Botany Commons^™

Ips Pini (Curculionidae: Scolytinae) Is A Vector Of The Fungal Pathogen, Sphaeropsis Sapinea (Coelomycetes), To Austrian Pines, Pinus Nigra (Pinaceae), Justin G.A. Whitehall, Jeffery S. Lehman, Pierluigi Bonello

Biology and Earth Science Faculty Scholarship

Sphaeropsis sapinea (Fr.:Fr.) Dyko and Sutton, is among the most common and widely distributed pathogens of conifers worldwide. S. sapinea is disseminated over short distances by rain splash and moist wind, but significant knowledge gaps regarding long-range dispersal remain. Our objective was to determine whether or not the pine engraver beetle, Ips pini Say, is a vector of the pathogen onto Austrian pines (Pinus nigra Arnold). In 2004 and 2005, individuals of I. pini were collected with pheromone traps at two locations in central Ohio (197 and 1,017 individuals for 2004 and 2005, respectively) and screened for the presence of …

Conservation Of B Class Gene Expression In The Second Whorl Of A Basal Grass And Outgroups Links The Origin Of Lodicules And Petals, Clinton Whipple, Michael Zanis, Elizabeth Kellogg, Robert Schmidt

Biology Department Faculty Works

Studies of flower development in core eudicot species have established a central role for B class MADS-box genes in specifying petal and stamen identities. Similarly in maize and rice, B class genes are essential for lodicule and stamen specification, suggesting homology of petals and lodicules and conservation of B class gene activity across angiosperms. However, lodicules are grass-specific organs with a morphology distinct from petals, thus their true homology to eudicot and nongrass monocot floral organs has been a topic of debate. To understand the relationship of lodicules to the sterile floral organs of nongrass monocots we have isolated and …

Performance Of Dionaea Muscipula As Influenced By Developing Vegetation, James O. Luken

Biology

Demography, growth, and flowering of Dionaea muscipula (Venus' fly trap) were studied during three years (2003–2005) following prescribed fire. Data were collected in permanent quadrats where the developing vegetation was either repeatedly clipped or allowed to grow. Clipping increased light availability at the soil surface. Over the study period, seedling establishment and flowering declined with increasing time since the last prescribed burn. Seedling densities did not differ between clipped and control quadrats, although greater numbers of seedlings grew to adult size in control quadrats and this significantly influenced population size-class structure. Clipping had no effect on leaf number or senescence, …

Additions To The Flora Of Connecticut, Gordon C. Tucker

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

Since the publication of the Connecticut checklist by Dowhan (1979), new state records have continued to appear. These were summarized by Mehrhoff (1995), including some made by Tucker ( 1987, 1991 ). Although geographically distant, the flora of Connecticut has continued to hold my attention since the publication of a flora of the southeastern part of the state (Tucker 1995). Over the past decade, I have made several collections that are new records for the state flora. These new records are reported in this paper, as well as a 1970 collection of Coronilla scorpio ides that was never added to …

The Plant Structure Ontology, A Unified Vocabulary Of Anatomy And Morphology Of A Flowering Plant, Katica Ilic, Elizabeth Kellogg, Pankaj Jaiswal, Felipe Zapata, Peter Stevens, Leszek Vincent, Shulamit Avraham, Leonore Reiser, Anuradha Pujar, Martin Sachs, Noah Whitman, Susan Mccouch, Mary Schaeffer, Doreen Ware, Lincoln Stein, Seung Rhee

Biology Department Faculty Works

Formal description of plant phenotypes and standardized annotation of gene expression and protein localization data require uniform terminology that accurately describes plant anatomy and morphology. This facilitates cross species comparative studies and quantitative comparison of phenotypes and expression patterns. A major drawback is variable terminology that is used to describe plant anatomy and morphology in publications and genomic databases for different species. The same terms are sometimes applied to different plant structures in different taxonomic groups. Conversely, similar structures are named by their species-specific terms. To address this problem, we created the Plant Structure Ontology (PSO), the first generic ontological …

