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Life Line Spring 2025, Otterbein Biology And Earth Science Department

Life Line - The Biology Department Newsletter

In this issue:

Greetings and Farewell!; COSI 2024; Ketchup, Culture, and an Unforgettable Conference; Alumna Earns PhD; Tortoises, Butterflies, and Cockroaches, Oh My!; Licking River Roundup 2024; Aquarium Students Explore Coral Restoration in Fiji; The Galapagos Islands: Geology, Ecology, Conservation, and Culture; Dr. Svitana Presents on Otterbein Lake Well Field; Cell Bio Pilots Unique Approach to Learning; Hoggarth to Retire, June 2025; AED is BACK on Campus!; The Greenhouse Gets a Lifeline; Acoustic Rabies Identification (ARID): A Sound-Based Approach to Rabies Testing

Ecological Restoration And Ecosystem Memory Of Wildlife Forage And Understory Diversity In A Young Pine Monoculture Plantation In Central-Interior British Columbia, Julia Claire Bizon

Aspen Bibliography

Ecological restoration has recently taken center stage in the rehabilitation of degraded forest ecosystems to improve multifunctionality, biodiversity, and wildlife habitat conservation. The research summarized herein assessed the efficacy of variable stand density thinning (200, 400, and 600 stems/ha) and artificial canopy gaps (0.2, 0.5, 1.0, 2.0 ha in size) as potential restoration treatments to enhance wildlife forage and native biodiversity in a young lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia Engelm. ex S. Wats.) forest in central-interior British Columbia. Field data collection was conducted from May-August, 2023 to assess the early response (1-3 years post-treatment) of the forest …

How The Biotic And Abiotic Factors In The Belle Forest Cave And Arboretum Soil Dictates Tree Species Prevalence, Amya A. Bingham

SPARK Symposium Presentations

A plethora of factors in the soil impact a plant’s health, including the presence of different biotic and abiotic factors. These include things like temperature, elevation, pH, microbial respiration and the presence of water, clay, loam, silt, sand, nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus. Different soils will have varying amounts of these, which may dictate what is able to grow in them, and therefore also the surrounding area. This research project explores how the aforementioned biotic and abiotic factors affect the soil at the Belle Forest Cave and Arboretum. Three samples will be taken from four spots along a transect at this …

Evaluation Of The Global Durum Panel (Triticum Turgidum Ssp. Durum) For Wheat Streak Mosaic Virus Resistance, Winter Survival, And Seed Characteristics, Megan Engel

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

The majority of durum wheat (Triticum turgidum spp. durum; AABB; 2n=4x=28) is predominantly grown in the northern Great Plains of the United States, and is used in the production of semolina, a coarse flour that makes pasta and couscous. Durum has been widely regarded for being more tolerant to abiotic stress, due to its ability to withstand drought and high temperatures. In this thesis, we conducted greenhouse, field, and lab studies, for the traits wheat streak mosaic virus (WSMV), winter survival, and single kernel characteristics of the Global Durum Panel version 2 (GDPv2 n = 976), a panel …

Herbicide Management For Bromus Tectorum To Enhance Rangeland Productivity In Western Nebraska, Miranda Mueller

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

Cheatgrass, Bromus tectorum (L.), has increased in the mixed-grass prairies of the Nebraska Panhandle. Limited research is available in these ecosystems on the ecological factors that influences its spread and options for management. This study focuses on the efficacy of herbicide treatments (indaziflam and imazapic) as a cheatgrass control method on the native rangelands of western Nebraska. In September of 2022, a mixture of indaziflam (73 g ai ha^-1, Rejuvra) and imazapic (70 g ai ha^-1, Plateau) was aerially applied at 6 unique upland ecological sites (1-3 ha) near Scottsbluff, Nebraska. Functional group plant biomass data …

Genetic And Soil Influences On The Grapevine Rhizosphere Microbiome, Lauren M. Quackenbush

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

In vineyard cropping systems, the rhizosphere microbiome arises through recruitment and filtering of the bulk soil microbiome shaped over time by soil carbon and nitrogen, climate, pH and historical legacies of vineyard management. The recruitment and filtering steps occur under the genetic influences of rootstock and scion that together drive variability in rhizosphere microbiome diversity and composition.

