Plant Sciences Commons^™

Darwin Core Archive File, Stover-Ebinger Herbarium, Eastern Illinois University

Darwin Core Archive Download

ZIP file contains occurrences.csv, identivications.csv, and images.csv. The meta.xml document describes the content. Fields within the occurrences.csv file are defined by the Darwin Core exchange standard.

This file is updated as new occurrence records are added.

Chemical Diversity And Antimicrobial Properties Of Spike-Rush Species And Related Genera (Genus Eleocharis, Family Cyperaceae), Yiru Zhang

Masters Theses

The focus of this research was to explore the chemical diversity and antimicrobial properties of Eleocharis dulcis. By using methanol as a solvent to extract phytochemicals, qualitative comparisons were made between HPLC chromatograms from Eleocharis species and other genera. Meanwhile, this study also examined the antimicrobial properties of phytochemicals extracted from various tissues of Eleocharis dulcis in two different solvents (water or methanol) against two Gram-negative bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli) and two Gram-positive bacteria (Bacillus subtilis and Staphylococcus aureus) using a disc diffusion assay. The results suggested that the extracts had limited antimicrobial properties at up to 100 …

Effects Of Chemical Variation On Competition And Insect Communities Across Solidago Altissima Genotypes, Bryan Scott Foster Ii

Masters Theses

Individuals within a plant species can differ greatly from one another, especially regarding the range of chemical compounds produced. However, the functions of many of these chemicals are unknown, but likely include defenses against herbivores, attractants for pollinators and seed dispersers, as well as mechanisms for resource competition. To assess the effects of foliar chemical composition on interspecific plant competition and insect communities, I conducted a common garden and greenhouse experiment using 24 genotypes of the allelopathic species Solidago altissima for which the foliar chemistry had been characterized. Using these data and chemical profiles of S. altissima, I linked …

Comparison Of The Effects Of Growing-Season Burns And Dormant-Season Burns On Vegetation Structure And Grassland Bird Diversity In East-Central Illinois Prairies, Joseph Lee Boise

Masters Theses

For managed grasslands, prescribed burns are a method to manage species composition by preventing crowding by bunch grasses and woody encroachment. While dormant-season (spring) burns are routinely performed, managers have recently introduced growing-season (late summer/fall) burns to prairies in east-central Illinois. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of dormant-season and growingseason burns on vegetation structure and associated avian diversity. Specifically, objectives were to determine if: (1) Growing-season burns increase bird diversity or density of rare/declining species relative to dormant season burns; (2) Growing-season burns cause more bare ground to open and reduce litter and woody species …

Variation In Leaf Morphology Of An Alpine Shrub Community Along Environmental Gradients, Abdulssalam Khafsha

Masters Theses

Mountains represent complex environment gradients which strongly affect local temperature regimes and rainfall. These changes in climate conditions drive a diversity of plant responses. As alpine environments are expected to change dramatically in response to climate change, understanding plant responses to environmental variation is critical in these environments. Although they are a critical component of alpine communities, the environmental responses of shrubs have been much less examined than trees, representing an important knowledge gap. Leaves, as the primary photosynthetic organs on plants, would be expected to respond strongly to local climate conditions. In this study, I documented how the leaf …

A Pipeline For Exogenous Gene Expression And Biomass Analysis In Plants, Bijay Bisunke

Masters Theses

Biological pretreatment of biomass is typically required for the production of liquid biofuels, which are viable alternatives to traditional fossil fuels. While traditional thermomechanical pretreatments are effective at helping to deconstruct lignocellulose, they are often expensive and tend to generate environmentally dangerous waste materials. An alternative to traditional pretreatment strategies is biological pretreatment, which has focused on lignocellulose-degrading organisms, such as white-rot fungi. While direct pretreatment of biomass with white-rot fungi has shown great promise, directly expressing functional white-rot fungi genes in plants (i.e. in planta expression) has the potential to be even more efficient because the biomass itself …

Medicinal Properties Of The Araliaceae, With Emphasis On Chemicals Affecting Nerve Cells, Rana Alharbi

Masters Theses

In recent times, medicinal plants have become the focus of scientists and research. However, many have used traditional medicine to take advantage of plant extracts to treat many diseases, especially neurological diseases. Various central nervous system receptors have been shown to associate with plant extracts influencing the pharmacology and in this manner conceivably assuming a role in human sickness and treatment. For instance, extracts from Cussonia paniculata Eckl. & Zeyh targeted several early nervous and mental disease, and Kalopanax pictus has been traditionally used for the treatment of rheumatoidal arthritis, nerve pain and diabetes mellitus.

