Digital Commons Network^™

A Preliminary Study Of The Vegetation Of Vernal Pools Of Acadia National Park, Mount Desert Island, B Ciccotelli, T B. Harris, B Connery, N Rajakaruna

Faculty Publications, Biological Sciences

We conducted a preliminary floristic study of six vernal pools in Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island, Maine. Plant species were recorded on three sampling dates from April to October, 2008. Sixty-five vascular plant species from 26 families were recorded. Of these, 27 are considered occasional or uncommon in Acadia National Park. Thirteen species are new reports for vernal pools in the northeastern United States. This represents the first published study of the vernal pool flora of Acadia National Park

Lichens Of Callahan Mine, A Copper And Zinc-Enriched Superfund Site In Brooksville, Maine, U.S.A., N Rajakaruna, T B. Harris, S Clayden, A Dibble, F S. Olday

Faculty Publications, Biological Sciences

Metal-enriched habitats often harbor physiologically distinct biotas able to tolerate and accumulate toxic metals. Plants and lichens that accumulate metals have served as effective indicators of ecosystem pollution. Whereas the diversity of metal-tolerant lichens has been well documented globally, the literature of metal-tolerant lichen communities for eastern North America is limited. We examined the lichen flora of the Callahan Mine, a Cu-, Pb-, and Zn-enriched superfund site in Brooksville, Hancock County, Maine, U.S.A. Through collections along transects across metal-contaminated areas of the mine, we documented 76 species of lichens and related fungi. Fifty species were saxicolous, 26 were terricolous. Forty-three …

Phylogeny Of The Clusioid Clade (Malpighiales): Evidence From The Plastid And Mitochonrial Genomes, Brad R. Ruhfel, Volker Bittrich, Claudia A. Bove, Mats H.G. Gustafsson, C. Thomas Philbrick, Rolf Rutsihauser, Zhenxiang Xi, Charles C. Davis

Biological Sciences Faculty and Staff Research

• Premise of the study : The clusioid clade includes five families (i.e., Bonnetiaceae, Calophyllaceae, Clusiaceae s.s., Hypericaceae, and Podostemaceae) represented by 94 genera and ~1900 species. Species in this clade form a conspicuous element of tropical forests worldwide and are important in horticulture, timber production, and pharmacology. We conducted a taxon-rich multigene phylogenetic analysis of the clusioids to clarify phylogenetic relationships in this clade. • Methods : We analyzed plastid ( matK , ndhF , and rbcL ) and mitochondrial ( matR ) nucleotide sequence data using parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian inference. Our combined data set included 194 …

Refereed Articles Or Books Published During 2010-2011, College Of Arts & Sciences

SHU Faculty Publications

This is a bibliography of faculty scholarship from the College of Arts and Sciences at Sacred Heart University during the academic year 2010-2011.

Tetradium Daniellii, Janice Coons, Nancy Coutant, Wesley Whiteside

Plants by Genus Species

Tetradium daniellii has a natural range in forests and open slopes of Korea and northern China (Dirr 1998, Zhang 2011).

Terrestrial Macrofungi Of Illinois Old-Growth Prairie Groves, Scott J. Meiners, Andrew Methven, Vincent P. Hustad

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

ABSTRACT.—Macrofungi from two old-growth prairie grove remnants in the Midwestern United States (Brownfield and Trelease Woods. Champaign Co., IL ) were surveyed over two summer and fall fruiting periods. Communities of Ascomycetes, Basidiomycetes and Myxomycètes were sampled and compared using multivariate statistical analyses. Standard estimations of species richness were calculated for comparison with other studies of fungal diversity. Environmental factors (rainfall, humidity, air temperature and soil temperature at 10 cm depth) as well as leaf litter composition, and woody plant communities were surveyed to assess their impact on fungal communities. Fungal community structure was found to differ significandy both between …

Domain And Propositions Of Succession Theory, Steward Pickett, Scott J. Meiners, Mary L. Cadenasso

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Succession is perhaps the oldest of ecological concepts, having arisen when ecology was emerging as a self-conscious discipline (Mcintosh 1985). Yet it continues to address many fundamental issues in ecology, to support important applications, and to synthesize the insights and perspectives of other theories. Thus, it fulfills two functions key in assessing the utility of a contemporary ecological theory. First, it exhibits the attributes of a mature, welldeveloped, and intensively tested theory (Glenn-Lewin et al. 1992; Pickett and Cadenasso 2005). Second, it provides a linkage among theories and applications that have usually been considered separately (Walker et al. 2007). For …

Aceraceae - Acer Griseum, Janice Coons, Nancy Coutant, Wesley Whiteside

Plants by Family

Acer griseum was first brought to North America in 1907 by Ernest Henry Wilson in the form of two seedlings that were collected from Hubei Province in China. These two original plants remain at the Arnold Arboretum in Boston, Massachusetts, and were the source of the first North American horticultural distribution of the plant in 1927 (Del Tredici 2007). It is a handsome plant with very showy bark and is becoming more popular and easier to obtain than it has been in the past.

