New Phytologist is proud to present 'Stomata', a new Virtual Issue guest edited by Sarah M Assmann, Juan Dong, Julie E Gray, Hanna Hõrak, Yun-Kuan Liang, Chun-Peng Song, Shuhua Yang and Alistair M Hetherington.
New Phytologist and Henan University recognised that the field of stomatal research is evolving rapidly, and addressing important questions that range from the fundamental to the applied. The result was the 46th New Phytologist Symposium, ‘Stomata’ that was hosted and co-sponsored by Henan University and which took place in Kaifeng, China from 21–24 October, 2024.
This Special Collection pulls together stomatal papers published by New Phytologist or submitted as a direct result of the Symposium into a Virtual Issue. The result is an inspiring collection of more than 30 articles, including reviews, methods, letters, viewpoints and research papers, that cover much of contemporary research in stomatal biology.
This Virtual Issue of New Phytologist is testimony to the overall strength, health and vibrancy of research in stomatal biology. While significant questions remain to be answered, the truly international nature of the stomatal community and the significant presence of large numbers of extremely talented early career scientists, suggest that substantial progress will be made on all fronts in the coming years.
Recordings of talks from the 46th New Phytologist Symposium are available to view on demand.
Cover image: A hand-knitted wire sculpture of stomata on the epidermis of wheat, made by scientist and artist Dr Jodie Armand from a 3D confocal image of the wheat epidermis. Courtesy of Dr Jodie Armand (University of Sheffield).