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Foraging Culture In Iceland: Understanding The Transfer Of Plant Knowledge And Personal Views On Foraging, Ella Jane Maurer

Whittier Scholars Program

Foraging is a broad topic, practiced in different locations throughout history. This study looks into the specific practices, values, and views of foraging in Iceland. There is little previous research that has been done, working with Icelanders, and hearing their stories. Through conducting several interviews of local Icelanders with different backgrounds and a brief six-question survey via the Inaturalist application, this study looks into exactly that. By compiling stories from the interview and survey data, themes were highlighted collecting similar and contrasting statements on ways plants are foraged, opinions on Icelandic foraging culture as a whole, and ways knowledge is …

Undp-Gef Grasslands Project: The Tanzania Montane Grasslands Project, T. Davenport, W. A. Rodgers

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

The Tanzania Southern Highlands and adjacent Nyika montane grasslands in Malawi form a distinct centre of plant diversity and endemism. The area is characterised by complex geology with old basement mountains and much more recent volcanoes (Mount Rungwe) adjacent to the rift valet faulting with Lakes Malawi (Nyasa) and Rukwa. Lake proximity generates rainfall up to 3,000 mm per annum. The maximum altitude is 3,000 m asl.

Investigating The Role Of Plant Traits And Interactions In Emergent Wetland Nutrient Removal, Andrew Ryan Sample

Theses and Dissertations

Increasing wetland restoration in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley has been identified as a method to reduce nutrient loading in the Gulf of Mexico. Wetlands have historically been used to treat water through processes facilitated by wetland plants, and relatively few species and plant traits have been identified as important in carrying out these processes. This study focuses on some of those species and traits and aims to identify species differences and plant traits that may be important for wetland nutrient mitigation. Chapter I provides background information on nutrient pollution, wetland biogeochemical mechanisms for nutrient sequestration, and the focal species …

Do Plants Have The Cognitive Complexity For Sentience?, Ricard V. Solé

Animal Sentience

Are plants sentient? Like other aspects of the cognitive potential of plants, this is a controversial issue, often driven by analogies and seldom supported on solid theoretical grounds. Sentience is understood in cognitive sciences as the capacity to feel. I suggest that because of plants’ evolved adaptations to morphological plasticity, sessile nature and ecological constraints, they are unlikely to have the requisite cognitive complexity for sentience.

Plant Sentience: A Hypothesis Based On Shaky Premises, Carel Ten Cate

Animal Sentience

Plants may produce fascinating behavioural phenomena for which the label ‘cognitive process’ may be applicable, at least by some definitions. Segundo-Ortin & Calvo (2023) base their hypothesis that plants might be sentient on the premise of demonstrated presence of cognitive complexity. However, the way phenomena are ascribed, and how the term ‘cognitive’ is used by Segundo-Ortin & Calvo, deviates from the common practice in studies of animal cognition, implying greater complexity than seems justified. It thus provides a questionable basis for attributing sentience to plants.

Plants Lack The Functional Neurotransmitters And Signaling Pathways Required For Sentience In Animals, David G. Robinson, Michael R. Blatt, Andreas Draguhn, Lincoln Taiz, Jon Mallatt

Animal Sentience

We cannot agree with Segundo-Ortin and Calvo that plants are sentient organisms. We have critically examined several aspects of their target article, and find their claims are not supported by the published evidence. We address these claims in sections on whether plants have a ‘neurobiology’ analogous to that of animal nervous systems, including neurotransmitters and synaptic receptors that respond to anesthetics; and whether plant signaling resembles neural transmission. For the latter, we especially consider the unique way plants signal their responses to wounding. Although the plant vascular system has been compared to the animal nervous system, animal blood vessels would …

Establishment Of Wildflower Islands To Enhance Roadside Health, Ecological Value, And Aesthetics Phase Ii, Jackson Ebbers, Heidi L. Hillhouse, John A. Guretsky, Thomas J. Weissling

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

No abstract provided.

