Botany Commons^™

Summaries Of Arkansas Cotton Research 2013, Derrick M. Oosterhuis

Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Series

No abstract provided.

B. R. Wells Arkansas Rice Research Studies 2013, R. J. Norman, K.A. K. Moldenhauer

Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Series

No abstract provided.

Arkansas Wheat Cultivar Performance Tests 2013-2014, R. E. Mason, R. G. Miller, J. P. Kelley, E. A. Milus

Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Series

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

Oh No! Something Is Eating My Coral Honeysuckle!, W. John Hayden

Biology Faculty Publications

Let’s imagine a situation that could happen in your own backyard. Suppose you have a healthy specimen of 2014’s Virginia Native Plant Society Wildflower of the Year, coral honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens). Suppose further that this plant rewards you every spring with a flush of flashy red flowers that you treasure all the more because they consistently bring hummingbirds to your yard. Now imagine that one fine morning you notice some little green caterpillars voraciously eating the leaves of your beloved coral honeysuckle. What do you do?

Venturing Through The Tall Grass: Experiencing The Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie Preserve, Christie L. Borkowsky, Erin Zahradka

The Prairie Naturalist

The Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie Preserve (hereafter the Preserve) was established in 1989 with a goal of protecting a vanishing habitat and to educate the general public of the importance of native grasslands (M. Latta, Nature Manitoba, personal communication). Starting in the early 1990s, an annual Prairie Day event was organized in early August to provide a means of interaction between prairie enthusiasts, the general public and local residents. Self-guiding interpretive trails with rustic amenities were established in 1996 and 2004. School programs, tours, and a simple two-page newsletter have been used to promote the Preserve and bring out visitors …

Project Prairie And Tallgrass Education On The Rice Lake Plains: A Journey From 1870 To Today And Beyond, Todd Farrell, Mark Rupke, Mark Stabb

The Prairie Naturalist

Project Prairie began in 2011 as a curriculum-linked integrated environmental studies program to showcase the Rice Lake Plains (RLP), a tallgrass prairie landscape of sandy rolling hills located at the eastern extent of the Oak Ridges Moraine in southern Ontario. Project Prairie provides educators both indoor and outdoor activities that support their curriculum and share the story of the RLP. Project Prairie provides teacher and student resources that focus on the RLP from the mid-nineteenth century to present day. Learning objectives of Project Prairie are developed from the subjects of science, social science, language arts, geography, history, and Aboriginal culture. …

Notes: Oriental Bittersweet In Grasslands Near Eastern Bluebird Nest Boxes, Neal D. Mundahl

The Prairie Naturalist

Oriental bittersweet (Celastrus orbiculatus Thunb.; hereafter OB) is an invasive, woody vine that has been expanding its range westward in North America since its introduction from East Asia in the mid-1700s for horticultural purposes (Albright et al. 2009, United States Department of Agriculture [USDA] 2012). Although typically a woodland problem in the United States (McNab and Meeker 1987), OB can invade grassland habitats (Fike and Niering 1999), likely sprouting from seeds dropped by birds and mammals (McNab and Meeker 1987, Greenberg et al. 2001, Sarver et al. 2008) and often developing into large, shrub-like tangles of intertwining stems (Fike …

Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie Preserve: Providing Habitat For Protected And Provincially Rare Species, Christie L. Borkowsky

The Prairie Naturalist

The establishment of the Manitoba Tall Grass Prairie Preserve in 1989 secured some of the largest and highest quality parcels of tall grass prairie remaining in the province. Shortly after securement by either Nature Manitoba (formerly Manitoba Naturalists Society) or Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation, seasonal staff from the Critical Wildlife Habitat Program (CWHP) began inventory efforts to document the various floral and faunal species occurring on these acquisitions. With the addition of the Nature Conservancy of Canada to the Preserve partnership, the Preserve has grown in size to nearly 5,000 ha. The list of species identified on the Preserve has …

