Botany Commons^™

Can Sub-Saharan Africa Feed Itself?, Martin K. Van Ittersum, Lenny G. J. Van Bussel, Joost Wolf, Patricio Grassini, Justin Van Wart, Nicolas Guilpart, Lieven Claessens, Hugo De Groot, Keith Wiebe, Daniel Mason-D'Croz, Haishun Yang, Hendrik Boogard, Pepijn A. J. Van Oort, Marloes P. Van Loon, Kazuki Saito, Ochieng Adimo, Samuel Adjei-Nsiah, Alhassane Agali, Abdullahi Bala, Regis Chikowo, Kayuki Kaizzi, Mamoutou Kouressy, Joachim H. J. R. Makoi, Korodjouma Ouattara, Kindie Tesfaye, Kenneth G. Cassman

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Although global food demand is expected to increase 60% by 2050 compared with 2005/2007, the rise will be much greater in sub- Saharan Africa (SSA). Indeed, SSA is the region at greatest food security risk because by 2050 its population will increase 2.5-fold and demand for cereals approximately triple, whereas current levels of cereal consumption already depend on substantial imports. At issue is whether SSA can meet this vast increase in cereal demand without greater reliance on cereal imports or major expansion of agricultural area and associated biodiversity loss and greenhouse gas emissions. Recent studies indicate that the global increase …

Can Functional Traits Predict Plant Community Response To Global Change?, Sarah Kimball, Jennifer L. Funk, Marko J. Spasojevic, Katharine N. Suding, Scot Parker, Michael K. Goulden

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

One primary goal at the intersection of community ecology and global change biology is to identify functional traits that are useful for predicting plant community response to global change. We used observations of community composition from a long-term field experiment in two adjacent plant communities (grassland and coastal sage shrub) to investigate how nine key plant functional traits were related to altered water and nitrogen availability following fire. We asked whether the functional responses of species found in more than one community type were context dependent and whether community-weighted mean and functional diversity were significantly altered by water and nitrogen …

Salvinia Molesta: An Assessment Of The Effects And Methods Of Eradication, Arti Lal

Master's Projects and Capstones

Salvinia molesta is an invasive aquatic fern. It is now the second worse aquatic invader in the world. Since the 1930s, it has invaded most tropical and some temperate countries. S. molesta plants grow vegetatively and can increase in size rapidly. S. molesta can form thick mats of up to 1-meter-thick. There are a number of ways these thick mats negatively affect the environment: 1) reduce light to benthic organisms, 2) reduce oxygen in the water column for other organisms, 3) accumulate as organic matter at the bottom of the water column, 4) decrease nutrients for other organisms, and 5) …

Mechanism Of Resistance, Gene Flow, And Integrated Management Of Ragweeds (Ambrosia) In Nebraska, Zahoor Ahmad Ganie

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia L.) and giant ragweed (Ambrosia trifida L.) are native annual broadleaf weeds in the United States found in diverse agroecosystems, roadsides, and wastelands. They are economically important weed species in the Midwest and sources of pollen allergies. Confirmation of glyphosate-resistant (GR) common and giant ragweed in Nebraska justified the need to determine the mechanism of resistance, dispersal of resistance genes via pollen, and to develop an integrated management program. The objectives of this research were to: 1) determine the mechanism of glyphosate resistance in a common ragweed biotype from Nebraska; 2) evaluate the effect …

Modeling Long-Term Corn Yield Response To Nitrogen Rate And Crop Rotation, Laila A. Puntel, John E. Sawyer, Daniel W. Barker, Ranae Dietzel, Hanna Poffenbarger, Michael J. Castellano, Kenneth J. Moore, Peter J. Thorburn, Sotirios V. Archontoulis

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Improved prediction of optimal N fertilizer rates for corn (Zea mays L.) can reduce N losses and increase profits. We tested the ability of the Agricultural Production Systems sIMulator (APSIM) to simulate corn and soybean (Glycine max L.) yields, the economic optimum N rate (EONR) using a 16-year field-experiment dataset from central Iowa, USA that included two crop sequences (continuous corn and soybean-corn) and five N fertilizer rates (0, 67, 134, 201, and 268 kg N ha^-1) applied to corn. Our objectives were to: (a) quantify model prediction accuracy before and after calibration, and report calibration steps; (b) …