The Intertwining Of Zn-Finger Motifs And Abiotic Stress Tolerance In Plants: Current Status And Future Prospects, Debojyoti Moulick, Karma Landup Bhutia, Sukamal Sarkar, Anirban Roy, Udit Nandan Mishra, Biswajit Pramanick, Sagar Maitra, Tanmoy Shankar, Swati Hazra, Milan Skalicky, Marian Brestic, Viliam Barek, Akbar Hossain

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Environmental stresses such as drought, high salinity, and low temperature can adversely modulate the field crop’s ability by altering the morphological, physiological, and biochemical processes of the plants. It is estimated that about 50% + of the productivity of several crops is limited due to various types of abiotic stresses either presence alone or in combination (s). However, there are two ways plants can survive against these abiotic stresses; a) through management practices and b) through adaptive mechanisms to tolerate plants. These adaptive mechanisms of tolerant plants are mostly linked to their signalling transduction pathway, triggering the action of plant …

Grassland Management Practices And The Diversity Of Soil Nematode Communities, R. Cook, P. J. Murray, K. A. Mizen

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

Nematodes are numerically abundant in northern temperate grassland soils where, through their feeding on plants, soil microbes and each other as well as being a food resource, they contribute to soil functioning and affect plant soil interrelationships. Permanent plant cover and the consequent abundance of root tissue supply a year-round food supply. There are only limited data on the effects of root-feeding by nematodes on the growth and development of pasture plants but under some circumstances above-ground biomass may be reduced. Herbivory by specific nematode parasites may not only directly affect the host plant but also promote soil microbial activity …

The Addition And Cessation Of Inorganic Fertiliser Amendments In Long-Term Managed Grasslands: Impacts On Above And Below-Ground Communities, C. D. Clegg, P. J. Murray, R. Cook, T. Tallec

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

In recent times, land use in the United Kingdom has undergone considerable changes because of social and economic pressures, leading to a fine balance between the demands of highly productive intensive systems and practices which are perceived to be more environmentally acceptable. Plant productivity is governed by the supply of nutrients from the soil, which in turn is dependent on the dynamics of organic matter decomposition driven by soil micro-, meso- and macro fauna. Considerable information is available concerning the impact of inorganic fertiliser additions on communities of macro-fauna and flora, but the effects on specific microbial communities in soils …

Landscapes Are Cornerstones Of Sustainability Programs, Don Spence

Sustainability Conference

Typical American landscapes are not sustainable in an economic or biological framework. The essence of the idea of sustainable growth and development are centered on the idea that those activities are not degrading natural resources or that they are outstrip budgets. A significant piece of any sustainable management plan is tied to how we manage our landscapes, how we use plants; specifically, how much grass there is, and how many native plants there are. Sustainable landscapes should require less chemical and financial inputs, which in the end, saves money and increases the biological value of the land and creates a …

Mp765: Creating The Orono Bog Boardwalk: A Facility For Education, Research, And Recreation, Ronald B. Davis

Miscellaneous Publications

A memoir by Dr. Ronald Davis detailing the creation of the Orono Bog Boardwalk. The Orono Bog Boardwalk is a premier destination in the Bangor/Orono area for persons wishing to experience the beauty and fascinating plants and animals of a Maine bog. The 1-mile boardwalk loop trail begins at the forested wetland edge in the Bangor City Forest, and after 800 feet crosses the Orono town line into the portion of the Orono Bog owned by the University of Maine. Along the way the boardwalk passes through a wide range of changing vegetation and environments on its way to the …

Endangered Sustainable Innovation: Indigenous Milk Hygiene And Preservation Techniques By Maasai Too Valuable To Lose, J. Y. Laffa, C. R. Mcculloch, D. Schoder

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

The indigenous Parakuyo Maasai communities of Tanzania are traditional pastoralists who depend on fresh cow’s milk as a staple food. However, the arid climate and a lack of clean water challenge milk production and conventional milk hygiene practices.