Potential Impacts Of Bison Wallows On A Restored Tallgrass Prairie Community, Kimran Miller, Johanna Foster, Kristen Nielsen, Mary O'Loughlin

The Prairie Naturalist

When bison (Bos bison) repeatedly roll on the ground, they denude vegetation and create wallows (semi-permanent bare areas) that alter the native prairie plant community. Responses to these wallow-related disturbances are not as well documented in restored prairies. From 1 June to 1 September 2010 and from 3 June to 6 August 2011, we examined potential responses at Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge, a restored prairie with resident bison. We hypothesized that plants and beetles would vary along a disturbance gradient. Our predictions were: (1) near wallows, plants with weedy lifestyles would have highest cover and biomass compared …

A Floristic Survey Of Selected Sites In The Loup River Valley, Nance County, Nebraska, Diane M. Flynn, Steven J. Rothenberger

The Prairie Naturalist

The Loup River Valley of Nebraska contains natural, undisturbed wet meadows with significant plant diversity. Even though these sites are infrequent and are often intermixed with heavily grazed pastures or cultivated fields, they support numerous plant and animal species that do not occur elsewhere. We surveyed three study sites (an ungrazed wet meadow; a grazed wet meadow; and a riparian area) that totaled approximately 68.8 ha during the 2010 and 2011 growing seasons. We compiled an annotated vascular plants checklist for the study area that included 244 plant species of which about 49% (119) were new county records. The mean …

Water Use And Water Tolerance In The Riparian Species American Sycamore (Plantanus Occidentalis L.) And How Its Physiology Compares To The Coexisting Black Willow (Salix Nigra Marshall), Eric Duncan

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects

This study set out to compare aspects of water use and tolerance to inundation and drought of two riparian tree species, Platanus occidentalis L. and Salix nigra Marshall. The main goal of the study was to better understand the two species and assess the suitability of P. occidentalis for use in riparian restoration. To accomplish this, potted individuals were subjected to treatments of drought, inundation, or control, under greenhouse conditions, and separately, in order to estimate water use in trees, season-long diurnal measurements of sap flux (using Granier type thermal dissipation probes) were determined in situ for trees growing in …

Registration Of ‘Ci0947bmr’ Sorghum, O. R. Portillo, R. Clara-Valencia, J. Ramírez, R. Estebez, M. Hernández, A. Morán, R. Obando, N. Gutiérrez, R. Tinoco-Mora, N. De Gracia, D. Herrera, Luis Orlindo Tedeschi, W. L. Rooney

INTSORMIL Scientific Publications

The sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] cultivar CI0947bmr (Reg. No. CV-137, PI 672153) was jointly developed and released by the Centro Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria y Forestal (CENTA) research program in El Salvador and the Texas A&M Agrilife Research sorghum breeding program in 2013. CI0947bmr is a brown midrib (bmr), dual-purpose sorghum selected for productivity in Central American environments. CI0947bmr was developed from a pedigree breeding program, and it was derived from a BC₁F₂ population of the pedigree B03292bmr/Tortillero//Tortillero. All generation advancement and selection were completed in San Andres, El Salvador. To confirm performance …

[Accepted Article Manuscript Version (Postprint)] Auxin Input Pathway Disruptions Are Mitigated By Changes In Auxin Biosynthetic Gene Expression In Arabidopsis, Gretchen Spiess, Amanda Hausman, Peng Yu, Jerry Cohen, Rebekah Rampey, Bethany Zolman

Biology Department Faculty Works

Auxin is a phytohormone involved in cell elongation and division. Levels of indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), the primary auxin, are tightly regulated through biosynthesis, degradation, sequestration, and transport. IAA is sequestered in reversible processes by adding amino acids, polyol or simple alcohols, or sugars, forming IAA conjugates, or through a two-carbon elongation forming indole-3-butyric acid. These sequestered forms of IAA alter hormone activity. To gain a better understanding of how auxin homeostasis is maintained, we have generated Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) mutants that combine disruptions in the pathways, converting IAA conjugates and indole-3-butyric acid to free IAA. These mutants show phenotypes indicative …

