From wscohen from email.uky.edu Fri May 2 13:13:59 2008 From: wscohen from email.uky.edu (Cohen, William S) Date: Fri May 2 13:23:13 2008 Subject: [Plant-education] Heat Shock Proteins In-Reply-To: <6C2D13C4D6CBCF4A9A2434500A60653F0A24AEC70B@EX7FM03.ad.uky.edu> References: <6C2D13C4D6CBCF4A9A2434500A60653F0A24AEC70B@EX7FM03.ad.uky.edu> Message-ID: <6C2D13C4D6CBCF4A9A2434500A60653F0A24678E45@EX7FM03.ad.uky.edu> ________________________________ Are you familiar with any lab exercises that focus on thermotolerance in plants and heat shock protein expression? Thanks, Bill Cohen 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 wscohen from email.uky.edu Fri May 2 13:21:21 2008 From: wscohen from email.uky.edu (Cohen, William S) Date: Fri May 2 13:59:01 2008 Subject: [Plant-education] Water Balance/Transport in Plants Message-ID: <6C2D13C4D6CBCF4A9A2434500A60653F0A24678E46@EX7FM03.ad.uky.edu> We are interested in lab activities for large enrollment introductory lab classes that focus on water balance/transport in plants. We have already looked at the lab modules on the UK Science and Plants web site. Thanks, Bill Cohen From steelepali from verizon.net Sat May 10 11:05:06 2008 From: steelepali from verizon.net (Christine Steele) Date: Sat May 10 11:06:44 2008 Subject: [Plant-education] THE PRIVATE LIFE OF PLANTS Message-ID: Do you have a Dvd copy of this that will run in the us? Chris Steele From d.a.walker from sheffield.ac.uk Thu May 15 05:19:39 2008 From: d.a.walker from sheffield.ac.uk (David Walker) Date: Thu May 15 11:19:19 2008 Subject: [Plant-education] Alcohol from potatoes and such Message-ID: I'm pleased that my previous enquiry (about how much alcohol you can get from potatoes) caused a few smiles but, sadly, I must return to more serious matters. There are claims on the Net that if you are particularly kind to algae (which seemingly grow many many times faster than any other green organisms even if you are not particularly kind to them) they will reward you with so much biofuel that a mere 4.5 million acres of algal bioreactors could meet all of the road transport fuel requirements of the United States= From dh321 from excite.com Thu May 15 12:24:05 2008 From: dh321 from excite.com (David R. Hershey) Date: Thu May 15 13:54:23 2008 Subject: [Plant-education] Re: Alcohol from potatoes and such References: Message-ID: <789bd64b-c99b-4c8c-b14f-98585d5e8552@c65g2000hsa.googlegroups.com> My March 24 post on "Biodiesel from Algae" discussed this issue. The idea that algae could provide all our road transport fuel has been greatly hyped. The U.S. Department of Energy seems to have extrapolated from the highest short term yields under lab conditions and maximum algae oil contents to long term field conditions. They were unable to obtain such high oil yields under long term field conditions. They noted specifically that low night temperatures in open ponds in New Mexico greatly limited algae productivity. If biodiesel from algae was really so promising one wonders why the U.S. Department of Energy only researched it from 1978 to 1996. There is also a major technical problem that the algae ponds quickly become filled with a variety of different species that vary in size, shape and oil content. That lowers the oil yield and makes periodic harvests of a small amount of the algae technically very difficult and very expensive. Biodiesel from algae also likely suffers from the same problem as ethanol from corn, i.e. it requires substantial fossil fuel energy inputs to produce including CO2 injection into the pond, temperature control of the pond water, harvesting, oil extraction, transport to market, etc. David R. Hershey From d.a.walker from sheffield.ac.uk Thu May 15 13:51:25 2008 From: d.a.walker from sheffield.ac.uk (David Walker) Date: Thu May 15 13:54:29 2008 Subject: [Plant-education] RE: Alcohol from potatoes and such Message-ID: Seems that most of my Email on this subject got lost in transmission. Here it is again in its entirety. I will try to get back to those of you who have kindly responded as soon as poss. I'm pleased that my previous enquiry (about how much alcohol you can get from potatoes) caused a few smiles but, sadly, I must return to more serious matters. There are claims on the Net that if you are particularly kind to algae (which seemingly