By conducting informational interviews in eight Parakuyo Maasai regions and 13 districts of Tanzania we sought to identify the key indigenous plants preferred and establish their traditional manner of use. A semi-structured questionnaire was designed to: (i) determine the plants used, (ii) the parts used, (iii) methods of preparation and utensil smoking, (iv) therapeutic applications and associated health benefits of these plants, …

All Living Organisms Are Sentient, Arthur S. Reber, Frantisek Baluska, William B. Miller Jr.

Animal Sentience

We argue that all living organisms, from the simplest unicellular prokaryotes to Homo sapiens, have valenced experiences—feelings as states of preference—and are capable of cognitive representations. Bacteria can learn, form stable memories, and communicate, hence solve problems. Rowan et al.'s statement that "Subjective feelings are just that — subjective — and are available only to the animal (or human) experiencing them" is true but irrelevant. When we see a fish flopping about in the bottom of a boat we immediately recognize suffering without having a glimpse of the nature of piscine distress. Some controlled anthropomorphism can go a …

A Flora Of Coyote Ridge And Flat, Inyo County, California, Martin Purdy

CGU Theses & Dissertations

California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range contains a disproportionate share of the state’s plant diversity and is one of the most floristically diverse regions of its size in the United States. The high Sierra Nevada, in particular, has been identified as an important center of species richness and endemism within California. Anthropogenic climate warming is expected to disproportionately affect mountain ecosystems, and models have predicted serious habitat contraction and extirpation for many alpine plant taxa. A specimen-based inventory of the vascular and non-vascular plants of Coyote Ridge and Flat was conducted to establish baseline data for one such sensitive alpine and …

Summer To Autumn Population Of Wild Eumaeus Atala On The Ft. Lauderdale Campus Of Nova Southeastern University, Alexandra M. Lens

Mako: NSU Undergraduate Student Journal

Eumaeus atala is an endangered tropical butterfly native to the Caribbean and some parts of Florida, USA. Following population reductions primarily due to habitat loss, E. atala populations are now increasing due to conservation efforts of its cycad host plants, especially Zamia integrifolia (coontie). The purpose of this study was to observe, document, and measure the population of wild E. atala on the Ft. Lauderdale, Florida campus of Nova Southeastern University where landscaping use of host plants supports a natural population of E. atala. Forty-four host plants located in two different sites were observed for 14 weeks. One site …

Partnering With Archivists To Process The Manuscript Collection Present At The Marshall University Herbarium, Pamela Puppo, Lori Thompson

Biological Sciences Faculty Research

The Marshall University Herbarium (MUHW) is located on the third floor of the Science Building at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, United States. It was founded in the 1930's by Dr. Frank A. Gilbert when Marshall was still Marshall College. Today, MUHW is the second largest herbarium in West Virginia with about 50,000 specimens, including 20 types. Mostly composed of vascular plants, the herbarium also contains small collections of non-vascular plants, fungi, algae, fossils, and some ethnobotanical material, mainly brought from Ecuador by one of the former curators, Dr. Dan Evans between the 1980's and 2000's. Apart from these …

Irrigation System Maintenance, Candace Schaible, Kelly Kopp, Jennie Hoover

All Current Publications

Irrigation system maintenance is necessary to ensure the most efficient use of the water that is being applied. Efficient irrigation is important because over two-thirds of the total water used in the average Utah home is applied to the landscape. With the natural drought cycles that occur in Utah and the growing population, efficient water use is critical. These maintenance recommendations will help you evaluate your irrigation system before using it each spring and also throughout the growing season.

Invasive Grassland‐Rangeland Plants Of China And The United States Of America, John H. Brock, Jinguo Wu

IGC Proceedings (1997-2023)

No abstract provided.

