Life Sciences Commons^™

Aminoglycosides And Syringomycin E As Fungicides Against Fusarium Graminearum In Head Blight Disease, Yukie Kawasaki

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Fusarium graminearum is one of the most problematic phytopathogens in US agriculture. This fungus causes head blight, foot rot, and damping off on wheat and barley. The infection lowers the grain yield and causes contamination of the grain product with mycotoxins. Effective control measures are lacking, and new fungicides that kill F. graminearum but remain safe and economical to use are needed. Newly synthesized aminoglycosides (JL22, JL38, JL39, JL40, NEOF004, NEOF005), classic aminoglycosides (amikacin, gentamicin, kanamycin A, kanamycin B, neomycin, and ribostamycin), and a lipopeptide, syringomycin E (SRE), were studied to determine their antifungal potential to control F. graminearum. …

Soil Moisture Responses In Traditional And Drought Adapted Landscapes In The Intermountain West, James Gregory

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Water conservation in the Intermountain West will be an important issue in the future as population and demand for limited water resources increases. In Utah, outdoor water use accounts for up to 60% of total per capita water use with 67% of that outdoor water being used to irrigate non native plant species to maintain a uniform green appearance. The objective of this study was to measure intra landscape changes in soil water potential during a 21.5 day dry down from DOY 215 to 236.5 in the summer of 2005 and 2006. Four, 2 x 2 replicated traditional and drought …

Growing Wild: Crested Wheatgrass And The Landscape Of Belonging, Lafe Gerald Conner

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Crested wheatgrass arrived in North America at the turn of the twentieth century through the foreign plant exploration missions sponsored by the United States Department of Agriculture. During the first two decades of the new century, scientists tested the grass at agricultural experiment stations. They determined it was useful for grazing and particularly valuable because it could grow in drought conditions with little or no care and would continue to produce high quality feed even after several years of heavy use. Beginning in the 1930s federally sponsored land utilization and agricultural adjustment programs sponsored the use of crested wheatgrass for …

Ethylene Synthesis And Sensitivity In Crop Plants, Joseph F. Romagnano

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The gaseous plant hormone ethylene is a small molecule that regulates developmental change. Research was conducted in three areas: sensitivity, synthesis, and alterations to synthesis. Vegetative pea plants were more sensitive than radish plants to atmospheric ethylene. Light intensity did not affect ethylene sensitivity. Ethylene synthesis rates were measured for unstressed cotton, corn, soybean, and tomato plants. The per-plant ethylene synthesis rate ranged from 0.1-80 pmol plant^-1 s^-1. However, when normalized to net photosynthetic rate, this range was 1-4 µmol of ethylene synthesis per mol of CO₂ uptake. Diurnal cycles in ethylene synthesis were present in …

Evaluation Of Competition Between Turfgrass And Trees In The Landscape, Christopher A. Hendrickson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Population growth in regions of the Intermountain West has resulted in rapid growth of residential neighborhoods. In Utah, the landscapes associated with these expanding neighborhoods consume vast quantities of treated water. This is a concern in all states of the Intermountain West, as water becomes increasingly scarce. Traditionally used turfgrasses, trees and other plants in Intermountain West landscapes require significant amounts of supplemental water considering the intense sunlight, dry winds and sparse rainfall typical of the region. Characterizing the interactions between turfgrass and tree species in these landscapes can aid in the identification of candidate species that consume less nutritional …

Ecotypic Variation In Elymus Elymoides Subspecies Brevifolius Race C In The Northern Intermountain West, Matthew C. Parsons

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Little information is available on the extent of local adaptation for many native grass species. This is the case for squirreltail (Elymus section Sitanion), despite this group's prevalence and importance in rangeland restoration efforts. I evaluated 32 populations of E. elymoides ssp. brevifolius race C, a phylogenetic subdivision of bottlebrush squirreltail (E. elymoides) centered in the northern Intermountain West, for phenotypic variables and neutral genetic markers to measure their association with geographical origin. Phenotypic traits were measured in common field and greenhouse environments, and genetic diversity was assessed using Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism. Three factors were extracted from the phenotypic …

Combining Environmental History And Soil Phytolith Analysis At The City Of Rocks National Reserve: Developing New Methods In Historical Ecology, Lesley Morris

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Historical ecology is an emerging and interdisciplinary field that seeks to explain the changes in ecosystems over time through a synthesis of information derived from human records and biological data. The methods in historical ecology cover a wide range of temporal and spatial scales. However, methods for the more recent past (about 200 years) are largely limited to the human archive and dendrochronological evidence which can be subject to human bias, limited in spatial extent or not appropriate for non-forested systems. There is a need to explore new methods by which biological data can be used to understand historic vegetation …

Origins Of The Y Genome In Elymus, Pungu Okito

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Triticeae tribe DUMORTER in the grass family (Poaceae) includes the most important cereal crops such as wheat, barley, and rye. They are also economically important forage grasses. Elymus is the largest and most complex genus with approximately 150 species occurring worldwide. Asia is an important centre for the origin and diversity of perennial species in the Triticeae tribe, and more than half of the Elymus are known to occur in the Asia. Cytologically, Elymus species have a genomic formula of StH, StP, StY, StStY, StHY, StPY, and StWY. About 40% of Elymus …

Expression Analysis Of Plant Defense Responses During The Establishment Of Biotrophy And Role Of Abiotic Stress In The Infection Of Dyer’S Woad (Isatis Tinctoria) By Puccinia Thlaspeos, Elizabeth Thomas

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The kinetics and amplitude of the salicylic acid-responsive pathogenesis-related (PR) genes and the cytochrome P450 gene ItCYP79B2 in the compatible interaction between Puccinia thlaspeos and dyer’s woad (Isatis tinctoria) during the first 72 hours of inoculation were examined. Immediately following penetration of the host by the rust pathogen, there was a modest up-regulation of PR genes but a significant down-regulation of ItCYP79B2 expression. During haustoria formation, a significant pathogen-mediated suppression of PR genes was observed with a corresponding up-regulation of ItCYP79B2. This potentially facilitates haustoria formation by P. thlaspeos. After haustoria formation, a more …

Simulated Browsing Impacts On Aspen Suckers' Density, Growth, And Nutritional Responses, Koketso Tshireletso

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Heavy and repeated ungulate browsing on reproductive suckers has limited trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) regeneration on many Western landscapes. However, little is known about the specific effects of season and intensity of browsing. My objectives were to determine the effects of season and intensity of clipping (simulated browsing) on suckers’ (1) density and growth characteristics, and (2) nutritional quality and quantity.

Three randomly selected stands were clear-felled in mid-July, 2005, and fenced. Simulated browsing treatments of 0%, 20%, 40%, and 60% removal of current year’s growth were randomly applied in early, mid-, and late summers of 2006 and …