Sfa Gardens Newsletter, Summer 2014, Sfa Gardens, Stephen F. Austin State University

SFA Gardens Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Abcb11 Functions With B1 And B19 To Regulate Rootward Auxin Transport, Jesica Elyse Reemmer

Open Access Theses

Auxin transport is essential for the architecture and development of erect plants. In a network of transporters directing auxin flows, ATP-Binding Cassette (ABC) transporters are a ubiquitous family of proteins that actively transport important substrates, including auxins, across the plasma membrane. ABCB1 and ABCB19 have been shown to account for the majority of rootward auxin transport, but residual fluxes to the root tip in Arabidopsis b1b19 double mutants implies the involvement of at least one additional auxin transporter in this process. Of specific interest, the severe dwarfism seen in abcb1abcb19 is strikingly reminiscent of that seen in mutants defective in …

Refining Phylogenetic Hypotheses Using Chloroplast Genomics And Incomplete Data Sets In Lasthenia (Madieae, Asteraceae), Joseph Frederic Walker

Open Access Theses

The genus Lasthenia (Madieae, Asteraceae), consists of predominantly annual plant species that are largely endemic to the California Floristic Province of western North America and occupy a large range of habitat types. With high levels of morphological and ecological diversity, Lasthenia is a robust tool, capable of providing a natural non-model organism for answering a diverse array of ecological and evolutionary questions. Future studies would benefit greatly from a strong phylogenetic hypothesis and more molecular resources, such as the whole plastome sequence for a representative species in the genus. Over a decade ago there was a study that laid a …

Coral Honeysuckle Easy To Propagate With Cuttings, W. John Hayden

Biology Faculty Publications

One of my earliest botanical/horticultural memories involves time spent with my dad taking cuttings of ornamental plants. Every spring, he would start several dozen new chrysanthemums from carefully overwintered stock plants. He was also fond of long yew hedges that he developed by taking numerous cuttings from just a few original shrubs in our yard. And, from time to time, both my grandmothers would propagate, via cuttings, house plants like geraniums, African violets, and Christmas cacti. But I think it was my dad’s comparatively larger scale operation that fascinated me; with just a little effort, a single shrub could yield …

Traversing Swanton Road, 16th Ed., James A. West

Academic, Government & Associated Organizational Research Resources

Situated at the northwest end of Santa Cruz County and occupying circa 30 square miles of sharply contrasted terrain, the Scott Creek Watershed concentrates within its geomorphological boundaries, at least 10-12% of California's flora, both native and introduced. Paradoxically, the use/abuse that the watershed has sustained over the past 140+ years, has not necessarily diminished the biodiversity and perhaps parallels the naturally disruptive but biologically energizing processes (fire, flooding, landslides and erosion), which have also been historically documented for the area for +60 years. This is an early edition of an extensive document by James A. West. Please visit the …

Pitcher Plants (Sarracenia) Provide A 21st-Century Perspective On Infraspecific Ranks And Interspecific Hybrids: A Modest Proposal* For Appropriate Recognition And Usage, Aaron M. Ellison, Charles C. Davis, Pat Calie, Robert F. C. Naczi

Biological Sciences Faculty and Staff Research

The taxonomic use of infraspecific ranks (subspecies, variety, subvariety, form, and subform), and the formal recognition of interspecific hybrid taxa, is permitted by the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants. However, considerable confusion regarding the biological and systematic merits is caused by current practice in the use of infraspecific ranks, which obscures the meaningful variability on which natural selection operates, and by the formal recognition of those interspecific hybrids that lack the potential for inter-lineage gene flow. These issues also may have pragmatic and legal consequences, especially regarding the legal delimitation and management of threatened and endangered …

Multi-Scale Habitat Use Of Male Ruffed Grouse In The Black Hills National Forest, Cassandra L. Mehls, Kent C. Jensen, Mark A. Rumble, Michael C. Wimberly