Wildlife Forage Recovery Following Boreal Wildfire, Alexis Jorgensen, Jennifer Baltzer

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Climate change is altering the boreal wildfire regime through increases in the extent and severity of burning and reductions in fire return intervals. These changes can alter the regeneration trajectory of canopy species and ground vegetation, with implications for wildlife habitat. There is some uncertainty about the timelines of when different animal species will use burned areas as their preferred forage taxa recover following fire, and how such recovery is mediated by environmental factors. Here, we aim to address these knowledge gaps through the following questions: 1) What are the main forage types consumed by boreal wildlife and how much …

Arp2/3-Independent Wave/Scar Pathway And Class Xi Myosin Control Sperm Nuclear Migration In Flowering Plants, Mohammad F. Ali, Umma Fatema, Xiongbo Peng, Samuel W. Hacker, Daisuke Maruyama, Meng-Xiang Sun, Tomokazu Kawashima

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

After eukaryotic fertilization, gamete nuclei migrate to fuse parental genomes in order to initiate development of the next generation. In most animals, microtubules control female and male pronuclear migration in the zygote. Flowering plants, on the other hand, have evolved actin filament (F-actin)-based sperm nuclear migration systems for karyogamy. Flowering plants have also evolved a unique double-fertilization process: two female gametophytic cells, the egg and central cells, are each fertilized by a sperm cell. The molecular and cellular mechanisms of how flowering plants utilize and control F-actin for double-fertilization events are largely unknown. Using confocal microscopy live-cell imaging with a …

Analysis Of The Variables Affecting Plant Species Richness In Deserts, Eli R. Kallison, Ellen Thompson, Maddison Keen, Rusty Newman

IdeaFest: Interdisciplinary Journal of Creative Works and Research from Cal Poly Humboldt

There are many hypotheses that attempt to explain patterns of species diversity in different environments. Deserts are a great place to study changes in species richness because they are relatively nutrient bare and exhibit low precipitation. This barebones environment means that slight shifts in climate and geography may lead to clear changes in species richness. We investigate how temperature, precipitation, water and light availability, latitude, elevation and other variables affect plant species richness in 20 deserts.

A History Of Zinnias: Flower For The Ages, Eric Grissell

Purdue University Press Book Previews

A History of Zinnias brings forward the fascinating adventure of zinnias and the spirit of civilization. With colorful illustrations, this book is a cultural and horticultural history documenting the development of garden zinnias—one of the top ten garden annuals grown in the United States today.

The deep and exciting history of garden zinnias pieces together a tale involving Aztecs, Spanish conquistadors, people of faith, people of medicine, explorers, scientists, writers, botanists, painters, and gardeners. The trail leads from the halls of Moctezuma to a cliff-diving prime minister; from Handel, Mozart, and Rossini to Gilbert and Sullivan; from a little-known confession …

Enhancing Digestibility And Ethanol Yield Of Populus Wood Via Expression Of An Engineered Monolignol 4-O-Methyltransferase, Yuanheng Cai, Kewei Zhang, Hoon Kim, Guichuan Hou, Xuebin Zhang, Huijun Yang, Huan Feng, Lisa Miller, John Ralph, Chang-Jun Liu

Huan Feng

Producing cellulosic biofuels and bio-based chemicals from woody biomass is impeded by the presence of lignin polymer in the plant cell wall. Manipulating the monolignol biosynthetic pathway offers a promising approach to improved processability, but often impairs plant growth and development. Here, we show that expressing an engineered 4-O-methyltransferase that chemically modifies the phenolic moiety of lignin monomeric precursors, thus preventing their incorporation into the lignin polymer, substantially alters hybrid aspens’ lignin content and structure. Woody biomass derived from the transgenic aspens shows a 62% increase in the release of simple sugars and up to a 49% increase in the …

The Effects Of Citric Acid On Ph And Nutrient Uptake In Wheatgrass (Triticum Aestivum), Cristina Tusei

IdeaFest: Interdisciplinary Journal of Creative Works and Research from Cal Poly Humboldt

No abstract provided.

Inducing Reversions Between Asexual And Sexual Reproductive Strategies In Daphnia, Alex Braeger

Research on Capitol Hill

We are testing the effects of numerous treatments (both chemical and non-chemical) on crustaceans, with the goal of controlling the male to female ratio and the method of reproduction they use (sexual or asexual).