Acer Griseum, Janice Coons, Nancy Coutant, Wesley Whiteside

Plants by Genus Species

Acer griseum was first brought to North America in 1907 by Ernest Henry Wilson in the form of two seedlings that were collected from Hubei Province in China. These two original plants remain at the Arnold Arboretum in Boston, Massachusetts, and were the source of the first North American horticultural distribution of the plant in 1927 (Del Tredici 2007). It is a handsome plant with very showy bark and is becoming more popular and easier to obtain than it has been in the past.

Carpinus Caroliniana, Janice Coons, Nancy Coutant, Wesley Whiteside

Plants by Genus Species

Carpinus caroliniana has a native range from Texas, north to Oklahoma, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, throughout the rest of the eastern United States, including Ontario and Quebec, occurring in understories along waterways (USDA 2011, Dirr 1998).

Elliottia Racemosa, Janice Coons, Nancy Coutant, Wesley Whiteside

Plants by Genus Species

Georgia plume has a limited range occurring on sandy soils in seventy discrete stands in Georgia along the Altamaha- Ogeechee- Savannah river system and one location in South Carolina (Tucker 2009).

Cedrus Libani, Janice Coons, Nancy Coutant, Wesley Whiteside

Plants by Genus Species

Cedar of Lebanon had an extensive ancient range through Lebanon, Syria, and Southern Turkey. It now is greatly reduced and fragmented through economic exploitation for 5000 years, agricultural clearing, and war. Populations are found in the Taurus Mountains and Black Sea region of Turkey, the eastern side of Jabal an-Nusayriya in Syria, and the western mountain range in Lebanon (Khuri 2000).

Koelreuteria Paniculata, Janice Coons, Nancy Coutant, Wesley Whiteside

Plants by Genus Species

Koelreuteria paniculata is native to temperate regions in China, Korea and Japan and is typically found in dry valleys (Dosmann 2006).

Angiosperm Phylogeny: 17 Genes, 640 Taxa, Douglas Soltis, Steven Smith, Nico Cellinese, Kenneth Wurdack, David Tank, Samuel Brockington, Nancy Refulio-Rodriguez, Jay Walker, Michael Moore, Barbara Carlsward, Charles Bell, Maribeth Latvis, Sunny Crawley, Chelsea Black, Diaga Diouf, Zhenxiang Xi, Catherine Rushworth, Matthew Gitzendanner, Kenneth Sytsma, Yin-Long Qiu, Khidir Hilu, Charles Davis, Michael Sanderson, Reed Beaman, Richard Olmstead, Walter Judd, Michael Donoghue, Pamela Soltis

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

• Premise of the study : Recent analyses employing up to fi ve genes have provided numerous insights into angiosperm phylogeny, but many relationships have remained unresolved or poorly supported. In the hope of improving our understanding of angiosperm phylogeny, we expanded sampling of taxa and genes beyond previous analyses. • Methods : We conducted two primary analyses based on 640 species representing 330 families. The fi rst included 25 260 aligned base pairs (bp) from 17 genes (representing all three plant genomes, i.e., nucleus, plastid, and mitochondrion). The second included 19 846 aligned bp from 13 genes (representing only …

Terrestrial Macrofungi Of Illinois Old-Growth Prairie Groves, Scott Meiners, Andrew Methven, Vincent Hustad

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

ABSTRACT.—Macrofungi from two old-growth prairie grove remnants in the Midwestern United States (Brownfield and Trelease Woods. Champaign Co., IL ) were surveyed over two summer and fall fruiting periods. Communities of Ascomycetes, Basidiomycetes and Myxomycètes were sampled and compared using multivariate statistical analyses. Standard estimations of species richness were calculated for comparison with other studies of fungal diversity. Environmental factors (rainfall, humidity, air temperature and soil temperature at 10 cm depth) as well as leaf litter composition, and woody plant communities were surveyed to assess their impact on fungal communities. Fungal community structure was found to differ significandy both between …

Succession, Scott Meiners, Steward Pickett

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Succession in a strict sense refers to the recovery and revegetation of an area following a disturbance such as the cessation of agriculture, the retreat of a glacier, or an intense forest fi re. Succession is a special case of vegetation dynamics, although many early ecologists referred to all vegetation change as succession. Succession includes a series of compositional and structural changes, often in a directional manner. The common occurrence of natural disturbances coupled with the extent of human activity on the planet makes succession one of the most ubiquitous ecological processes. Because invasion is a crucial feature of succession, …

Managing Crop Diseases With Fungicides, Kay Ruden, Lawrence E. Osborne

SDSU Extension Fact Sheets

This guide contains a list of fungicides labeled for use in South Dakota at the time of publication. The list is dynamic and prone to frequent changes. It therefore should not be considered as a substitute for label information. Always read and follow label directions for approved uses of these products, and check with the South Dakota Department of Agriculture for up-to-date product registration information.