grow many many times faster than any other green organisms even if you are not particularly kind to them) they will reward you with so much biofuel that a mere 4.5 million acres of algal bioreactors could meet all of the road transport fuel requirements of the United States. My problem is that, in open- ponds, algae don?t produce any more dry weight in 100 days than do potatoes in a field and that the yield of bioethanol from both (per acre) is about 400 U.K gallons (petrol/gasoline equivalent 270 U.K gallons). I know that photosynthesis is not synonymous with growth. I learned as a child about the man who told a grateful king that he would be happy to be rewarded by a penny on the first square of a chess board, two on the next square, 4 on the third and so on. (knowing, of course, that by the time that you got to the last square even Bill Gates and Google together would not have nearly enough dollars to do that ). Compound interest is a wonderful thing but I can?t quite figure out to make by bank balance increase if I keep withdrawing the meagre interest on a daily basis. I am sceptical about a bioreactor that produces more than 100gm (DW) per square metre in a day because that in itself is right at the top of what the laws of physics and chemistry allow. I am additionally sceptical about it running at that rate for 100 days or more. But maybe I?m missing something? Best regards David >From David Alan Walker, FRS; Emeritus Professor of Photosynthesis, University of Sheffield, UK. +441142305904 From mattbond from cox.net Sat May 17 19:22:03 2008 From: mattbond from cox.net (Matt Bond) Date: Mon May 19 12:40:40 2008 Subject: [Plant-education] slow tree growth Message-ID: <000001c8b945$050206c0$6401a8c0@your6jnhhu0520> hello How can I slow a pine trees growth? Matt From JGeisel from rrc.mb.ca Tue May 20 08:42:42 2008 From: JGeisel from rrc.mb.ca (Jayne M Geisel) Date: Tue May 20 08:46:04 2008 Subject: [Plant-education] slow growth Message-ID: <6265B509BF4456489688FB556F5132E70CAA2D33@hermod.rrc.ca> One way to slow the growth of many evergreens is to trim the 'candles'--the new, soft growth in early summer (June). You can trim this growth to about half its length, but make sure you trim the entire tree evenly. Obviously, this method works best with small trees. Jayne Geisel, Instructor Greenspace Management Program Red River College 204.632.2547 From dh321 from excite.com Sat May 24 11:31:39 2008 From: dh321 from excite.com (David R. Hershey) Date: Sat May 24 12:53:41 2008 Subject: [Plant-education] Re: Alcohol from potatoes and such References: Message-ID: <6bc95dec-040e-40f3-b06c-37c3f2f78fbe@e39g2000hsf.googlegroups.com> The 100 g/square meter/day productivity figure seems much too high. The U.S. Dept. of Energy used a figure of 50 g/square meter/day as their target. Even that was unobtainable on a continual basis in outdoor ponds mainly because of low night temperatures. Over an 8 month period, they obtained 15 to 25 g/square meter/day. The main advantage that algae offer compared to potatoes is that algae could theoretically maintain maximal photosynthesis forever. Once an algae monoculture had reached an optimal concentration (for maximal photosynthesis) in the pond, small amounts could be withdrawn periodically, and the optimal algae concentration could be maintained indefinitely. Every crop of potatoes starts with a zero LAI and slowly reaches an optimal LAI. Then the LAI goes back to zero at harvest. The potato field will probably be fallow most of the year while algae could be producing yearround. Other theoretical advantages of algae for biodiesel are: 1. Algae could produce oil all the time, while potatoes form their tubers only during the later stages of crop production. 2. Algae could be grown on nonagricultural lands in the desert while potatoes require agricultural land. 3. Oil extraction from algae seems easier than fermentation of potato starch to produce ethanol. Despite all the theoretical advantages of algae, there are many technical problems such that the energy costs to grow the algae and extract the oil would probably exceed the energy in the oil they produce. Reference 1998. A Look Back at the U.S. Department of Energy's Aquatic Species Program: Biodiesel from Algae. http://www.nrel.gov/docs/legosti/fy98/24190.pdf David R. Hershey