Plant Sciences Commons^™

Review Of The Midwestern Native Garden: Native Alternatives To Nonnative Flowers And Plants, An Illustrated Guide. By Charlotte Adelman And Bernard L. Schwartz., Stephen L. Young

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Native plants are important for maintaining biodiversity and supporting birds, mammals, and insects in a particular region. The interaction of plants with other organisms is what makes up food webs, and a shift in one will result in change in the other, change that is often detrimental to both. Invasive plant species, which include many nonnative types, can alter ecosystems with lasting effects on hydrology, nutrient cycling, and habitat. Similar to other regions, the Central Plains is increasingly threatened by the establishment of invasive plant species. The reintroduction of native plant species not only in large natural areas, but also …

Developmental Time, Longevity, And Lifetime Fertility Of Three Introduced Parasitoids Of The Mealybug Paracoccus Marginatus (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae), Kaushalya G. Amarasekare, Catharine M. Mannion, Nancy D. Epsky

Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Faculty Research

Developmental time, longevity, and lifetime fertility of three previously introduced parasitoids (Acerophagus papayae Noyes and Schauff, Anagyrus loecki Noyes and Menezes, and Pseudleptomastix mexicana Noyes and Schauff) (Hymenoptera: Encyrtidae) of the mealybug Paracoccus marginatus Williams and Granara de Willink (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae) were studied in the laboratory to understand the outcome of their recovery in field studies conducted in the United States. The developmental time of both male and female A. papayae and A. loecki was shorter than the developmental time of male and female P. mexicana. Male parasitoids of all three species had a shorter developmental time than …

Functions Of The Arabidopsis Kinesin Superfamily Of Microtubule-Based Motor Proteins, Chuanmei Zhu, Ram Dixit

Biology Faculty Publications & Presentations

Plants possess a large number of microtubule-based kinesin motor proteins. While the kinesin-2, 3, 9, and 11 families are absent from land plants, the kinesin-7 and 14 families are greatly expanded. In addition, some kinesins are specifically present only in land plants. The distinctive inventory of plant kinesins suggests that kinesins have evolved to perform specialized functions in plants. Plants assemble unique microtubule arrays during their cell cycle, including the interphase cortical microtubule array, preprophase band, anastral spindle and phragmoplast. In this review, we explore the functions of plant kinesins from a microtubule array viewpoint, focusing mainly on Arabidopsis kinesins. …

Stomatal Conductance Trends Of The Jade Plant (Crassula Ovata) In Relation To Circadian Rhythm Entrainability, Katie Cahoon, Martin Garcia, Matthew Pierga

Featured Research

The effect of an inverse light cycle on a Crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) plant was observed in the study. CAM plants are unique in that they open their stomata at night in order to conserve water, an evolution that has come about because these plants primarily exist in very arid climates. By placing a plant in a chamber in which the lights could be programmed to turn on when it was dark out, and to turn off during normal daylight hours, the stomatal conductance of the leaves of a jade plant (Crassula ovata) were recorded several times a day over …

Is There A Correlation Between Water Potential And Mechanical Strength Of Stems Of Malosma Laurina?, William Chang, Lauren Price, Nicolas Pak

Featured Research

The purpose of this experiment was to see if there was a correlation between water potential and the stem mechanical strength of the Malosma laurina. This experiment was conducted with the use of a Scholander-Hammel pressure chamber to find water potential and the Instron 5500 to test the mechanical strength of the stems. After analysis of the data, there was no direct correlation between water potential and the mechanical strength of stems of Malosma laurina.

Photosynthetic Advantage Of Invasive Species, Gabby Gurule-Small, Alis Sokolova, Patrick Stephens

Featured Research

Californians have greatly benefited from the introduction of plant and animal species necessary for food or other human pursuits; however, there are many other introduced species that can wreak havoc on the state’s environment and economy. Invasive species threaten the diversity and abundance of native species by both competing for resources and causing changes to the natural habitat. We hypothesize that invasive species will have higher photosynthetic and conductance rates which contribute to their success. Through their impacts on natural ecosystems, agricultural lands, and water delivery systems, invasive species may also negatively affect human health and possibly even the economy.

