From wscohen from email.uky.edu Fri Dec 7 12:53:35 2007 From: wscohen from email.uky.edu (Cohen, William S) Date: Fri Dec 7 13:40:59 2007 Subject: [Plant-education] Inexpensive Radiometer Message-ID: <6C2D13C4D6CBCF4A9A2434500A60653F08358F6242@EX7FM03.ad.uky.edu> We would like to monitor light intensities in our greenhouse and have the data saved in a laptop. Does anyone have a suggestion for an inexpensive radiometer that has data acquisition capability? Dr. William S. Cohen Associate Professor Department of Biology University of Kentucky 101 Morgan Building Lexington, KY 40506-0225 Voice: [859] 257 1030 Fax: [859] 257 1717 From jmglime from mtu.edu Sat Dec 8 14:28:58 2007 From: jmglime from mtu.edu (Janice M. Glime) Date: Sat Dec 8 14:38:24 2007 Subject: [Fwd: Re: [Plant-education] Inexpensive Radiometer] Message-ID: <475AF07A.5030706@mtu.edu> Check out the Onset Hobo light recording devices . It all happens inside a 2x2x.25" recorder that can be uploaded to a computer. Janice -- ***************************************** Dr. Janice Glime, Professor President of IAB; Manager of Bryonet Department of Biological Sciences Michigan Technological University 1400 Townsend Dr. Houghton, MI 49931 USA email: jmglime@mtu.edu phone: 906-487-2546 fax: 906-487-3167 ***************************************** From akburch from gmail.com Sat Dec 8 15:02:26 2007 From: akburch from gmail.com (Angela Burcham) Date: Sat Dec 8 15:03:48 2007 Subject: [Plant-education] Student projects for botany Message-ID: I'm teaching a Botany course and have access to a greenhouse. I am looking for ideas for semester long research projects for my students. These can be greenhouse based or not. Physiology based project would be very cool. Thanks Angela Burcham Biology Instructor St Norbert College De Pere WI From mgrusak from bcm.tmc.edu Sun Dec 9 07:33:33 2007 From: mgrusak from bcm.tmc.edu (Grusak, Michael A) Date: Sun Dec 9 08:48:23 2007 Subject: [Plant-education] Inexpensive Radiometer In-Reply-To: <6C2D13C4D6CBCF4A9A2434500A60653F08358F6242@EX7FM03.ad.uky.edu> References: <6C2D13C4D6CBCF4A9A2434500A60653F08358F6242@EX7FM03.ad.uky.edu> Message-ID: <42479085DABC7C48829A411051C9A151637D2A@BCMEVS8.ad.bcm.edu> We use the HOBO Dataloggers (Onset Corporation) and find them very useful not only for light intensity, but also for temperature and relative humidity. They are inexpenive, can be set up for a range of collection intervals, store the data, and then can be downloaded for computer storage. Try Googling: Onset Dataloggers and you will find all their models. We have used the Model HLI, which is a single purpose light meter/datalogger, but you might think about Model H08-004-02, which is an RH/Temp/Light Intensity multi-purpose data logger. Cheers, Mike Grusak ************************************************* Michael A. Grusak, Ph.D. USDA-ARS Plant Physiologist Associate Professor Dept. of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine USDA-ARS Children's Nutrition Research Center 1100 Bates Street Houston, TX 77030-2600 phone: 713-798-7044 FAX: 713-798-7078 e-mail: mgrusak@bcm.tmc.edu http://www.bcm.tmc.edu/cnrc/faculty/grusak.htm Learn about our involvement in the HarvestPlus Program to combat global micronutrient malnutrition at: http://www.harvestplus.org/ ************************************************* -----Original Message----- From: plant-ed-bounces@oat.bio.indiana.edu [mailto:plant-ed-bounces@oat.bio.indiana.edu] On Behalf Of Cohen, William S Sent: Friday, December 07, 2007 11:54 AM To: plant-ed@magpie.bio.indiana.edu Subject: [Plant-education] Inexpensive Radiometer We would like to monitor light intensities in our greenhouse and have the data saved in a laptop. Does anyone have a suggestion for an inexpensive radiometer that has data acquisition capability? Dr. William S. Cohen Associate Professor Department of Biology University of Kentucky 101 Morgan Building Lexington, KY 40506-0225 Voice: [859] 257 1030 Fax: [859] 257 1717 _______________________________________________ Plant-ed mailing list Plant-ed@net.bio.net http://www.bio.net/biomail/listinfo/plant-ed From sjohnson from mtsu.edu Mon Dec 10 09:23:10 2007 From: sjohnson from mtsu.edu (sjohnson) Date: Mon Dec 10 09:32:54 2007 Subject: [Plant-education] [Fwd: christmas surprise] Message-ID: <475D4BCE.9020002@mtsu.edu> sorry for the confusion, jon. i've forwarded the bounced message, which was for plant-ed. thanks, sandra From bbrown6 from naz.edu Thu Dec 13 20:25:36 2007 From: bbrown6 from naz.edu (Beverly J. Brown) Date: Thu Dec 13 21:01:50 2007 Subject: [Plant-education] examples