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Biol 1411- Botany Laboratory Manual, Yolander R. Youngblood

Open Education Resources

Botany Laboratory Manual By – Yolander R.Youngblood, PhD.

This manual was reviewed by student editors, Ayanna Montegut and Ineceia Carter.

Table of Contents

1. The Plant Cell Lab

2. Mitosis Lab

3. Plant Growth and Development Lab

4. Simple Tissue Lab

5. Leaf Lab

6. Stem Lab

7. Root Lab

8. Evolution of Land Plants Lab

9. Bryophyte Lab

10. Fern Lab

11. Gymnosperm Lab

12. Angiosperm Lab

13. Appendix

a. Writing in the Scientific Notebook

b. How to use the Microscope

c. Plants and Their Structure

d. Additional Video, Lecture, and Lab Resources

Above- And Below-Ground Functional Trait Coordination In The Neotropical Understory Genus Costus, Eleinis Ávila-Lovera, Gregory R. Goldsmith, Kathleen M. Kay, Jennifer L. Funk

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

The study of plant functional traits and variation among and within species can help illuminate functional coordination and trade-offs in key processes that allow plants to grow, reproduce and survive. We studied 20 leaf, above-ground stem, below-ground stem and fine-root traits of 17 Costus species from forests in Costa Rica and Panama to answer the following questions: (i) Do congeneric species show above-ground and below-ground trait coordination and trade-offs consistent with theory of resource acquisition and conservation? (ii) Is there correlated evolution among traits? (iii) Given the diversity of habitats over which Costus occurs, what is the relative contribution of …

Rebecca Fillyaw Ms Thesis Data For Publication In The Journal Sustainability, Rebecca Fillyaw, Melinda Donnelly, Linda Walters

CEELAB Research Data

By combatting erosion and increasing habitat, mangrove living shorelines are an effective alternative to hard-armoring in tropical and subtropical areas. An experimental red mangrove living shoreline was deployed within Mosquito Lagoon, Florida, using a factorial design to test the impact of mangrove age, breakwater presence, and mangrove placement on mangrove survival within the first year of deployment. Mixed mangrove age treatments were included to identify if seedling (11-month-old) survival could be enhanced by the presence of transitional (23-month-old) and adult (35 to 47-month-old) mangroves. Environmental factors were monitored to detect possible causes of mangrove mortalities. Approximately half (50.6%) of mangroves …

Global Population Divergence Of A Cosmopolian Desert Plant, Victor Ryan Alfaro

Biology ETDs

Genetic and phenotypic variation can have different patterns within a species if it has populations with contrasting histories. Populations can have discrete differences that are shaped by different evolutionary scenarios, but within each population, range, or region, traits and association with fitness can also be affected by both edaphic and landscape variation. For my dissertation, I surveyed and experimentally analyzed variation and adaptive potential in Sahara mustard (Brassica tournefortii), a desert annual that has endemic, invasive, and agricultural populations in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Although my multi-trait analysis generated complex results, my findings can be applied to …

Three Lc-Ms Plant Metabolomics Studies Of Hop (Humulus) Species: Wild H. Neomexicanus, Drought Stress, And Agricultural Terroir, Taylan Morcol

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The hop plant (Humulus L., Cannabaceae) is a dioecious, perennial, twining vine with a long history of human use. Nowadays, hop plants are generally grown for their inflorescences (“cones”), which are used in brewing for their phytochemical metabolites. Many of these metabolites are involved in plant stress response and communication. Genetics and environment are two major factors that affect plant metabolism. In three separate metabolomics studies, this project examined the effects of both genetic and environmental factors on hop phytochemistry.

