Botany Commons^™

Foliar Water Uptake: Processes, Pathways, And Integration Into Plant Water Budgets, Z. Carter Berry, Nathan C. Emery, Sybil G. Gotsch, Gregory R. Goldsmith

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

Nearly all plant families, represented across most major biomes, absorb water directly through their leaves. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as foliar water uptake. Recent studies have suggested that foliar water uptake provides a significant water subsidy that can influence both plant water and carbon balance across multiple spatial and temporal scales. Despite this, our mechanistic understanding of when, where, how, and to what end water is absorbed through leaf surfaces remains limited. We first review the evidence for the biophysical conditions necessary for foliar water uptake to occur, focusing on the plant and atmospheric water potentials necessary to …

Effects Of Fruit Position In Standard Place Pack Cartons And Gamma 1 Irradiation On The Postharvest Quality Of ‘Barnfield’ Navel Oranges, Karina Cruz Rodriguez (Friscia), José De Jesús Ornelas-Paz, Vrani Ibarra-Junquera, Maria Criselda Toto, Akanksha Jain, Anuradha Prakash

Food Science Faculty Articles and Research

The objective of this study was to determine if oranges in the top and bottom layers within a Standard Place Pack were impacted differently by irradiation after long-term storage. ‘Barnfield’ Navel oranges were packed in Standard Place Pack cartons and treated with 0, 0.15, or 1 kGy of gamma irradiation. The fruit were stored for 3 weeks at 5 °C and then for 1 week at 20 °C. After storage, the fruit from the top and bottom layers were separately evaluated for quality. The development of stem-end rind breakdown (SERB) was the main cause of quality loss and was greater …

Mobile Elements Shape Plastome Evolution In Ferns, Tanner A. Robison, Amanda L. Grusz, Paul G. Wolf, Jeffrey P. Mower, Blake D. Fauskee, Karla Sosa, Eric Schuettpelz

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Plastid genomes display remarkable organizational stability over evolutionary time. From green algae to angiosperms, most plastid genomes are largely collinear, with only a few cases of inversion, gene loss, or, in extremely rare cases, gene addition. These plastome insertions are mostly clade-specific and are typically of nuclear or mitochondrial origin. Here, we expand on these findings and present the first family-level survey of plastome evolution in ferns, revealing a novel suite of dynamic mobile elements. Comparative plastome analyses of the Preridaceae expose several mobile open reading frames that vary in sequence length, insertion site, and configuration among sampled taxa. Even …

Japanese Beetles’ Feeding On Milkweed Flowers May Compromise Efforts To Restore Monarch Butterfly Habitat, Adam M. Baker, Daniel A. Potter

Entomology Faculty Publications

The eastern North American migratory population of monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus) is in serious decline. Habitat restoration, including adding millions of host plants to compensate for loss of milkweed in US cropland, is a key part of the international conservation strategy to return this iconic butterfly to sustainable status. We report here that Popillia japonica, a polyphagous, invasive beetle, aggregates and feeds on flowers of Asclepias syriaca, the monarch’s most important larval food plant, reducing fruiting and seed set by >90% and extensively damaging milkweed umbels in the field. The beetle’s ongoing incursion into the monarch’s …

Genetic Diversity In An Invasive Clonal Plant? A Historical And Contemporary Perspective, Elliot D. Weidow

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Introduced populations of Eichhornia crassipes (Pontederiaceae) possess extremely low levels of genetic diversity due to severe bottleneck events and clonal reproduction. While populations elsewhere have been well studied, North American populations of E. crassipes remain understudied. We used Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism markers to assess genetic diversity and population structure in North American E. crassipes populations. Patterns of diversity over the past fifty years were analyzed using herbarium specimens. Furthermore, we sampled populations across the Gulf Coast of the United States throughout a year to determine contemporary genetic diversity and assess potential seasonal effects. Genetic diversity was found to be …

Herbarium Records Reveal Earlier Bloom Times In Three Southern Appalachian Plant Species, Melanie Flood, Mark Davis, Ashlee Mccaskill