Spring Ephemeral Plant Diversity As It Relates To Gap Dynamics In Vigo County, Indiana, Jodi K. Farrell Sparks

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

During the course of 25 years, plant specimens from several local locations have been collected and deposited into the Indiana State University (ISU) Herbarium by plant taxonomy students. The locations of some of these plots were reestablished in the spring of 2004. In each plot, all woody and spring herbaceous plants were collected from 26 February 2004 to 12 May 2004. These specimens were identified and compared to previous collections to examine species change in the context of gap dynamics. I compiled a species list for each plot and each preserve. Objectives for this thesis were to document plant diversity …

Rack1 Mediates Multiple Hormone Responsiveness And Developmental Processes In Arabidopsis, Hemayet Ullah

Department of Biology Faculty Publications

The scaffold protein RACK1 (Receptor for Activated C Kinase 1) serves as an integrative point for diverse signal transduction pathways. The Arabidopsis genome contains three RACK1 orthologues, however, little is known about their functions. It is reported here that one memberof this gene family, RACK1A, previously identified as the Arabidopsis homologue of the tobacco arcA gene, mediates hormone responses and plays a regulatory role in multiple developmental processes. RACK1A expresses ubiquitously in Arabidopsis. Loss-of-function mutations in RACK1A confer defects in multiple developmental processes including seed germination, leaf production, and flowering. rack1a mutants displayed reduced sensitivity to gibberellin and brassinosteroid in …

Ltr Retrotransposon Evolution In Wild Sunflowers, Kaitlin Marie Stimpson

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

Transposable elements are DNA sequences that are able to move from place to place in the genome, and in some cases, make copies of themselves and reinsert back into the genome. Transposable elements are divided into three classes based on their method of transposition. Class I elements transpose by an RNA intermediate, and these include L TR (long terminal repeat) and non-L TR retrotransposons. Class II elements relocate in the genome without duplication. Interestingly, class III elements entirely lack genes and rely on products of other elements for transposition. Transposable elements are no longer considered unusual or unique components of …

Climatic Unpredictability And Parasitism Of Caterpillars: Implications Of Global Warming, John Stireman, Lee Dyer, D. Janzen, M. Singer, J. Lill, R. Marquis, R. Ricklefs, G. Gentry, W. Hallwachs, P. Coley, J. Barone, H. Greeney, H. Connahs, P. Barbosa, H. Morais, I. Diniz

Biology Department Faculty Works

Insect outbreaks are expected to increase in frequency and intensity with projected changes in global climate through direct effects of climate change on insect populations and through disruption of community interactions. Although there is much concern about mean changes in global climate, the impact of climatic variability itself on species interactions has been little explored. Here, we compare caterpillar–parasitoid interactions across a broad gradient of climatic variability and find that the combined data in 15 geographically dispersed databases show a decrease in levels of parasitism as climatic variability increases. The dominant contribution to this pattern by relatively specialized parasitoid wasps …

First Report Of Phytophthora Insolita And P. Inflata On Rhododendron In Ohio, Antonino Testa, Mikael Schilb, Jeffery S. Lehman, Gennaro Cristinzio, Pierluigi Bonello

Biology and Earth Science Faculty Scholarship

During August 2003, we conducted a statewide survey of rhododendrons to determine if Phytophthora ramorum was present in Ohio ornamental nurseries. In total, 240 samples were randomly collected in 12 nurseries throughout Ohio from rhododendrons showing foliar necrotic lesions and twig dieback symptoms.

A New Species Of Streptanthus (Brassicaceae) From Three Peaks In Lake County, California, Rebecca W. Dolan, Richard O'Donnell

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Streptanlhus vernalis is a newly described species inhabiting serpentine rock outcrops in the Three Peaks area in Lake County, California. Morphological and allozyme data indicate that this taxon is related to the S. morrisonii complex.

