Life Sciences Commons^™

Evidence For Phylogenetic Signal And Correlated Evolution In Plant-Water Relations Traits, Eleinis Ávila-Lovera, Klaus Winter, Gregory R. Goldsmith

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Evolutionary relationships are likely to play a significant role in shaping plant physiological and structural traits observed in contemporary taxa. We review research on phylogenetic signal and correlated evolution in plant-water relations traits, which play important roles in allowing plants to acquire, use and conserve water. We found more evidence for a phylogenetic signal in structural traits (e.g., stomatal length, stomatal density) than in physiological traits (e.g., stomatal conductance, water potential at turgor loss). Although water potential at turgor loss is the most-studied plant-water relations trait in an evolutionary context, it is the only trait consistently found to not have …

Three Lc-Ms Plant Metabolomics Studies Of Hop (Humulus) Species: Wild H. Neomexicanus, Drought Stress, And Agricultural Terroir, Taylan Morcol

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The hop plant (Humulus L., Cannabaceae) is a dioecious, perennial, twining vine with a long history of human use. Nowadays, hop plants are generally grown for their inflorescences (“cones”), which are used in brewing for their phytochemical metabolites. Many of these metabolites are involved in plant stress response and communication. Genetics and environment are two major factors that affect plant metabolism. In three separate metabolomics studies, this project examined the effects of both genetic and environmental factors on hop phytochemistry.

In the first study, 23 hop genotypes were grown in two different locations in the Pacific Northwest region of …

A Systematic Review Of Durum Wheat: Enhancing Production Systems By Exploring Genotype, Environment, And Management (G × E × M) Synergies, Brian L. Beres, Elham Rahmani, John M. Clarke, Patricio Grassini, Curtis J. Pozniak, Cameron Guy Robinson Geddes, Kenton D. Porker, William E. May, Joel Ransom

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

According to the UN-FAO, agricultural production must increase by 50% by 2050 to meet global demand for food. This goal can be accomplished, in part, by the development of improved cultivars coupled with modern best management practices. Overall, wheat production on farms will have to increase significantly to meet future demand, and in the face of a changing climate that poses risk to even current rates of production. Durum wheat [Triticum turgidum L. ssp. durum (Desf.)] is used largely for pasta, couscous and bulgur production. Durum producers face a range of factors spanning abiotic (frost damage, drought, and sprouting) and …

Maize Genomes To Fields: 2014 And 2015 Field Season Genotype, Phenotype, Environment, And Inbred Ear Image Datasets, Naser Alkhalifah, Darwin A. Campbell, Celeste M. Falcon, Jack M. Gardiner, Nathan D. Miller, Maria Cinta Romay, Ramona Walls, Renee Walton, Cheng-Ting Yeh, Martin Bohn, Jessica Bubert, Edward S. Buckler, Ignacio Ciampitti, Sherry Flint-Garcia, Michael A. Gore, Christopher Graham, Candice Hirsch, James B. Holland, David Hooker, Shawn Kaeppler, Joseph Knoll, Nick Lauter, Elizabeth C. Lee, Aaron Lorenz, Jonathan P. Lynch, Stephen P. Moose, Seth C. Murray, Rebecca Nelson, Torbert Rocheford, Oscar Rodriguez, James C. Schnable, Brian Scully, Margaret Smith, Nathan Springer, Peter Thomison, Mitchell Tuinstra, Randall J. Wisser, Wenwei Xu, David Ertl, Patrick S. Schnable, Natalia De Leon, Edgar P. Spalding, Jode Edwards, Carolyn J. Lawrence-Dill

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Objectives: Crop improvement relies on analysis of phenotypic, genotypic, and environmental data. Given large, well-integrated, multi-year datasets, diverse queries can be made: Which lines perform best in hot, dry environments? Which alleles of specific genes are required for optimal performance in each environment? Such datasets also can be leveraged to predict cultivar performance, even in uncharacterized environments. The maize Genomes to Fields (G2F) Initiative is a multi-institutional organization of scientists working to generate and analyze such datasets from existing, publicly available inbred lines and hybrids. G2F’s genotype by environment project has released 2014 and 2015 datasets to the public, with …

Tetracycline And Sulfonamide Antibiotic Resistance Genes In Soils From Nebraska Organic Farming Operations, Marylynn Cadena, Lisa M. Durso, Daniel N. Miller, Heidi M. Waldrip, B. L. Castleberry, Rhae A. Drijber, Charles S. Wortmann

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

There is widespread agreement that agricultural antibiotic resistance should be reduced, however, it is unclear from the available literature what an appropriate target for reduction would be. Organic farms provide a unique opportunity to disentangle questions of agricultural antibiotic drug use from questions of antibiotic resistance in the soil. In this study, soil was collected from 12 certified organic farms in Nebraska, evaluated for the presence of tetracycline and sulfonamide resistance genes (n = 15 targets), and correlated to soil physical, chemical, and biological parameters. Tetracycline and sulfonamide antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) were found in soils from all 12 …