Plant Hormone Lab Module: Assessing Different Factors To Create The Most Effective Lab, Ahmed El-Kulak

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The research project focused on evaluating 3 different factors in creating a plant hormone lab module for Principles of Biology II lab. The main hormone of focus was brassinosteroid. In the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, brassinosteroids promote cell elongation, cell division, root growth, and seed germination. Three goals were established to create the most efficient lab module possible. First, mutant (bes1,bri1) root length was assessed without addition of brassinolide (BL), a synthetic brassinosteroid. Then, ½ MS and ½ MS + 20% sucrose plates were compared to see which media produced the greatest difference in root growth between the mutant lines. …

Transcription Factor Duo1 Generated By Neo-Functionalization Is Associated With Evolution Of Sperm Differentiation In Plants, Asuka Higo, Tomokazu Kawashima, Michael Borg, Mingmin Zhao, Irene López-Vidriero, Hidetoshi Sakayama, Sean A. Montgomery, Hiroyuki Sekimoto, Dieter Hackenberg, Masaki Shimamura, Tomoaki Nishiyama, Keiko Sakakibara, Yuki Tomita, Taisuke Togawa, Kan Kunimoto, Akihisa Osakabe, Yutaka Suzuki, Katsuyuki T. Yamato, Kimitsune Ishizaki, Ryuichi Nishihama, Takayuki Kohchi, José M. Franco-Zorrilla, David Twell, Frédéric Berger, Takashi Araki

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

Evolutionary mechanisms underlying innovation of cell types have remained largely unclear. In multicellular eukaryotes, the evolutionary molecular origin of sperm differentiation is unknown in most lineages. Here, we report that in algal ancestors of land plants, changes in the DNA-binding domain of the ancestor of the MYB transcription factor DUO1 enabled the recognition of a new cis-regulatory element. This event led to the differentiation of motile sperm. After neo-functionalization, DUO1 acquired sperm lineage-specific expression in the common ancestor of land plants. Subsequently the downstream network of DUO1 was rewired leading to sperm with distinct morphologies. Conjugating green algae, a …

A Common Genetic Mechanism Underlies Morphological Diversity In Fruits And Other Plant Organs, Shan Wu, Biyao Zhang, Neda Keyhaninejad, Gustavo R. Rodríguez, Hyun Jung Kim, Manohar Chakrabarti, Eudald Illa-Berenguer, Nathan K. Taitano, M. J. Gonzalo, Aurora Díaz, Yupeng Pan, Courtney P. Leisner, Dennis Halterman, C. Robin Buell, Yiqun Weng, Shelley H. Jansky, Herman Van Eck, Johan Willemsen, Antonio J Monforte, Tea Meulia, Esther Van Der Knaap

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

Shapes of edible plant organs vary dramatically among and within crop plants. To explain and ultimately employ this variation towards crop improvement, we determined the genetic, molecular and cellular bases of fruit shape diversity in tomato. Through positional cloning, protein interaction studies, and genome editing, we report that OVATE Family Proteins and TONNEAU1 Recruiting Motif proteins regulate cell division patterns in ovary development to alter final fruit shape. The physical interactions between the members of these two families are necessary for dynamic relocalization of the protein complexes to different cellular compartments when expressed in tobacco leaf cells. Together with data …

Tof-Sims Analysis Of Plant Seed Interactions With Plant Growth-Promoting Bacteria, Tammy Pheuphong, Rachel Komorek, Xiao-Ying Yu

STAR Program Research Presentations

The use of time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) in plant biology is a relatively unexplored and quickly developing field. The majority of research in plant SIMS involves the application of ToF-SIMS to study dried wood tissues, and only a handful of studies apply SIMS on plant stems, roots, and/or seeds. Our project provides a brief description and review of previous work using SIMS on plant stems, roots, and/or seeds, along with an emphasis on the sample preparation in each study. Additionally, the use of Brachypodium distachyon (Brachypodium) as a model system for research on grasses has also become more …