Relationship Among Genes Conferring Partial Resistance To Leaf Rust (Puccinia Triticina) In Wheat Lines Ci 13227 And L-574-1., Jeffery S. Lehman, Karin A. Hanson, Gregory Shaner

Biology and Earth Science Faculty Scholarship

This study describes the segregation of genes for resistance to the fungus Puccinia triticinain a cross between partially resistant wheat lines L-574-1 and CI 13227 with two and four genes for resistance, respectively. The objectives of this study were to use parental, F1, F2, and backcross populations to quantify maternal effects, degree of dominance, and transgressive segregation, and to determine whether CI 13227 and L-574-1 share any resistance genes for long latent period or small uredinia. In two experiments conducted in the greenhouse, the uppermost leaf of adult wheat plants was inoculated prior to heading with P. triticina. On days …

Plant Ontology (Po): A Controlled Vocabulary Of Plant Structures And Growth Stages, Pankaj Jaiswal, Shulamit Avraham, Katica Ilic, Elizabeth Kellogg, Susan Mccouch, Anuradha Pujar, Leonore Reiser, Seung Rhee, Martin Sachs, Mary Schaeffer, Lincoln Stein, Peter Stevens, Leszek Vincent, Doreen Ware, Felipe Zapata

Biology Department Faculty Works

The Plant Ontology Consortium (POC) (www.plantontology.org) is a collaborative effort among several plant databases and experts in plant systematics, botany and genomics. A primary goal of the POC is to develop simple yet robust and extensible controlled vocabularies that accurately reflect the biology of plant structures and developmental stages. These provide a network of vocabularies linked by relationships (ontology) to facilitate queries that cut across datasets within a database or between multiple databases. The current version of the ontology integrates diverse vocabularies used to describe Arabidopsis, maize and rice (Oryza sp.) anatomy, morphology and growth stages. Using the ontology browser, …

The Vascular Flora Of Powhatan County, Virginia, Michael Austin Terry

Master's Theses

The project was undertaken with three main goals in mind: to provide as current and complete an account as possible of the flora of Powhatan County in the form of an annotated checklist; to integrate the information obtained from the inventory into phytogeographical and ecological generalizations currently being developed for the state of Virginia; and, to report any significant or anomalous discoveries. There is no previous county-wide inventory of plant diversity for Powhatan County. However, Corcoran (1981) published a list of plants from the Jones and Mill Creek watershed located in the Fine Creek Mills area of northeastern Powhatan.

Plant Composition Of Mixed-Grass Prairie Of Cedar Point Biological Research Station, Keith County, Nebraska, David A. Mckenzie

Biology Faculty Publications

This study involved a vegetation analysis of 15 permanent plots established on the short-grass and mixed grass prairie slopes at the Cedar Point Biological Station in Keith County, Nebraska. Ninety-nine species were found in the plots, including members of 75 genera and 31 families. Twenty-one were graminoids, 71 were forbs or succulents, 6 were shrubs and one was a tree. Bouteloua gracilis (19 % cover) and Carex filifolia (15 % cover) were the dominant graminoids at the site, while Yucca glauca (1% cover) and Artemisia frigida (1% cover) were the most frequent forbs. Comparisons of species richness by slope categories …

2005 Virginia Wildflower Of The Year: Bloodroot, Sanguinaria Canadensis, W. John Hayden

Biology Faculty Publications

Bloodroot is an herbaceous perennial that grows from a persistent, branched underground stem or rhizome. Early each spring, while the forest canopy is still bare, each well-developed rhizome tip produces one leaf and one flower stalk. The leaf is kidney-shaped in its overall outline, but it is also divided into a pattern of rounded lobes and sinuses, rendering a complex overall shape. At flowering time, bloodroot leaves form a loose vertically-oriented collar around the flower stalk with the bluish-green lower leaf surface forming the outside of the collar; as the season progresses, the leaves open flat and expand to their …

