “building blocks” of plant life. Using the same plant species collected from the same sites across 24 locations and seven major biomes, the study compared historic samples (1989–1991) with modern collections (2013–2015).
The findings revealed striking shifts in plant “elementomes”, with elemental composition changes ranging from 3% to as high as 61% over just a few decades. The greatest changes were observed in subtropical deserts, temperate rainforests, and dry tropical seasonal forests, highlighting how environmental change is physically restructuring plant chemistry on a global scale. These hidden shifts may have major implications for ecosystem functioning, herbivore nutrition, and global nutrient cycling.
The talk was followed by a lively Q&A session and received excellent feedback from the symposium organisers.
It was wonderful to see such a diverse and inspiring range of postgraduate presentations throughout the symposium, and a pleasure to reconnect with colleagues and friends across the School.
