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Gene Transfer In Crop Improvement - An Introduction And Overview, Robert M. Goodman

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

The application of recombinant DNA technology to plant breeding promises important applications in agriculture and advances in many plant science disciplines. Gene transfer at the molecular level can be routinely accomplished in an increasing number of plant species. For many of the world's important crops, new methods or refinements of proven methods will be needed and are being developed. Experience with gene regulation in transgenic plants is accumulating in many laboratories around the world. The action of any particular gene cannot be predicted precisely without reference to the genetic background in which it acts, but, qualitatively speaking, the cis-acting elements …

Engineering Proteinase Inihibitor Genes For Plant Defense Against Predators, Clarence A. Ryan, Thomas Moloshok, Gregory Pearce, Gynhueng An, Robert W. Thornburg, Gerald Hall, Russell Johnson, Edward E. Farmer, Curtis Palm

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

Small proteinaceous inhibitors (Mr<20,000) of the digestive serine proteinases of animals and microorganisms are found as moderately abundant proteins in storage organs and leaves of many plant genera. The proteins are powerful inhibitors of the digestive enzymes of plant predators and therefore are considered to be part of the array of defensive chemicals of plants. Proteinase inhibitor genes show excellent promise, using DNA technology, to manipulate plant genomes to express these biologically active proteins in order to improve natural defense systems. Members of two unrelated families of serine proteinase inhibitors found in tomato and potato plants, called Inhibitor I (monomer Mr 8000) and Inhibitor II (monomer Mr 12,300), are under both environmental and developmental regulation in different tissues of the plants. Genes coding for wound-inducible Inhibitors I and II have been isolated from both tomato and potato genomes and characterized. Tobacco plants have been transformed with the chimeric genes containing wound-inducible promoters fused with the reporter gene, chloramphenicol acetyl transferase, to assess promoter function and signal transmission. Transacting factors that regulate their expression in response to wounding are also being identified and purified. Intact genes are being employed to transform agriculturally important crop plants to determine their potential usefulness to enhance defensive capabilities of plants against herbivores and pathogens.

Characteristics Of Channel Catfish Populations In Streams And Rivers Of Iowa With Varying Habitats, Vaughn L. Paragamian

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

From 1983 co 1985, more than 1,000 channel catfish (Icatalurus punctatus) were sampled with rotenone from 50 streams and rivers in Iowa to assess differences in population densities, standing stocks, viral statistics, age and growth, and habitat use Catfish densities ranged from 5 fish/ha in sites on the South Skunk and Upper Iowa Rivers to more than 4,400 fish/ha at a site on the Thompson Fork of the Grand River. Standing stocks ranged from a low of 0.1 kg/ha on a site on the South Skunk River to a high of 467 kg/ha on the East Fork of the Des …

Climate Change And The Potential Impact On The Soil Resource, J. L. Hatfield

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

Climatic change will lead to changes in the carbon dioxide C0_2, temperature, and precipitation. There have been many predictions of the effect of climatic change on plant growth but none on the soil parameters or water use. To fully understand the implications on soil management from climate change the expected changes in soil temperature, water use, and water and nutrient use efficiency need quantification.

Radon Measurements In Houses In Eastern And Central Iowa, C. V. Weiffenbach, T. J. Hart

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

Radon concentrations in air in main floor areas of 213 houses in Central and Eastern Iowa were measured with alpha track detectors integrating over periods of five months to one year. Forty-two houses in Central Iowa had significantly higher radon concentrations (lognormal distribution with geometric mean 2.1 pCi/L, geometric standard deviation 2.2, and arithmetic mean 2.75 pCi/L) than 171 houses studied in Eastern Iowa (geometric mean 1.6 pCi/L, geometric standard deviation 2.2, arithmetic mean 2.1 pCi/L). Significant differences in radon levels were found among different categories of houses with regard to ventilation rate, basement construction, and cracks and openings in …