The Effect Of Riparian And Arid Environments On Stomatal Conductance In Baccharis Salicifolia And Heteromeles Arbutifolia, Danalit Rangel, Vicki Mac, Ariel Lan

Featured Research

A riparian environment is characterized by higher moisture levels than an arid environment; therefore they have different species of plants that can adapt to their natural habitats. It is critical that we explore the characteristics plants have in relation to their native environments. We propose to test the hypothesis that Baccharis salicifolia would have a higher stomatal conductance rate to water vapor loss compared to Heteromeles arbutifolia because Baccharis salicifolia thrives in a riparian environment in which water abundance would increase stomatal opening thereby contributing to the greater conductance. Using the LI-6400, we measured the conductance rate, photosynthetic rate, CO2 …

Effect Of Ambient Air Temperature On Leaf Size In Raphanus Sativus, Matthew Fleming, Michael Mccormack

Featured Research

Global warming is an increasing problem in today’s society. Thus, it is important to know how plants, specifically those that are cultivated for human consumption, react to rising average temperatures. This experiment tested how the leaf size of a common crop plant, Raphanus sativus (radish), is affected by two different temperatures. It is hypothesized that as temperature rises, the leaf size will increase, giving the leaf greater ability to cool via transpiration because of an larger surface area for stomatal conductance. This hypothesis was tested by growing two samples of plants in separate incubators. One sample was grown at a …

The Relationship Between Leaf Mechanical Strength And Photosynthetic Rates, Aaron Van Loon, Brianna Manes, Taylor Stucky, Thomas Addington

Featured Research

Photosynthesis is the process by which plants convert light energy to chemical energy, helping sustain life in the biosphere. There are many factors that affect the rate of photosynthesis such as atmospheric CO2 concentration, temperature, and sunlight. In this experiment, we attempt to determine what effect, if any, the mechanical strength of a plant has on its rate of photosynthesis. To perform this experiment we used both the LI-COR 6400 and the Instron Mechanical Testing Device. With the LI-COR we measured photosynthetic rate of our plant subjects in real time during the prime photosynthetic hours, 10-12am. The Instron allowed us …

The Effect Of Dirt On Inhibition Of Light Absorption In Musa Leaves, Lorelle Knight, Alexis Carrington, Angela French, Roxanne Barker

Featured Research

Dirt can be transported by wind, human activity and many other factors. It was hypothesized that dirt particles collected on leaves will decrease leaf reflectance and thus make the leaf less healthy. The rationale for this is that the more dirt present on the leaf, the more inhibited photons will be in reaching leaf pigments. The leaf will therefore be less healthy as it will be less able to perform photosynthesis. To test this hypothesis, eight leaf samples with varying amounts of dirt present, were collected from the plant, Musa. A Unispec spectrophotometer was used to test the reflectance of …

Innovative Approach To Active Learning, John G. Graveel, George E. Van Scoyoc

IMPACT Presentations

Presentation on a course redesign and project plan given at the American Society of Agronomy Annual Meeting, Cincinnati, OH.

The Relationship Of Stomatal Conductnace To Mechanical Strength In Leaves Of Santa Monica Plants, Russell P. Mott, Steven R. Fleming, John R. Macbeth

Featured Research

The Santa Monica Mountains ecosystem has a high diversity of plants with different lifestyles that produce different physiological characteristics individual to all plants. Studies in Australia, another Mediterranean ecosystem, have shown that mechanical strength of leaves is relatable to soil stress. This experiment seeks to determine whether mechanical strengths of leaves correlate to stomatal conductance of leaves across different species in the Santa Monica Mountains. Four species of plants are tested for their stomatal conductance in the field, and the leaves are tested for tensile strength using Young’s Modulus for comparison across leaves. These data show that there was no …

The Effect Of Leaf Trichome Density On Stem Mechanical Strength In Salvia Leucophylla, S. Mellifera, And S. Apiana, Brieanna English, Jeff Scanlon, Anushree Mahajan

Featured Research

Salvia species in southern California exhibit a variety of leaf trichome densiIes. S. mellifera, S. leucophylla, and S. apiana were chosen as study organisms because they exhibit varying trichome densiIes. A UniSpec was used to measure NDVI in leaves and an Instron was used to measure stem mechanical strength. This study provides preliminary evidence that suggests plants with high leaf trichome density have less stem mechanical strength, and those with low leaf trichome density have greater mechanical strength. Data generated from this study supports the idea that this may be a general and loose trend amongst plant families similar to …

A Comparison Of Brittlebush (Encelia Farinosa) Productivity And Health During Drought And Post Rainfall, Gabi Diciolli, Karre Lawson, Anders Reimer

Featured Research

Encelia farinosa is well adapted for drought tolerance as its leaves transform color based on water availability. We were puzzled by a question that any desert botanist must consider. How does the photosynthetic efficiency of E. farinosa fluctuate as it transitions from a state of drought to a state of soil saturation within a 72 hour period? In this experiment we looked at the effects of irrigation on the health and quantum yield of the brittlebush by looking at photosynthetic rates using the portable photosynthesis system LI-COR 6400 when applied to two leaves on a given plant and water potential …

