Botany Commons^™

Review Of Great Plains Birds, By Larkin Powell, William E. Jensen

The Prairie Naturalist

Biologists who live in the Great Plains of North America know well the general aspersion cast toward our regional home by those unfamiliar with the region and its natural treasures. Larkin Powell alludes to this all-too-common aspersion and diplomatically dispels it in his ornithological showcase of the Great Plains, simply titled Great Plains Birds. The book is a nice, quick read and a well-composed profile of the region’s avian biogeographical history, its disruptions, conservation remedies, examples of basic bird biology, and tips on how to enjoy the bird life on display in this dynamic region. Having been an ornithologist …

Legacy Effects Of Biodegradable Mulch And Soil Amendments On Vegetable Crops And The Soil, Elise V.H. Reid

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Plastic film mulches are used in horticulture to manage weeds, improve water retention, and increase soil temperature. Bioplastics and biofabrics are potentially sustainable alternatives to plastic film; however, they have different rates of in soil degradation. Polylactic acid (PLA) is a 100% biobased polymer that degrades slowly, but could fulfill organic certification to be soil incorporated. Mater-Bi is a commercially available biodegradable plastic (bioplastic), which degrades quickly, but cannot be incorporated in organic systems. Our objectives were to determine the individual and combined effects of soil amendments and residual mulch on vegetable crop yield and soil fertility. In a two-year …

Canavalia And Dolichos Extracts For Sustainable Pest Biocontrol And Plant Nutrition Improvement In El Salvador, Carlos Martinez

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Botanical repellents and pesticides are now being rediscovered as new tools for integrated pest management in order to reduce the use of toxic chemicals in crop production. Canavalia gladiata and Dolichos lablab are two Fabaceae very well adapted to farmlands of El Salvador, effective as living barriers and mostly as cover crops, however, they are not yet very well disseminated. This document describes the potential for using the liquid extracts and the dry flour of raw seeds of those plants for economic benefit and practical convenience for pest management in Salvadorian agriculture under field conditions. Seed extracts were useful when …

Effects Of Elevated Temperature And Elevated Co2 On Leaf Carbon Fluxes In Boreal Conifers: Lab And Field Studies, Mirindi Eric Dusenge

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Rising CO₂ may warm northern latitudes up to 10 °C by the end of the century. However, responses of plant physiological processes (such as photosynthesis and respiration) and growth to climate change remain uncertain. Seedlings and mature trees of tamarack (a deciduous species) and black spruce (an evergreen species), North America dominant conifers, were exposed to combined warming (up to +9 ˚C) and elevated CO₂ (up to +300 ppm). In seedlings, stomatal conductance (g_s) tended to increase with warming in tamarack seedlings, while g_sdeclined with warming in spruce. In both species, CO₂ had …

Application Of Autofluorescence For Confocal Microscopy To Aid In Archaeoparasitological Analyses, Johnica Jo Morrow, Christian Elowsky

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) was used to examine archaeoparasitological specimens from coprolites associated with La Cueva de los Muertos Chiquitos (CMC) located near present-day Durango, Mexico. The eggs for 4 different types of parasites recovered from CMC coprolites were imaged using CLSM to assist with identification efforts. While some of the parasite eggs recovered from CMC coprolites were readily identified using standard light microscopy (LM), CLSM provided useful data for more challenging identifications by highlighting subtle morphological features and enhancing visualization of parasite egg anatomy. While other advanced microscopy techniques, such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), may also detect …

Molecular Phylogeny Implemented In An Introductory Plant Classification Course, Chao Cai, Jo Ann Banks

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

Plant classification is one of the core components in undergraduate programs related to plant sciences. Traditionally plant classification courses primarily introduce morphology-based taxonomy because of practical needs in the field. However, the publication of new plant classification systems by Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) using molecular phylogeny methods leads to the trends of using molecular evidence (DNA barcode) for plant identification. In our introductory plant classification course, we included a two-week module (lectures and labs) to introduce key concepts and fundamental skills in molecular phylogeny. Week 1 included concepts of evolutionary tree thinking, data mining in NCBI using BLAST search, and …

Beyond The Binary (Part 1): Re-Envisioning The Complexity Of Life History Evolution In The Bromeliaceae With Comparative Data, Rachel Jabaily, Erin Bodine

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Quantifying Pollen Traits To Build A Mathematical Model Of Pollen Competition - A Biologist's Perspective, Rob Swanson, Alex Capaldi

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

A Demographic Model Of The Endangered Florida Native Tillandsia Utriculata, Erin N. Bodine, Zoe S. Brookover, Alexandra Campbell, Brian D. Christman, Sydney L. Davis

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

An Agent-Based Model Of An Endangered Florida Tillansia Utriculata Population, Erin N. Bodine, Alexandra Campbell, Anna C. Kula

Annual Symposium on Biomathematics and Ecology Education and Research

No abstract provided.

