Both plant biologists and animal biologists seek to understand how their focal organisms have evolved to interact with the environment. Despite this similarity in goals, the differing biology of plants and animals as well as other factors have led these scientific communities to diverge. Scientific discoveries that have occurred in each community in relative isolation may advance progress in the other community and set the stage for broad scientific syntheses. The accompanying papers, summarized herein, exemplify such discoveries, and collectively argue that the plant and animal ecophysiological communities have much to gain from improved cooperation and communication.