Fuzzy Clustering Of Cpp Family In Plants With Evolution And Interaction Analyses, Tao Lu, Yongchao Dou, Chi Zhang

Center for Plant Science Innovation: Faculty and Staff Publications

Background: Transcription factors have been studied intensively because they play an important role in gene expression regulation. However, the transcription factors in the CPP family (cystein-rich polycomb-like protein), compared with other transcription factor families, have not received sufficient attention, despite their wide prevalence in a broad spectrum of species, from plants to animals. The total number of known CPP transcription factors in plants is 111 from 16 plants, but only 2 of them have been studied so far, namely TSO1 and CPP1 in Arabidopsis thaliana and soybean, respectively.

Methods: In this work, to study their functions, we applied …

Tallgrass Prairie Center Newsletter, Autumn 2012, University Of Northern Iowa. Tallgrass Prairie Center.

Tallgrass Prairie Center Newsletter

Inside This Issue:

-- Butterfly Survey at Cedar River Natural Area
-- Renewed Assault on Prairie
-- Practical Data Collection: Establishing Methods and Procedures for Measuring Water Clarity and Turbidity of Stormwater Runoff from Active Highway Construction Sites
-- Seven Things to consider when hand collecting prairie seed
-- Reachin' Out (!) to a Different Kind of Audience
-- Ryan's Reachin' Out! Cowboy Cookies

Monitoring Standing Herbage Of The Sands And Choppy Sands Ecological Vegetation Types In The Nebraska Sandhills, Daniel W. Uresk

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

A modified Robel pole with white and gray alternating bands (2.54 cm) was used to measure vegetation on sands and choppy sands ecological types in the Sandhills of Nebraska. Objectives were to determine the relationship between visual obstruction readings (VOR) and clipped standing herbage, develop guidelines for monitoring standing herbage, and provide sample size estimates. Visual obstruction measurements of standing herbage were linear, and regression coefficients were significant (P< 0.001) for 125 transects (R² = 0.60, SE = 496 kg/ha). Clipped standing herbage ranged from 293 to 4389 kg/ha with a mean of 1,559 kg/ha. A minimum of four transects (20 stations/transect with four …

Initial Changes In Species Cover Following Savanna Restoration Treatments In Western Iowa, David A. Mckenzie, Thomas B. Bragg, David M. Sutherland

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Study areas in the Iowa Loess Hills were used to evaluate short-term responses of understory species to three treatment methods designed to facilitate restoration of Quercus macrocarpa savanna. Treatments included burning alone, burning with thinning, and burning with clear-cutting. Plant abundance and diversity were compared before treatment and one year after treatment. Ninety-nine plant species were identified during the study, of which 40 were new following treatment, although most of these were forest associates. Increases in diversity of understory species were observed after treatment, particularly in plots with combined burning and thinning. The forb group was most consistent in response …

Evolution On The Hawaiian Hotspot: Biogeography And Divergence Time Estimation Of Kadua (Rubiaceae), Kenneth L. Parker

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

Recent studies on the colonization time of Hawaiian plant and animal lineages have suggested certain lineages arrived to the archipelago before the formation of the extant islands. Kadua, a recently resurrected genus, is mostly endemic to the Hawaiian Archipelago, with many member taxa autochthonous to individual islands. This work investigates the colonization time of Kadua to the Hawaiian Islands. Sequence analyses of the quickly evolving nuclear regions ITS, ETS and 5s-NTS regions for 20 Hawaiian and 7 French Polynesian species of Kadua were used to create dated phylogeny calibrated with island ages. The phylogeny suggests a single colonization of Hawaii …

Some Like It Hot, Some Like It Warm: Phenotyping To Explore Thermotolerance Diversity, C. H. Yeh, Nicholas J. Kaplinsky, C. Hu, Y. Y. Charng

Biology Faculty Works

Plants have evolved overlapping but distinct cellular responses to different aspects of high temperature stress. These responses include basal thermotolerance, short- and long-term acquired thermotolerance, and thermotolerance to moderately high temperatures. This ‘thermotolerance diversity’ means that multiple phenotypic assays are essential for fully describing the functions of genes involved in heat stress responses. A large number of genes with potential roles in heat stress responses have been identified using genetic screens and genome wide expression studies. We examine the range of phenotypic assays that have been used to characterize thermotolerance phenotypes in both Arabidopsis and crop plants. Three major variables …