This study compares rhizosphere microbiomes of four Pinot Noir blocks under two rootstocks (101-14 and 420A) and four scions (777, 828, Calera, Mt. Eden). Core microbiomes were consistent across all replicates. The most abundant bacterial phyla were Actinobacteriota, Proteobacteria, and Acidobacteriota …

Automated Plant Morphological Assessment And Microbial Community Monitoring In Simulated Lunar Regolith, Collin R. Topolski

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Upcoming lunar bases will need to leverage in-situ resources to ensure long-term sustainability and reduce mission costs. One key challenge is food production, which could be addressed by growing crops in lunar regolith-based substrates. However, lunar regolith lacks essential nutrients, requiring organic amendments to support continuous plant cultivation. This study examined the impact of manure-amended lunar regolith simulant on Mizuna mustard growth while assessing microbial community diversity and functionality. To support this effort, a custom software pipeline utilizing an open-source library, PlantCV, was developed to automatically track plant leaf area and height via image analysis. Results indicated that amended rhizosphere …

Lawn Nutrient Availability And Run-Off During Establishment Under Enhanced Biodiversity, Masami S. Kanyuk

Environmental Studies Honors Theses

Biodiversity has consistently been found to have positive ecosystem effects, including erosion mitigation and stability of nutrient cycling. For lawns, this can translate to reducing the need for fertilizer application, and reducing soil loss and leaching that can impact water quality. This paper investigates the effects of biodiversity and plant community establishment in a lawn ecosystem on soil erosion, nitrate leaching via porewater sampling, and plant available nitrogen.

In the first growing season of PLEDGE (the Pastures and Lawns Enhanced Drought and Global-Change Experiment), we hypothesized that three-species lawns (tall fescue, dwarf white clover, and creeping thyme) would experience higher …

Assessing Bioactivity Of Green Leaf Volatiles In Various Plant Systems, Fallon S. Tomlin

Senior Theses

Green leaf volatiles (GLVs) are chemical compounds essential in plant communication. Plants emit these volatiles due to abiotic and biotic stressors and, when perceived, these GLVs activate defense responses. Though GLVs play an important role in plant survival, it is still unknown where they localize, how they are perceived, and what structural factors influence perception. To elucidate these structural determinants, we tested the bioactivity of (Z)-3-fatty alcohols with four to nine carbons. Through root growth inhibition assays with tomato (Solanum peruvianum) seedlings, we found that (Z)-3-octenol and (Z)-3-nonenol were more bioactive than (Z)-3 hexenol and (Z)-3-heptenol. Thus, higher bioactivity was …

Exploring Biostimulant Efficacy Under Limited Fertilizer And Water In Utah's Watermelon Production, Evan Christensen, Milena Maria Tomaz De Oliveira, Prakriti Nepal, Youping Sun

Plants, Soils, and Climate Faculty Publications

The western U.S. has recently experienced some of the driest conditions on record, and Utah has been in a multi-year drought (2019-2023) that affected the agricultural sector, including vegetable producers. While vegetables are not a primary agricultural crop in Utah, they are still an important part of the horticultural economy with 763 farms growing 6,138 acres. As the fourth largest acreage vegetable crop in Utah (almost 10% of the acreage) watermelon and related crops in the gourd family Cucurbitaceae (nearly 36% of total vegetable acreage) are important to vegetable growers. Watermelon is a water-intensive crop and requires an adequate supply …

4-Ethylacetophenone From Potato Plants Repels Phthorimaea Operculella And Inhibits Oviposition: A Sustainable Management Strategy, Xinyu Ma, Junjie Yan, Guangyuan Su, Fathiya M. Khamis, Athanase Hategekiman, Yulin Gao

