B0tanyOf Environmental

.

.:. . • •

• : and Plant Biology

2001 -

Athens, Ohio 45701-2979

1822 - 2001: 179 Years of Teaching Plant Biology OHIO UNIVERSITY

{eportFrom the Chair

Although much has happened in the department since you received our last newsletter,the news that is at the forefront of my mind is very sad. Betty Moore passed away on September 4after a long battle with cancer. It is a grievous loss for us all. The second page is devoted to Bettyand her many contributions to the department.

In the past two years, the department has gone through a period of dramatic change, withthe loss of several faculty and staff members and the hiring of others. This year, I am pleased towelcome Kim Brown to our faculty and Aaron Mather and Denise Anderson to our staff. Kim is anecologist whose research on carbon dioxide absorption in forested ecosystems is relevant to themitigation of global warming. Aaron is our new Assistant Greenhouse Manager, replacing AmyTillman, who resigned to enroll in a graduate program in horticulture at North Carolina State University. Denise has taken over Betty’s role as coordinator of the introductory course labs and stock-room manager.

Because this is a period of change for both the department and the university (an example ofthe latter being the dramatic revision of the General Education program), the time is ripe for a serious assessment of our departmental goals and strategies for achieving them. With this in mind, thedepartment embarked on a strategic planning process in Fall 2000. The most important outcome ofthis process was a decision to select a few specialized areas on which to focus departmental resources. In the course of discussing our vision for the department, an initial point of disagreementconcerned the desirability of specialization. Some faculty members felt that developing focus areaswould benefit our national reputation, external grant procurement, and graduate student recruit-ment, but others felt that specialization would jeopardize our ability to provide breadth of under-graduate training in plant biology. In the end, we decided that we could do both — specialize andyet retain sufficient breadth to carry out our undergraduate instructional mission — by maintainingour historic balance among the three organizational levels of biology (i.e., cellular/ developmental,organismal, and ecological) while developing a focus area within each. The focus areas selectedwere eastern deciduous forest ecology, phylogenetic systematics, and plant cell wall biotechnology.By building on our existing strengths in these areas through future faculty hires, the department hasthe potential to become a national leader in selected disciplines without jeopardizing our ability totrain students broadly in plant biology. This is the game plan that now guides our hiring decisions,starting with our choice of Kim Brown, whose background and research interests, complementingBrian McCarthy’s, will significantly strengthen our focus on eastern deciduous forest ecology.

With best wishes,Philip D. CantiñoProfessor and Chair

In This IssueFaculty & Staff News 6Alumni News 13Milestones 14

BOTANY 2001 is a publication of the Department of Environmental & Plant Biology, ML. Trivett, Editor

2 Botany

1942 - 2001

Elizabeth Delagrange Moore

Betty Moore was associated with this department for over 40 years, beginning in 1959when she took General Botany as a freshman. She took many other botany courses on theway to a Bachelor’s degree (with honors) in 1963. After teaching 9t grade science in NewMexico, she moved back to Ohio and entered our graduate program, earning a Master’sdegree in 1974. The title of her thesis, based on research carried out under the direction ofCharles E. Miller, was “Resting body formation by rhizoidal fusion in Chytriornyces hyalinus.”In 1978, she joined our staff as “Technical Assistant.” In this position, she provided a greatvariety of services to the department, the most important of which were coordinating the set-up and disassembly of the introductory course labs and managing the stockroom.

Betty was an exceptionally dedicated citizen of this department, and a whole genera-tion of students benefited from the meticulous care that she lavished on introductory bOtanyand biology labs. She was passionate about plants and continually shared botanical tidbitswith students and faculty. Her enthusiasm was contagious. Noel Studer (B.S., 1995) corn-mented that Betty was “full of so much love for plants that she glowed to be able to share itwith anyone who listened. She was truly dedicated to facilitating student learning and hervibrant spirit lives on in those of us who got to know her.”

Other students who sent letters to Betty upon learning that she was seriously ill spokeof her patience, kindness, good cheer, and generosity. Ben Torke (M.S., 1997) wrote that“Her generosity existed not only in the laboratories and classrooms of OU, but she also spenta significant part of her personal time developing close friendships with many of the plantbiology students. For a number of us, this meant venturing out to Betty and John’s house inthe Athens countryside to enjoy delicious home cooked meals and relaxing strolls through thesurrounding forests.” It was clear from the letters that we received (which have been presented to Betty’s family) that she had a major impact on the lives of many students in her 23years on the staff.

Betty also had a tough, determined side to her personality. Although she battledcancer for many years before finally succumbing to it, she remained upbeat and insisted oncoming to work until about two weeks before her death, when she was simply too weak toget here. She would have it no other way; this department was her life. During her finalmonths, she and Ivan Smith completed a lab manual for Biology 101. The manuals arrivedfrom the publisher in time for her to see a copy the week before she died, and she was able totake some satisfaction from this final accomplishment.