Georgia Journal of Science

Plant phenology, especially the onset of flowering in angiosperms, is a useful tool for studying the effects of climate change on native flora because it is influenced by temperatures. Numerous studies in different biomes have provided evidence of earlier bloom times in response to increasing temperatures. We examined herbarium specimen data to determine whether three spring-blooming species (Sanguinaria canadensis, Iris cristata, and Trillium rugelii) at the southern terminus of the Appalachians exhibit a similar change in onset of flowering over several decades. All three species exhibited significantly earlier flower onset during the past 120 years, a …

Quantifying The Environmental Performance Of A Stream Habitat Improvement Project, Cody Morse

Master's Theses

River restoration projects are being installed worldwide to rehabilitate degraded river habitat. Many of these projects focus on stream habitat improvement (SHI), and an estimated 60%of the 37,000 projects listed in the National River Restoration Science Synthesis Program focus on SHI for salmon and trout species. These projects frequently lack a sufficient monitoring program or account for the environmental costs associated with SHI. The present study used life cycle assessment (LCA) techniques and topographic effectiveness monitoring to quantify environmental costs on the basis of geomorphic change. This methodology was a novel approach to assessing the cost-benefit relationship of SHI. To …

Arkansas Wheat Cultivar Performance Tests 2017-2018, 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.

B. R. Wells Arkansas Rice Research Studies 2017, R. J. Norman, K. A. K. Moldenhauer

Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Series

No abstract provided.

Evaluation Of Glyphosate And Ppo-Inhibiting Herbicide Tank-Mixtures To Manage Glyphosate Resistance In Soybean, Jesaelen Gizotti De Moraes

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

Protoporphyrinogen oxidase (PPO)-inhibiting herbicides in combination with glyphosate for postemergence (POST) applications is one of the primary alternatives to manage glyphosate-resistant weeds and the only effective POST chemical option in conventional and glyphosate-tolerant soybean to control glyphosate and ALS-inhibiting resistant weeds. Antagonistic interactions have been reported between many different herbicide modes of action and optimal droplet size may be affected by tank-mixtures of different herbicides. Additionally, the impact of adjuvants on the factors aforementioned as well as on physical properties needs to be thoroughly investigate to maximize herbicide efficacy. Therefore, the objectives of this research were to: 1) conduct greenhouse …

Ecological Drivers Of Plant Community Composition In A Patterned Fen At Seney National Wildlife Refuge, Michigan, Alex Graeff

All NMU Master's Theses

Regional variation in geomorphology, vegetation, fen landforms, and water chemistry create a variety of unique peatlands across the Northern Hemisphere. In the Great Lakes region, patterned fens have been extensively studied in northern Minnesota, but largely ignored in Michigan. The purpose of this study was to describe vegetation, landforms, and water chemistry in a patterned fen at Seney National Wildlife Refuge. Percent cover of plant species and environmental variables were measured at 298 relevé style plots across 6 landform types: triangular swamp forests, featureless water tracks, peripheral water tracks, strings, flarks, and ponded sedge lawns. Additionally, several morphometric parameters were …

The Fate Of Xylem-Transported Co2 In Plants, Samantha S. Stutz, David T. Hanson

Biology ETDs

The concentration of carbon dioxide in tree stems can be ~30-750 times higher than current atmospheric [CO2]. Dissolved inorganic carbon enters the xylem from root and stem respiration and travels with water through the plant. However, the fate of much of this xylem-transported CO2 is unknown. In these studies I examined the fate of xylem-transported CO2 traveling through the petiole and leaf. This was accomplished by placing cut leaves from a woody and herbaceous C3 species, and a Kranz-type C4 species, in a solution of dissolved NaH13CO3 at concentrations similar to those measured in nature. This allowed me to track …

Utilizing Random Regression Models For Genomic Prediction Of A Longitudinal Trait Derived From High‐Throughput Phenotyping, Malachy T. Campbell, Harkamal Walia, Gota Morota

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

The accessibility of high‐throughput phenotyping platforms in both the greenhouse and field, as well as the relatively low cost of unmanned aerial vehicles, has provided researchers with an effective means to characterize large populations throughout the growing season. These longitudinal phenotypes can provide important insight into plant development and responses to the environment. Despite the growing use of these new phenotyping approaches in plant breeding, the use of genomic prediction models for longitudinal phenotypes is limited in major crop species. The objective of this study was to demonstrate the utility of random regression (RR) models using Legendre polynomials for genomic …

