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Consequences Of Invasive Grass-Fire Cycles On Plant-Pollinator Relationships In Utah Deserts, Sam St. Clair

Journal of Undergraduate Research

We successfully completed the studies as outlined in the proposal and the data collected has been written up a in a successfully defended MS thesis with two chapters.

Tall Fescue Cultivar And Fungal Endophyte Combinations Influence Plant Growth And Root Exudate Composition, Jingqi Guo, Rebecca L. Mcculley, David H. Mcnear Jr.

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

Tall fescue [Lolium arundinaceum (Schreb.)] is a cool-season perennial grass used in pastures throughout the Southeastern United States. The grass can harbor a shoot-specific fungal endophyte (Epichloë coenophiala) thought to provide the plant with enhanced resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Because alkaloids produced by the common variety of the endophyte cause severe animal health issues, focus has been on replacing the common-toxic strain with novel varieties that do not produce the mammal-toxic alkaloids but maintain abiotic and biotic stress tolerance benefits. Little attention has been given to the influence of the plant-fungal symbiosis on rhizosphere processes. …

Engineering Of A Light-Gated Potassium Channel, Christian Cosentino, Laura Alberio, Sabrina Gazzarrini, Marco Aquila, Eduardo Romano, Solei Cermenati, Paolo Zuccolini, Jan Petersen, Monica Beltrame, James L. Van Etten, John M. Christie, Gerhard Thiel, Anna Moroni

James Van Etten Publications

The present palette of opsin-based optogenetic tools lacks a light-gated potassium (K+) channel desirable for silencing of excitable cells. Here, we describe the construction of a blue-light–induced K+ channel 1 (BLINK1) engineered by fusing the plant LOV2-Ja photosensory module to the small viral K+ channel Kcv. BLINK1 exhibits biophysical features of Kcv, including K+ selectivity and high single-channel conductance, but reversibly photoactivates in blue light. Opening of BLINK1 channels hyperpolarizes the cell to the K+ equilibrium potential. Ectopic expression of BLINK1 reversibly inhibits the escape response in light-exposed zebrafish larvae. BLINK1 therefore provides a single-component optogenetic tool that can establish …

Traversing Swanton Road, 19th Ed., James A. West

Academic, Government & Associated Organizational Research Resources

Situated at the northwest end of Santa Cruz County and occupying circa 30 square miles of sharply contrasted terrain, the Scott Creek Watershed concentrates within its geomorphological boundaries, at least 10-12% of California's flora, both native and introduced. Paradoxically, the use/abuse that the watershed has sustained over the past 140+ years, has not necessarily diminished the biodiversity and perhaps parallels the naturally disruptive but biologically energizing processes (fire, flooding, landslides and erosion), which have also been historically documented for the area for +60 years. This is an early edition of an extensive document by James A. West. Please visit the …

Differential Survival Of Chaparral Shrub Species In Response To Severe Drought, Hannah Dario, Stephen D. Davis

Biology

In this experiment, we examined how the plants in the Santa Monica Mountains are responding to the driest period in recorded history for California. Our hypothesis was that plant species with the deepest roots would have highest survivorship. We thought this because deep-rooted shrubs will have greater access to soil moisture. This hypothesis was tested by collecting data on plant survival, in a mixed chaparral stand, containing eleven species, growing in the Green Valley Preserve off of Stunt road, in the Santa Monica Mountains. The chaparral stand was 21 years old, having last burned in 1993 (Old Topanga Canyon Fire). …

Transcriptome Sequencing Of Mung Bean (Vigna Radiate L.) Genes And The Identification Of Est-Ssr Markers, Honglin Chen, Lixia Wang, Suhua Wang, Chunji Liu, Matthew Wohlgemuth Blair, Xuzhen Cheng

Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Faculty Research

Mung bean (Vigna radiate (L.) Wilczek) is an important traditional food legume crop, with high economic and nutritional value. It is widely grown in China and other Asian countries. Despite its importance, genomic information is currently unavailable for this crop plant species or some of its close relatives in the Vigna genus. In this study, more than 103 million high quality cDNA sequence reads were obtained from mung bean using Illumina paired-end sequencing technology. The processed reads were assembled into 48,693 unigenes with an average length of 874 bp. Of these unigenes, 25,820 (53.0%) and 23,235 (47.7%) showed significant …

Genetics, Genomics And Evolution Of Ergot Alkaloid Diversity, Carolyn A. Young, Christopher L. Schardl, Daniel G. Panaccione, Simona Florea, Johanna E. Takach, Nikki D. Charlton, Neil Moore, Jennifer S. Webb, Jolanta Jaromczyk