Cover - Table Of Contents

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Harvesting On Macrophyte Regrowth And Water Quality In Ladue Reservoir, Ohio, G. Dennis Cooke, Angela B. Martin, Robert E. Carlson

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

Two experiments in a bay of LaDue Reservoir (Geauga Co., northeastern Ohio) during summer, 1985 demonstrated that removal of Eurasian watermilfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum L.) root crowns with an aquatic weed harvester retarded plant regrowth to quantities well below nuisance levels for 28 days. Nearly summer-long control was achieved following a "touch-up" harvest on day 42. In contrast, the harvester was used in this bay in 1982 to "mow" milfoil, leaving intact "stumps." The mowed plants regrew to preharvest and control area biomass levels within 23 days. The difference in plant regrowth between these two methods strongly suggests that user dissatisfaction …

Plant Parasitic Fungi Of Four Tallgrass Prairies Of Northern Iowa: Distribution And Prevalence, Lois H. Tiffany, Judy F. Shearer, George Knaphus

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

Throughout the 1980's, most intensively during the past five years, collections of fungal parasites of prairie plants have been made at various times of the growing season from four prairie preserves, Cayler, Freda Haffner Kettlehole, Hayden, and Stinson prairies, in northern Iowa. A total of 216 species of parasitic fungi were collected on 129 prairie plant hosts. Ninety-nine of the fungi were not previously documented from Iowa. Also, fungus species previously reported were found on 72 host species not included in earlier records.

Editorial Board & Iowa Academy Of Science Officers And Directors

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

No abstract provided.

Back Cover

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

No abstract provided.

Correlation Of Raccoon Pelt Qualities With Age, Sex, And Physical Condition, Travis C. Glenn

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

Fur harvesters and fur buyers have many intuitive ideas about how raccoons' pelt qualities differ due to age, sex, or physical condition. We tried to demonstrate correlations between age classes (juvenile and adult), sex, and physical condition and the quality of raccoon pelts. Quality of pelts was described in three objective ways: size of the pelt, density of the pelage (primeness), and color of the pelage. Physical condition was measured by kidney fat index (KFI) and skin fat index (SFI). Size of the pelts was correlated with age, sex, and both measures of physical condition. Primeness of the pelts was …

Front Matter

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

No abstract provided.

Rare Iowa Plant Notes From The R. V. Drexler Herbarium, Jeffery C. Nekola

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

Notes on the distribution, habitats, associated species, and taxonomic considerations for 134 rare Iowa plants are presented. These taxa, including 15 Pteridophytes, 74 Dicots, and 45 Monocots were located during a decade of field research (1979-1989) concentrated in eastern, northeastern, and northwestern Iowa. Included among these are 10 taxa previously unrecorded from the Iowa flora (Carex sterilis, Circaea X intermedia, Cypripedium calceolus var. parviflorum, Lycopodium inundatum, Opuntia macrorhiza, Salix candida X Salix rigida, Salix X clarkei, Solidago uliginosa, Spiranthes ova/is, Viola adunca), and 15 taxa (Angelica atropurpurea, Aristolochia serpentaria, Artemesia frigida, Aster linariifolius, Berula pusilla, Carex conoidea, Eleocharis pauciflora var. …

Editorial Board & Iowa Academy Of Science Officers And Directors

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

No abstract provided.

Impact Of Global Warming And Cooling On Midwestern Agriculture, Louis M. Thompson

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

The global warming since 1980 has been greater than it was during the warming trend from 1880 to 1940. This has caused concern that the very warm years of 1987 and 1988 might have been associated with greenhouse warming. However, the cooling trend from 1940 to 1980 occurred during a rapid buildup in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Although there may have been some greenhouse warming since 1880, the unusual warmth of 1987 and 1988 may have been caused by changes in the temperature of the equatorial Pacific Ocean, and changes in transparency of the atmosphere or ocher phenomena acting …

Front Matter

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

No abstract provided.