The Prairie Naturalist

Ruffed grouse (Bonasa umbellus) are native upland game birds and a management indicator species (MIS) for aspen (Populus tremuloides) in the Black Hills National Forest (Black Hills). Our objective was to assess resource selection of male ruffed grouse to identify the most appropriate scale to manage for aspen and ruffed grouse in the Black Hills. During spring 2007 and 2008, we conducted drumming surveys throughout the central and northern Black Hills to locate used and unused sites from which we compared habitat characteristics at increasing spatial scales. Aspen with >70% overstory canopy cover (OCC) was important to the occurrence of …

Sauger Life History In The Lower Portion Of The Upper Mississippi River, Kasey L. Yallaly, Justin R. Seibert, Sara J. Tripp, David P. Herzog, Quinton E. Phelps

The Prairie Naturalist

Widespread declines have been observed in numerous riverine fish species due to a host of anthropogenic related perturbations such as channelization, dam creation, and exploitation (Graham 1997, Gerken and Paukert 2009). Understanding life history and population demographics of riverine fishes is critical to their conservation. Specific to our study, the Mississippi River has undergone extensive habitat modifications that have changed the Upper Mississippi River (UMR) from a typical lotic large, free flowing river to multiple reservoir-like pools with reduced flow (LePage 1980, Hurley et al. 1987). These habitat transformations may impact sauger (Sander canadensis) populations within the Mississippi River. Several …

Den Characteristics Of Upland And Low- Land Striped Skunks Along The Missouri River Floodplain, Dave Sempek, James A. Wilson

The Prairie Naturalist

Striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis) are opportunistic with respect to habitat use (Bixler and Gittleman 2000), inhabiting an array of landscapes in the proximity of a permanent water supply, such as forest borders, old-fields, fencerows, and open grassy fields broken by wooded ravines (Schwartz and Schwartz 1981, Larivière and Messier 2000). Food quantity and accessibility are major factors determining the quality of striped skunk habitat (Larivière et al. 1999) and are important in the den site selection.

Dens play an important role in skunk survival and reproduction due to the warmth, predator protection, and safe location for parturition they provide (Hwang …

Notes: Bed-Site Selection By Neonatal White-Tailed Deer In Central North Dakota, Brian A. Schaffer, Jonathan A. Jenks, Troy W. Grovenburg, William F. Jensen

The Prairie Naturalist

Understanding bed-site selection and vegetation characteristics provides valuable information for population management (Verme 1977, Huegel et al. 1985a, Nelson and Woolf 1987). Predation and other natural-caused mortalities of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) neonates are most likely to occur within the first 60 days of life; a time period when selected habitat characteristics are vital to survival (Verme 1977, Hue- gel et al. 1985a, Nelson and Woolf 1987, Grovenburg et al. 2010). Prior to the study of Grovenburg et al. (2010), limited research had been completed on the bed-site selection of neonatal white-tailed deer in the grasslands of the Northern Great …

Precipitation And Fire Impacts On Small Mammals In Shortgrass Prairie, Whitney J. Priesmeyer, Raymond S. Matlack, Richard T. Kazmair

The Prairie Naturalist

The southern Great Plains and the northern part of the Texas Panhandle have received less attention from a biological perspective than other parts of the state. Although there is substantial information on the effects of fire on small mammals in the tallgrass and mixed-grass prairies, there is a lack of understanding of fire influences in the shortgrass prairie, specifically on small mammals. We conducted our study on the Cross Bar Cooperative Management Area (CMA), a 4,856 ha shortgrass prairie within the Texas panhandle. Our objective was to determine the effect of three different fire return frequencies and precipitation on diversity …

Bobcat Predation On Bighorn Lamb In The Western Black Hills Of South Dakota, Brynn L. Parr, John Kanta, Joe Sandrini, Daniel J. Thompson, Jonathan A. Jenks