Characterization And Development Mechanism Of Apios Americana Tuber Starch, Hanyu Yangchen, Vikas Belamkar, Steven B. Cannon, Jay-Lin Jane

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Apios americana is a wild legume-bearing plant with edible tubers. Domestication of Apios is in progress because of the superior nutritional value and health benefits of the tuber. Objectives of this study were to: (1) characterize physicochemical properties of the Apios tuber starch; and (2) understand differences in starch structures and properties between the mother (seed) and child (progeny) tubers and the mechanism of starch development. Granules of the Apios tuber starch displayed ellipsoidal, rod, or kidney shape with diameter ranges of 1–30 m. The mother tuber starches displayed greater percentage crystallinity, larger gelatinization enthalpy-changes, longer branch-chain lengths of amylopectin, …

Genomics-Assisted Characterization Of A Breeding Collection Of Apios Americana, An Edible Tuberous Legume, Vikas Belamkar, Andrew Farmer, Nathan T. Weeks, Scott R. Kalberer, William J. Blackmon, Steven B. Cannon

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

For species with potential as new crops, rapid improvement may be facilitated by new genomic methods. Apios (Apios americana Medik.), once a staple food source of Native American Indians, produces protein-rich tubers, tolerates a wide range of soils, and symbiotically fixes nitrogen. We report the first high-quality de novo transcriptome assembly, an expression atlas, and a set of 58,154 SNP and 39,609 gene expression markers (GEMs) for characterization of a breeding collection. Both SNPs and GEMs identify six genotypic clusters in the collection. Transcripts mapped to the Phaseolus vulgaris genome–another phaseoloid legume with the same chromosome number–provide provisional genetic …

Plants Having Increased Bomass And Methods For Making The Same, Aleel K. Grennan, Donald R. Ort, Stephen Patrick Moose, Damla D. Bilgin, Thomas Clemente, Fredy Altpeter, Stephen P. Long

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

The impact of plastid size change in both monocot and dicot plants has been examined. In both, when plastid size is increased there is an increase in biomass relative to the parental lines. Thus, provided herein are methods for increasing the biomass of a plant, comprising decreasing the expression of at least one plastid division protein in a plant. Optionally, the level of chlorophyll in the plant is also reduced.

Studying The Effects Of Serpentine Soil On Adapted And Non-Adapted Species Using Arduino Technology, Kiana Saniee, Edward Himelblau, Brian Paavo

STAR Program Research Presentations

Abstract: Serpentine soils are formed from ultramafic rocks and are represent an extreme environment for plants. Serpentine soils are unique in that they carry high concentrations of heavy metals, are nutrient deficient, particularly in calcium, and have poor water retention capabilities. Although these soils constitute harsh conditions for plant growth, there are a number of species that are adapted and even endemic to serpentine soil. Water retention by commercial potting mix was compared with serpentine soil. Also, serpentine adapted and non-adapted species were grown in both soil treatments and physiological data were collected. We used the Arduino electronic platform to …

Countercurrent Chromatography Fractions Of Plant Extracts With Anti-Tuberculosis Activity, Douglas Armstrong, Nathan C. Krause, Drew Frey, J. Brent Friesen, Baojie Wan, Jordan Gunn, Scott Franzblau

Faculty Scholarship – Chemistry

Samples of numerous plant species were received from the southwestern part of the USA, from Richard Spjut, and plant samples were collected here in Illinois. All were extracted with typical solvents, giving crude residues, some of which were subjected to chromatographic methods. Some of the crude residues and some of the fractions were tested for anti-tuberculosis activity and/or antibacterial activity.

In a general way, bioactive natural products are dealt with very well by Liang & Fang. More specifically, the southwestern part of the United States has a large variety of indigenous plants many of which have not been investigated for …

Characterization Of Echinochloa Spp. In Arkansas, Hussain Tahir

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Echinochloa species are the most problematic grass weeds in rice and soybean production throughout the southern United States. The species under this genus has high intra- and interspecific variability, with many ecotypes, observed within a species. This study was conducted to: i) characterize the morphology and phenology of Echinochloa accessions from Arkansas in a common garden; ii) verify the species identity of these accessions based on their morphological traits, and iii) evaluate the dormancy characteristics of Echinochloa accessions. Junglerice (E. colona) was identified as the most common species, comprising about 78% of the accessions collected, with barnyardgrass (E. crus-galli) and …

