Life Sciences Commons^™

Experimental Hybridization Of Northern Chihuahuan Desert Region Opuntia (Cactaceae), M. Patrick Griffith

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

Possible natural hybridization among 11 taxa of Opuntia sensu stricto was investigated in the northern Chihuahuan Desert region through the use of experimental hybridization. Established plants representing specific taxa growing in the Sul Ross State University Opuntia garden were used for all experiments. Reciprocal crosses were made between putative parental taxa of field-observed putative hybrids, and each experimental cross analyzed for fruit and seed set. For each taxon, tests were performed to control for possible apomictic, autogamous, and geitonogamous seed set. Several experimental crosses were found to set seed in amounts expected for natural pollination events. Data gathered from the …

Schaffnerella Rediscovered! (Gramineae, Chloridoideae), J. Travis Columbus, Hester L. Bell, Rosa Cerros-Tlatilpa, M. Patrick Griffith, J. Mark Porter

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

From 1876 to 1880 in San Luis Potosí, Mexico, J. G. Schaffner made the first collections of a small grass that later was named Schaffnerella gracilis (Chloridoideae). The monotypic genus apparently was not encountered again by botanists until 2001, when, during a targeted search, we discovered it in the Sierra de San Miguelito growing along the Río Potosino, ca. 6 air km southwest of the city of San Luis Potosí. Most of the 100-150 plants encountered along a 3-km stretch of the Río Potosino above the village of Escalerillas and reservoir EI Potosino were growing in a moist alluvium of …

Contents 20(2)

Aliso: A Journal of Systematic and Floristic Botany

No abstract provided.

Yellow Lupins For The Pig Industry, Bruce P. Mullan

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

There is no doubt that Yellow lupins are suitable as an ingredient in the diet of pigs from weaning through until slaughter. While no research has been conducted on feeding this variety to breeding stock, there is no reason to believe that it would not be a suitable source of energy and amino acids. Whether it will become a significant ingredient in pig diets will depend on its availability and price.

Investigating Teeth Eruption And Eating Quality, Sarah Weisse, Rob Davidson, Brian Mcintyre, David Pethick, John Thompson

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

In Australia, a sheep ceases to be a lamb as soon as the eruption of its first permanent incisor teeth is evident. As part of a wider program to investigate a number of aspects of sheep meat eating quality, a project was undertaken to determine whether lamb eating quality would be compromised if sheep with partially erupted teeth continued to be classified as lamb.

Overall, the results indicated that meat from young sheep with partially erupted teeth was unlikely to be inferior in eating quality than the meat currently classified as lamb.

Re-Thinking The Summer Drenching Program, Brown Besier

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

The summer drenching program has provided highly effective sheep worm control in Western Australia for many years - but recent research challenges its long term sustainability.

Trial results suggest that in large parts of the State, summer drenching is the main factor leading to the development of drench resistant worms. Alternative programs less likely to lead to drench resistance will require greater monitoring of worm burdens and panning pasture moves.

Alternative Oilseeds R&D For Biodiesel Production, Paul Carmody, Howard Carr, Anne Morcom, Graham Walton

Research Reports

Biodiesel is widely known an excellent alternative to mineral diesel and has been extensively demonstrated in the EC and the United States. It is a renewable fuel made by reacting 20 parts of Canola oil with one part methanol or ethanol (grain alcohol), injecting hot water through the mixture and allowing to cool. The Biodiesel naturally separates from the water solution, with no further refining or processing required. Biodiesel has the same combustion properties as regular diesel with considerably lower levels of polluting emissions (appendix 1). Bio-diesel has been found to be a cleaner fuel than diesel, resulting in lower …

Improving Irrigation For Ord Sugar Cane, Jim Engelke, Joe Sherrard, Gae Plunkett, Tim Triglone

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Major changes are underway in irrigation practices for the Ord sugar industry as it moves to implement recent findings on improving irrigation efficiency and managing rising groundwater. Significant improvement in efficiency is expected by more accurately matching water application with crop water requirements and by minimising drainage losses through improved water application techniques.