In the first study, 23 hop genotypes were grown in two different locations in the Pacific Northwest region of …

Partnering With Archivists To Process The Manuscript Collection Present At The Marshall University Herbarium, Pamela Puppo, Lori Thompson

Biological Sciences Faculty Research

The Marshall University Herbarium (MUHW) is located on the third floor of the Science Building at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, United States. It was founded in the 1930's by Dr. Frank A. Gilbert when Marshall was still Marshall College. Today, MUHW is the second largest herbarium in West Virginia with about 50,000 specimens, including 20 types. Mostly composed of vascular plants, the herbarium also contains small collections of non-vascular plants, fungi, algae, fossils, and some ethnobotanical material, mainly brought from Ecuador by one of the former curators, Dr. Dan Evans between the 1980's and 2000's. Apart from these …

Zygomorphic Flowers May Reduce Extinction Rates By Allowing Angiosperms To Occur In Low Abundances, Maria Belen Alvestegui

Theses

The high species richness that angiosperm show has been extensively correlated with key floral innovations. Key floral traits contribute to species boundaries and the origin of new species. However, how these relate to extinction remains largely untested. Among the multiple theories that attribute diversification to floral innovations, the reduced extinction model predicts that floral specialization allows the persistence of small populations and avoids their loss. Bilateral symmetry (zygomorphy) is a trait that has evolved recurrently in angiosperms. It is a form of floral specialization that restricts pollination to fewer visitors and precisely places pollen to ensure more effective transmission of …

An Updated Infra-Familial Classification Of Sapindaceae Based On Targeted Enrichment Data, Sven Buerki

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Premise: The economically important, cosmopolitan soapberry family (Sapindaceae) comprises ca. 1900 species in 144 genera. Since the seminal work of Radlkofer, several authors have attempted to overcome challenges presented by the family’s complex infra-familial classification. With the advent of molecular systematics, revisions of the various proposed groupings have provided significant momentum, but we still lack a formal classification system rooted in an evolutionary framework.

Methods: Nuclear DNA sequence data were generated for 123 genera (86%) of Sapindaceae using target sequence capture with the Angiosperms353 universal probe set. HybPiper was used to produce aligned DNA matrices. Phylogenetic inferences were obtained using …

Analysis Of Symptom Expressions And Transmission Rates Caused By The Plant Pathogen Phytophthora Ramorum On Native Chaparral Plants From The Genus Arctostaphylos, Bharati Gaonker

Natural Sciences and Mathematics | Biological Sciences Master's Theses

Phytophthora ramorum is the causal agent of Sudden Oak death (SOD), ramorum dieback and ramorum leaf blight which affect both forest environments and nurseries. This oomycete pathogen has had a huge economic impact on the nursery and lumber industry. Forests in California have experienced substantial mortality of oaks affecting the forest dynamics and diversity. Our research investigates four native species and two ornamental cultivars of plants, which belong to the genus Arctostaphylos (manzanita) and are considered to be new hosts for P. ramorum in the chaparral ecosystem of California. Symptom expression and transmission rates were analyzed on Arctostaphylos glauca, …

Invasion Ecology And Response To Fire Of The Nonnative Fern Lygodium Microphyllum In The South Florida Everglades, Nicole Sebesta

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Lygodium microphyllum (Old World Climbing Fern (OWCF)) is a climbing fern native to tropical and subtropical regions of Australia, Asia, and Africa. First introduced to Florida as an ornamental in the 1960s, the fern has become a serious invasive in numerous Florida habitats, severely degrading native herbaceous and woody vegetation and altering fire behavior. One area with the greatest increase in OWCF cover is the sawgrass marsh of southern Everglades National Park (ENP), where prescribed fire is used for both maintenance of sawgrass marshes and management of OWCF infestations. However, the efficacy of OWCF control using fire in this habitat …

Sciadopitys Verticillata (Japanese Umbrella Pine), #1065-1067, Grace C. Kubat

BIO 140 Arboretum Project

Over the course of the 2021 spring semester, I observed a grove of Japanese Umbrella Pines. These trees are a part of the University's arboretum. In addition to making weekly observations, I researched the cultural significance of the Umbrella Pines. My research will hopefully contribute to future projects regarding the trees and help to enrich the University's arboretum project.