Richard Bovbjerg And The Iowa Lakeside Laboratory, Michael J. Lannoo

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

In the spring of 1977, in Ames, a struggling biology major who had earlier shown some promise was ordered by his advisor: "Go to Lakeside Lab and take Dick Bovbjerg's Aquatic Ecology course." I did and it worked. I've parlayed that early potential into a career. And like so many others I return to Lakeside, the first time to take another course, then to do my Master's research. More recently I come back to teach the Field Vertebrate Zoology course. Likewise, Dick has shifted from mentor to colleague, and we've co-authored a paper (Lannoo and Bovbjerg, 1985). Now, I am …

Climatic Influences On Annual Variations In Water Transparency In Lake West Okoboji, Roger W. Bachmann

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

Secchi disk transparencies, chlorophyll a concentrations, and total phosphorus concentrations were studied in Lake West Okoboji, Iowa, in the summers of 1971-7 3 and 1987-89. The average summer Secchi disk transparencies varied from a low of 2.5 to a high of 5.5 m during the study. The variations in the transparency of lake West Okoboji from year to year seem to be related to climatic factors such as the amounts of spring precipitation in the watershed and probably reflect changes in the annual inputs of plant nutrients. There is some indication that climatic conditions that cause the period of deep …

Holocene Vegetational Changes In Eastern Iowa, R. G. Baker, C. A. Chumbley, P. M. Witinok, H. K. Kim

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

Pollen and plant macrofossil analysis from three sites along an east-west transect in southeastern Iowa provide evidence for Holocene vegetational development. Colo Marsh at the west end of the transect is relatively complete, with a late-glacial spruce zone ending about 11,500 yr B.P.; a deciduous forest zone from about 11,500 to 8300; a prairie zone from 8300 to 4500, and prairie with oak from 4500 to presettlement times.

Sediments from the site at the Indian Creek Nature Center, midway in the transect, date only from about 6000 to 1600 yrs B. P. This site also was dominantly prairie from 6000 …

Index For Volume 97

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

No abstract provided.

Back Cover

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

No abstract provided.

Iowa Academy Of Science Directory, 1990-91: Officers, Committees, And Membership Roster, Iowa Academy Of Science

Iowa Academy of Science Documents

Contents:

Board of Directors ... 5
Program Directors ... 6
Editors ... 7
Committees ... 8
Sections ... 22
Awards of Merit ... 27
Excellence in Science Teaching Awards ... 29
Past Presidents ... 31
Membership List ... 32

Editorial Board & Iowa Academy Of Science Officers And Directors

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

No abstract provided.

Cover - Table Of Contents

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

No abstract provided.

A Survey Of The Benthic Macroinvertebrates Of The Big Spring Basin, Iowa, Jack O. Kennedy, John G. Miller Iii

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

Benthic macroinvertebrates were collected in the Big Spring Basin, located in northeastern Iowa, from May through October 1988. The purpose of the study was to develop baseline information on the benthic organisms present in the basin. A total of 167 taxa including seven species of leeches, five genera of snails, three genera of clams, one crayfish genus and over 150 taxa of aquatic insects were identified with the majority of the organisms having been reported in Iowa previously. Benthic organisms not usually encountered in Iowa include the planarian, Cura formanii; the isopod, Lirceus; the beedes, Enrxhrus, Hydrophilus, and llybius; the …

Journal Of The Iowa Academy Of Science Submission Form And Instruction Sheet

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

No abstract provided.

Back Cover

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

No abstract provided.

Cover - Table Of Contents

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

No abstract provided.

Climate Trends In Iowa, Richard E. Carlson

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

Long-term trends for various weather elements are presented for the period 1900-1988. Summer and winter season, and annual air temperature patterns are statistically weak because of large inrerannual variability, but trends are evident. There was a general warming from 1900 until the 40's, with a leveling or slight cooling following. Since the mid-70's, a warming trend seems to be taking place, but this cannot be confirmed. Spring season air temperatures showed no trend except that the most recent 4 years (1985-1988) were decidedly warmer than normal. Winter season air temperatures showed a change in trend in the 30's, but the …