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

The potato tuber moth, Phthorimaea operculella (Zeller), is an important pest of potato crops capable of boring into and consuming the potato tubers. Although chemical insecticides are employed to control P. operculella populations, their efficacy is frequently limited, raising environmental concerns. Host plant volatiles are important allelochemicals that can be exploited for the management of pests. In our previous studies, we identified five volatile organic compounds (3-ethylacetophenone, 4-ethylacetophenone, geranylacetone, ethylbenzene, and 4-hydroxy-4-methyl-2-pentanone) as allelochemicals potentially influencing the oviposition behavior of P. operculella. Using electroantennography (EAG) and behavioral assays, we found that 4-ethylacetophenone significantly repelled P. operculella at all tested concentrations …

Drought And Herbivory Drive Physiological And Phytohormonal Changes In Soybean (Glycine Max Merril): Insights From A Meta-Analysis, Manish Gautam, Rupesh Kariyat

Entomology and Plant Pathology Faculty Publications and Presentations

With climate change, abiotic and biotic stresses such as drought and herbivory are predicted to further diminish agricultural productivity. Soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merrill), a crop of global economic importance, is vulnerable to both. However, the interactive effects of drought and herbivory on soybeans haven't been explored, especially through the lens of physiological and phytohormonal changes. To address this, we conducted a meta-analysis from 114 published studies, further reduced to 31 after removing redundancy, with data on physiological (photosynthesis and stomatal conductance) and phytohormonal traits (jasmonic acid [JA] and salicylic acid [SA]) of soybeans under drought, herbivory, and their combination. …

Crispr-Induced Mutagenesis Of Arabidopsis Thaliana Gene Apetala3, Hazel Frans, Tara Phelps-Durr

SACAD: Scholarly Activities

This project aims to create CRISPR-CAS9 mutations in the APETELA3 (AP3) gene of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. AP3 is a class B gene critical to the petal and stamen development of Arabidopsis flowers. AP3 is defined in a MADS domain, which binds directly to DNA and may be responsible for the expression of the CaRG-box genes. AP3 works in conjunction with PISTILLATA (PI), AGAMOUS (AG), APETALA1 (AP1), and SEPALLATA (SEP) genes to specify the development in the second and third whorls of the flower. While several alleles of AP3 already exist, these alleles are strong alleles that knockout gene …

Nitrogen Application Enhances The Radiation Use Efficiency And Quality Of Cotton (Gossipum Hirsutum L.) Under Divergent Agro-Ecological Conditions Of Pakistan, Amjed Ali, Safdar Hussain, Wajid Nazeer, Muhammad Sarwar, Masood Qadir, Mubashar Nadeem, Javeria Sherani

Journal of Bioresource Management

Cotton being a cash crop plays a pivotal role in the economy of Pakistan. Climate change has a pronounced impact on radiation use efficiency and quality of cotton fiber. To find out how nitrogen affected the radiation use efficiency and fiber quality of cotton cultivars in Punjab, a field study using a split-plot design was carried out. The study under representation was conducted in three different locations over the course of two years (2016 and 2017): Adaptive Research Farm in Dera Ghazi Khan, The Regional Agriculture Research Institute, Bahawalpur and The College of Agriculture, University of Sargodha. Three cotton cultivars …

Aspen Health On National Forests In The Northern Rocky Mountain Region (2008/2009 To 2024), James T. Blodgett, Kurt K. Allen, Megan Wilson, Bradley Lalande

Aspen Bibliography

Quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) is a widely distributed species in the western United States, but in the northern Rocky Mountain Region it is a rare forest component. In national forests (NF) of the northern Rocky Mountain Region this species comprises only 1% of the Bighorn, 3% of the Black Hills, and 1% of the Shoshone cover types (DeBlander 2002, Menlove 2008, Witt 2008). Since aspen forests provide increased species richness, support wildlife, are an important component of watersheds, and have aesthetic value, there are concerns regarding the health of this relatively rare forest cover type.