Based on findings from this work, drying off may not be an appropriate strategy for the ORIA as a means of improving crop sucrose content, but could allow for some reduction in water use towards the end of the crop cycle without adversely impacting on sucrose yield. …

Ecological Sustainability For Pastoral Management, Hugh Pringle, Ken Tinley

Journal of the Department of Agriculture, Western Australia, Series 4

Pastoralists and rangeland bureaucracies are now required to operate within the limits of ecological sustainability. However, while the concept of ecological sustainability has been enshrined in law and policy at State and Commonwealth levels in Australia, there has been little translation into pastoral management objectives. The introduction of the 'EMU (Ecosystem Management Unit) process', as an equal partnership between ecologists and pastoralists, promises to bring pastoralists into close dialogue with the landscapes they manage on their stations, and to acknowledge and manage for values other than pasture production. In doing so, pastoralists are likely to increase production, reduce costs, and …

Irrigation Of Olives In Western Australia, Neil Lantzke, Dick Taylor

Bulletins 4000 -

Olives can be grown without irrigation in the south-west of Western Australia. However, to obtain maximum yield irrigation is required. The yields obtained from unirrigated crops may be half those of irrigated crops, with the actual yield decrease being dependent on the rainfall and length of growing season.

This Bulletin outlines how to calculate the irrigation requirements of olives. Considerable debate occurs as to the water requirements of olives in Western Australia.

There have been no irrigation trials on olives in this State and the crop factors outlined come from overseas experience.

Production Of A Novel Copper-Binding Ligand By Marine Synechococcus (Cyanobacteria) In Response To Toxic Concentrations Of Copper, Arunsi C. Brown, Andrew S. Gordon

Virginia Journal of Science

Marine Synechococcus spp. are extremely sensitive to copper toxicity. Some strains have been shown to produce high-affinity, extracellular ligands of unknown structure which form complexes with free cupric ion. They are also known to produce metallothioneins (MT) in response to cadmium and zinc stress. In the present study, marine Synechococcus PCC 73109 (Agmenellum quadruplicatum BG-1) (Van Baalen) was exposed to three concentrations of CuSO₄ for various times. Size exclusion chromatography, atomic absorption spectrophotometry, and reverse phase HPLC were used to isolate an intracellular copper binding ligand of low molecular weight (< 6,500 Da). The ligand was detected after exposure to ≥ 8 μM CuSO₄ for 2 hr in BG-11 medium. …

Feeding And Survival In Parasitic Wasps: Sugar Concentration And Timing Matter, Gitta Siekmann, Brigitte Tenhumberg, Michael A. Keller

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Sugar consumption can increase the longevity and lifetime fecundity of many species of parasitic wasps. Consequently, for these insects the availability of sugar sources in the field is important for their reproductive success. As sugar sources can be highly variable in quantity, space and time, the chances of finding a sufficient amount of sugar to increase longevity might be very low. Therefore, the reward from a single feeding event can be critical for the forager’s fitness. We measured the longevity of the parasitoid Cotesia rubecula after a single honey meal differing in sugar concentration (25, 47, 86% w/w) and timing …

Saratoga National Fish Hatchery, Wyoming: Restoring America’S Fisheries

United States Fish and Wildlife Service: Publications

Saratoga NFH, established in 1911, has served as an egg-producing station during most of its years of operation.  Between 1915 and 1984, various strains of brook, rainbow, brown, golden and cutthroat trout and Dolly Varden eggs were produced.  In 1966, Saratoga NFH was formally designated as a broodstock hatchery, and in 1984 the hatchery became involved in the Great Lakes lake trout recovery program.  Today, the hatchery's broodstock program includes supplying about 5 million eyed Lewis Lake lake trout eggs to the Great Lakes restoration program and 3 to 4 million Plymouth Rock brown trout eggs for Service, State, and …

Fish Survey Of Nathan's Lake, Boyer Chute National Wildlife Refuge, Corey Lee, William Davison

United States Fish and Wildlife Service: Publications

The Columbia Fishery Resources Office conducted fish surveys at Nathan's Lake, a proposed component of Boyer Chute National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), in June 2001.  Boyer Chute NWR is located in the Missouri River Floodplain about three miles north or Omaha, NE and four miles southeast of Ft. Calhoun, NE.