Plant Pathology Faculty Publications

The ergot alkaloid biosynthesis system has become an excellent model to study evolutionary diversification of specialized (secondary) metabolites. This is a very diverse class of alkaloids with various neurotropic activities, produced by fungi in several orders of the phylum Ascomycota, including plant pathogens and protective plant symbionts in the family Clavicipitaceae. Results of comparative genomics and phylogenomic analyses reveal multiple examples of three evolutionary processes that have generated ergot-alkaloid diversity: gene gains, gene losses, and gene sequence changes that have led to altered substrates or product specificities of the enzymes that they encode (neofunctionalization). The chromosome ends appear to be …

Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717): Pioneering Naturalist, Artist, And Inspiration For Catesby, Kay Etheridge, Florence F.J.M. Pieters

Biology Faculty Publications

Book Summary: While accessible to the interested general reader, it is a technical standard that is usable academically. Containing significant new information, this work is the most comprehensive and accurate book written about Catesby and is the legacy of the Catesby Commemorative Trust’s Mark Catesby Tercentennial symposium held in 2012.

Chapter Summary: Merian's books on European and Surinamese insects and plants provided new models for representing nature that were echoed in the work of artists and naturalists working in the eighteenth century and beyond. This chapter discusses how Mark Catesby, the subject of the book, was particularly influenced by Merian.

Profiling Gene Expression During Early Gametophyte Development And Sex Determination In Ceratopteris Richardii, Nadia Atallah

Open Access Dissertations

In the fern Ceratopteris richardii, every spore has the potential to develop as either a male or hermaphroditic gametophyte. Gametophyte sex is determined by a GA-like pheromone (ACE) that is secreted by hermaphrodites approximately 6 days after spore inoculation and induces male development in other juvenile gametophytes. Our goal is to better understand the genetic and molecular mechanisms involved in sex determination and to identify sex determination genes in Ceratopteris. RNA-Seq was used to create de novotranscriptome assemblies from gametophytes grown, with or without ACE, during the time that their sex is determined, and from male gametophytes in early …

Distribution Of Genotypes Within And Among Taeniatherum Caput-Medusae (Poaceae) Populations From Eastern Washington: Assessment Of An Invasion At A Local Scale, Carly J. Prior

McNair Scholars Research Journal

Multiple introductions from many source populations can increase the chance of introducing preadapted genotypes, increase standing genetic variation, and increase the likelihood of adaptive evolution, all of which might contribute to invasion. Taeniatherum caput-medusae is an annual, highly self-pollinating grass that is invasive in the western United States. Through previous genetic analysis, five multilocus genotypes (MLG) were detected in the relatively small geographic area of eastern Washington, which suggests that multiple introductions have occurred in this region. Fifty-seven populations of T. caput-medusae from eastern Washington were assessed at 23 loci using starch gel electrophoresis. Based on these data, a sixth …

Nebline, April 2015

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Feature: 4-H Clubs of Excellence Award Recognizes Successful Clubs

Food & Health

Family Living

Farm & Acreage

Horticulture

Pests & Wildlife

4-H & Youth

Extension Calendar

and other extension news and events

Special Pullout Section: Weed Awareness

Clonal Integration In Ludwigia Hexapetala Under Different Light Regimes, Rebecca E. Drenovsky, R. E. Glover, C. J. Futrell, Brenda J. Grewell

Biology

Physiological integration among ramets of invasive plant species may support their colonization and spread in novel aquatic environments where growth-limiting resources are spatially heterogeneous. Under contrasting light conditions, we investigated how clonal integration influences growth, biomass allocation and morphology of Ludwigia hexapetala, an emergent floating-leaved macrophyte that is highly invasive in a range of wetland habitat types. In aquatic mesocosms, stolons of offspring ramets were either connected or severed from parent plants, with the pairs exposed to homogenous or heterogeneous combinations of sun or 85% shade. Morphological traits of all ramets were strongly influenced by light environment, and low …

Comparing Avian Diversity And Anthropogenic Disturbance At Sendero Los Quetzales Cerro Punta, Panamá, Sloane Merdinger

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This report summarizes the survey of land and avian diversity along a transect that runs from the exterior to the interior of the Los Quetzales Trail of Parque Nacional Volcán Barú in Cerro Punta, Chiriquí, Panamá. The region of Cerro Punta is Panamá’s primary producer of produce and also home to one of the most biodiverse land reserves in the world. Despite protection efforts the area is continuously threatened by human development. The study juxtaposes calculated Shannon-Wiener Biodiversity Indices across graduated levels of anthropogenic disturbance to determine if there is a significant difference in biodiversity between areas with low, intermediate, …

Tallgrass Prairie Center News, Spring 2015, University Of Northern Iowa. Tallgrass Prairie Center.

