Plant Kingdom is a conversation series about plants, nature and environment featuring scientists, artists, researchers, writers and healers.
We release two conversations each month, and hear from people who have an intimacy with plants and nature. We discuss their work, stories and reflections from the field.
We record in Sydney, Australia on the lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, and pay respect to their elders - past, present and future.
Hosted and produced by Catherine Polcz. Our music is by Carl Didur.
Visit us at plantkingdom.earth
Dr Frank Ashwood talks to us about his new book The World Beneath Our Feet – The Hidden Life of Soil and Why It Matters to Us All. He guides us through a safari of life in the soil, touching upon species of mite that have been exclusively female for hundreds of millions of years, how an earthworm experiences its world, and how you don't need to travel to the ends of the earth to discover new species. All you need to do is look down.
Bio:
Dr Frank Ashwood is a soil ecologist and macrophotographer, specialising in soil invertebrates. He is a Lecturer of Ecology and Entomology at Lincoln University in New Zealand, and received his PhD from University of Lancashire in 2016. Frank has previously worked as a scientist for Forest Research, part of the British Government's Forestry Commission. He is Associate Editor of the New Zealand Journal of Zoology and member of the Royal Society of Biology. Frank has appeared on the BBC Earth Podcast, BBC Breakfast, ABC Landline, and his soil animal photography has been featured in the Guardian and the New York Times, and has been exhibited internationally.
Plant Kingdom is hosted and produced by Catherine Polcz with music by Carl Didur.
15 May 2026
20 Emma Camp: Vital reefs
From her Future Reefs lab at the University Technology Sydney, coral reef expert Dr Emma Camp looks at how science can help restore and future proof Australia's threatened coral reefs. With a practice founded in conservation and community collaboration we spoke about the world of coral – their ecology, reef restoration and her search for naturally heat tolerant super corals.
Bio:
Associate Professor Emma Camp is a marine biologist and the Team Leader of the Future Reefs Team at the University of Technology Sydney. Her teams research ranges from organism scale molecular signatures to broad scale ecological interactions, and specialise in advancing technical solutions to help preserve and re-build healthy reefs. In 2018, Emma co-Founded Coral Nurture Program, a science-tourism partnership to repopulate corals on the Great Barrier Reef. She is a leading coral expert, with her research recognised through numerous awards, including being names a 2024 World Economic Forum Young leader, the 2021 Macquarie University Eureka Prize for Outstanding Early Career Researcher and in 2020 was named a Next Generation Leader by Time Magazine.
Hosted and produced by Catherine Polcz with music by Carl Didur.
6 Mar 2026
19 Leonora Bittleston: The world on a leaf
Biologist Dr Leonora Bittleston takes us into the mysterious world of the phyllosphere – the micro world upon leaf and plant surfaces. We discuss her research on plant-microbe interactions, looking at case studies of the sage brush steppe ecosystem and the fascinating miniature worlds of carnivorous pitcher plants. She shares how even the smallest organisms on our planet can be a force of nature.
Bio:
Leonora Bittleston is an Associate Professor at Boise State University. She is fascinated by the complex interactions that form between very different kinds of organisms, and among microbes and plants in particular. Her research aims to learn more about life on our planet, taking into account the interconnectedness of ecosystem processes, communities, and species. Previously, Leonora was a James S. McDonnell Postdoctoral Fellow in Complex Systems at MIT. She earned her PhD from the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University and her BS from U.C. Berkeley.
Hosted and produced by Catherine Polcz with music by Carl Didur.
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Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
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Spotify
5.0 / 5
14 ratings
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