Betty posted the following quotation by the stockroom door: “Service is the rent wepay for being. It is the very purpose of life, and not something you do in your spare time”

(Marion Edelman). This captures an important part of her world view. Her service to thedepartment went far beyond the call of duty, to the benefit of all of us who work and learnhere. The department is not the same without her.

-PDC

Botany 3

AARON MATHERAaron Mather, a native Athenian,

joined the department this fall as Green-house Assistant, having worked previouslyas a foreman for a local commercial land-scaper. He has long had an interest inplants, including native species, houseplants and those used in landscaping. Heenjoys hiking, biking and gardening. Aaronlooks forward to working with our diversegroup of students and faculty and appreciates the opportunity to expand his botanicaleducation.

DENISE ANDERSONDenise Anderson, our new Lab Coordinator, confesses that

her love of plants stems from eating them, particularly culinaryherbs, and she brings back forty pounds of green chilies yearly fromher native New Mexico. Her background is in biology with a minorin graphic arts. Most recently, she coordinated the cardiovascularphysiology lab for OU-COM with previous experience in the equinephysiology lab at OSU-Veterinary Medicine. She hopes her eclecticbackground will help her face the challenges of filling a positionoccupied by a person very important to the department. Althoughshe didn’t have the opportunity to meet Betty, she has heard won-derful things about her and knows she is sorely missed.

New Hires in the Department

KIM BROWNKim Brown joins the faculty this year

from a Postdoctoral position at The LamontDoherty Earth Observatory at ColumbiaUniversity following her doctoral research atUniversity of Washington in forest ecophysiology with an emphasis on canopy architecture of Populus hibrid clones. Her researchsites have been as varied as New York state,New Zealand and The Everglades. See moreabout Kim’s research on page 7 as well as aURL to some of her research sites.

MAJOR GIFT TO GREENHOUSE FACILITIES Mr. John E. Denti (B5.1970) has become a major benefactor to our greenhouse. (See related article in the Spring2000 issue of OU’s Forum magazine.) He has designated a planned gift of $200,000 to be

used to help maintain and improve the departmental greenhouse facilities, for which the Depart-ment thanks him profusely. John is Assistant Curator of the McMillan Greenhouse at University ofNorth Carolina at Charlotte. He has visited Harold Blazier on several occasions during the past fewyears, always bringing donations of orchid plants, and he warmly extended his southern hospitalityto Harold for several days last year. John provided a very informative tour of UNCC’s plant collections as well as his own outstanding personal orchid collection and accompanying plants that reflecthis varied interests. With John’s contributions to the collections and assistance with knowledge ofthe plants, we will continue to build a very respectable collection despite the constraints of ourfacility.

4 Botany

AWARDS AND OTHERHONORS

ndergraduate Awards

Distinguished Professor Scholarship: Distinguished Professor Emeritus NORMAN S.COHN selected CARY MILLER a junior in theHonors Tutorial College to receive thisscholarship.

C. Paul and Beth Stocker Scholarships: Eachspring Stocker scholarships are awardedto several undergraduates. This year’srecipients are: SCOTT FISHER, MARK

THORNTON, and CHAD WESTON of the College of Arts and Sciences.

Lela A. Ewers Science Scholarship: The College of Arts and Sciences ScholarshipCommittee each year selects a full-timestudent on the Athens campus majoringin a natural science. PATRICK MINGu5 is the2000-2001 recipient.

Charles E. Miller Scholarship: The MillerScholarship was created in memory of Dr.Charles Miller, professor and long-timeChair of the Department, and is giveneach year to an undergraduate plantbiology major. This year’s recipient isJESSICA STERLING, College of Arts andSciences.

Thomas M. Wolfe Scholarship: Six monetaryawards to three juniors and three seniorsare made each year from the fund established by Mrs. Edna Wolfe to honor thememory of her late husband, a 1919graduate of Ohio University. Two of the

awards are designated for plant biologystudents with strong academic recordswho show promise in the areas of conservation and ecology. LORENA BROWN and

ANDREW GASTON, College of Arts and

Sciences, share the senior Wolfe awardand CARY S. MILLER, Honors Tutorial

College, is the junior awardee.

Li-ndergraduate Research Posters

The Department held an undergraduateresearch poster competition as part of theAwards Ceremony this year. Six studentspresented their research. KARL HUFF and

LORENA BROWN each received awards.

::utstanding Graduating Senior

Each year, every department within OhioUniversity honors an outstanding graduatingsenior. The following student has been recognized for 2001.

Environmental and Plant Biology, College ofArtsand Sciences: LORENA BROWN.

raduate Awards

College of Arts & Sciences Outstanding TA

Award

+ DARRIN RUBINO

Phi Delta Theta Research Fund

•:• MATT WEAND, $1,000

Left to Right: Karl Huff, Chad Weston, Cary Miller, Darrin Rubino, Amanda Habel, ScottFisher, Jessica Sterling, Patrick Mingus, Matt Shipp, Lorena Brown

GRANTS RECEIVED ANDOTHER AWARDS

HARVEY E. BALLARD:

•:• u.s. Fish & Wildlife Service, “Genetic Diver-sity and Microsite Characterization of theRare Monkeyface Orchid,” $4,000.