The Prairie Naturalist

Bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) are found throughout western North America (Krausman et al. 1993, Goodson 1994, Krausman et al. 1996, Besser et al. 2012). In their current range, commonly documented large predators of bighorn sheep include cougars (Puma concolor), gray foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus), wolves (Canis lupus), and coyotes (C. latrans; Ross et al. 1997, Neale et al. 1998, Corti and Shackleton 2002, Dekker 2009, Karsch et al. 2013). Bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) and golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) also have been documented as predators to both wild and domestic sheep (Kennedy 1948, Cunningham 1970, Nette et al. 1984, Watte and Phillips …

The Role Of Reviewer Criticism And How To Keep It In Perspective, Christopher N. Jacques

The Prairie Naturalist

Greetings GPNSS members! Hopefully this editorial finds you well and gearing up for the summer field season. As I write this editorial, I find myself reflecting on my time as Editor-in-Chief of TPN over the past 5 years. The experience has been personally and professionally rewarding in many ways, and I want to spend some time discussing something that I have experienced not only as a fellow author and Associate Editor, but also as a journal Editor.

Reviewer criticism. Thinking back to when I was appointed Editor, how I viewed criticism then is very different than how I think about …

The Gamekeepers: Wisconsin Wildlife Conservation From Wcd To Cwd. David L. Gjeston., Carrol L. Henderson

The Prairie Naturalist

Author David L. Gjeston has done a masterful job of capturing the history of wildlife conservation and, in particular, the work of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (formerly the Wisconsin Conservation Department or WCD) in protecting, restoring, and managing the wildlife resources of Wisconsin. Gjeston took on an incredibly complex task. He tells a fascinating story of wildlife conservation comprised of many layers of wildlife management from over a century and a half of evolving perceptions regarding wildlife uses, exploitation, restoration, problems, conflicts, and recreational opportunities that continue to the present.

Perhaps the most appealing part of this book …

Photosynthetic Thermal Tolerance And Recovery To Short Duration Temperature Stress In Desert And Montane Plants: A Comparative Study, David William Gallagher

Master's Theses

• Climate change models predict an increase in frequency and amplitude of extreme weather events, including heat waves. To better predict how the composition and distribution of plant assemblages might respond to these changes in temperature, it is important to understand how species currently respond to these extremes. Photosynthetic thermal tolerance (T₂₅)and photosynthetic recovery (RT₂₅) were quantified in 27 species. We also studied the relationships between T₂₅, RT₂₅ and leaf mass per area (LMA). Leaf temperature was also monitored in the field.
• Leaves used in this study were collected from two distinct …

Grazing Method Effects On Forage Production, Utilization, And Animal Performance On Nebraska Sandhills Meadow, Miles D. Redden

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

Mob grazing using ultrahigh stocking densities is promoted as a tool to increase the health and productivity of grasslands by increasing nutrient cycling and soil organic matter. Mob grazing can be defined as a strategy in which area available to grazing animals is restricted to achieve stocking densities of 200,000 kg/ha or greater. Objectives were to determine herbage production, utilization, and cattle weight gains among ultrahigh stocking density grazing and more conventional grazing methods on a Sandhills subirrigated meadow. Treatments included two replications of each of the following: four-pasture rotational grazing with two occupations per pasture in an 80-day grazing …

Synthesis Of The Effect Of Fire On Lesser Prairie‐Chickens, Eric Thacker, Dirac L. Twidwell Jr

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

In this synthesis, we reviewed the scientific literature pertaining to the effects of fire on lesser prairie‐chickens and their habitat. Overall, research is generally lacking that directly assesses relationships among fire, both as a regime and a discrete event, to its effect on lesser prairie‐chicken behavior and habitat value. Yet, research has quantified the effects of fire on vegetation throughout the distribution of the lesser prairie‐chicken, which has been linked to known metrics of habitat value and broad landscape‐level habitat requirements.

To summarize the literature, lesser prairie‐chickens require broad landscapes of fire‐dependent grass‐shrub vegetation. Changes in the eco‐evolutionary fire regime …