Use Of Biochar And Industrial Hemp For Remediation Of Heavy-Metal-Contaminated Soil: Root Uptake And Translocations For Cd, Pb, And Zn, Sophie Sward, Kristofor R. Brye, David M. Miller, Dietrich V. Thurston

Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Phytoremediation has been reported as a more energy-efficient, and therefore cost-effective, method of environmental restoration compared to traditional remediation methods for heavy-metal-contaminated soils. Biochar has been shown to have variable effects on remediation potential in heavy-metal-contaminated soils. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of soil contamination level (i.e., low, medium, and high), industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) cultivar (i.e., ‘Carmagnola’ and ‘Jinma’), biochar rate (i.e., 0, 2, 5, and 10% by volume), and their interactions on root tissue Cd, Pb, and Zn concentrations and uptakes; whole-plant Cd, Pb, and Zn uptakes; and translocation factors after 90 …

Identifying Herbicides To Manage Weeds In A Buckwheat Cover Crop And For The Control Of Volunteers, Taylor Randell-Singleton, Hannah E. Wright-Smith, Lavesta C. Hand, Jenna C. Vance, A. Stanley Culpepper

Horticulture Faculty Publications and Presentations

Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) is a fast-growing plant that quickly produces a dense groundcover. The utilization of buckwheat as a cover crop in vegetable production could be beneficial to Georgia producers, however for successful adoption, weed control in the cover crop coupled with control of buckwheat volunteers must be achievable. A preemergence (PRE) and a postemergence (POST) experiment were each conducted three times in Ty Ty, GA (2020-2021) addressing these objectives. In the PRE study, acetochlor at 0.56 lb ai acre(-1) injured buckwheat up to 16% without negatively influencing growth, suggesting potential for use in buckwheat for weed control. Flumioxazin, fomesafen, …

Harvest Management And Regrowth Of Trifolium Alexandrinum, R E. Joost, J D. Mooso

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Adaptation of berseem clover (Trifolium alexandrinum) beyond the coastal regions of the southeastern United States was limited by a lack of cold tolerance prior to the release of 'Bigbee', a selection from a stand of 'Sacromonte' subjected to temperature of -15 and -18 Con successive nights in 1972. The release of Bigbee in 1985 expanded the range of berseem clover adaptation to include the entire Southeast, as far north as Oklahoma (Knight, 1985). It is known that annual clovers do not rely on root reserve carbohydrates, but rather on residual leaf area and rapid leaf regeneration from active …

Contrasting Effects Of Climate Warming On Hosts And Parasitoids: Insights From Rocky Mountain Aspen Leaf Miners And Their Parasitoids, Alisha A. Shah, Emily Hamant, Juan G. Rubalcaba, Beau Larkin, Andrew A. Forbes, H. Arthur Woods

Aspen Bibliography

Because temperature has pervasive effects on biological rates, climate warming may alter the outcomes of interactions between insect hosts and their parasitoids, which, for many host species, constitute the single largest source of mortality. Despite growing interest in parasitoid-host responses due to climate change, there are few empirical tests of thermal tolerance differences between non-model lepidopteran hosts and their parasitoids and almost none from mountain ecosystems where warming is occurring more rapidly. We examined the thermal ecology of a host–parasitoid interaction in the Rocky Mountains using the wild populations of the aspen leaf miner (Phyllocnistis populiella) and a …

Draft Genome Data Including Functional Annotation Of An Emerging Fungal Pathogen (Neodothiora Populina) Causing A Canker Disease Of Trembling Aspen In Interior Alaska, Ursel M. E. Schütte, Mace Wages, Aaron Buechlein, Jorda P. Kovash, Danielle C. Wrenn, Tereza Smrhova, Andrea Zubrova, Doug B. Rusch, Loretta M. Winton, Gerard C. Adams, Roger W. Ruess, Mary Beth Leigh, Devin M. Drown

Aspen Bibliography

Neodothiora populina is a black yeast-like fungus in the family Dothioraceae. It causes an aggressive canker disease of trembling aspen that results in widespread mortality of aspen across the boreal forest of Interior Alaska. Here we report a high-quality draft genome including functional annotation of this emerging fungal pathogen based on Oxford Nanopore Technologies long-read sequences. Our initial genome assembly totaled 23,960,169 bp and contained 18 contigs, and we identified 7,343 genes. This resource announcement provides new genomic data that are useful long term for improving our understanding of forest health in Alaska.