Testing The Temporal Stability Of The Climate Response Of Tree Species At Norris Dam State Park, Tennessee, U.S.A., Allison Elizabeth Ingram

Masters Theses

Temporal stability of the climate-tree growth relationship means that over time, tree species were responding to a specific climate variable and continue to respond to that variable into the present. The stability of this response is important to test prior to attempting to reconstruct past climate. In this study, I sampled oaks (white oak = Quercus alba L. and chestnut oak = Quercus montana Willd.) and pines (Virginia pine = Pinus virginiana Mill. and shortleaf pine = Pinus echinata Mill.) growing in Norris Dam State Park in eastern Tennessee and tested the temporal stability of these species and their potential …

Variation In Leaf Wettability Traits Along A Tropical Montane Elevation Gradient, Gregory R. Goldsmith, Lisa Patrick Bentley, Alexander Shenkin, Norma Salinas, Benjamin Blonder, Roberta E. Martin, Rosa Castro-Ccossco, Percy Chambi-Porroa, Sandra Diaz, Brian J. Enquist, Gregory P. Asner, Yadvinder Malhi

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

• Leaf wetting is often considered to have negative effects on plant function, such that wet environments may select for leaves with certain leaf surface, morphological, and architectural traits that reduce leaf wettability. However, there is growing recognition that leaf wetting can have positive effects.
• We measured variation in two traits, leaf drip tips and leaf water repellency, in a series of nine tropical forest communities occurring along a 3300-m elevation gradient in southern Peru. To extend this climatic gradient, we also assembled published leaf water repellency values from 17 additional sites. We then tested hypotheses for how these traits should …

Leaf Protein And Mineral Concentrations Across The “Miracle Tree” Genus Moringa, Mark E. Olson, Renuka P. Sankaran, Jed W. Fahey, Michael A. Grusak, David Odee, Wasif Nouman

Publications and Research

The moringa tree Moringa oleifera is a fast-growing, drought-resistant tree cultivated across the lowland dry tropics worldwide for its nutritious leaves. Despite its nutritious reputation, there has been no systematic survey of the variation in leaf nutritional quality across M. oleifera grown worldwide, or of the other species of the genus. To guide informed use of moringa, we surveyed protein, macro-, and micro- nutrients across 67 common garden samples of 12 Moringa taxa, including 23 samples of M. oleifera. Moringa oleifera, M. concanensis, M. stenopetala, an M. concanensis X oleifera hybrid, and M. longituba were highest in protein, with M. …

Cross Species Selection Scans Identify Components Of C4 Photosynthesis In The Grasses, Pu Huang, Anthony J. Studer, James C. Schnable, Elizabeth A. Kellogg, Thomas P. Brutnell

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

C₄ photosynthesis is perhaps one of the best examples of convergent adaptive evolution with over 25 independent origins in the grasses (Poaceae) alone. The availability of high quality grass genome sequences presents new opportunities to explore the mechanisms underlying this complex trait using evolutionary biology-based approaches. In this study, we performed genome-wide cross-species selection scans in C₄ lineages to facilitate discovery of C₄ genes. The study was enabled by the well conserved collinearity of grass genomes and the recently sequenced genome of a C₃ panicoid grass, Dichanthelium oligosanthes. This method, in contrast to previous studies, …

Effects Of Host-Plant Density On Herbivores And Their Parasitoids: A Field Experiment With A Native Perennial Legume, Andrea Salas

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Senna mexicana chapmanii (Fabaceae: Caesalpinoideae), an attractive and threatened species native to pine rocklands of southern Florida, is consumed by folivorous caterpillars of Sulfur butterflies (Lepidoptera: Pieridae). Caterpillars may be deterred or eaten by predators, but also very important are parasitoids, both flies and wasps. This study investigated the effects of plant density on Sulfur caterpillar numbers and rates of parasitization.