Identification Of Genomic Regions Contributing To Protein Accumulation In Wheat Under Well-Watered And Water Deficit Growth Conditions, Ibrahim S. Elbasyoni, Sabah M. Morsy, Raghuprakash Kastoori Ramamurthy, Atef M. Nassar

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Sustaining wheat production under low-input conditions through development and identifying genotypes with enhanced nutritional quality are two current concerns of wheat breeders. Wheat grain total protein content, to no small extent, determines the economic and nutritive value of wheat. Therefore, the objectives of this study are to identify accessions with high and low grain protein content (GPC) under well-watered and water-deficit growth conditions and to locate genomic regions that contribute to GPC accumulation. Spring wheat grains obtained from 2111 accessions that were grown under well-watered and water-deficit conditions were assessed for GPC using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR). Results indicated significant influences …

Oaks (Family: Fagaceae) Diversity From Moist Temperate Forests Of Lesser Himalayas, Pakistan, Sher Wali, Kishwar Sultana, Fida Muhammad Khan

Journal of Bioresource Management

A detailed survey was conducted in five national parks and game reserves of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan to assess the biodiversity of family Fagaceae. Identification of the species was done using literary sources and comparison of samples with herbaria from Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad and Pakistan Museum of Natural History, Islamabad, Pakistan. A total of eight different species belonging to two genera were identified, including Quercus spp., Castanea sativa, Quercus glauca, Quercus baloot, Quercus incana, Quercus velutina, Quercus alba and Quercus dilatata. The greatest biodiversity was found in Banjosa Game Reserve (BGR) and Tolipir National Park (TNP), while Pir …

The Effects Of Fungicide And Genetics On Fungal Diseases On Wheat In Nebraska With Emphasis On Stem Rust, Javed Sidiqi

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

Foliar fungal diseases of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) pose a serious threat to wheat production. Despite the significant progress that has been made limiting major fungal diseases by developing resistant cultivars, these diseases challenge the economic sustainability of wheat production. The objectives of this research were (1) To determine the effect of fungal plant pathogens on grain yield in eastern Nebraska, released and pre-release winter wheat genotypes were studied in fungicide treated and untreated plots from 2015 to 2017. (2) To determine if Sr7b is present using allelism tests in ‘Gage’ wheat as previously hypothesized.

Sixty genotypes were planted …

Floristic Survey Of Crawford And Cherokee Counties In Southeast Kansas: An Evaluation Of Change Over Five Decades, Samantha Pryer

Electronic Theses & Dissertations

This project had two main objectives. The first objective was to document comprehensively the vascular flora of Crawford and Cherokee counties in extreme southeast Kansas. Each county had seen limited collecting in recent decades, though a comprehensive survey had never been done for Cherokee County. PSU student E.S. Gibson summarized the flora for Crawford County in 1963. Fieldwork for the present study occurred mostly in 2014 and 2015. Based on 6500+ newly collected specimens, vouchers from Gibson’s study, and taxa documented by Biota of North America (BONAP) (Kartesz 2017), 1440 taxa are reported, which includes 33 state and 263 county …

Leaf Micromorphology Aids Taxonomic Delineation Within The Hypervariable Genus Metrosideros (Myrtaceae) On O'Ahu, Gary L. Sur, Richard Keating, Elizabeth Stacy

Life Sciences Faculty Research

Variation in leaf micromorphology can aid delimitation of taxonomically difficult groups. The woody genus Metrosideros (Myrtaceae) dominates Hawai'i's native forests and comprises striking, predominantly infraspecific, macromorphological variation, including many forms unrecognized in current taxonomic treatments. On taxonomically rich O'ahu, 10 taxa (varieties or unnamed morphotypes of M. polymorpha and other species) occur in a predictable sequence with overlapping ranges from low to high elevation along the numerous leeward ridges of the Ko'olau Range. We used scanning electron and light microscopy to examine mature, nonsenescing sun leaves from each of these 10 taxa. Parametric and nonparametric tests were used to compare …