Codling Moth Cydia Pomonella, Diane G. Alston, Michael E. Reding

All Archived Publications

No abstract provided.

Is There A Relationship Between Water Potential And The Mechanical Strength Of Salix Lasiolepis?, William Cohen, Gina Fitzgerald, Joseph Liao

Featured Research



Structural And Functional Analysis Of The Type Iii Secretion System From Pseudomonas Fluorescens Q8r1-96, Dmitri V. Mavrodi, Anna Joe, Olga V. Mavrodi, Karl A. Hassan, David M. Weller, Ian T. Paulsen, Joyce E. Loper, James R. Alfano, Linda S. Thomashow

Center for Plant Science Innovation: Faculty Publications

Pseudomonas fluorescens Q8r1-96 represents a group of rhizosphere strains responsible for the suppressiveness of agricultural soils to take-all disease of wheat. It produces the antibiotic 2,4-diacetylphloroglucinol and aggressively colonizes the roots of cereal crops. In this study, we analyzed the genome of Q8r1-96 and identified a type III protein secretion system (T3SS) gene cluster that has overall organization similar to that of the T3SS gene cluster of the plant pathogen Pseudomonas syringae. We also screened a collection of 30 closely related P. fluorescens strains and detected the T3SS genes in all but one of them. The Q8r1-96 genome contained …

Mpk6, Sphinganine And The Lcb2a Gene From Serine Palmitoyltransferase Are Required In The Signaling Pathway That Mediates Cell Death Induced By Long Chain Bases In Arabidopsis, Mariana Saucedo-García, Arturo Guevara-Garcia, Ariadna González-Solís, Felipe Cruz-García, Sonia Vázquez-Santana, Jennifer E. Markham, M. Guadalupe Lozano-Rosas, Charles R. Dietrich, Maricela Ramos-Vega, Edgar B. Cahoon, Marina Gavilanes-Ruíz

Center for Plant Science Innovation: Faculty Publications

• Long chain bases (LCBs) are sphingolipid intermediates acting as second messengers in programmed cell death (PCD) in plants. Most of the molecular and cellular features of this signaling function remain unknown.

• We induced PCD conditions in Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings and analyzed LCB accumulation kinetics, cell ultrastructure and phenotypes in serine palmitoyltransferase (spt), mitogen-activated protein kinase (mpk), mitogenactivated protein phosphatase (mkp1) and lcb-hydroxylase (sbh) mutants.

• The lcb2a-1 mutant was unable to mount an effective PCD in response to fumonisin B1 (FB1), revealing that the LCB2a gene is essential for the …

A Plant Dj-1 Homolog Is Essential For Arabidopsis Thaliana Chloroplast Development, Jiusheng Lin, Tara J. Nazarenus, Jeanine L. Frey, Xinwen Liang, Mark A. Wilson, Julie M. Stone

Center for Plant Science Innovation: Faculty Publications

Protein superfamilies can exhibit considerable diversification of function among their members in various organisms. The DJ-1 superfamily is composed of proteins that are principally involved in stress response and are widely distributed in all kingdoms of life. The model flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana contains three close homologs of animal DJ-1, all of which are tandem duplications of the DJ-1 domain. Consequently, the plant DJ-1 homologs are likely pseudo-dimeric proteins composed of a single polypeptide chain. We report that one A. thaliana DJ-1 homolog (AtDJ1C) is the first DJ-1 homolog in any organism that is required for viability. Homozygous disruption of …

Two Distinct Roles Of Arabidopsis Homolog Of Trithorax1 (Atx1) At Promoters And Within Transcribed Regions Of Atx1-Regulated Genes, Yong Ding, Zoya Avramova, Michael E. Fromm

Center for Plant Science Innovation: Faculty Publications

The Arabidopsis thaliana trithorax-like protein, ATX1, shares common structural domains, has similar histone methyltransferase (HMT) activity, and belongs in the same phylogenetic subgroup as its animal counterparts. Most of our knowledge of the role of HMTs in trimethylating lysine 4 of histone H3 (H3K4me3) in transcriptional regulation comes from studies of yeast and mammalian homologs. Little is known about the mechanism by which ATX1, or any other HMT of plant origin, affects transcription. Here, we provide insights into how ATX1 influences transcription at regulated genes, playing two distinct roles. At promoters, ATX1 is required for TATA binding protein (TBP) and …

Structure Function Analysis Of An Adp-Ribosyltransferase Type Iii Effector And Its Rna-Binding Target In Plant Immunity, Byeong-Ryool Jeong, Yan Lin, Anna Joe, Ming Guo, Christin Korneli, Huirong Yang, Ping Wang, Min Yu, Ronald Cerny, Dorothee Staiger, James R. Alfano, Yanhui Xu

Center for Plant Science Innovation: Faculty Publications

Background: HopU1 ADP-ribosylates GRP7, suppressing plant immunity.