Chloroplast Dna Rearrangements In Campanulaceae: Phylogenetic Utility Of Highly Rearranged Genomes, Mary E. Cosner, Linda A. Raubeson, Robert K. Jansen

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences

Background

The Campanulaceae (the "hare bell" or "bellflower" family) is a derived angiosperm family comprised of about 600 species treated in 35 to 55 genera. Taxonomic treatments vary widely and little phylogenetic work has been done in the family. Gene order in the chloroplast genome usually varies little among vascular plants. However, chloroplast genomes of Campanulaceae represent an exception and phylogenetic analyses solely based on chloroplast rearrangement characters support a reasonably well-resolved tree.

Results

Chloroplast DNA physical maps were constructed for eighteen representatives of the family. So many gene order changes have occurred among the genomes that characterizing individual mutational …

Genetic Control Of Branching In Foxtail Millet, Andrew Doust, Katrien Devos, Michael Gadberry, Mike Gale, Elizabeth Kellogg

Biology Department Faculty Works

Reduction in vegetative branching is commonplace when crops are domesticated from their wild progenitors. We have identified genetic loci responsible for these changes in foxtail millet (Setaria italica), a crop closely related to maize but whose genetics are little known. Quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis and comparative genomics reveal that basal branching (tillering) and axillary branching are partially controlled by separate loci, and that the orthologue of teosinte branched1, the major gene controlling branching phenotype in maize, has only a minor and variable effect. We identify other candidate genes for control of branching, including a number of hormone biosynthesis pathway …

Population Genetic Structure In Nolina Brittoniana (Agavaceae), A Plant Endemic To The Central Ridges Of Florida, Rebecca W. Dolan, Rebecca Yahr, Eric S. Menges

Scholarship and Professional Work - LAS

Nolina brittoniana is endemic to the central ridges of peninsular Florida. Its scrub and sandhill habitats have suffered extensive anthropogenic modification. Analysis of isozymes from populations throughout its range revealed less genetic variation than generally reported for endemic plants. Populations were well differentiated, with significant clines in allele frequency along the north-south axis of distribution. Pair-wise F-statistics calculated at four levels of population geographic substructure revealed that current and inferred historical habitat patches had similar genetic structure. We found no evidence of recent bottlenecks or changes in genetic structure due to habitat loss and fragmentation, consistent with populations having always …

Nectar Rewards Of Insect-Adapted Flowers In A Forest/Farm Landscape: Measurement Challenges And Ecological Questions, Theresa Bordenkecher Dailey

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Native forest wildflowers of the Midwestern United States forests now compete with agricultural weeds for the attention of insect pollinators. The tiny quantities of nectar secreted by these insect-pollinated flowers are measured using laboratory techniques such as colorimetry. However, these techniques are used with the tacit assumption that nectar sugar identity does not affect estimates of carbohydrate content. I tested this hypothesis using fructose, glucose, and sucrose and found that after reaction with anthrone, fructose products differed from those of other sugars in light absorbance measured by a spectrophotometer. Potential error from using an inappropriate sugar standard is greater than …

A Watershed Analysis Of Threemile Pond: Implications For Water Quality And Land Use Management, Colby Environmental Assessment Team, Colby College, Problems In Environmental Science Course (Biology 493), Colby College

Colby College Watershed Study: Threemile Pond (2003)

The 2003 Colby Environmental Assessment Team chose to study the Threemile Pond watershed. The Threemile Pond watershed is located in Vassalboro, China., Windsor, and Augusta, Maine. Threemile Pond is a popular site for recreation and is home to a wide range of flora and fauna. Like all other lakes in Maine, it is a young lake. However, intensive human activity in the watershed contributes a substantial amount of nutrients and the lake has algal blooms annually in the summer months. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of land use and development on the water quality of …

Relationships Between Blueberry Flower Age, Pollination, And Conidial Infection By Monilinia Vaccinii-Corymbosi, Jeffery S. Lehman, Henry K. Ngugi, Harald Scherm

