Life Sciences Commons^™

Effects Of Nitrogen Deposition And Empirical Nitrogen Critical Loads For Ecoregions Of The United States, Linda H. Pardo, Mark E. Fenn, Christine L. Goodale, Linda H. Geiser, Charles T. Driscoll, Edith B. Allen, Jill S. Baron, Roland Bobbink, William D. Bowman, Christopher M. Clark, Bridget Emmett, Frank S. Gilliam, Tara L. Greaver, Sharon J. Hall, Erik A. Lilleskov, Lingli Liu, Jason A. Lynch, Knute J. Nadelhoffer, Steven S. Perakis, Molly J. Robin-Abbott, John L. Stoddard, Kathleen C. Weathers, Robin L. Dennis

Frank S. Gilliam

Human activity in the last century has led to a significant increase in nitrogen (N) emissions and atmospheric deposition. This N deposition has reached a level that has caused or is likely to cause alterations to the structure and function of many ecosystems across the United States. One approach for quantifying the deposition of pollution that would be harmful to ecosystems is the determination of critical loads. A critical load is defined as the input of a pollutant below which no detrimental ecological effects occur over the long-term according to present knowledge. The objectives of this project were to synthesize …

Synthesis, Linda H. Pardo, Linda H. Geiser, Mark E. Fenn, Charles T. Driscoll, Christine L. Goodale, Edith B. Allen, Jill S. Baron, Roland Bobbink, William D. Bowman, Christopher M. Clark, Bridget Emmett, Frank S. Gilliam, Tara Greaver, Sharon J. Hall, Erik A. Lilleskov, Lingli Liu, Jason A. Lynch, Knute Nadelhoffer, Steven S. Perakis, Molly J. Robin-Abbott, John L. Stoddard, Kathleen C. Weathers

Frank S. Gilliam

Human activity in the last century has led to a substantial increase in nitrogen (N) emissions and deposition. This N deposition has reached a level that has caused or is likely to cause alterations to the structure and function of many ecosystems across the United States. One approach for quantifying the level of pollution that would be harmful to ecosystems is the critical loads approach. The critical load is dei ned as the level of a pollutant below which no detrimental ecological effect occurs over the long term according to present knowledge. The objective of this project was to synthesize …

Global Assessment Of Nitrogen Deposition Effects On Terrestrial Plant Diversity : A Synthesis, R. Bobbink, K. Hicks, J. Galloway, T. Spranger, R. Alkemade, M. Ashmore, M. Bustamante, S. Cinderby, E. Davidson, F. Dentener, B. Emmett, J. W. Erisman, M. Fenn, Frank S. Gilliam, A. Nordin, L. Pardo, W. Devries

Frank S. Gilliam

Atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition is a recognized threat to plant diversity in temperate and northern parts of Europe and North America. This paper assesses evidence from field experiments for N deposition effects and thresholds for terrestrial plant diversity protection across a latitudinal range of main categories of ecosystems, from arctic and boreal systems to tropical forests. Current thinking on the mechanisms of N deposition effects on plant diversity, the global distribution of G200 ecoregions, and current and future (2030) estimates of atmospheric N-deposition rates are then used to identify the risks to plant diversity in all major ecosystem types now …

Effects Of Experimental Nitrogen Additions On Plant Diversity In An Old-Growth Tropical Forest, Xiankai Lu, Jiangming Mo, Frank S. Gilliam, Guoyi Zhou, Yunting Fang

Frank S. Gilliam

Response of plant biodiversity to increased availability of nitrogen (N) has been investigated in temperate and boreal forests, which are typically N-limited, but little is known in tropical forests. We examined the effects of artificial N additions on plant diversity (species richness, density and cover) of the understory layer in an N saturated old-growth tropical forest in southern China to test the following hypothesis: N additions decrease plant diversity in N saturated tropical forests primarily from N-mediated changes in soil properties. Experimental additions of N were administered at the following levels from July 2003 to July 2008: no addition (Control); …

Bean And Rice Meals Reduce Postprandial Glycemic Response In Adults With Type 2 Diabetes: A Cross-Over Study, Sharon V. Thompson, Donna M. Winham, Andrea M. Hutchins

Donna Winham

Background: Around the world, beans and rice are commonly consumed together as a meal. With type 2 diabetes increasing, the effect of this traditional diet pattern on glycemic response has not been studied fully. Methods: We evaluated the glycemic response of bean and rice traditional meals compared to rice alone in adults with type 2 diabetes. Seventeen men and women with type 2 diabetes controlled by metformin (n = 14) or diet/exercise (n=3) aged 35–70 years participated in the randomized 4 × 4 crossover trial. The white long grain rice control, pinto beans/rice, black beans/rice, red kidney beans/rice test meals, …

Phylogenetics Of Morus (Moraceae) Inferred From Its And Trnl-Trnf Sequence Data., Madhav Nepal

Madhav Nepal

Comparative Sequence Analysis Of Fatty Acid Desaturase 2 (Fad2) Cdna Sequences From The Compositae [Asteraceae], Paul Ames Muller Jr.