Results: The HopU1 structure has two novel loops required for GRP7 recognition, and HopU1 ribosylates GRP7 at an arginine in position 49 disrupting its function.

Conclusion: HopU1 targets a conserved arginine in GRP7, disabling its ability to bind immunity-related RNA.

Significance: The mechanistic details of how HopU1 recognizes its substrate reveal how HopU1 contributes to pathogenesis.

What Controls Toxic Phytoplankton Blooms In Long Island Sound?, Hans G. Dam Ph.D., Michael Finiguerra, Christina Senft-Batoh, Haley Flores

Wrack Lines

TIny phytoplankton organisms known as dinoflagellates can accumulate and cause toxic blooms that can kill fish and even make people ill. It's rare in Long Island Sound but can happen. What drives this phenomenon? Professor Hans G. Dam and his lab team explain in this easy-to-understand article.

Native Trees And Shrubs For Nebraska, Justin R. Evertson, Bob Henrickson

Nebraska Statewide Arboretum: Publications

Native plants withstand Nebraska’s tough climate extremes and serve as vital habitat for wildlife like birds, butterflies, and bees. NOTE: “Nearly native” signifies a species that is native within 100 miles of Nebraska’s border and/or now naturalized within the state.

141 species, from
Acer negundo -­‐ boxelder maple
to
woodbine -­‐ Parthenocissus vitacea

The Seed, Justin R. Evertson, Kendall Weyers, Christina Hoyt, Karma Larsen

Nebraska Statewide Arboretum: Publications

People in general seem to harbor a natural fear toward many of the creatures inhabiting our yards and the land- scapes around us. Some of this fear is certainly understand- able, after all, a bee or wasp sting hurts! Others of these creatures are just creepy—spiders, mantids, ants, snakes, bats. If we stop and think about it, however, we’ll soon realize that we really don’t have much to fear and in fact there is much to be gained if we can find a way to better appreciate these creatures. The beautiful goldenrod invites crab spiders and soldier beetles who love …

Functional Hak/Kup/Kt-Like Potassium Transporter Encoded By Chlorella Viruses, Timo Greiner, José Ramos, Maria C. Alvarez, James Gurnon, Ming Kang, James L. Van Etten, Anna Moroni, Gerhard Thiel

James Van Etten Publications

Chlorella viruses are a source of interesting membrane transport proteins. Here we examine a putative K+ transporter encoded by virus FR483 and related chlorella viruses. The protein shares sequence and structural features with HAK/KUP/KT-like K+ transporters from plants, bacteria and fungi. Yeast complementation assays and Rb+ uptake experiments show that the viral protein, termed HAKCV (high-affinity K+ transporter of chlorella virus), is functional, with transport characteristics that are similar to those of known K+ transporters. Expression studies revealed that the protein is expressed as an early gene during viral replication, and proteomics data indicate that it is not packaged in …

Effects Of 2, 4-D On Zea Maize Physiology, Caitlin Thompson, Lori Patrick, Acacia Osbourne, Katrina Brock

Featured Research

Growth rate, fluorescence and stomatal conductance, in zea was examined to determine the effects of artificial auxin, 2-4-d, on common crop plants. We measured florescence, growth rate, and stomatal conductance. Low concentrations of 2,4-D increased light-adapted fluorescence, anthocyanin levels and height of zea maize. A high concentration of 2,4-D increased anthocyanin levels, but also caused decreased fluorescence and height and spindliness to occur. It appears 2,4-D is only beneficial to monocot crop plants in low quantities. We cannot accurately comment on the accuracy of our data, however, due to several potential sources of error.

Effects Of Soil Moisture On Photosynthesis And Fluorescence In Heteromeles Arbutifolia, Ali Alyami, Colin Byrne, Katherine Currie

Featured Research

Some plants have evolved to increase their chances of survival by being drought-adapted. Among those plant species is Heteromeles arbutifolia, native to California. Logically, the fact that Heteromeles arbutifolia tolerates the low supply of water makes this plant more likely to be within environments where the level of sun exposure is high. Thus, we hypothesized that lowering soil moisture will cause an increase in xylem pressure, causing an increase in photo-protection and florescence, and a decrease in photosynthetic rate. This has not been tested before on a native chaparral plant such as Heteromeles arbutifolia. The experiment was held …