Botany Commons^™

Remnant Vegetation And Natural Resources Of The Blackwood River Catchment An Atlas, Shaun B. Grein

Agriculture reports

The Blackwood River is one of the longest rivers in the South-West of Western Australia, stretching 300 km from Moordjarrup to August. The catchment covers more than 28,000 square kilometres (2.8 million ha) from the Shire of Kent to the Shire of Augusta-Margaret River. It incorporates 17 shires, more than 30,000 people, 18 Land Conservation District Committees (LCDCs) and 143 sub-catchment groups. Shires within the Blackwood Catchment cover 4.12 million hectares, over half of the total area of the shires that fall within the catchment boundary.

The Vascular Flora Of The Potomac River Watershed Of King George County, Virginia, Mark P. Simmons, Donna M.E. Ware, W. John Hayden

Biology Faculty Publications

The results of two floristic studies of King George County, Virginia, are combined into an annotated checklist. Field work was initiated in 1983-84 with a study of Caledon Natural Area, a 2,500-acre tract with 3.5 miles of frontage on the Potomac River. Collecting resumed in 1991 and 1992 to include other portions of the county drained by the Potomac River. The study area contains a wide variety of habitats including dry upland woods, mesic ravines, low elevation river flats, beaches, swamps, marshes, and creeks; creeks and marshes include both brackish and freshwater environments. The Potomac River watershed of King George …

The Analysis Of Genetically And Physiologically Complex Traits Using Ceratopteris: A Case Study Of Nacl-Tolerant Mutants, Thomas R. Warne, Dale L. Vogelien, Leslie G. Hickok

Faculty and Research Publications

Genetic and physiological complexities associated with salt tolerance in plants have limited progress in the analysis of specific factors responsible for the salt-tolerant phenotype. We have used the homosporous fern Ceratopteris richardii as a model plant to investigate the physiological basis of salinity tolerance by selecting single gene mutants that confer tolerance in the gametophyte generation. The unique genetic system of homosporous ferns permits the generation of mutants in a genetic background nearly isogenic to the wildtype, such that comparative studies with the wildtype can identify specific physiological responses associated with salt tolerance. One of these mutations, stl2, confers …

Fine Root Biomass Distribution And Production Along A Barrier Island Chronosequence, Mark Jeffrey Stevenson

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Fine roots play an important role in community development on barrier islands. Fine roots can influence nutrient losses from the soil environment along with regulating water loss based on their distribution and concentration (Nobel et al., 1989; Gleeson and Tilman, 1990). A sequential coring method was used to determine fine root biomass and total biomass along a chronosequence of barrier island dunes and swales on the Virginia Coast Reserve - Long Term Ecological Research Site. Fine root production and the effects of nitrogen fertilization were also examined using an ingrowth core method along the chronosequence. Live fine root biomass, total …

Mistaken Identity?, W. John Hayden

Biology Faculty Publications

The December 1994 NEWS item "Red Menace" contains, I believe, an unfortunate misidentification of the algae allegedly responsible for the catastrophic mortality of sea birds from Pliocene deposits of the Florida Gulf Coast.

Introduction From The Changing Prairie: North American Grasslands, Anthony Joern, Kathleen H. Keeler

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Preserving remaining North American grasslands requires a multiability approach. In this book, we investigate three aspects of an admittedly larger problem: (1) how we as humans perceive grasslands; (2) the ecology of grasslands, in order to define the framework within which conservation and preservation efforts must operate; and (3) conservation issues. Additional sociological, economic, philosophical, and cultural considerations will provide important additional insights to preserving and managing grasslands, but are not included here. By restricting our focus to only three issues, we feel that we can provide a basic, but appropriate, understanding of grassland ecosystems for the prairie enthusiast. This …

Getting The Lay Of The Land: Introducing North American Native Grasslands, Anthony Joern, Kathleen H. Keeler

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

The expected catastrophic extinction of species (already under way in many places) will alter the planet’s biological diversity so profoundly that, at the known rate of extinction, it will take millions of years to recover. Yet few ecologists study extinction. Indeed, very little ecology deals with any processes that last more than a few years, involve more than a handful of species, and cover an area of more than a few hectares. The temporal, spatial and organizational scales of most ecological studies are such that one can read entire issues of major journals and see no hint of impending catastrophe. …

