Botany Commons^™

Arkansas Wheat Cultivar Performance Tests 2016-2017, R. E. Mason, R. G. Miller, D. E. Moon, J. P. Kelley

Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Series

Wheat cultivar performance tests are conducted each year in Arkansas by the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, Department of Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences. The tests provide information to companies developing cultivars and marketing seed within the state and aid the Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service in formulating cultivar recommendations for small-grain producers.

Evaluation Of Screening Methods To Detect Heat Stress In Diverse Cotton Genotypes, Mathilda M. Van Der Westhuizen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) is sensitive to heat stress (HS) during reproductive development. The objective of this study was to evaluate different screening methods for identification of heat tolerance in cotton genotypes. Three growth chamber studies and four field trials were conducted from 2014 to 2017 using genotypes Arkot 9704, VH260, DP 210 B2RF and DP393. Measurements were made of membrane leakage (ML), chlorophyll fluorescence (ChlF), glutathione reductase (GR), and sucrose concentration. In the growth chambers, measurements were made at 30 and 40°C and at 2, 4 and 6 hours of HS, as well as 3 and 7 days after …

Molecular And Culture-Based Assessment Of Root/Crown Rot Fungal/Oomycete Complex Of Bean In Mozambique, Suzana Vanessa Ismael Fernandes

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

Dry edible beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) play an important role in food security, alleviating hunger and malnutrition and adding value to the economy in Mozambique. Recently, root/crown rot (RCR) has caused yield losses in bean fields in Mozambique. A diverse taxa of fungi and oomycetes have been associated with RCR. However, in Mozambique little information on root rot is available. The purpose of this study is to use Illumina sequencing platform, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and culture-based methods to identify the primary pathogens associated with RCR in Mozambique. A total of 88 plants showing symptoms of RCR disease were …

Inferring Foliar Water Uptake Using Stable Isotopes Of Water, Gregory R. Goldsmith, Marco M. Lehmann, Lucas A. Cernusak, Matthias Arend, Rolf T.W. Siegwolf

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

A growing number of studies have described the direct absorption of water into leaves, a phenomenon known as foliar water uptake. The resultant increase in the amount of water in the leaf can be important for plant function. Exposing leaves to isotopically enriched or depleted water sources has become a common method for establishing whether or not a plant is capable of carrying out foliar water uptake. However, a careful inspection of our understanding of the fluxes of water isotopes between leaves and the atmosphere under high humidity conditions shows that there can clearly be isotopic exchange between the two …

Cellular And Molecular Targets Of Menthol Actions, Murat Oz, Eslam El Nebrisi, Keun-Hang Susan Yang, Frank Christopher Howarth, Lina T. Al Kury

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Menthol belongs to monoterpene class of a structurally diverse group of phytochemicals found in plant-derived essential oils. Menthol is widely used in pharmaceuticals, confectionary, oral hygiene products, pesticides, cosmetics, and as a flavoring agent. In addition, menthol is known to have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and analgesic effects. Recently, there has been renewed awareness in comprehending the biological and pharmacological effects of menthol. TRP channels have been demonstrated to mediate the cooling actions ofmenthol. There has been new evidence demonstrating thatmenthol can significantly influence the functional characteristics of a number of different kinds of ligand and voltage-gated ion channels, indicating that at …

Hydrogenation Of Organic Matter As A Terminal Electron Sink Sustains High Co2:Ch4 Production Ratios During Anaerobic Decomposition, Rachel M. Wilson, Malak M. Tfaily, Virginia I. Rich, Jason K. Keller, Scott D. Bridgham, Cassandra Medvedeff Zalman, Laura Meredith, Paul J. Hanson, Mark Hines, Laurel Pfeifer-Meister, Scott R. Saleska, Patrick Crill, William T. Cooper, Jeff P. Chanton, Joel E. Kostka

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Once inorganic electron acceptors are depleted, organic matter in anoxic environments decomposes by hydrolysis, fermentation, and methanogenesis, requiring syntrophic interactions between microorganisms to achieve energetic favorability. In this classic anaerobic food chain, methanogenesis represents the terminal electron accepting (TEA) process, ultimately producing equimolar CO₂ and CH₄ for each molecule of organic matter degraded. However, CO₂:CH₄ production in Sphagnum-derived, mineral-poor, cellulosic peat often substantially exceeds this 1:1 ratio, even in the absence of measureable inorganic TEAs. Since the oxidation state of C in both cellulose-derived organic matter and acetate is 0, and CO₂ has …