Tallgrass Prairie Center Newsletter

Inside This Issue:

-- 2015 Iowa Prairie Conference: Working Prairies
-- High Diversity = High Performance
-- IRVM Updates
-- Prairie Power Project
-- Prairie on Farms
-- Prairie on Farms Demonstration Workshops
-- Milkweeds: Monarch Immigration Reform
-- New Student Employee
-- New Center Staff

Application And Implications Of Rule-Based Pruning Of Apple Trees, Jacob B. Franzen

Open Access Theses

Labor is one of the largest operating costs associated with tree fruit production in the United States. Pruning and harvest can easily eclipse over a quarter of an orchard's operating budget. Additionally, labor sources are becoming increasingly difficult to find while worker pay keeps going up. As a result, it appears that labor costs will continue to rise for the foreseeable future. Work on developing mechanized alternatives to pruning is seen as one of the key areas to reduce an orchard's dependence on human labor. The objective of this study was to test a set of simplified pruning rules (RUL), …

Genetic Analysis Of Tocochromanol Variation In Maize Using High-Density Linkage Mapping, Megan E. Fenton

Open Access Theses

Vitamin E is an essential nutrient in the human diet and refers to eight distinct compounds that are collectively known as tocochromanols. Tocochromanols are grouped into two classes: tocotrienols and tocopherols. Tocochromanols are the major lipid-soluble antioxidants in maize (Zea mays L.) grain. Enhancing the tocochromanol content of maize derived foods through plant breeding has important nutritional and health implications. Chapter one is a literature review that provides a foundational understanding of the biosynthesis, function and genetic control of tocochromanols in plants, with specific attention to maize (Zea mays L.). Upon this foundation two research objectives were developed that work …

Cover Crop And No-Till Effects On Soil Health Properties In Indiana, Sara Alford

Open Access Theses

A growing concern of soil health and long-term sustainability has increased interest in no-till and cover crops in the Midwest. Some of the challenges with no-till in the Midwest can be higher soil moisture and lower soil temperatures at cash crop planting in the spring, planter adjustment issues, and lack of immediate economic benefit. Cover crops also have some of the same issues along with extra cost of seed and termination, mismanagement of cover crops, and lack of knowledge on the benefits and costs. This project was begun in order to quantify the effects of no-till and cover crops on …

Eco-Evolutionary Factors Drive Herbivore-Induced Plant Volatiles, Which Intercept Plant Defense, Elizabeth K. Rowen

Open Access Theses

Herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs) mediate a wide variety of interactions in ecosystems. However, many volatile compounds are found across plant taxa, and some are exploited to attract natural enemies for biological control. Subtle changes in HIPV blends can produce profound changes in the behavior of predators, parasitoids and herbivores, and may also alter the defensive processes of neighboring plants. I investigated different ecological and evolutionary factors to understand how plant volatile emissions are affected by feeding guild, herbivore diet breadth and domestication. I meta-analyzed 109 studies and found that specialists induce more total volatiles than generalists. Domesticated species have stronger …

Growth Parameters Of 'Golden Delicious' Apple Trees (Malus X Domestica Borkh), Biying Shi

Open Access Theses

High yield and high quality of tree fruit result from appropriate orchard design and management practices. This requires an accurate knowledge of vegetative growth, branching, and flowering processes of fruit trees. Tree development knowledge is the fundamental information necessary to build functional-structural tree models, which have various applications in agriculture. To build such models, information is needed on the distributions of growth parameters, not merely means as are often reported. The objective of this study was to quantitatively analyze shoot development and examine the correlations between fruit quality and light distribution in apple trees. This study was conducted in 2014, …

Effects Of Temperature And Pollinator Availability On Plant Reproductive Success In The Indiana Spring Ephemeral Community, Asya Robertshaw

Open Access Dissertations

Temperature is a key driver of phenology in both plants and insects, and even small changes in temperature can impact the reproductive success of insect-pollinated plants by influencing access to pollinator services. While it is well-established that temperature variation directly impacts the flowering phenology of many plant species, the mechanisms by which it ultimately influences seed production via the pollinator community are not well understood. Climate change has the potential to disrupt the temporal synchrony between plants and their primary pollinators, especially if the two rely on different seasonal cues for the timing of their life history events. If the …