of energy allocation in plants needed Message-ID: <25835721.1075171197595536470.JavaMail.root@nazoli1.optimizedlearn.com> I would like to compare plant and animal energy allocation. I have an example of an animal's energy allocation (caterpillar) and would like to include two plant examples and perhaps another animal or protist. Does anyone know of a source for this data? Ideally I would like total energy usage split between growth, waste, and cellular respiration. IDeas? Beverly J. Brown, Ph.D. Associate Professor Biology Department, Smyth 244L Nazareth College of Rochester 4245 East Avenue Rochester, New York 14618 585-389-2555 (phone) bbrown6@naz.edu From jmglime from mtu.edu Fri Dec 14 08:44:58 2007 From: jmglime from mtu.edu (Janice M. Glime) Date: Fri Dec 14 08:45:18 2007 Subject: [Plant-education] examples of energy allocation in plants needed In-Reply-To: <25835721.1075171197595536470.JavaMail.root@nazoli1.optimizedlearn.com> References: <25835721.1075171197595536470.JavaMail.root@nazoli1.optimizedlearn.com> Message-ID: <476288DA.2050706@mtu.edu> If you have a copy of Larcher's physiological ecology book (I'm not sure that is the exact title, but it is the topic) at hand, I think it is probably in there. He has just about every imaginable kind of comparable ecological information. I'm sorry I can't check - I don't have the book here. Janice Beverly J. Brown wrote: > I would like to compare plant and animal energy allocation. I have an example of an animal's energy allocation (caterpillar) and would like to include two plant examples and perhaps another animal or protist. Does anyone know of a source for this data? Ideally I would like total energy usage split between growth, waste, and cellular respiration. IDeas? > > Beverly J. Brown, Ph.D. > Associate Professor > Biology Department, Smyth 244L > Nazareth College of Rochester > 4245 East Avenue > Rochester, New York 14618 > 585-389-2555 (phone) > bbrown6@naz.edu > _______________________________________________ > Plant-ed mailing list > Plant-ed@net.bio.net > http://www.bio.net/biomail/listinfo/plant-ed -- **************************************** Dr. Janice Glime President of IAB; Manager of Bryonet Department of Biological Sciences Michigan Technological University 1400 Townsend Drive Houghton, MI 49931 USA phone: 906-487-1610 fax 906-487-3167 **************************************** From akburch from gmail.com Fri Dec 14 10:49:06 2007 From: akburch from gmail.com (Angela Burcham) Date: Fri Dec 14 11:01:05 2007 Subject: [Plant-education] botany Lab book Message-ID: Does anyone have recommendations for a botany lab book? A.K Burcham St. Norbert College De Pere WI 54115 From FPale from thiel.edu Fri Dec 14 12:50:28 2007 From: FPale from thiel.edu (Pale, Fatimata) Date: Fri Dec 14 13:40:08 2007 Subject: [Plant-education]Plant physiology text for undergraduate References: Message-ID: <844DEF4B6E74184CAACD3C3CC99AB641BB3B28@mail1.thiel.edu> Hello: Which text Would you recommend for intorductory plant physiology? also a lab manual? Thanks Dr. Fatimata Pale' Professsor of Biology Thiel College 75 College Avenue Greenville PA, 15125 Tel: 724-589-2114 ________________________________ From: plant-ed-bounces@oat.bio.indiana.edu on behalf of Angela Burcham Sent: Fri 12/14/2007 10:49 AM To: plant-ed@magpie.bio.indiana.edu Subject: [Plant-education] botany Lab book Does anyone have recommendations for a botany lab book? A.K Burcham St. Norbert College De Pere WI 54115 _______________________________________________ Plant-ed mailing list Plant-ed@net.bio.net http://www.bio.net/biomail/listinfo/plant-ed From monique from mail.bio.tamu.edu Fri Dec 14 13:26:47 2007 From: monique from mail.bio.tamu.edu (monique) Date: Fri Dec 14 13:40:12 2007 Subject: [Plant-education] Re: examples of energy allocation in plants needed In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: I have no scientific data, but I'm pretty sure my cat devotes 50% to shedding, 30% to waste, and 20% to mouthing off. : -) Happy holidays to all plant-eders Monique Reed College Station, TX Beverly J. Brown wrote: > I would like to compare plant and animal energy allocation. From dh321 from excite.com Tue Dec 18 16:19:05 2007 From: dh321 from excite.com (David R. Hershey) Date: Tue Dec 18 19:25:39 2007 Subject: [Plant-education] Re: Student projects for botany Message-ID: <20071218211905.5BCA18B317@xprdmxin.myway.com> There were many similar threads here before (see first four references). Hydroponic (solution culture) projects are very good for a greenhouse. The traditional mineral nutrient