Biology and Earth Science Faculty Scholarship

Monilinia vaccinii-corymbosi infects open blueberry flowers via the gynoecial pathway, leading to mummification of the developing fruit. To determine the effect of flower age on infection, stigmata were inoculated with conidia of M. vaccinii-corymbosi between 0 and 5 days after anthesis, fungal growth rates through the stylar canal were measured in detached flowers in the laboratory, and fruit disease incidence was determined in plants grown in the greenhouse. Hyphal growth rates were greatest in flowers inoculated on the day of anthesis, declined linearly with increasing flower age at inoculation (r = 0.921; P < 0.0001; n = 12), and were unaffected by the presence or absence of pollen applied at the time of inoculation. In greenhouse-grown plants, the percentage of infected fruit decreased exponentially with increasing flower age at inoculation (R = 0.878; P = 0.0057; n = 10), with disease incidence ranging from 76.4% for flowers inoculated on the day of anthesis to 15.5% for those inoculated 4 days later. Fruit disease incidence in the greenhouse was linearly correlated with hyphal growth rates in detached flowers (r = 0.985; P < 0.0001; n = 9), justifying the use of detached flowers when investigating gynoecial infection by M. vaccinii-corymbosi. In separate experiments, the effects of timing and sequence of pollination and inoculation on hyphal growth rates through the stylar canal and on disease incidence were investigated. Application of pollen to detached flowers 1 or 2 days before inoculation reduced hyphal growth rates by between 14.0 and 42.9% compared with flowers that received pollen and conidia simultaneously. Similarly, reductions in fruit disease incidence by between 9.5 and 18.3% were observed on greenhouse-grown plants for pollination-to-inoculation intervals ranging from 1 to 4 days. These results document that newly opened flowers are most susceptible to infection by M. vaccinii-corymbosi and that fruit disease incidence is reduced if pollination occurs at least 1 day before inoculation. Strategies that lead to early pollination of newly opened flowers may be useful for managing mummy berry disease in the field.

Using Upper Boundary Constraints To Quantify Competitive Response Of Desert Annuals, Laura M. Lessin, Andrew R. Dyer, Deborah E. Goldberg

Faculty Publications

Using a target-neighborhood approach with six annual dicot species in the Negev Desert of Israel, we tested whether neighborhood biomass constrained the upper limit of plant performance and if the slope of the upper boundary was correlated to species trait means, such as relative growth rate (RGR) and seed mass. Target individuals were measured in early spring and then collected at the onset of the dry season along with all naturally occurring neighbors within a 5-cm radius of the target. Using a minimum of 50 samples for each of the six target species, we found no significant relationships between target …

A Synopsis Of The Ferns And Fern Allies Of Nebraska, With Maps Of Their Distribution, Steven B. Rolfsmeier, Robert B. Kaul, David M. Sutherland

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

An annotated list and country-by-country distribution maps are presented for the 32 species of ferns and fern allies native to Nebraska, based upon field and herbarium studies and critical evaluation of the literature. Native to the state are Isoëtes melanopoda, Selaginella rupestris, five species of Equisetum, and 25 species in 18 genera of ferns. Three native species are here verified for the first time, based upon recent collections: Matteuccia struthiopteris var. pensylvanica, Ophioglossum engelmannii, and Pellacaglabella ssp. glabella. Isoëtes melanopoda was rediscovered in 2000, the first record since 1941. Rejected are published reports of …

Variation And Heritability Of Phenology In The Fungus Monilinia Vaccinii-Corymbosi On Blueberry, Jeffery S. Lehman, Peter V. Oudemans

Biology and Earth Science Faculty Scholarship

The germination of field-collected pseudosclerotia and the development of apothecia from eight New Jersey populations of the mummy berry fungus Monilinia vaccinii-corymbosi were evaluated under controlled conditions in the greenhouse. Development data for apothecia were used to describe the timing of apothecium formation and to estimate broad- and narrow-sense heritabilities of fungal phenology. Mean development times for the formation of apothecia ranged from 35.4 to 54.7 days. The mean development times for populations collected from early-season cv. Weymouth ranged from 35.4 to 39.6 days and were significantly shorter than the development times for three of the four populations collected from …