Genetic, Agronomic And Compositional Characterization Of Brown Midrib Sweet Sorghum Lignocellulosic Biomass For Ethanol Production, Luis A. Rivera Burgos

Open Access Dissertations

Sorghum is a promising bioenergy crop due to its unique phenotypic and genotypic attributes. Quality (low lignin and high stem sugar concentration) and quantity (biomass yield, plant height, plant maturity, etc.) biomass traits are key contributors to ethanol yield and production. In this study, a 236 sorghum recombinant inbred line (RIL) population was subjected to genetic, agronomic and compositional characterization for ethanol yield and production. We found that the sweet mutation enhances biomass quantity traits in the RILs which translates to higher ethanol production and biomass quality which improves ethanol yield. The variance components showed from moderate to high heritability …

Commodity Of The Quarter: Quinoa: Catalyst Or Catastrophe?, Necia Parker-Gibson

University Libraries Faculty Publications and Presentations

Quinoa is a grain-like crop that is rich in protein and minerals; its ability to grow on marginal soils improves its attractiveness as a potential solution to hunger in many areas. Primarily adapted to the high Andes, it is drawing increasing amounts of research scrutiny, as researchers and farmers try to create reasonable agronomic solutions to growing populations and continuing loss of arable land. Since it has become fashionable with vegetarians and vegans in the developed world, it may be argued that the crop is less available to its original growers. Issues of economic and political sovereignty complicate the use …

Upside-Down Anthers Of Clethra Stand Out, W. John Hayden

Biology Faculty Publications

For the most part, the flowers of the 2015 VNPS Wildflower of the Year, Clethra alnifolia (Sweet Pepperbush), are unremarkable. Five separate sepals, 5 sepa rate petals, 10 stamens in 2 whorls, and a 3-carpellate superior ovary—an organization that can only be considered prosaic among the dicots. One floral feature, however, stands out: the anthers in the open flowers are upside-down! (See Figure 1A.) Further, these upside-down anthers open by pores (Figures 1B, 1C) rather than longitudinal slits, as in most flowering plants. These pores initially form on what would normally be the lowermost extremity of the anther, the inversion …

Growing South Dakota (Spring 2015), College Of Agriculture &. Biological Sciences

Growing South Dakota (Publication of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences)

This issue includes the 2014 SDSU Extension Annual Report.

[Page] 2 Committed To South Dakotans: Programs Focus On “Healthy Food, Healthy Families, Healthy Communities”
[Page] 4 Serving South Dakota’s Multi-Cultural Communities: Programs Take Root In Sioux Falls And On Standing Rock Indian Reservation
[Page] 4 Relevant Resource: New Manual Provides Guidance For Farmers Markets
[Page] 6 Food Growers Unite: Formation Of “Food Hub” Being Explored
[Page] 8 Envisioning The Future: Extension Assists Community Leaders With Forward Thinking
[Page] 10 Innovative New Tools: Online Resources Provide Useful Climate Data, Drainage Calculators
[Page] 12 Meeting Producer Needs: Production Knowledge Enhanced With Extension …

Molecular Phylogenetics And Historical Biogeography Of The Tribe Chiococceae (Rubiaceae), Sushil Kumar Paudyal

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Chiococceae are a monophyletic assemblage of morphologically very diverse groups of plants ranging in habit from subshrubs to shrubs to tall trees exhibiting an astonishing variation in shapes and sizes of corolla, and kinds of fruits and seeds. They are primarily distributed in the Neotropics but also occur in the West Pacific islands; thus exhibiting amphi-Pacific tropical disjunction. This study addresses the phylogenetic relationships and biogeography of the Chiococceae using molecular DNA sequence data, and presents novel data on the tribal and generic delimitations, intergeneric relationships, and the origin and dispersal of this group.

In the most recent tribal delimitations …

Juniperus Communis In Morocco: Analyses Of Nrdna And Cpdna Regions, Robert P. Adams, Mustapha Rhanem, Andrea E. Schwarzbach

Health & Biomedical Sciences Faculty Publications

Juniperus communis from Morocco was analyzed by DNA sequence data from nrDNA plus four cp DNA regions (4315 bp) and found to be in a clade with other J. communis from Europe. The sub-alpine, prostrate J. communis plants of Morocco, each only contained a single SNP and a one bp indel (deletion) in the trnSG sequence data for a total of 2 MEs (mutation events). The Moroccan prostrate J. communis appear to be a variant of J. communis of Europe and central Asia and not part of the var. hemispherica group.