deficiency experiment takes at least half a semester. It can be varied by also doing some mineral nutrient toxicities (especially boron, zinc, copper) and high salinity treatments. It is often easier to use viny or rosette houseplants (piggyback plant [Tolmiea menziesii], Wandering Jews, philodendron, pothos, etc.) to avoid the difficulty of staking. Propagating houseplants by cuttings also is easier and faster than seed propagation and gives clonal material (Hershey 1994). Hydroponics also can be used for transpiration measurements by weight loss, and nondestructive plant fresh weight gain. Another good hydroponic experiment involves iron deficiency stress response (Hershey 2000). Some plants lower the rootzone pH when deficient in iron and grown with all nitrate-nitrogen in the solution. This increases iron availability, the plant recovers and the solution pH rises. Inexpensive pocket pH meters are excellent for solution pH measurements. Some plants lower the solution pH all the time (such as common philodendron). Others are iron-inefficient and cannot lower the solution pH, e.g. Tolmiea menziesii. To test whether a plant is iron inefficient, simply grow the plant in an all nitrate-nitrogen solution such as Hoagland's solution number 1 without iron. Coat the roots with some iron oxide powder. Tolmiea menziesii will turn bright yellow due to iron deficiency even with the roots coated with red iron oxide. It's very striking. Plant carbon dioxide deficiency is also to demonstrate using hydroponics (Hershey 1992). Other good greenhouse experiments involve photoperiodism and plant hormones/plant growth regulators. Students could grow a crop of pot chrysanthemums and incorporate both. The treatments would be: 1. Long photoperiods with water spray 2. Long photoperiod with daminozide spray 3. Short photoperiods with water spray 4. Short photoperiods with daminozide spray Photoperiod control in a greenhouse can be a hassle because it requires manual pulling of blackcloth or other opaque material over the plants daily in late afternoon and removal early in the morning to assure a short photoperiod. A long photoperiod requires a time clock and incandescent bulbs suspended over the plants. The timer is usually set to go on from 10 pm to 2 am. A simpler photoperiod experiment can be done indoors using fluorescent light banks and Kalanchoe daigremontiana (Hershey 2002). Plant hormones experiments can involve GA sprays to increase height of dwarf plants, auxins dips to promote rooting of cuttings, and auxins and apical dominance. Phototropism experiments can be done in a greenhouse if plants are set in cardboard boxes to get unidirectional light. Gravitropism studies can be done with potted plants but a greenhouse is hardly needed except to grow the plants because the response is so rapid. Students can make simple clinostats for gravitropism and phototropism experiments (Hershey 2005) Plant physiology lab manuals have lots of excellent labs (Reiss 1994; Ross 1974; Witham, Blaydes and Devlin 1971) David R. Hershey http://www.angelfire.com/ab6/hershey/bio.htm References Investigative labs for plant biology. Bionet.plants.education. (August 23, 2002). http://www.bio.net/hypermail/plant-ed/2002-August/007371.html Inquiry-based labs for Plant Biology course. Bionet.plants.education (Dec. 2-5, 2005) http://www.bio.net/hypermail/plant-ed/2005-December/007972.html Phytochrome lab exercises? Bionet.plants.education (July 26, 2005) http://www.bio.net/bionet/mm/plant-ed/2005-July/007904.html Bionet.plants education search http://groups.google.com/group/bionet.plants.education/search?hl=en&group=bionet.plants.education&q=plant+physiology+lab&qt_g=Search+this+group Hershey, D.R. 1992. Plants can't do without CO2. Science Teacher 59(3):41-43. Hershey, D.R. 1994. Solution culture hydroponics: history and inexpensive equipment. American Biology Teacher 56:111-118. Hershey, D.R. 2000. "Hydroponics: Iron Deficiency of Piggyback Plants" pp. 147-155. IN Gerry M. Madrazo, Jr. and Steven E. Dyche (editors). Exciting Plant Science Activities for the Secondary Classroom Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. Hershey, D.R. 2002. Using the Kalanchoe daigremontiana plant to show the effects of photoperiodism on plantlet formation. Science Activities 39(2):30-34. Hershey, D.R. 2005. Time for a plant clinostat: Effects of light and gravity on plants. Science Activities 42(1):30-35. Reiss, C. 1994. Experiments in Plant Physiology. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Ross, C.W. 1974. Plant Physiology Laboratory Manual. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Witham, F.H., D.F. Blaydes and R.M. Devlin. 1971. Experiments in Plant Physiology. NY: Van Nostrand Reinhold. _______________________________________________ Join Excite! - http://www.excite.com The most personalized portal on the Web! From d.a.walker from sheffield.ac.uk Wed Dec 19 06:21:40 2007 From: d.a.walker from sheffield.ac.uk (David Walker) Date: Wed Dec 19 06:27:39 2007 Subject: [Plant-education] Glucose is no more a product Message-ID: Forgive me for returning to an old theme that I have troubled you with in the past. For half a century or more, it has been clear that the path of starch synthesis in chloroplasts starts with triose phosphates and progresses to polymer formation via glucose-1-P rather than free glucose. Glucose is no more a product of carbon assimilation by illuminated chloroplasts than is sucrose. So, why do textbooks insist that it is?. If you wish to read a recent article about this you can find it by pasting DOI 10.1007/s11120-007-9139-3 into Google Best Christmas wishes >From David Alan Walker, FRS; Emeritus Professor of Photosynthesis, University of Sheffield, UK. http://www.oxygraphics.co.uk/ http://www.peerlesspublications.co.uk/ From wise from uwosh.edu Wed Dec 19 11:32:09 2007 From: wise from uwosh.edu (Bob Wise) Date: Wed Dec 19 14:24:21 2007 Subject: Fwd: [Plant-education] Glucose is no more a product Message-ID: >Forgive me for returning to an old theme that I have troubled you with in >the past. > >For half a century or more, it has been clear that the path of >starch synthesis in chloroplasts starts with triose >phosphates and progresses to polymer formation via >glucose-1-P rather than free glucose. Glucose is no more a product of carbon >assimilation by illuminated chloroplasts than is sucrose. >So, why do textbooks insist that it is?. > >If you wish to read a recent article about this you can find it by pasting >DOI 10.1007/s11120-007-9139-3 >into Google > >Best Christmas wishes >>From David Alan Walker, FRS; Emeritus Professor of Photosynthesis, >University of Sheffield, UK. David, This has frustrated me too, and I have always ascribed it to the fact that most biology textbooks are written by non-plant biologists who think that chloroplasts are merely green mitochondria that perform reverse respiration. With that mindset, and given that glycolysis clearly starts with glucose, then photosynthesis must produce glucose in order for the mythical symmetry to be maintained. Yes, it's both false and foolish. Another chloroplast/mitochondrion myth that drives me bonkers the the oft-repeated (mis-)statement that mitochondria and chloroplasts are both bounded by a double membrane. That is only true if your sole source of data is electron microscopy and all you are looking at is STRUCTURE. Two lines around the mito--two lines around the chloro--must be the same. If however, you actually start asking questions about the FUNCTION of those membranes (and I certainly hope my students ask those sorts of questions) then you have misled the reader. Just ask yourself questions like, "where is chemiosmosis taking place--which membrane? Lipid synthesis? Carotenoid synthesis? Metabolite transport?" and the analogous double membrane myth quickly falls apart. To quote me (from "The Structure and Function of Plastids" Springer)= From wise from uwosh.edu Wed Dec 19 15:36:07 2007 From: wise from uwosh.edu (Bob Wise) Date: Wed Dec 19 20:23:05 2007 Subject: Fwd: [Plant-education] Glucose is no more a product Message-ID: The bottom half of my last email got cut off. Chloroplasts are enclosed by a double-membrane envelope composed of an outer and an inner membrane (Fig. 10b). A common misconception seen in most biology texts is that the double-membrane envelope of the chloroplast is similar to the double-membrane of the mitochondrion. This is conceptually incorrect. It is true that the outer mitochondrial membrane and the outer chloroplast envelope membrane are analogous in that both are rather minimal barriers between the cytoplasm and the organellar interior (Salomon et al., 1990; Sardiello et al., 2003; Weber, Chapter 14). However, the inner mitochondrial membrane and the inner chloroplast envelope membrane are very different in structure and function. The inner mitochondrial membrane is the site of oxidative phosphorylation, while the inner chloroplast envelope membrane controls metabolite transport (Weber, Chapter 14) and synthesizes fatty acids, lipids, carotenoids, and prenyl lipids (Cuttriss et al., Chapter 16; D?ermann, Chapter 17). The inner