Senna mexicana chapmanii plantations were established at agricultural and urban areas; both sites are adjacent to protected pine rockland areas. Sulfur butterfly immature stages were collected and reared to glean information regarding number of herbivores and rates of parasitization. …

Endless Symbioses Most Intricate, W. John Hayden

Biology Faculty Publications

Orchids, such as our Wildflower of the Year for 2016, Downy Rattlesnake Plantain (Goodyera pubescens) (Fig. 1), exemplify the interconnectedness of life on Earth. As would be the case for many kinds of plants, pollination comes readily to mind as a prominent example of mutualistic symbiosis. Downy Rattlesnake Plantain is pollinated by bumblebees and other native bees. The bees gain nectar and the orchid gets an efficient means to move pollen from one flower to another; each organism gains benefit from the interaction, the very definition of mutualism. Pollination by bees is widespread among the orchids, but there …

Herbicide Resistantsorghum Mutants, Ismail M. Dweikat

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

This disclosure provides for four different sorghum mutants that exhibit resistance to ALS-inhibiting herbicides. This dis closure also provides for methods of using such Sorghum mutants that exhibit resistance to ALS-inhibiting herbicides in breeding methods to make Sorghum hybrids, varieties, or lines. The Sorghum hybrids, varieties, and lines provided in this disclosure can be used in methods of controlling weeds.

Mapping Morels: Predicting The Locations Of Morchella Species Through Environmental Factors Using The Gis System, Emily M. Stanevicius

Celebration of Learning

Morel mushrooms, Morechella esculenta and M. deliciosa, are known delicacies across the globe, ranging from exquisite dishes in French cuisine to Eastern palates such as Japanese Matsutake. According to literature, true morels diverged as their own genus about 129 million years, again which has led to the development of more than 177 species and have been part of the human diet since their beginning. However, the elusiveness of morels has contributed to the mushrooms infamy for rarity, and has even been known to sell for more than $40 per pound. This project seeks to aid in the search for morels …

The Effects Of Two Levels Of Salinity On Wisconsin Fast Plants, Megan M. Janssen, Emily Geison, Tiffany Bertoni, Matthew Zimmerman

Celebration of Learning

Wisconsin Fast Plant (Brassica rapa, Brassicaceae) seeds were planted in three, six-celled planting containers filled with potting soil and put beneath a continuous grow-lux light. One week after sprouting, one container (E1) was put into a separate tray filled with 0.5% NaCl solution, another container (E2) was put into a separate tray filled with 1.0% NaCl solution, and the third container was left in regular tap water. At seven-day intervals thereafter, the height of all plants was recorded, and the numbers of leaves and flowers were recorded. By week four of recording data, the average height (mm) of the control …

Effect Of Different Miracle-Gro Concentrations On The Growth Of Wisconsin Fast Plants, Eric D. Shershen, Nicholas M. Orslini, David Channon, Marvin Agyeben

Celebration of Learning

The Wisconsin Fast Plant, Brassica rapa (Brassicaceae) seeds were planted in three, six-celled containers and were filled with standard potting soil under continuous grow-lux lighting. After the first week of plant growth, E1and E2 were placed in a separate trays and given 1.0 and 1.5x the recommended amount of Miracle-Gro formula, respectively. The control was left in tap water and all were kept in 1 cm of solution. Every seven days the plants’ heights were recorded, and the total number of flowers were counted. By the fourth week, the average height of the control plants was 105.7 mm, of the …

Long-Term Sandhills Prairie Responses To Precipitation, Temperature, And Cattle Stocking Rate, John A. Guretzky, Cheryl Dunn, Heidi L. Hillhouse

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Understanding of Sandhills prairie, the most expansive sand dune region stabilized by perennial grasses in the Western Hemisphere, is limited by lack of long-term vegetation data. We used a 26-year dataset to evaluate Sandhills prairie responses to yearto- year variation in precipitation, temperature, and cattle stocking rate. Basal cover, a measurement that is constant seasonally and used to detect long-term changes in bunchgrass vegetation, was measured in 38–40 permanent plots positioned along four transects spanning 769 ha from 1979 to 2007. Across this period, total basal cover averaged 2.4 % and was dominated by warm-season grasses (81.1 %). Schizachyrium scoparium …

Organics: Exploring The Parallels Between Botany And Human Anatomy Through Sculpture And Watercolor Painting, Allison Borek

