Lectures on Tap - Plant Warfare: How Plants Survive and Compete

📍 Location: Exact address given in confirmation email

🧠 Lecture: "Plant Warfare: How Plants Survive and Compete"

🎤 Speaker: Botanist, Matthew Gaston

Join us for a gripping journey into the secret battles waged all around us—in the forests, fields, and even sidewalk cracks we pass every day. Botanist and educator Matthew Gaston will reveal how plants act as both architects and destroyers of our world, from ancient trees that once transformed Earth’s climate to modern invasive species whose seeds spread by the millions.

We’ll explore the chemical, physical, and ecological weapons plants deploy to survive and outcompete their neighbors: from allelopathic toxins to structural defenses and stealthy reproductive strategies. You’ll leave with a radically new perspective on what’s really happening in every patch of green you see.

Matthew Gaston holds a B.S. in Genetics & Plant Biology and an M.S. in Tropical Plant and Soil Science. Formerly Director of Education at Zilker Botanical Garden in Austin, he has inspired students, gardeners, and the simply curious through field trips, nursery talks, bar lectures, and live streams across the country.

Get a drink, connect, and learn at Lectures on Tap! 🙌

Agenda

6:30 PM – Doors open: find a seat (open seating!), order food & drinks, and expect a bar line—arriving early is key.

6:55 PM – Host introduction

7:00 PM – Lecture begins

7:45 PM – Audience Q&A

8:00 PM – Have 1:1 time with the speaker, mingle with fellow guests, and order another round

8:30 PM – Wrap up.