Chamaecrista Fasciculata In Tallgrass And Sand Prairies: The Potential For Differential Responses, Robert W. Philips

Theses and Dissertations

Successful establishment of a diversity of native species has become an important goal for restoration site managers to achieve, however as seed sources for a species may occur in habitats with different abiotic and biotic characteristics. Consequently, seeds from different sources may vary in their success in a restoration. Chamaecrista fasciculata, a native prairie species, occurs in two divergent prairie types - tallgrass and sand prairies. Tallgrass prairies have a moist soil with dense vegetation; in contrast, sand prairies have a well-drained sandy soil with sparse vegetation. I propose differential selection acting on populations in these prairie types would affect …

Field Pea Response To Seeding Rate, Depth, And Inoculant In West-Central Nebraska, Strahinja V. Stepanovic, Charles Burr, Julie A. Peterson, Daran Rudnick, Cody F. Creech, Rodrigo Werle

West Central Research and Extension Center, North Platte

Increased market demand and larger adoption of field pea (Pisum sativum L.) in semiarid west-central Nebraska has provided opportunities to replace summer fallow and diversify crop rotations. As a relatively new crop, its response to different seeding practices has not been evaluated in this eco-region. Field pea grain yield response to seeding depth (25, 50, and 75 mm), inoculation with Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. viciae (yes and no rhizobia inoculant), and seeding rates (35, 50, 65, 75, 90, 105, and 120 plants m^–2) was investigated in 2015 and 2016 at five sites in Perkins County, NE. There were …

Composition And Dispersal Dynamics Of Vegetation Communities In Urban Riparian Forests, Christa Von Behren

Dissertations and Theses

In urban riparian areas, vegetation composition may be affected by urban land use changes at both the stream reach and the watershed scale. Moreover, the mechanisms by which seeds disperse may be affected both by reduction in seed sources due to vegetation removal and by the urban stream syndrome that produces flashier hydrographs and incised channels. I hypothesized that vegetation communities with high cover of native and hydrophilic species would be found in watersheds with high forest cover, while more limited cover of these species would be found in highly developed watersheds. Additionally, to examine the dispersal mechanisms contributing to …

Lekking Behavior Of A Sharp-Tailed Grouse In South-Central Nebraska, Kelsey C. King, Andrew J. Caven, Keith Geluso

The Prairie Naturalist

Sharp-tailed grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus; STGR) occur throughout much of the northern Great Plains, and historically were suspected to have ranged as far south as Kansas (Connelly et al. 1998). Sharp-tailed grouse were the dominant grouse in Nebraska 200 years ago, but early settlers and their associated agricultural practices extirpated STGR from much of their former range, including Kansas and southern Nebraska (Sisson 1976, Johnsgard 2016). During the period of initial land conversion, the greater prairie-chicken (T. cupido; GRPC) filled the void, benefiting from small plots of cropland providing winter forage, and outcompeting the STGR (Johnsgard and Wood 1968, Svedarsky et …

A Short Narrative For Writing For The Prairie Naturalist, Christopher N. Jacques

The Prairie Naturalist

The abstract should be written upon completion of the paper. A well-written abstract is a single short (≤1 line/page of text), concise, and includes 1) an introductory sentence justifying why the study was conducted, 2) a statement of the principal objectives or hypotheses tested during the study, 3) a brief description of pertinent methods, 4) a summary of significant results, 5) a punchy conclusion, and 6) management implications (i.e., utility of results explaining how, when, where, and by whom data or interpretations can be applied; Krausman and Cox 2017). Keep in mind that abstracts are read more than authors than …

The Prairie Naturalist: The Journal Of The Great Plains Natural Science Society Volume 50 No. 1

The Prairie Naturalist

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 EDITOR’S NOTE

RESEARCH ARTICLES

3 Spatiotemporal Distribution of Waterfowl Disease Outbreaks in Kansas, USA Thomas A. Becker, Adam A. Ahlers, Shane Hesting, and David A. Haukos

14 Wild Turkey Occupancy in a Prairie Landscape Joshua C. Courlas and R. Scott Lutz

24 Age and Growth of Cottonwood Trees along the Missouri River, North Dakota Jonathan M. Friedman, Fisher R. Ankeny, and Marshall Wolf