Tundra Recovery Post-Fire In The Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Alaska, Leah K. Clayton, Kevin Schaefer, Elizabeth E. Hoy, Clayton D. Elder, Nancy H. F. French, Gerald V. Frost, Et.Al.

Michigan Tech Publications

The extent of wildfires in tundra ecosystems has dramatically increased since the turn of the 21st century due to climate change and the resulting amplified Arctic warming. We simultaneously studied the recovery of vegetation, subsurface soil moisture, and active layer thickness (ALT) post-fire in the permafrost-underlain uplands of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta in southwestern Alaska to understand the interaction between these factors and their potential implications. We used a space-for-time substitution methodology with 2017 Landsat 8 imagery and synthetic aperture radar products, along with 2016 field data, to analyze tundra recovery trajectories in areas burned from 1953 to 2017. We found …

Morphological, Molecular, And Morphometric Analysis Of Aphelenchoides Besseyi On Organic Rice (Oryza Sativa) Seeds In The Beringin District, Deli Serdang Regency, Indonesia, Suswati Suswati, Azwana Azwana, Ifan Aulia Candra, Fitrianingrum Kuniawati, Khofifah Muhaimini Siregar, Asmaul Hasanah, Aldy Elvanandar Nasution

Makara Journal of Science

Aphelenchoides besseyi, a nematode, can infect rice resulting in the white shoot disease, which decreases the germina-tion rate and even causes seedling death. A. besseyi has recently been reported to mainly attack the organic rice varie-ties especially Pandanwangi and Ciherang in the Pasar Kawat, Beringin District, Deli Serdang, Indonesia. This research investigated A. besseyi via morphological, molecular, and morphometric approaches. The nematodes were observed in an area of 2000 m2, divided into five sample plots each with an area of 400 m2 on which Pandan Wangi and Ciherang rice were cultivated. Nematode morphology was observed using a stereo microscope at …

Canada Thistle (Cirsium Arvense) Identification And Control, Caitlin Henderson, Robert Nelson Schaeffer, Corey Ransom

All Current Publications

Cirsium arvense is an invasive perennial weed adaptable to a wide range of habitats. Since its arrival in North America in the 1600s, it has spread throughout much of the country. It has become prevalent in rangelands and disturbed areas in the Intermountain West, displacing native plant species, reducing crop yields, and affecting pasture quality. This fact sheet outlines how to identify Canada thistle, its life cycle, and how to manage it through cultural, mechanical, biological, and chemical control.

Bryce Canyon Aspen: Recent Trends, Future Actions, Paul C. Rogers

Aspen Bibliography

In cooperation with Bryce Canyon National Park, we undertook a survey of quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) conditions throughout the Park with the intention of better understanding conditions and prescribing corrective measures where needed. There are clear disparities within the Park between sustainable aspen conditions and failing stands. Based on condition of mature trees, but most importantly regeneration and recruitment of juvenile stems, most aspen forests within Bryce Canyon are in poor condition. Aspen recruitment—generally sapling-sized trees that have survived browsing ungulates—is the most important metric of future stand resilience and here we found 83% of all aspen sample …

Variation In Response To Phosphorus Among Sweetpotato (Ipomoea Batatas L.) Cultivars, Jeffrey Cole Denis Gregorie

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Phosphorus (P) is essential for plant growth and is often a major limiting nutrient in agriculture. In sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas), studies on the role of P on storage root yield have been limited because of the lack of response and inconsistent results across cultivars and years. Growing evidence shows that current phosphate (Pi) fertilizer rates can be reduced while maintaining productivity. Newly published molecular evidence shows differential expression of phosphate starvation response genes among sweetpotato cultivars, further supporting the hypothesis of cultivar-specific Pi sensitivity. The research herein sought to characterize root system architecture and yield response to Pi …