chloroplast envelope membrane has no corresponding structure in the mitochondrion, making the thylakoid membrane (the site of photophosphorylation) the operative counterpart to the inner mitochondrial membrane. Therefore, when textbooks make statements such as, "Like chloroplasts, (mitochondria) both have an outer membrane and an inner membrane" (Raikhel and Chrispeels, 2000) they run the risk of misleading the reader into believing that the two organelles are bounded by homologous or analogous double-membraned structures, which they clearly are not. (Wise, R.R. 2006. The diversity of plastid form and function. In: Wise, R.R. and J.K. Hoober. The Structure and Function of Plastids, Springer, Amsterdam. pp. 3-26.) -- Robert R. Wise Dept. of Biology UW Oshkosh 800 Algoma Blvd Oshkosh, WI 54901 (920) 424-3404 (tel) (920) 424-1101 (fax) From james.perry from uwc.edu Wed Dec 19 23:29:06 2007 From: james.perry from uwc.edu (Perry, James) Date: Thu Dec 20 00:08:25 2007 Subject: [Plant-education] Glucose is no more a product In-Reply-To: Message-ID: Bob, Depending on the level of instruction, this seems rather like splitting hairs. For introductory students, it seems enough to let in go at what the textbooks are saying. And while I don't claim to have quite as much experience as you, during some of our TEM investigations, I think I recall seeing stroma lamellae connected to the inner membrane of the chloroplast. Sometimes it's easy to forget how much introductory students need to learn. jim James W. Perry, Ph.D. Campus Executive Officer and Dean University of Wisconsin- Fox Valley 1478 Midway Road Menasha, WI 54952 (920) 832-2610 (Voice) (920) 832-2674 (Fax) www.uwfox.uwc.edu -----Original Message----- From: plant-ed-bounces@oat.bio.indiana.edu [mailto:plant-ed-bounces@oat.bio.indiana.edu] On Behalf Of Bob Wise Sent: Wednesday, December 19, 2007 2:36 PM To: Plant Ed Subject: Fwd: [Plant-education] Glucose is no more a product The bottom half of my last email got cut off. Chloroplasts are enclosed by a double-membrane envelope composed of an outer and an inner membrane (Fig. 10b). A common misconception seen in most biology texts is that the double-membrane envelope of the chloroplast is similar to the double-membrane of the mitochondrion. This is conceptually incorrect. It is true that the outer mitochondrial membrane and the outer chloroplast envelope membrane are analogous in that both are rather minimal barriers between the cytoplasm and the organellar interior (Salomon et al., 1990; Sardiello et al., 2003; Weber, Chapter 14). However, the inner mitochondrial membrane and the inner chloroplast envelope membrane are very different in structure and function. The inner mitochondrial membrane is the site of oxidative phosphorylation, while the inner chloroplast envelope membrane controls metabolite transport (Weber, Chapter 14) and synthesizes fatty acids, lipids, carotenoids, and prenyl lipids (Cuttriss et al., Chapter 16; D?ermann, Chapter 17). The inner chloroplast envelope membrane has no corresponding structure in the mitochondrion, making the thylakoid membrane (the site of photophosphorylation) the operative counterpart to the inner mitochondrial membrane. Therefore, when textbooks make statements such as, "Like chloroplasts, (mitochondria) both have an outer membrane and an inner membrane" (Raikhel and Chrispeels, 2000) they run the risk of misleading the reader into believing that the two organelles are bounded by homologous or analogous double-membraned structures, which they clearly are not. (Wise, R.R. 2006. The diversity of plastid form and function. In: Wise, R.R. and J.K. Hoober. The Structure and Function of Plastids, Springer, Amsterdam. pp. 3-26.) -- Robert R. Wise Dept. of Biology UW Oshkosh 800 Algoma Blvd Oshkosh, WI 54901 (920) 424-3404 (tel) (920) 424-1101 (fax) _______________________________________________ Plant-ed mailing list Plant-ed@net.bio.net http://www.bio.net/biomail/listinfo/plant-ed From d.a.walker from sheffield.ac.uk Fri Dec 21 16:44:13 2007 From: d.a.walker from sheffield.ac.uk (David Walker) Date: Fri Dec 21 16:49:17 2007 Subject: [Plant-education] RE: Glucose is no more a product Message-ID: Naturally I?m with Bob about this and, for that matter. with Einstein as in "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler." ...Albert Einstein Hence my use of this same quote in where the whole argument is restated ad nauseum. If anyone doubts the trouble that over simplification causes in this context take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Photosynthesis David