NOTES

34 Hoary Bat Impaled on Barbed Wire Fence

37 Lekking Behavior of a Sharp-Tailed Grouse in South-Central Nebraska

BOOK REVIEWS

40 Force of Nature: George Fell, Founder of The Natural Areas Movement. …

Age And Growth Of Cottonwood Trees Along The Missouri River, North Dakota, Jonathan M. Friedman, Fisher R. Ankney, J. Marshall Wolf

The Prairie Naturalist

The relict plains cottonwood (Populus deltoides subsp. monilifera) forest along the Missouri River between Lakes Sakakawea and Oahe includes trees as large as two meters in diameter. We cored 24 of these trees to determine their age and suitability for flow reconstruction. Because most of the trees were rotten in the center, we developed a method to estimate the date of the center ring that accounts for the increase in ring width toward the center. Estimated center ring dates were as early as 1806. Cottonwood growth at a dry site was correlated with April–August flow prior to construction of Lake …

Wild Turkey Occupancy In A Prairie Landscape, Joshua C. Courlas, R. Scott Lutz

The Prairie Naturalist

We investigated wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) distribution in prairie landscapes in North Dakota using occupancy modeling in two stages. In 2012, we extensively surveyed ecoregions across the state and in 2013, intensively surveyed the ecoregion with the highest probability of occupancy. Occupancy models from the statewide survey indicated wild turkeys were sparse in ecoregions with primarily agricultural landscapes, were found associated with wooded riparian cover, and found most frequently in the Missouri River Plateau ecoregion. In the Missouri River Plateau, our occupancy models identified that an additive model including mean patch area of cropland fields and spatial aggregation of forest …

Book Reviews: Force Of Nature: George Fell, Founder Of The Natural Areas Movement. Arthur Melville Pearson., James R. Herkert

The Prairie Naturalist

Arthur Melville Pearson’s Force of Nature is a book that tells two very interesting and intertwined stories. One is a story of how perseverance and determination can drive an individual to accomplish great things. And the other is a story of how the modern day natural areas movement came to be. Fortunately for those interested in conservation and natural areas protection, those two stories were combined in the life of George Fell (1916-1994). In Fell’s home state of Illinois, where his impact is widely known, his name is synonymous with conservation. In other places where his impact is less well …

Spatiotemporal Distribution Of Waterfowl Disease Outbreaks In Kansas, Usa, Thomas A. Becker, Adam A. Ahlers, Shane Hesting, David A. Haukos

The Prairie Naturalist

Causes and impacts of disease outbreaks in wild bird populations are rarely studied beyond documentation of large epizootic events. In Kansas, USA, a central disease surveillance and reporting protocol currently does not exist within the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism, which has led to a lack of available knowledge of disease occurrences that could be used to predict and manage future outbreaks. We compiled historic records of documented waterbird disease outbreaks in Kansas from 1967–2014 and related the frequency of outbreaks with light geese (Ross’s goose [Anser rossii]; Snow goose [A. caerulescens]) populations from 1970–2014. We found 32 …

A Quantitative Analysis Of The Effects Of Urbanization, Mesophication And Prescribed Burns On Oak Woodlands In The Chicago Metropolitan Area, Chad Populorum

Celebration of Learning

Urban expansion has had devastating impacts on forest ecosystems, especially within the past century. Human attempts to dominate nature have diminished natural disturbance regimes, which have maintained the biodiversity and historic composition of these ecosystems. Fires have been a prominent force in maintaining the structure of oak, hickory and other heliophytic (sun loving and fire-adapted) forest systems. Human induced fire suppression has led to mesophication across North America. Mesophication is the transition from drier conditions with open canopies to wetter conditions with closed canopies. These new conditions decrease the survival rates of these important species and begin to favor mesophytic …

Herbaceous 2018, Julia I. Chapman, Margaret E. Maloney, Ryan W. Mcewan

Data Files: Drew Woods Permanent Plots

Herbaceous vegetation data collected in 2018 at Drew Woods State Nature Preserve in Darke County, OH. Data key is provided in a supplemental file.