In the present study, we …

Context Dependency Of Invasion Impacts On The Controllers Of Invasibility In Microstegium Vimineum, Scott Vincent Janis

Masters Theses

Although plant invasions are of major conservation concern, understanding of the natural controls on invasion and their impacts is largely limited to static observational studies or artificially manipulated systems. Linking patterns of invasion with subsequent impacts in natural systems is necessary to fully assess invasion causes and consequences. Therefore, I employed a long-term approach to sequentially assess the controls on invasion and their subsequent impacts in a self-assembled system for the highly invasive annual grass Microstegium vimineum. I modeled likely factors contributing to the probability of invasion and local invasion success of a natural invasion of M. vimineum in a …

Haplotype Diversity And Population Genetic Structure Of Antistrophus Gall Wasps Associated With Two Silphium Species And Implication For Host Mediated Speciation, Jiaxin Deng

Masters Theses

Gall making insects form a special feeding guild of phytophagous animals, and by manipulating host plant tissue differentiation, are able to avoid plant chemical defenses and thus have no need for counter defense mechanisms. Host plant selection is crucial to the evolution of these insects because successful gall formation is largely dependent on host plant ability to respond to stimuli. In Illinois and neighboring states, Antistrophus gall wasps associated with the rosin weed (S. integrifolium) and the cup plant (S. perfoliatum) are morphologically indistinguishable and thus have been treated as belonging to single species. However, the wasps from the host …

Impacts Of Plant-Microbe Interactions On Seedling Performance In A Riparian Forest Invaded By Lonicera Maackii, Taylor E. K. Strehl

Masters Theses

Soil microbes have profound impacts on plant growth and survival and can either promote or inhibit plant dominance. Exotic plants are often strongly invasive because they have escaped their natural enemies, potentially including antagonistic soil microbes. I examined how the invasive shrub Lonicera maackii and a common native tree, Acer negundo, responded to soil microbial communities to determine the role of soil microbes in regulating invasion success. This was done by growing both species with microbes from invaded (L. maackii) and uninvaded (A. negundo) soils collected from three locations within a riparian forest. Seedlings were …

An Efficient Protocol For Root Studies In The Common Sunflower Using Composite Plants, Tyler Parks

Masters Theses

Sunflower, Helianthus annuus, is one of the most important oilseed crop in the world. Oil from the seeds is prized for its' exceptional quality and flavor. Despite this, sunflowers have been forced onto marginal lands often on semi-arid and non-fertile soil, due to disease pressures and economics making it critical to produce more resilient lines and varieties to withstand these new stresses. The recent availability of the sunflower genome can allow genome-wide characterization of gene families. Stable transformation protocols, which can be used for characterization studies, have been developed for H. annuus using Agrobacterium tumefaciens, but they produce …

The Role Of Red Leaf Coloration In Prey Capture For Pinguicula Planifolia, Jenna Annis, Janice Coons, Charles Helm, Brenda Molano-Flores

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Anthocyanins in the leaves of carnivorous plants are suggested to play a role inprey capture. In this study, we investigated the role of red leaf coloration (an indicator of anthocyanins)on prey capture using Pinguicula planifolia (Chapman’s Butterwort). Overall,red leaves had less prey (i.e., Collembola) than green leaves, suggesting that red colorationdoes not enhance prey capture for Chapman’s Butterwort. However, the frequent presenceof Collembola on leaves suggests that this plant species could be relying on other cues toattract prey (e.g., olfactory cues).

The Effect Of Self-Recognition In The Competition Between Genets Of Solidago Altissima, Charles Jaques

Masters Theses

Competition is a major driving force in the abundance, distribution, and diversity within any biological system. Plants are more likely to suffer reductions in fitness as a consequence of competition, as they typically occur in dense communities. Individuals within these populations must respond to both inter- and intraspecific competition. Recent studies suggest that the ability to distinguish kin from non-kin may play an integral role in the success of individuals within different plant populations and communities. However, a less known interaction is that between individual clones within a genet as they grow, spread, and begin to interact with nearby rival …

Investigation Of A Putative Membrane-Bound Protein In Arabidopsis Thaliana And Nicotiana Tabacum, Allen Potter

Masters Theses

The NLG (Novel Leaf Gene) is a recently discovered gene from aspen (Populus tremula x alba). Previous research indicates that NLG impacts leaf shape. Our preliminary analyses indicate that NLG may function as a membrane bound protein with possible localization in plasma membrane and/or nucleus. Sequence and phylogenetic analyses in Arabidopsis thaliana and Populus trichocarpa identified four homologous genes in Arabidopsis and five in Populus. Gene expression analysis was done using online tools and indicated that NLG is expressed in multiple tissue types but predominately in stem and flowers. The protein coding region of the NLG orthologs genes from aspen …