A Baseline Documentation Report For The Delta Wind Birds Sky Lake Nature Reserve, Preston T. Perkins, J Hays Dubberly, Michael J. Thomas

Honors Theses

The purpose of this baseline documentation is to conduct a report on our subject property and discuss the findings. A conservation easement is established by upholding a certain standard of a property’s current condition which makes a baseline documentation necessary for an easement to be enacted. Baseline documentation reports are used as a resource to monitor and enforce the legal agreements of the conservation easement. The subject property is currently owned by the Delta Wind Birds organization. In our scenario, this documentation report will serve to aid in the conversion of our subject property into a conservation easement in which …

Tilia Cordata (Littleleaf Linden) #1059, Heather Noel Mckee

BIO 140 Arboretum Project

In this paper I studied the Tilia cordata, more commonly known as the Littleleaf Linden, over the course of three months. I included the history and uses of the Linden tree along with its symbolic value in European culture. This tree symbolizes friendship and peace which coincides with the critical concerns of the Sisters of Mercy.

Eclp Invasive Plant Project: Spot The Invaders, Aida Washburn

Showcase of Osprey Advancements in Research and Scholarship (SOARS)

An Environmental Center Leadership Program Project

Amelia Island is home to many beautiful native plants, but some invasive species have taken residence in the beach area and caused issues to the ecological system. The invasive plants outcompete our native species and can disrupt the shore bird and sea turtle nesting sites. Invasive plants also destabilize our dunes. A native plant is identified as a species that has naturally existed in each place for an extended length of time. Whereas an invasive species displaces and prevents native species from establishing. The goal of this project was to remove invasive plant species …

Seed Rain–Successional Feedbacks In Wet Tropical Forests, Nohemi Huanca Nuñez, Robin L. Chazdon, Sabrina E. Russo

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Abstract

Tropical forest regeneration after abandonment of former agricultural land depends critically on the input of tree seeds, yet seed dispersal is increasingly disrupted in contemporary human-modified landscapes. Here, we introduce the concept of seed rain–successional feedbacks as a deterministic process in which seed rain is shaped by successional dynamics internal to a forest site and that acts to reinforce priority effects. We used a combination of time series and chronosequence approaches to investigate how the quantity and taxonomic and functional composition of seed rain change during succession and to evaluate the strength of seed rain–successional feedbacks, relative to other …

Evolution And Development Of Staminodes In Paronychia (Caryophyllaceae), Andrea D. Appleton

Honors College Theses

Staminodes are infertile stamens that have evolved numerous times in flowering plants and exhibit a vast array of forms and functions. Variation in staminodes suggests that numerous evolutionary processes underlie their origins, but to understand their how and why they evolved, comparative studies are needed in groups of closely related species. Identifying structures as staminodes is not always straightforward and sometimes requires corroborating phylogenetic and developmental evidence. Staminodial structures in Paronychia (Caryophyllaceae), for example, vary in shape and size and have been referred to as both petals and staminodes, rendering their homology uncertain. The development of staminodes was compared across …

Growth Of Diatom Fistulifera Alcalina In Bacterial Co-Culture And Comparative Mitogenomics Of Fistulifera Species, Erwin David Berthold

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Diatoms are excellent biological models of growth and intracellular oil generation. The productivity and compounds of diatoms, especially oils, support aquatic food chains and human medical and industrial needs. The qualities that made diatoms prolific producers, specifically diatom physiological features such as growth rates with intracellular lipid storage in alkaline environments, are however poorly understood. Another physiological aspect that remains unexplored is the effects of bacteria on the growth and lipid production of alkaliphilic diatoms. More studies, especially co-cultures, are needed for advances in diatom biology and strain performance for the algal biotechnological field. Besides physiology, diatom genetics using next-generation …

Picking Up Where The Tmdl Leaves Off: Using The Partnership Wild And Scenic River Framework For Collaborative River Restoration, Alan R. Hunt, Meiyin Wu, Tsung-Ta David Hsu, Nancy Roberts-Lawler, Jessica T. Miller, Alessandra Rossi, Lee Lee

Department of Biology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The National Wild and Scenic Rivers Act protects less than ¼ of a percent of the United States’ river miles, focusing on free-flowing rivers of good water quality with outstandingly remarkable values for recreation, scenery, and other unique river attributes. It predates the enactment of the Clean Water Act, yet includes a clear anti-degradation principle, that pollution should be reduced and eliminated on designated rivers, in cooperation with the federal Environmental Protection Agency and state pollution control agencies. However, the federal Clean Water Act lacks a clear management framework for implementing restoration activities to reduce non-point source pollution, of which …

The Regulatory Network For Petal Anthocyanin Pigmentation Is Shaped By The Myb5a/Negan Transcription Factor In Mimulus, Xingyu Zheng, Kuenzang Om, Kimmy A. Stanton, (...), Gregory D. Conradi Smith, Joshua R. Puzeyn, Et Al.