Paul Muller

Fatty acid desaturases are enzymes capable of modifying carbon-carbon bonds within fatty acids. All higher plants contain one or more oleic acid desaturases that catalyze insertion of a double bond between carbons 12 and 13 of oleic acid to produce linoleic acid, an unsaturated fatty acid. However, this family of enzymes may vary in specificity and are responsible for a wide spectrum of unsaturated fatty acids found in nature that play important ecological, physiological, and industrial roles. Here, I examine nucleotide sequence evolution and predict structural changes of translated expressed Fatty Acid Desaturase 2 (FAD2) cDNA sequences in the Compositae …

Role Of Anthraquinones As A Marker And Maturity In Response To Adventitious Rooting Of Tectona Grandis, Azamal Husen Dr., Sayyada Khatoon

Dr. Azamal Husen

No abstract provided.

Propiconazole Is A Specific And Accessible Brassinosteroid (Br) Biosynthesis Inhibitor For Arabidopsis And Maize., Burkhard Schulz, Thomas Hartwig, Claudia Corvalan, Norman Best, Joshua Budka, Sunghwa Choe

Burkhard Schulz

Brassinosteroids (BRs) are steroidal hormones that play pivotal roles during plant development. In addition to the characterization of BR deficient mutants, specific BR biosynthesis inhibitors played an essential role in the elucidation of BR function in plants. However, high costs and limited availability of common BR biosynthetic inhibitors constrain their key advantage as a species-independent tool to investigate BR function. We studied propiconazole (Pcz) as an alternative to the BR inhibitor brassinazole (Brz). Arabidopsis seedlings treated with Pcz phenocopied BR biosynthetic mutants. The steady state mRNA levels of BR, but not gibberellic acid (GA), regulated genes increased proportional to the …

Edaphic Adaptation Maintains The Coexistence Of Two Cryptic Species On Serpentine Soil, J M. Yost, T Barry, K M. Kay, N Rajakaruna

Nishanta Rajakaruna

• Premise of the study: Divergent edaphic adaptation can contribute to reproductive isolation and coexistence between closely related species, yet we know little about how small-scale continuous edaphic gradients contribute to this phenomenon. We investigated edaphic adaptation between two cryptic species of California wildflower, Lasthenia californica and L. gracilis (Asteraceae), which grow in close parapatry on serpentine soil. • Methods: We reciprocally transplanted both species into the center of each species’ habitat and the transition zone between species. We quantified multiple components of fitness and used aster models to predict fitness based on environmental variables. We sampled soil across the …

Investigation Of The Importance Of Rock Chemistry For Saxicolous Lichen Communities Of The New Idria Serpentinite Mass, San Benito County, California, Usa, N Rajakaruna, K Knudsen, A Fryday, R E. O’Del, N Pope, F C. Olday, S Woolhouse

Nishanta Rajakaruna

Although several lichen inventories exist for European ultramafic sites, only four surveys of serpentine lichens for North America have been published to date. Of those, only one has been conducted in California. We conducted a survey of saxicolous lichens from ultramafic rocks (including nephrite, partially serpentinized peridotite, and serpentinite) and non-ultramafic rocks (including silica-carbonate, shale, and sandstone) at the New Idria serpentinite mass, San Benito County, California. X-ray Fluorescence Analysis of the rocks from which the lichens were collected revealed significant elemental differences between the ultramafic and non-ultramafic rocks for 26 of the 32 major and trace elements analyzed. We …

Biodiversity Status In Ethiopia And Challenges, Azamal Husen, V.K. Mishra, Kamal Semwal, Dinesh Kumar

Prof. Azamal Husen

Ethiopia is rich in faunal, floral and microbial diversity. Conservation paradigms, practices and policies have been variably successful. Traditional approaches in conservation have evolved awareness about biodiversity conservation. Climate change poses unknown fear and challenge to biodiversity conservation in the 21st century. There is urgent need of mapping of biodiversity in various environments, inventorization, monitoring of biodiversity, and global data sharing. Conservation of genetic resources will assist in future genetic improvement of crop plants and livestocks. Bioprospecting-value addition to biodiversity will provide economic gain for the country. Necessary measures need to be initiated to safeguard the germplasms against potential threat …