Nathan's Lake is located about one mile southwest of Boyer Chute (Figure 1) in Washington County and is connected to the Missouri River by a drainage ditch with a control structure located at the northeast corner of the lake,  Nathan's Lake is approximately a 50-acre shallow lake (0.61-1.22-m) that contains aquatic …

Ennis National Fish Hatchery, Montana Restoring America’S Fisheries

United States Fish and Wildlife Service: Publications

Established in 1981, Ennis NFH was located for the purpose of taking trout eggs from wild populations, and introducing fingerling fish back into public waters to sustain and enhance the sport fishery.  The site was selected for the fractured rock out-cropping which gravity flows 15,000 gallons per minute of 54 °F spring waters; the ideal environmnet for producing trout.

In the 1970's the demand for catching trout decreased, but the demand for eggs increased.  More emphasis was placed on broodstock and by the mid-80's production exceeded 20 million eggs.  Today Ennis NFH operates as a federal broodstock hatchery and produces …

Latent Maximum Entropy Principle For Statistical Language Modeling, Shaojun Wang, Ronald Rosenfeld, Yunxin Zhao

Kno.e.sis Publications

We describe a unified probabilistic framework for statistical language modeling, the latent maximum entropy principle. The salient feature of this approach is that the hidden causal hierarchical dependency structure can be encoded into the statistical model in a principled way by mixtures of exponential families with a rich expressive power. We first show the problem formulation, solution, and certain convergence properties. We then describe how to use this machine learning technique to model various aspects of natural language, such as syntactic structure of sentences, semantic information in a document. Finally, we draw a conclusion and point out future research directions.

Morphology Of The First Zoeal Stage Of Platypodiella Spectabilis (Herbst, 1794) (Decapoda, Brachyura, Xanthidae) Obtained In The Laboratory, Adilson Fransozo, Maria Lucia Negreiros-Fransozo, Joel W. Martin, Sandra E. Trautwein

Gulf and Caribbean Research

Ovigerous females of the xanthid crab Platypodiella spectabilis (Herbst, 1794) were obtained from 2 widely separated localities: the Ubatuba coast (Félix Beach, São Paulo) of Brazil and Guana Island in the British Virgin Islands (BVI). First stage zoea larvae were obtained from females at both locations. Those from Brazil are described and illustrated. The first zoea bears dorsal, rostral, and lateral carapace spines, plus a well-developed and spinose antennal protopod that bears a greatly reduced exopod with 2 minute setae. This antennal morphology, along with other characters, places the species among the “Group I” xanthid zoeas of Rice (1980) and …

Use Of Py-Gc/Ms Analysis Techniques In Animal Waste Management: A Preliminary Survey Of Dairy Manures, Daniel L. Vaughn, Michael A. Kruge

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The increasing practice of industrial-scale agriculture tends to concentrate large masses of animal waste in relatively compact areas, potentially leading to excessive release of polluting nutrients into waterways during major storms. Anaerobic treatment conditions are generally favored to conserve nitrate N as an agricultural commodity. However, overall N contents in waste are often in excess of crop fertilization needs: storing excess N in soluble nitrate form increases pollution potential. Thus the perceived needs of agriculture and society-at-large become at odds. Organic nitrogen forms (e.g., proteins) are more environmentally stable and are less subject to unintentional release. Although U.S. farmers tend …

Iowa Academy Of Science Membership Directory, 2001-2002, Iowa Academy Of Science

Iowa Academy of Science Documents

Contents:

Editorial Board, Journal ... 5
Committees ... 6
Sections ... 14
ISTS Regional Directors ... 18
Awards of Merit ... 20
Excellence in Science Teaching Awards ... 21
Past Presidents ... 22
Membership Roster ... 23
Institutional Members ... 23
Corporate Sponsors ... 60

Cover - Table Of Contents

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

No abstract provided.