Arts & Sciences Articles

Much of the visual diversity of angiosperms is due to the frequent evolution of novel pigmentation patterns in flowers. The gene network responsible for anthocyanin pigmentation, in particular, has become a model for investigating how genetic changes give rise to phenotypic innovation. In the monkeyflower genus Mimulus, an evolutionarily recent gain of petal lobe anthocyanin pigmentation in M. luteus var. variegatus was previously mapped to genomic region pla2. Here, we use sequence and expression analysis, followed by transgenic manipulation of gene expression, to identify MYB5a—orthologous to the NEGAN transcriptional activator from M. lewisii—as the gene responsible …

First Report Of Yellow-Flowered Teasel, Dipsacus Strigosus Willd. Ex Roem. & Schult. (Dipsacaceae) In Indiana, A North American Record, Rebecca W. Dolan

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

This paper reports the presence of Dipsacus strigosus Willd. ex Roem. & Schult. in Indiana. The species, native to western Asia, is naturalized in several locations in Europe. This is the first documented occurrence in North America. The new record was collected along a recently constructed bike path in a moist wooded area of the Butler University campus in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. Like the two other species of the genus known in the Indiana, D. strigosus is likely to be invasive, so efforts will be made to eradicate this population. The plant should be monitored and looked for in other …

Diversidad Y Distribución Espacial Del Género Plagiochila Plagiochilaceae. Marchantiophyta En Colombia, Jonatan Alejandro Yepes Giraldo

Biología

Plagiochila es uno de los géneros más representativos de hepáticas en Colombia. En el país, el género puede encontrarse a lo largo del gradiente altitudinal, con rangos que van desde los 30 a 4300 m, aunque su mayor riqueza se encuentra principalmente en los bosques andino y altoandino, en los que desempeña procesos que aseguran la estabilidad ecológica de los ecosistemas como la regulación del recurso hídrico. En este estudio, utilizamos por primera vez datos del GBIF y del Catálogo en línea de plantas y líquenes de Colombia para investigar aspectos de la diversidad y distribución espacial del género Plagiochila …

Diversidad Y Usos De Especies De Cucurbitáceas (Cucurbitaceae) Silvestres Y Cultivadas En El Departamento De Casanare Orinoquia Colombiana, Adriana Carolina Amaya Salamanca

Biología

Las cucurbitáceas pertenecen a una familia de plantas representativas y diversas de las zonas tropicales y subtropicales, en Colombia podemos encontrar alrededor de 28 géneros y 92 especies, la mayoría de ellas son de gran importancia a nivel económico, ecológico y social ya que se ha generado un comercio industrializado de sus frutos y semillas dado el papel que representan para la alimentación humana. Teniendo en cuenta la alta diversidad de especies en esta familia, en Colombia son escasos los estudios a nivel regional que valoren su presencia en lo s ecosistemas y sus potenciales usos. Un caso en particular …

The Effects Of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals On Plants, Christian Mathew Pridemore

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are a diverse group of chemicals which can have a detrimental effect on human health, affecting any physiological body system sensitive to hormonal changes. Human exposure to EDCs is inevitable due to their prevalence in modern living; EDCs are integral compounds found in everyday items with which humans interact and ingest. These, along with other indirect avenues leading to EDC exposure, pose a threat to both human health and to the health of wildlife and agricultural environments. Studies on the effects of EDCs on plants can be substantially informative and necessary for progress towards solving the …

Gypsum-Exclusive Plants Accumulate More Leaf S Than Non-Exclusive Species Both In And Off Gypsum, Andreu Cera, Gabriel Montserrat-Martí, Juan Pedro Ferrio, Rebecca E. Drenovsky, Sara Palacio