Impact Of Giant Miscanthus (Miscanthus X Giganteus) Cultivation On Midwestern Farmland Birds, Matthew Craffey

Masters Theses

Giant Miscanthus (Miscanthus x giganteus) is a promising bioenergy feedstock, newly introduced to North America. However, the qualities that make Giant Miscanthus an attractive bioenergy feedstock may pose challenges to local wildlife. To assess the impacts of Giant Miscanthus on Midwestern farmland birds, I conducted point count and vegetation surveys at three sites in east-central Illinois where Giant Miscanthus was being cultivated. I used occupancy modeling to assess the relative influence of Giant Miscanthus on five species relative to other habitat and landscape characteristics. Dickcissel (Spiza Americana), Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella magna), and Red-Winged Blackbird …

Medicinal Properties Of Cyperus Species (Sedge Family, Cyperaceae), Lata Maishaya Udari

Masters Theses

The grasses that yield therapeutically important products are among the least studied in the Cyperaceae family. Herb-based medicine from ancient times have played a vital role in ailments of various disease and nowadays it has been a particular area of interest in medicine. Phytochemicals are inherent compounds derived from plants that are biologically active, non-nutritive chemicals that act as a defensive or prophylactic medicine in humans. Their extracts have proven to show inhibition properties against different microbes. Despite the prevalence of Cyperus species and their traditional use in medicine, the chemical components responsible for their attributes remain largely unknown. This …

Co-Product Potential Of Algae Biocake, Elizabeth J. Nixon

Masters Theses

Society needs to find replacements for fossil fuels, which are finite resources that may be fully depleted within a few generations. While solar and wind have great potential as alternative energy sources, they are unlikely to completely replace all of the current fuel sources, particularly liquid fuels. Plant biomass has great potential for this market, and is already used in many forms for heat energy (e.g. direct combustion). However, the bulk density of important bioenergy crops, particularly grasses, is often low, which necessitates the use of binders in densification strategies. In the present study, waste algae biocake from a proprietary …

Distiphallus Morphology And Its Role In Copulation Dynamics In Anastrepha Suspensa (Loew), Taylor J. Inboden

Masters Theses

Anastrepha suspensa (Diptera; Tephritidae) is an agricultural pest species

causing severe economic damage and is controlled, in part, by applying knowledge

of this species' reproduction (e.g., disrupting fertile copulations by SIT). During

copulation, males transfer sperm as well as protein rich fluids through an aedeagus

and distiphallus, which females then store in three spermathecae and one ventral

receptacle. Within the female reproductive tract, the ventral receptacle and the

three spermathecae are strategically separated from each other. I hypothesized

males' ability to direct sperm transfer within the female reproductive tract is

through the structures found in the distiphallus. Utilizing scanning electron …

The Transcriptional Response Of Trametes Versicolor To Growth On Maple Chips And Miscanthus Straw, Maha Alanazi

Masters Theses

This thesis research explored the transcriptional response of Trametes versicolor, a white-rot fungus, in response to fundamentally different types of lignocellulosic biomass (miscanthus and maple) and rich medium (malt extract agar). After five weeks of growth by the fungus on the biomass, the fungal RNA was extracted from three biological replicates per biomass type and mRNA was sequenced (approximately 30 million reads per sample). The reads were processed using ArrayStar to covert to RPKM and annotated using JGI's T. versicolor GO annotation file along with NCBI's BLAST. Comparisons were made between average gene expression of the fungus grown on …

Acer Rubrum Wats., Elisabet Ore

Specimens by Name

No abstract provided.

Acer Pennsylvanicum Du Roi, G. D. H.

Specimens by Name

No abstract provided.

Acer Saccharinum L., Paul B. Marcum

Specimens by Name

No abstract provided.

Myrica Pensylvanica Mirb., Elisabet Ore

Specimens by Name

No abstract provided.

Calopogon Pulchellus R. Br., Edgar Nelson Transeau

Specimens by Name

No abstract provided.

Calopogon Pulchellus R. Br., Edgar Nelson Transeau

Specimens by Name

No abstract provided.

Calopogon Pulchellus R. Br., Edgar Nelson Transeau

Specimens by Name

No abstract provided.

Corallorrhiza Wisteriana Conrad, Ernest L. Stover

Specimens by Name

No abstract provided.

Corallorrhiza Wisteriana Conrad, Ernest L. Stover

Specimens by Name

No abstract provided.

Fraxinus Greggii A. Gray, William Steinmetz

Specimens by Name

No abstract provided.

Fraxinus Americana L., Elisabet Ore

Specimens by Name

No abstract provided.