Honors Theses

Integrating my two passions of the visual arts and science for my senior thesis, I created a collection of paintings that represent human organs and the parallels between plant biology and animal biology. Genetically, plants are just as complex – if not more – than many animals. They have intricate sensory and regulatory systems highly comparable to humans, and on a cellular level, we share many analogous features. In addition, every single carbon atom that makes up the human body was at one time fixed in a plant during photosynthesis. We also rely on photosynthesis to give us the oxygen …

Regeneration: An Overlooked Aspect Of Trait-Based Plant Community Assembly Models, Julie Larson, Jennifer L. Funk

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Despite the disproportionate influence that propagule production, dispersal, seed to seedling recruitment, and vegetative reproduction can have on plant population and community dynamics, progress has been slow in the directed collection of regeneration traits to inform community assembly outcomes.

While seed mass is globally available and linked to growth and reproductive output, there are limits to its explanatory ability. In this essay, we call for expanded efforts to integrate a more diverse set of regeneration traits into community assembly models.

First, we extend an existing community assembly framework to conceptualize regeneration as a series of transitional processes whose outcomes are …

Herbaceous 2016, Julia I. Chapman, Keith E. Gilland, Ryan W. Mcewan

Data Files: Drew Woods Permanent Plots

Herbaceous vegetation data collected in 2016 at Drew Woods State Nature Preserve in Darke County, OH. Data key is provided in a supplemental file.

Effect Of Potassium Deficiency On Uptake And Partitioning In The Cotton (Gossypium Hirsutum L.) Plant And Detection By A Crop Reflectance Sensor, Taylor Dayne Coomer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

For cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) to grow and develop normally, plants need to uptake the necessary amount of nutrients and use those nutrients in a beneficial fashion. It is recognized that cotton needs a certain tissue concentration of ions to achieve and maintain growth rates (Siddiqi et al., 1987). One of the most essential and abundant nutrients in cotton is potassium (K), second only by mass to nitrogen (N) (Marschner, 1995; Oosterhuis et al., 2013). Potassium exists in the soil in four separate pools and moves through soil to roots mainly through diffusion (Rengel & Damon, 2008; Samal et al., …

Heat Stress Effects On Cotton During Reproductive Development And Subsequent Acclimation Responses, Toby Ryan Fitzsimons

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

High temperature stress is among the most difficult to control abiotic factors affecting crop yields in the Southern United States due to its wide regional influence. Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) though a tropical plant in origin, it is sensitive to the effects of high temperature. This is of particular concern when the warmest temperatures coincide with the most sensitive developmental stage of flowering. Thus, the capacity to improve cotton’s ability to tolerate heat stress has been a significant focus for many decades. Therefore, this research was composed of several different components all designed to investigate heat stress effects. Using a …

Investigation Of Parasympathetic Effects Of Lavender Essential Oil In Humans, Haakon Robert Nelson, Rachel Ann Burkhart, Daniel Morin, Nicole Grace Weissenfluh, Michael R. Korn

Montview Journal of Research & Scholarship

The purpose of this study will be to investigate the claim that administration of lavender (Lavandula angustifolia) essential oil (topically, orally, and/or respiratorily) produces a relaxative effect in human subjects. This investigation will theoretically be conducted in two stages. Stage one will focus primarily on determining the presence of therapeutic effects and the relative effectiveness of lavender in several application modalities. Stage two will proceed based on findings from stage one. If significant parasympathetic effects are observed in relation to one or more of the lavender oil modalities described above, a more focused investigation will be conducted in stage two …

The Ecology Of Extrafloral Nectar In Senna Mexicana Var. Chapmanii, Ian M. Jones

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Extrafloral nectar (EFN) mediates food-for-protection mutualisms between plants and defensive insects. Senna mexicana var. chapmanii is a perennial legume native to the pine rockland habitats of south Florida. My dissertation focuses on how anthropogenic changes to the pine rocklands might affect EFN production by S. chapmanii, and the outcome of EFN mediated interactions. First, I investigated the influence of time of day, leaf damage, and leaf age on EFN production in S. chapmanii. Plants produced more nectar at night than during the day, and leaf damage resulted in increased EFN production. Furthermore, the response to leaf damage was …

Evaluating Pedestrial Compaction Variation & Soil Organic C Content, Gunner B. Decker

Scholars Week

Over time, playing fields are monitored by overall appearance. However, pedestrian compaction is not evenly distributed throughout the entire surface.