2021 Faculty Bibliography

Gypsum-exclusive species (gypsophiles), are restricted to gypseous soils in natural environments. However, it is unclear why gypsophiles display greater affinity to gyspeous soils than other soils. These plants are edaphic endemics, growing in alkaline soils with high Ca and S. Gypsophiles tend to show higher foliar Ca and S, lower K and, sometimes, higher Mg than non-exclusive gypsum species, named gypsovags. Our aim was to test if the unique leaf elemental signature of gypsophiles could be the result of special nutritional requirements linked to their specificity to gypseous soils. These nutritional requirements could hamper the completion of their life cycle …

Elucidation Of Multi-Origin Inula Helenium L. For Antimicrobial Activity And Heavy Metal Profiling As An Exemplar For The Use And Regulation Of Plants As Antibiotics., Ciara Ruth Kenny

Theses

An impending post-antibiotic era looms, thus new sources of therapeutic chemical entities are crucial to sustain effective antimicrobial chemotherapy worldwide. Plant natural products are a source of accessible, structurally diverse compounds that provide therapeutic potential. The pharmacological applications of plants in medicine can be guided by the attestation of traditional use or the application of this knowledge to uncover new leads in the drug discovery process. The range of modified in vitro methods commonly used to investigate preclinical antimicrobial efficacy of plant-derived natural products, and the associated limitations and challenges in the provision of new antimicrobial drugs from plants is …

Plastid Phylogenomics Of The Gynoxoid Group (Senecioneae, Asteraceae) Highlights The Importance Of Motif-Based Sequence Alignment Amid Low Genetic Distances, Belen Escobari, Thomas Borsch, Taylor Quedensley, Michael Gruenstaeudl

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Premise The genus Gynoxys and relatives form a species-rich lineage of Andean shrubs and trees with low genetic distances within the sunflower subtribe Tussilaginineae. Previous molecular phylogenetic investigations of the Tussilaginineae have included few, if any, representatives of this Gynoxoid group or reconstructed ambiguous patterns of relationships for it. Methods We sequenced complete plastid genomes of 21 species of the Gynoxoid group and related Tussilaginineae and conducted detailed comparisons of the phylogenetic relationships supported by the gene, intron, and intergenic spacer partitions of these genomes. We also evaluated the impact of manual, motif-based adjustments of automatic DNA sequence alignments on …

Airpg: Automatically Accessing The Inverted Repeats Of Archived Plastid Genomes, Tilman Mehl, Michael Gruenstaeudl

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

In most flowering plants, the plastid genome exhibits a quadripartite genome structure, comprising a large and a small single copy as well as two inverted repeat regions. Thousands of plastid genomes have been sequenced and submitted to public sequence repositories in recent years. The quality of sequence annotations in many of these submissions is known to be problematic, especially regarding annotations that specify the length and location of the inverted repeats: such annotations are either missing or portray the length or location of the repeats incorrectly. However, many biological investigations employ publicly available plastid genomes at face value and implicitly …

Investigation Into The Genetic Provenance Of Three Rare Plants With East-West Disjunction Patterns In Pennsylvania., Scott Schuette, Christopher T. Martine

Other Faculty Research and Publications

Rare plant conservation relies on an understanding of the natural history, biology and ecology, and real and potential threats to their populations to inform state regulations that serve to protect the species from extirpation. This work often involves extensive field surveys over several years to determine population sizes and whether those populations are seeing reductions in number of individuals necessary to maintain the genetic diversity within and between those populations. Species and populations with high genetic diversity are better equipped to withstand sudden changes to their habitats that derive from land use changes and changing climate. There are a variety …

Lepidopteran Granivory Reduces Seed Counts In A Rare Species Of Riparian Scour Prairies, Cheyenne Moore, Angela J. Mcdonnell, Scott Schuette, Christopher T. Martine

Faculty Journal Articles

In Pennsylvania Baptisia australis var. australis is found along only four waterways: the Allegheny River, Youghiogheny River, Clarion River, and Red Bank Creek. Because of its limited distribution and small number of extant populations, the species is considered state-threatened in Pennsylvania. In addition, the riparian prairie habitat that Pennsylvania Baptisia australis var. australis is restricted to is also in decline and considered vulnerable. Because of these conservation concerns, insights into the natural history of the taxon in the state is valuable and will inform conservation efforts. Field surveys and fruit collections along the Allegheny River and herbarium collections were used …