Nutrients In The Nexus, Eric A. Davidson, Rachel L. Nifong, Richard B. Ferguson, Cheryl Palm, Deanna L. Osmond, Jill S. Baron

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Synthetic nitrogen (N) fertilizer has enabled modern agriculture to greatly improve human nutrition during the twentieth century, but it has also created unintended human health and environmental pollution challenges for the twentyfirst century. Averaged globally, about half of the fertilizer-N applied to farms is removed with the crops, while the other half remains in the soil or is lost from farmers’ fields, resulting in water and air pollution. As human population continues to grow and food security improves in the developing world, the dual development goals of producing more nutritious food with low pollution will require both technological and socioeconomic …

Dispersal: A Multidisciplinary Investigation Of Plant Life, Alexandra E. Arzt

Theses and Dissertations

Using plants as a basis for exploring the interstices between the human and nonhuman, this thesis investigates ideas of awareness, intelligence, deep time, animism, and the fluctuating human perception of the agency of Nature. It outlines environmental art practices since the 1950s involving vegetal life. In addition, the paper provides a critical analysis of plant perception of Jakob von Uexküll’s work and theories of vital materialism and “critical plant studies” while noting recent studies in plant neurobiology. In my work, plants become active participants via their movement, seeding, and smell. This study takes the form of imitation, purposeful symbiosis, anthropomorphism, …

Comparative Studies Of Six Populations Of Isoetes Panchganiensis From India, Brij Bhan Yadav, Sarvesh Kumar Singh, Manju Srivastava, Gopal Krishan Srivastava

Turkish Journal of Botany

Six populations of Isoetes panchganiensis G.K.Srivast., D.D.Pant & P.K.Shukla growing in different environmental conditions of the Western Ghats have been studied to determine the range of variation within the species. The present investigation does not show any variation in habitat (aquatic), rhizomorph (trilobed), velum (fenestra), and presence or absence of peripheral strands; however, there is a subtle variation in the length of plants, number of leaves, size of megasporangia, and size and ornamentation of the megaspores. The basic organisation of the megaspores of all the populations is almost same, but the finer details of the ornamentation of the megaspores exhibit …

The Tradeoff Between Polyuronic Acid Content And Photosynthesis Rates In Sphagnum, Michael J. Danise

Honors Theses

Sphagnum mosses often dominate peatland ecosystems. Because of the low availability of nutrients in these environments, Sphagnum mosses have developed a cation exchange system within their cell walls to take up nutrients using polyuronic acids (PUA). Increasing amounts of PUA may come at a physiological tradeoff and cause decreasing photosynthetic rates. The objectives of this study were 1) to assess variation in polyuronic acid content and structure by analyzing component monomers from three different Sphagnum species representative of different microhabitats, 2) to investigate how this variation affects the cation exchange capacity of the peat moss species, and 3) to evaluate …

A Watershed Analysis Of Threemile Pond: Implications For Water Quality And Land Use Management, Colby Environmental Assessment Team, Colby College, Problems In Environmental Science Course (Biology 493), Colby College

Colby College Watershed Study: Threemile Pond (2003)

The 2003 Colby Environmental Assessment Team chose to study the Threemile Pond watershed. The Threemile Pond watershed is located in Vassalboro, China., Windsor, and Augusta, Maine. Threemile Pond is a popular site for recreation and is home to a wide range of flora and fauna. Like all other lakes in Maine, it is a young lake. However, intensive human activity in the watershed contributes a substantial amount of nutrients and the lake has algal blooms annually in the summer months. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of land use and development on the water quality of …

The Plant Sociology And Ecology Of The Upper Göksu Catchment Area(Hadim-Konya) And Environs, Hayretti̇n Ocakverdi̇, Sali̇h Oflaz

Turkish Journal of Botany

The Taurus mountains area is one of the most interesting areas of Turkey as regards flora and vegetation. The region is situated on a transition zone between the Mediterranean and continental climate and contains many microclimate areas because of its topographic character. Therefore, studies on the flora and vegetation of the Taurus mountains give quite different results. The studies on the catchment area of Göksu valley and environs which exhibit Mediterranean climate and is a part of the central Tauruses were ccarried out in 1995-1996. In this study, Braun-Blanquet's floristic system principle was used and six associations (five of them …

Bulletin No. 23: Plants And Animals Of The Estuary, William A. Niering, Paul E. Fell, Sally L. Taylor, Martine Villalard-Bohnsack, Nancy C. Olmstead

Bulletins

Descriptions and illustrations of over 70 estuarine species.

The Regional Adaptation Of Corn In Nebraska, T. A. Kiesselbach, F. D. Keim

Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station: Historical Research Bulletins

The purpose of this investigation was to determine some of the factors involved in the regional adaptation of corn. The procedure has been to make a comparative study of native corn types, known to be locally adapted to various regional areas in Nebraska through long growth there. The work has been confined to the single species group - Zea mays indentata. No one variety of a common source is grown throughout the state, and therefore it has been impossible to keep within a single variety. It would appear that the data should indicate morphological and histological plant characteristics involved …