Low-Saturated-Fat Soybean Oil Reduces Saturated Fat In School Menus, J. M. Mahnken, S. F. Lutz, C. J. Anders, W. R. Fehr

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

This study evaluated the impact of using low-saturated-fat soybean {Glycine max (L.) Merr.} oil on the saturated fat content of school menus. Seventy-six weekly menus were obtained from the Iowa Department of Education during School Meals Initiative reviews for the 1996-1997 school year. Three modifications were performed on school menus using the Nuttikids computer program: Low-saturated- fat (LSF) soybean oil replaced traditional vegetable oil in menu items; LSF soybean oil was substituted for traditional vegetable oil, solid fats, and egg yolks in recipes; and a menu simulation was conducted where oils and solid fats used in menu items were …

Species Specific Odds Of Occurrence Of Blackspot Among Fish From The Maple River In Western Iowa, John W. Mellen

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

Odds ratio analysis was used to evaluate the relative likelihood of occurrence of blackspot (Neascus pyriformil, Chandler) infections among 14 species of fish collected from the Maple River in Buena Vista and Ida Counties in western Iowa. Prevalence estimates ranged from 0% to 47.4% with a mean prevalence of 11.9%. The rank ordering of odds ratios of infection allowed the species to be categorized as those with risks greater than, less than, and not different from average risk to infection within the Maple River sample. The species with the largest odds ratio was the bluntnose minnow, (Pimephales notatus) (odds ratio …

Awards And Recognition, Iowa Academy Of Science, 2000

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

No abstract provided.

Book Review: I Have A Weird Brother Who Digested A Fly, Jan Handler

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

I Have A Weird Brother Who Digested A Fly. Joan Holub. Illustrator, Patrick Girouard. 1999. Albert Whitman & Company, Morton Grove, IL. 21 pages. ISBN 0-8075-3506-0

You may never have been tempted to swallow a fly-nor even challenged to do so 'on a dare'-but there's a solid chance you've wondered about some of the mysteries of digestion. Joan Holub offers an engaging book to share with the young people in your life who may share an interest in the intrigues of human body processes.

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.

In Memoriam: George Knaphus, Lois H. Tiffany

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

George Knaphus, 75, died Saturday, 20 May 2000, after a two year battle with lymphoma. He was born at McCallsburg, Iowa and resided on a farm near there except during his WWII service years and his undergraduate college years at UNI until moving to Ames in 1998. He graduated from McCallsburg High School in 1942, served in the U.S. Army from 1943-45 in the 112th Infantry 28th division in Europe, and fought in the Battle of the Bulge, receiving the Bronze Star. He graduated with a B.S. in education from Iowa State Teachers College in 1949, earning master and doctorate …

Cover - Table Of Contents

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

No abstract provided.

Front Matter

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

No abstract provided.

Expression Of Heterosis In Leaming And Midland Corn Belt Dent Populations, M. J. Carena, A. R. Hallauer

Journal of the Iowa Academy of Science: JIAS

Successful maize (Zea mays 1.) breeding programs are based on specific heterotic patterns. The Iowa Stiff Stalk Synthetic x Lancaster Sure Crop heterotic pattern is widely exploited in U.S. maize breeding programs. Alternative U.S. heterotic patterns have been suggested, but they have received limited attention and improvement. The objectives of this study were to evaluate cultivar crosses between Leaming and Midland Yellow Dent cultivars before and after inbred progeny selection and to assess their potential as an alternative U.S. heterotic pattern. Grain yield had a midparent heterosis value of 4.9% before selection and 17.8% in the third cycle of selection. …