Arkansas Corn And Grain Sorghum Performance Tests 2019, J. F. Carlin, R. D. Bond, J. A. Still

Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Series

Corn and grain sorghum performance tests are conducted each year in Arkansas by the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. The tests provide information to companies marketing seed within the state and aid the Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service in formulating recommendations for producers. The 2019 corn performance tests contained 74 hybrids and were conducted at the Northeast Research and Extension Center (NEREC) at Keiser, the Lon Mann Cotton Research Station (LMCRS) near Marianna, the Bell Farming Company near Des Arc, the Rohwer Research Station (RRS) near Rohwer and the Rice Research and Extension Center (RREC) near Stuttgart. The 2019 …

Ethnobotany And Dai Medicine: Herbal Roots, Jasper Tsai

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Xishuangbanna is home to one of the most biologically and culturally diverse regions in China. Dai medicine from the Dai people has been recognized by China as one of the four major ethnic minority medicines. With over 2,500 years of practice, Dai medicine utilizes the herbs found in the diverse region mixed with principles and theories from Buddhism. There have been over 500 unique herbs used in Dai medicine, each with different properties and functions. As Xishuangbanna continues to develop as a city and expand its rubber and banana plantations, it has large impacts on the environment, living standard, education, …

Celebrating Nj Tea’S Unspecialized Pollination, W. John Hayden

Biology Faculty Publications

Specialized pollination systems are the source of some of the most compelling stories in natural history. There is something appealing to the human psyche about what seems to be a reciprocal agreement between a given plant and its dedicated pollinator: the plant attracts a pollinator and provides ample nectar and/or pollen as a reward for the pollinator’s service in moving pollen from anthers to stigmas while foraging for food. Of course, these organisms have neither signed agreements nor memos of understanding. Instead, it has merely proven to the benefit of the plant, over time, to form certain floral structures, and …

Molecular Systematics Of Isoëtes (Isoëtaceae) In Eastern North America, Peter William Schafran

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Isoëtes (Isoëtaceae, Isoetales, Lycopodiophyta) is a cosmopolitan genus of aquatic lycophytes, occurring on every continent except Antarctica. Of approximately 200 total taxa, about half are in a clade of species mostly occurring in North and South America. Eastern North America accounts for 22% of global taxonomic diversity, containing 32 fertile taxa and 16 named hybrids. This taxonomic diversity is built upon relatively little morphological difference, and even combined with phylogenetic analysis using several nuclear and chloroplast DNA markers, no well-resolved systematic treatment within this clade exists.

This study aims to clarify the relationships between all species and subspecies of Isoëtes …

Visualizing Nutrient Effects On Root Pattern Formation, Robert E. Zdor

Faculty Publications

This lab gives students hands-on experience with visualizing the root architecture of plants exposed to varying concentrations of the vital nutrient phosphorus. By maintaining Brassica sp. seedlings in the presence of different quantities of phosphate, students can quantify changes in the number of lateral roots as an example of how the environment influences plant pattern formation. Additional variables in the experimental design, such as the use of plant mutants altered in plant regulator action or the presence of plant regulators in the plant growth medium, allow for exploration of how plant growth regulators are involved in root development. The quantitative …

Carbon And Nitrogen Dynamics In Plants Grown At Low Co2 Conditions Of The Past, Andre Galvao Duarte

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

For most of the recent evolutionary history of plants, atmospheric CO₂ concentrations have been far below modern values. However, little is known about how plants grown in a low CO₂ environment balance their carbon demand for growth while meeting their requirement for nitrogen acquisition, the establishment of mycorrhizal fungal associations, and the production of defense compounds. Here, I investigated how low CO₂ affects Elymus canadensis and Picea mariana by comparing their growth at low and current CO₂ concentrations. I found that reduced N availability exacerbated low CO₂ effects on growth, and reduced stomatal index and …

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.

Dyer, Susan Joan (Spear) (Fa 1326), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on “Additional Files” below) for Folklife Archives Project FA 1326. Student folk studies project titled “’Sengin’: Cultivation of an Endangered Species” about growing and harvesting ginseng in Williamson County, Tennessee. Photos include the growing stages of the ginseng plant, the harvesting process, and related tools.

Steenbergen, Joel (Fa 1325), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid and full-text scan of paper (Click on “Additional Files” below) for Folklife Archives Project 1325. Student folk studies project titled “Ginseng: The Wonder of the World,” about the history and folklore of ginseng in the United States, its uses, the harvesting process and tools.

Santa Rosa Island Restoration Study: Fog Fences Vs. No Fences, Aimee Newell, Stephen Bednar, Kathryn Mceachern

STAR Program Research Presentations

Santa Rosa Island, Channel Islands National Park, was grazed by cattle, sheep, pigs, elk, and deer for 154 years, degrading the island’s vegetation and causing erosion. In 1998, the livestock were removed, and in 2011 the remaining big game animals were removed, allowing ecosystem recovery to begin. This study evaluated growth of two native species planted in 2016, at the cloud forest restoration site on the Soledad Ridge. Baccharis pilularis (coyote brush) was planted as nursery stock from 2-inch pots, while Quercus pacifica (island scrub oak) was planted as sprouted acorns. The plants were watered with drip irrigation 2016-2018, …