Population-Level Coordination Of Pigment Response In Individual Cyanobacterial Cells Under Altered Nitrogen Levels, Jaclyn Murton, Aparna Nagarajan, Amelia Y. Nguyen, Michelle Liberton, Harmony A. Hancock, Himadri B. Pakrasi, Jerilyn A. Timlin

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Cyanobacterial phycobilisome (PBS) pigment-protein complexes harvest light and transfer the energy to reaction centers. Previous ensemble studies have shown that cyanobacteria respond to changes in nutrient availability by modifying the structure of PBS complexes, but this process has not been visualized for individual pigments at the single-cell level due to spectral overlap. We characterized the response of four key photosynthetic pigments to nitrogen depletion and repletion at the subcellular level in individual, live Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 cells using hyperspectral confocal fluorescence microscopy and multivariate image analysis. Our results revealed that PBS degradation and re-synthesis comprise a rapid response to …

Protocol For Enrichment Of The Membrane Proteome Of Mature Tomato Pollen, Puneet Paul, Palak Chaturvedi, Anida Mesihovic, Arindam Ghatak, Wolfram Weckwerth, Enrico Schleiff

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

We established and elaborated on a method to enrich the membrane proteome of mature pollen from economically relevant crop using the example of Solanum lycopersicum (tomato). To isolate the pollen protein fraction enriched in membrane proteins, a high salt concentration (750 mM of sodium chloride) was used. The membrane protein-enriched fraction was then subjected to shotgun proteomics for identification of proteins, followed by in silico analysis to annotate and classify the detected proteins.

Lichen Conservation In Eastern North America: Population Genomics, Climate Change, And Translocations, Jessica Allen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Conservation biology is a scientific discipline that draws on methods from diverse fields to address specific conservation concerns and inform conservation actions. This field is overwhelmingly focused on charismatic animals and vascular plants, often ignoring other diverse and ecologically important groups. This trend is slowly changing in some ways; for example, increasing number of fungal species are being added to the IUCN Red-List. However, a strong taxonomic bias still exists. Here I contribute four research chapters to further the conservation of lichens, one group of frequently overlooked organisms. I address specific conservation concerns in eastern North America using modern methods. …

Floristic Response To Urbanization: Filtering Of The Bioregional Flora In Indianapolis, Indiana, Usa, Rebecca W. Dolan, Myla F.J. Aronson, Andrew L. Hipp

Biological Sciences

PREMISE OF THE STUDY: Globally, urban plant populations are becoming increasingly important, as these plants play a vital role in ameliorating effects of ecosystem disturbance and climate change. Urban environments act as filters to bioregional flora, presenting survival challenges to spontaneous plants. Yet, because of the paucity of inventory data on plants in landscapes both before and after urbanization, few studies have directly investigated this effect of urbanization.

METHODS: We used historical, contemporary, and regional plant species inventories for Indianapolis, Indiana USA to evaluate how urbanization filters the bioregional flora based on species diversity, functional traits, and phylogenetic community structure. …

Pheasant Response To Lead Ingestion, Travis J. Runia, Alex J. Solem

The Prairie Naturalist

Lead is toxic to all vertebrate species and ingestion of spent lead pellets from hunting is the primary method of exposure in birds. Both acute and chronic effects occur in response to lead ingestion including death, weight loss, and reduced body function, but the effect is highly variable among species. Most research has focused on lead ingestion impacts on waterfowl, but less is known about the effects of lead ingestion by upland game such as ring-necked pheasants (Phasianus colchicus). We gavage- fed zero, one, or three lead pellets to 90 (n = 30/group) captive-raised adult hen pheasants and monitored survival …

Long-Term Changes In Canada Goose Nest Success And Nest Densities At An Iowa Wetland Complex, Brenna N. Ness, Robert W. Klaver, Guy G. Zenner

The Prairie Naturalist

Giant Canada geese (Branta canadensis maxima) were extirpated from Iowa by the early 1900s due to unregulated hunting, egg gathering, and wetland drainage in the nineteenth century (Bishop 1978). Ef- forts to reintroduce Canada geese in Iowa began in 1964 (Bishop and Howing 1972) and involved releasing flightless adults and goslings at nearly 30 sites across the state (Zenner and LaGrange 1998a). In 1972, 13 flightless pairs were released at Rice Lake Wildlife Management Area (WMA; Bishop 1978). By 1989, the breeding population of Canada geese at Rice Lake WMA had increased to 420 nesting adults (G. G. Zenner, Iowa …