Use Of Randomly Amplified Polymorphic Dna-Polymerase Chain Reaction (Rapd-Pcr) To Distinguish North American Populations Of Acroptilon Repens (L.) Dc, Raul A. Ruiz

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Sixty U.S. populations of Acroptilon repens collected in 1998 were analyzed using RAPD-PCR. Each population was represented by five specimens gathered from each location. A total of 301 specimens were examined using two Operon Technologies, RAPD-PCR primers (A 10 and C04). The DNA amplification products produced through the PCR process were electrophoretically separated to produce DNA fragments ranging from 100 to 2000 base-pairs in length. The 60 U.S. populations sampled, produce ten RAPD banding pattern types using A 10 primer and seventeen pattern types with C04. Genetic variation within and among the populations was low, however, one dendogram did show …

Gender Variation In Croton Californicus (Euphorbiaceae), James Lynwood Smith Ii

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Croton californicus Muell. Arg. (Euphorbiaceae) is a subshrub suspected of being dimorphic with phase choices. Gender variation in C. californicus was studied in natural populations of southern California for three years (1994-96) to observe patterns of gender !ability. Some sites exhibited significantly male-biased sex ratios, and these sites often had the greatest number of monoecious morphs, cosexual plants with unisexual flowers. Gender variation was quantified for cosexual plants by calculating the Estimated Floral Gender (EFG) which varied from 1.00 (female) to 0.00 (male). The distribution of the EFG was highly skewed towards maleness. Monoecious individuals were then categorized by …

Reproductive Biology Of Melilotus Officinalis (L.) Lam (Fabaceae: Papilionoideae): Morphology, Seed/Ovule Ratios And Ovule Abortion Patterns, Susan Lee Schouten

Dissertations and Theses

Melilotus officinalis, an introduced herbaceous species within the Papilionoideae, has a fixed ovule abortion pattern. In its primarily single-seeded, indehiscent fruits, with an average of 6.98 ovules/fruit, this species matured the basal-most ovule in 67.63% and the second basal-most ovule in 24.22% of the fruits studied. This pattern contrasts with other legumes studied, which abort the basal-most ovules or those at either end of the fruit. Workers propose interaction between two opposing gradients--that of maternal resources from the basal end of the fruit and of fertilization from the stylar end. Several lines of evidence indicate that all ovules are …

A Medicinal Plant Survey In Marketplaces Of Ecuador, Pamela Bailey

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

A medicinal herb survey was conducted in ten major marketplaces in Andean and coastal communities of Ecuador. Collections were made during the summer of 1997. Four plant collections from each market were pressed, dried, identified, and the medicinal information for each plant was recorded. Photographs of fresh plants, market vendors and the marketplaces were taken.

Fifty three families were represented in the 112 species collected. Forty-two species (37%) were introduced to Ecuador while seventy species (63%) were native to Ecuador. Plant taxa were grouped into 22 categories of medicinal usage. The most common 3 uses were: 1. General tonic and …

Effects Of Competition On Resource Availability And Growth Of A California Bunchgrass, Andrew R. Dyer, Kevin J. Rice

Faculty Publications

In California, little is known about the sensitivity of native bunchgrasses to competition or to changes in resource availability. We investigated the effect of nonnative annual vegetation on resource availability and growth of a native bunchgrass, Nassella pulchra, in a pair of factorial field experiments that incorporated effects of both interspecific and intraspecific competition as well as variation in soil depth. Plots of differing target densities and neighborhoods were used to assess changes in aboveground (light) and belowground (water) resource availability over multiple seasons in two sites with differing soil depth. N. pulchra grown without interspecific competitors grew larger …