Keys And Distributional Maps For Nebraska Cyperaceae, Part 1: Bulbostylis, Cyperus, Dulichium, Eleocharis, Eriophorum, Fimbristylis, Fuirena, Lipocarpha, And Scirpus, Steven B. Rolfsmeier

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

Keys and distributional maps are provided for nine genera and 43 species of Cyperaceae documented from Nebraska (excluding Carex). Two species--Eleocharis elliptica and Fimbristylis vahlii--are newly reported for the state, while seven species attributed to the state in the Flora of the Great Plains (Great Plains Flora Association, 1986)--Eleocharis compressa, E. verrucosa, E. wolfii, E. xyridiformis, Scirpus georgianus, S. smithii, and S. torreyi--are deleted based on re-identifications, lack of specimen evidence, or specimens of doubtful provenance in the state. Notes on local systematic problems within the family are also included.

Preface From The Changing Prairie: North American Grasslands, Kathleen H. Keeler, Anthony Joern

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

North American grasslands have figured prominently in our North American heritage. Prairies first provided significant barriers to westward expansion, and then offered both economic and sociological opportunity, as well as heartache, for settlers. Many artists have gained significant inspiration from the beauty as well as the harshness of this region and its biota. And because of ideal climate and soil conditions, these grasslands have provided the agricultural foundation of which much of the economic growth and stability of the United States has historically depended.

Yet many see North American prairies as beautiful only when manipulated or exploited: Green croplands or …

In Vitro Starch Disappearance Procedure Modifications, C. J. Richards, Jeffrey F. Pedersen, R. A. Britton, R. A. Stock, C. R. Krehbiel

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Four in vitro experiments evaluated the effects of ruminal fluid inoculum:artificial saliva ratios,

grinder type, grind size, and diet of ruminal fluid donor on in vitro starch disappearance. Experiment 1 examined rates of starch disappearance and coefficients of determination obtained by linear regression of starch disappearance using five grain sorghum (Sorghum bicolur (L.) Moench) lines, a corn (Zeu muys L.) control, and a wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) control. Grains were incubated for 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20 h with inoculum varying in proportion of ruminal fluid and artificial saliva ( l:l, 1:2, 1:3, and 1:4). In …

An Automated Plot Harvest System For Use With A Commercial Forage Harvester, Jeffrey F. Pedersen, Kenneth J. Moore

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

This automated harvest system is based on minimal modification of currently available commercial forage harvesters. Using 6.8 m plots separated by 0.75 m alleys, a single operator can harvest, finely chop, and collect wet plot weights of forage sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] or pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Hr.] in <1 min per plot. Harvested material is deposited in a pile in the center of each plot. Subsamples for moisture and quality analysis can easily and safely be obtained from the pile.

Population Processes, Kathleen H. Keeler, Anthony Joern

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Within the prairies, myriad populations of plants, insects, small mammals, and other organisms form distinct levels of organization. The physical forces of weather and fire and the complex networks of species interactions control each species’s structure and dynamics and determine its abundance or rarity. Variation in population dynamics and interactions over time and space determine the distribution and abundance of species, and ultimately the composition and dynamics of entire prairie communities.

To the casual observer, plant populations on prairies may seem quite static, like museums containing a diverse collection of specimens that can be seen again and again on repeated …

Brown· Midrib Sorghum Silage For Midlactation Dairy Cows, R. J. Grant, S. G. Haddad, K. J. Moore, Jeffrey F. Pedersen

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Brown midrib sorghum silage was compared with alfalfa, corn, and normal sorghum silages for its effect on performance, ruminal metabolism, and digestive kinetics of Holstein dairy cows in midlactation. Twelve cows averaging 90 ± 5 DIM were assigned to one of four diets in replicated 4 X 4 Latin squares with 4-wk periods. Additionally, 3 ruminally fistulated cows (95 ± 20 DIM) were assigned to the same diets in a 3x 4 Youden square for measurement of ruminal characteristics. Diets were fed as isonitrogenous TMR that contained 65% silage (OM basis). The DMl was greater for the corn and brown …