Assessing Parturition Date Synchrony For North Dakota Ungulates, Eric S. Michel, Jonathan A. Jenks, William F. Jensen

The Prairie Naturalist

Reproductive parameters such as conception date, and therefore parturition date, influence offspring characteristics such as sex ratio and birth mass. For example, late-conceiving reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) produced more female than male offspring compared to those who conceived early (Holand et al. 2006). Females that conceive later and therefore give birth later also can produce lighter offspring compared to those who conceive early (Schwartz et al. 1994, Holand et al. 2006). Because birth mass is positively related to adult body mass (Michel et al. 2015), conception and parturition date likely affect adult phenotype. In turn, this may influence survival because heavy …

Notes: Examining The Potential Competitive Effects Of Ventenata Dubia On Annual And Perennial Grasses, Shawn Mckay, Lesley R. Morris, Christopher E. Morris, Elizabeth A. Leger

The Prairie Naturalist

Portions of the United States are becoming increasingly dominated by annual species, with cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum L.) and medusahead (Taeniatherum caput-medusae [L.] Nevski) as the most common and well-known invaders (Bansal et al. 2014). Other invasive annual species also are present and increasing in abundance, including ventenata (Ventenata dubia [Leers] Coss.), an invasive annual grass that has been expanding within the Pacific Northwest, Great Basin, and Great Plains regions of the United States. Ventenata was first reported in North America in 1952 in Washington (Old and Callihan 1987) and has since spread to 7 western states in the USA (CA, …

Book Reviews: American Serengeti: The Last Big Animals Of The Great Plains. Dan Flores., Daniel S. Licht

The Prairie Naturalist

Before describing what Flores’ book is, I must state what it is not. It is not a technical book designed for scholarly readers. Sources are not fully cited, and the bibliography is of limited scope. Nor is it a comprehensive book of all the megafauna of the Great Plains. Although chapters are devoted to extant species such as American bison (Bison bison), pronghorn (Antilocapra americana), and coyote (Canis latrans), there are only passing references to mule and white-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus and O. virginianus, respectively), elk (Cervus canadensis), and bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis). Rather, Flores devotes chapters to grizzly bears …

Diel And Monthly Movement Rates By Migratory And Resident Female Pronghorn, Paul F. Jones, T. Andrew Hurly, Chelsea Jensen, Karl Zimmer, Andrew Jakes

The Prairie Naturalist

Animal movement patterns are variable, with certain species primarily being diurnal and others nocturnal. Pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) are regarded as diurnal animals moving predominately during daylight hours. Anecdotal accounts, however, suggest that pronghorn move during the night but the extent, frequency, and importance of these nocturnal movement behaviors are unknown. To evaluate movements, we combined global positioning system relocation data from collared female pronghorn in the Northern Sagebrush Steppe between 2003 and 2007 with sunrise/sunset data within a geographical information system platform. We assessed whether mean and maximum movement rates were influenced by diel period (dawn, day, dusk, and night), …

The Pitfalls Of Data Analysis, Christopher N. Jacques

The Prairie Naturalist

Greetings GPNSS members! I hope summer finds you well and enjoying the Great Plains in some way, whether that be starting a new field season, a long-overdue break from the office, or planning your next family vacation. For me, transitioning away from the demands of the Spring 2017 semester to data analyses and preparation of my own manuscripts are particularly exciting (well, as exciting as “office life” can be!). Over the past month, I have initiated a number of grandiose summer objectives, most of which include analysis or in some instances, re-analysis of data to address concerns raised during peer-review. …

The Prairie Naturalist: The Journal Of The Great Plains Natural Science Society Volume 49 No. 1

The Prairie Naturalist

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 EDITOR’S NOTE

RESEARCH ARTICLES

3 Diel and Monthly Movement Rates by Migratory and Resident Female Pronghorn Paul F. Jones, T. Andrew Hurley, Chelsea Jensen, Karl Zimmer, and Andrew Jakes

13 Pheasant Response to Lead Ingestion Travis J. Runia and Alex J. Solem

NOTES

19 Examining the Potential Competitive Effects of Ventenata dubia on Annual and Perennial Grasses Shawn McKay, Lesley R. Morris, Christopher E. Morris, and Elizabeth A. Leger