Soil Total Organic Carbon And Farmers’ Perceptions Associated With Bokashi Application In Cerro Punta, Panama, Emma Searson

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Sustainable use and maintenance of agricultural soils are important for maintaining long-term agricultural productivity and environmental quality. These issues are especially important in Cerro Punta, known as the breadbasket of Panama, which is experiencing severe erosion. While current practices and agrochemical usage damage soil health and function over time, application of organic material improves soil physic-chemical properties such as nutrient and total organic carbon (TOC) content. Bokashi, a fermented organic soil amendment with effective microorganisms (EM), is thought to be especially beneficial due to its ability to augment populations of soil microbes, which deliver plant-available nutrients to crops and improve …

Pertumbuhan Dan Hasil Kacang Hijau Kultivar Kenari Dan No. 129 Dalam Tumpangsari Bersisipan Di Antara Padi Gogo, Yuyun Yuwariah, Ade Ismail, I. N. Hafhittry

Jurnal Kultivasi

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mendapat-kan waktu penyisipan dua kultivar kacang hijau dalam tumpangsari bersisipan yang terbaik di antara padi gogo terhadap pertumbuhan dan hasil kacang hijau. Percobaan dilaksanakan dari bulan Desember 2010 sampai Juli 2011 di kebun percobaan Ciparanje Fakultas Pertanian Univer-sitas Padjadjaran, Jatinangor, Sumedang. Perco-baan ditata dalam Rancangan Acak Kelompok (RAK) dengan tiga ulangan yang terdiri atas 10 perlakuan yaitu A25 = kultivar Kenari + Waktu Penyisipan 25 hari sebelum panen padi gogo, A20 = kultivar Kenari + waktu penyisipan 20 hari sebelum panen padi gogo, A15 = kultivar Kenari + waktu penyisipan 15 hari sebelum panen padi gogo, …

Pengaruh Konsentrasi Paklobutrazol Dan Waktu Aplikasi Terhadap Mawar Batik (Rosa Hybrida L.), N Rubiyanti, Yayat Rochayat Suradinata

Jurnal Kultivasi

Mawar merupakan tanaman hias yang populer dan memiliki nilai ekonomi yang tinggi, salah satunya adalah mawar batik yang memi-liki motif seperti batik pada mahkotanya. Percobaan ini dilakukan untuk mengetahui pengaruh konsentrasi dan waktu aplikasi paklo-butrazol terhadap pertumbuhan dan pembu-ngaan mawar batik (Rosa hybridaL.). Percobaan ini dilaksanakan di Kebun Pembi-bitan Mawar, Desa Cihideung, Lembang Jawa Barat yang berada pada ketinggian tempat 800 meter di atas permukaan laut pada bulan April sampai Juni 2014. Rancangan Percobaan yang diguna-kan adalah Rancangan Acak Kelompok (RAK) terdiri dari sepuluh perlakuan dengan tiga ulangan. Perlakuan terdiri dari; tanpa pembe-rian paklobutrazol (kontrol); paklobutrazol 250 ppm + 4 …

Produktivitas Tanaman Dan Kehilangan Hasil Tanaman Padi (Oryza Sativa L.) Kultivar Ciherang Pada Kombinasi Jarak Tanam Dengan Frekuensi Penyiangan Berbeda, Dedi Widayat, C. O. Purba

Jurnal Kultivasi

Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk menge-tahui pengaruh kombinasi jarak tanam dan frekuensi penyiangan gulma yang berbeda terhadap produktivitas dan kehilangan hasil padi sawah kultivar Ciherang. Percobaan ini dilak-sanakan di lahan sawah Sanggar Penelitian Latihan dan Pengembangan Pertanian (SPLPP) Fakultas Pertanian Universitas Padjadjaran unit Ciparay dari bulan November 2010 sampai Februari 2011. Rancangan percobaan yang digunakan adalah Rancangan Acak Kelompok (RAK) terdiri dari dua belas perlakuan, dengan tiga kali ulangan. Adapun perlakuan yang digunakan adalah sebagai berikut: A (jarak tanam 25 x 25 cm dengan tanpa penyiangan), B (jarak tanam 25 x 25 cm dengan disiang satu kali), C (jarak tanam …