23 Adult Red-Headed Woodpecker Interaction with Bullsnake After Arboreal Nest Depradation Brittany J. Yohannes and James L. Howitz

26 Breeding Trumpeter Swans in Northeastern North Dakota Mark …

The Population Genetics Of Morro Bay Eelgrass (Zostera Marina), Julia Gardner Harencar

Master's Theses

Seagrass populations are in decline worldwide. Zostera marina (eelgrass), one of California’s native seagrasses, is no exception to this trend. In the last 8 years, Morro Bay, California has lost 95% of its eelgrass. Eelgrass is an ecosystem engineer, providing important ecosystem services such as sediment stabilization, nutrient cycling, and nursery habitats for fish. The failure of recent restoration efforts necessitates a better understanding of the causes of eelgrass decline in this estuary. Previous research on eelgrass in California has demonstrated a link between population genetic diversity and eelgrass bed health, ecosystem functioning, and resilience to disturbance and extreme climatic …

Adult Red-Headed Woodpecker Interaction With Bullsnake After Arboreal Nest Depredation, Brittney J. Yohannes, James L. Howitz

The Prairie Naturalist

Nest success rates often are higher among cavity-nesting birds than those that nest in open cups or on the ground. Among cavity-nesting birds, woodpeckers have some of the highest rates of nest success. A review of woodpecker nesting ecology across species documented nest success ranging from 0.42 to 1.00 with a median of 0.80 (n = 84 populations), and that predation was low, ranging from 0.00 to 0.35 with a median of 0.13 (n = 33 populations). The constrained opening to a cavity nest limits predation to relatively small animals or those able to break open cavity walls. …

Use Of Satellite Trap Transmitters In Capturing Mountain Lions, Randy D. Johnson, Jonathan A. Jenks, Stephanie A. Tucker

The Prairie Naturalist

The use of safe and humane methods for the capture of wild animals is imperative in wildlife research, wildlife damage management, and feral animal control. When capturing animals successfully and humanely, several items must be addressed, including animal safety, personnel safety, non-target captures, and cost (Sikes et al. 2016). Additionally, public pressures against the use of traps have led to significant changes in trapping regulations across North America and beyond (Andelt et al. 1999, Darrow and Shivik 2008) and can place research projects at risk to loss of Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) approval (Larkin et al. 2003). …

Breeding Trumpeter Swans In Northeast- Ern North Dakota, Mark R. Fisher, Matthew D. Sprenger, Chris R. Roed, David O. Lambeth

The Prairie Naturalist

The trumpeter swan (Cygnus buccinator) is North America’s largest waterfowl species and breeds in wetland habitats across the northern United States, Alaska and Canada. Summer observations by ornithologists, including those of John James Audubon in 1843, indicated a substantial number of trumpeter swans were breeding in North Dakota prior to European settlement. However, the species was extirpated by the late 1800s and there were no subsequent breeding records for over a century (Stewart 1975). Since 2007, 5 recent nesting records indicate that trumpeter swan has returned as a regular breeding species in North Dakota.

A continental range-wide breeding trumpeter swan …

Erratum

The Prairie Naturalist

In the June 2016 issue (48:1, page 56), the Editorial Staff inadvertently omitted corrections provided by the corresponding author prior to publication. In the second paragraph of the left column (i.e., 5 lines from the bottom), “is” should be replaced with “could be.” Similarly, in the right column (9 lines from the top), “In additional” should be replaced with “In addition.” On page 58, the following text should be placed after “institutions” in the Appendix caption: “University of Central Missouri (CMSU), Truman State University (TSU).” Lastly, within the appendix, all instances of MHP should be replaced with FHSM and “OF” …

Transcriptomic Resources For The Medicinal Legume Mucuna Pruriens: De Novo Transcriptome Assembly, Annotation, Identification And Validation Of Est-Ssr Markers, N. Sathyanarayana, Ranjith Kumar Pittala, Pankaj Kumar Tripathi, Ratan Chopra, Heikham Russiachand Singh, Vikas Belamkar, Pardeep Kumar Bhardwaj, Jeff J. Doyle, Ashley N. Egan

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Background:

The medicinal legume Mucuna pruriens (L.) DC. has attracted attention worldwide as a source of the anti-Parkinson’s drug L-Dopa. It is also a popular green manure cover crop that offers many agronomic benefits including high protein content, nitrogen fixation and soil nutrients. The plant currently lacks genomic resources and there is limited knowledge on gene expression, metabolic pathways, and genetics of secondary metabolite production. Here, we present transcriptomic resources for M. pruriens, including a de novo transcriptome assembly and annotation, as well as differential transcript expression analyses between root, leaf, and pod tissues. We also develop microsatellite markers …

Systematics, Biogeography, And Species Delimitation Of The Malagasy Psorospermum (Hypericaceae), Heritiana S. Ranarivelo

Dissertations

Psorospermum belongs to the tribe Vismieae (Hypericaceae). Morphologically, Psorospermum is very similar to Harungana, which also belongs to Vismieae along with another genus, Vismia. Interestingly, Harungana occurs in both Madagascar and mainland Africa, as does Psorospermum; Vismia occurs in both Africa and the New World. However, the phylogeny of the tribe and the relationship between the three genera are uncertain. Using freshly collected specimens from my fieldwork as well as extant herbarium specimens, I aimed first, to generate a phylogeny of Psorospermum; second, to investigate its biogeography; and third, to investigate species boundaries within Malagasy Psorospermum …

Let The Seeds Fall Where They May: Investigating The Effect Of Landscape Features On Fine-Scale Seed Dispersal, Monica R. Grasty

Dissertations and Theses

Seed dispersal is a crucial ecological and evolutionary process that allows plants to colonize sites and expand their ranges, while also reducing inbreeding depression and facilitating the spread of adaptive genetic variation. However, our fundamental understanding of seed dispersal is limited due to the difficulty of directly observing dispersal events. In recent years, genetic marker methods have furthered our understanding of colonization and range expansion due to seed dispersal. Most investigations focus on regional scales of dispersal, due to low levels of variation in the chloroplast genome (cpDNA), which can serve as an indirect measure of seed dispersal. Here, I …

Living Seeds Of History: The John Stokes And Mary's Gardens Exhibit, Stephanie Shreffler, Kayla Harris

Marian Library Faculty Presentations

This panel describes how the University of Dayton planned and carried out an exhibit on the John Stokes and Mary’s Gardens archival collection, featuring a garden inside the library. A “Mary garden” is a garden filled with flowers named for Mary.

The panel describes the content of the collection and how the exhibit was originally conceived; the exhibit design and programming; and the challenges faced during the planning process.

The exhibit provided a way for the Libraries to promote an archival collection that not only closely connected with the University’s mission as a Catholic institution, but also provided new opportunities …

Rosa Hybrid Gene Gapc Is Mutated In The Presence Of The Rose Rosette Virus, William A. Beams, Eva L. Burelos, Charles C. Hundley, Landon R. Dame, Laura G. Sims, Jacob J. Adler

Kentucky Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship

Rose Rosette Disease (RRD) harms the global rose supply by modification of the growth and development in rose cultivar. RRD spreads via a negative-sense RNA plant virus transmitted by eriophyid mites. Importantly, there is no pre-existing knowledge about the biochemistry by which this virus debilitates roses. Here we implicate glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), one of the major metabolic enzymes in plants, as a possible target of the virus. Genomic DNA of the cytosolic form of the protein encoded by GAPC was extracted from both virally-infected and non-infected samples of the Rosa hybrid cultivar Rosa Tropicana. The sequence results provided several distinct …

A Comprehensive Analysis Of Alternative Splicing In Paleopolyploid Maize, Wenbin Mei, Sanzhen Liu, James C. Schnable, Cheng-Ting Yeh, Nathan M. Springer, Patrick S. Schnable, William Brad Barbazuk

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Identifying and characterizing alternative splicing (AS) enables our understanding of the biological role of transcript isoform diversity. This study describes the use of publicly available RNA-Seq data to identify and characterize the global diversity of AS isoforms in maize using the inbred lines B73 and Mo17, and a related species, sorghum. Identification and characterization of AS within maize tissues revealed that genes expressed in seed exhibit the largest differential AS relative to other tissues examined. Additionally, differences in AS between the two genotypes B73 and Mo17 are greatest within genes expressed in seed. We demonstrate that changes in the level …

Herbaceous 2017, Julia I. Chapman, Margaret E. Maloney, Taylor M. Buskey, Ryan W. Mcewan

Data Files: Drew Woods Permanent Plots

Herbaceous vegetation data collected in 2017 at Drew Woods State Nature Preserve in Darke County, OH. Data key is provided in a supplemental file.