•:• Sigma Xi, “Molecular Phylogeography of theViola macloskeyi complex,” $1,000.

•:• National Science Foundation, “REU ResearchAssistants in Andean and Hawaiian Violets,”$10,065.

•:• American Orchid Society, “Genetic Diversityand Microsite Characterization of the RareMonkeyface Orchid,” $2,000.

BRIAN C. MCCARTHY:

•:• U.S. Forest Service, “Fire and Fire SurrogateResearch,” $70,000.

+ Rural Action Sustainable Agriculture Re-search and Education Initiative, “Non-timber forest products cultivation methods.”$3,600.

•:• Faculty Development Award, College ofArts & Sciences, Ohio University. “Appliedmultivariate statistical methods.” $3,000.

•:• The American Chestnut Foundation, “Composition, structure, and genetics of a disjunct American chestnut stand in south-western WI.” $9,500. With C. Keiffer and S.Rogstad.

•:• Ohio Plant Biotechnology Consortium,“Genetic diversity and blight spread dynamics in an isolated American chestnut stand.”$58,000. With C. Keiffer and S. Rogstad.

•:• United States Department of Agriculture,Forest Service, “Fire temperature and weevilpopulation dynamics in mixed-oak forests.”$24,790. With C.L. Riccardi.

GAR W. ROTHWELL:

•:• OU Baker Fund, “Systematic Analysis ofLiving and Fossil Duckweeds Using aCombined Morphological/Molecular Approach,” $8,510.

ALLAN M. SHOWALTER:

+ NSF, Integrative Plant Biology Program,“Molecular Interactions and Functions ofLeAGP-1, a Modular Plasma Membrane

Botany 5

AGP,” $500,000, with M.J. Kieliszewski(co-PI).

•:• NSF, Integrative Plant Biology Program,“Structure and Function of a Novel,Modular Arabinogalactan-Protein fromTomato,” $300,000, with M.J. Kieliszewski(co-P.I.). [continuation]

•:• NSF, Major Research InstrumentationProgram, “Acquisition of Confocal Micro-scope for Biological Research,” $315,510,with E.H. Peterson, M. Kieliszweski, D.Goetz, F. Horodyski, S.L. Hooper, and P.Jung, M.J. and Kieliszewski (co-P.I.).

•:• The Ohio Board of Regents Action Fund,cost sharing on the NSF-MRI proposal,$63,529. A. Brown, R. Code, D. Goetz,E.H. Peterson, and A.M. Showalter (PIs).

ARTHUR TRESE:

•:• The Ohio Board of Regents, “ProjectSUSTAIN at Ohio,” $34,000, with BarbaraGrover (co-PI).

MORGAN Vis:

•:• Ohio University 1804 Fund, “GreenhouseGas and Nitrogen Emissions . ‘ .

Bioremediation Using Applications ofTranslating Slug Flow,” $32,000, with B. •

. •

Stuart, D J. Bayless & G. Kramer (co-PIs).

•:• Cacapon Institute, “Periphyton Identification and Enumeration Sampling,” $2,600.

SARAT-i WYATT:

•:• OURC, “Developing Arabidopsis as amodel system for wood production,”$8,000.00.

The Ohio University Councilfor Research -

Scholarship and Creative Activity StudentEnhancement Awards

•:• DALE CASAMATTA, “ An investigation intothe ecology and genetics of the freshwatercyanobacterium Phormidium retzii,”$4,000.

•:• Ross MCCAULEY, “Field studies of thegenus Froelichia (Amaranthaceae) inwestern Mexico,” $5,750.

Botanical Society ofAmerica - KarlingGraduate Student Research Award

•:• MIHAI TOMESCU

6 Botany

Provost’s Undergraduate Research Fund

This year, the Provost established a fund tosupport undergraduate research. Studentswrote and submitted grant proposals andawards were made on a competitive basis. Inthis first year of the program, 49 grants wereawarded, totaling about $50,000. It is note-worthy that 1/7 of the grants in the wholeuniversity went to students in this department.All seven of our students who applied for thesegrants received them, whereas the success rateuniversity-wide was less than 50%.

•:• MARTHA BISHOP (CAVENDER)

•:• KARL HUFF (WYATT)

•:• NICK MACHESKY (VIS)

•:• CARY MILLER (MCCARTHY)

+ JEREMY MCKINNEY (BALLARD)

•:• SCOTT WEAVER (MCCARTHY)

•:• CHAD WESTON (MCCARTHY)

Ohio Biological Survey Awards•:• Faculty Members--PHIL CANTINO, BRIAN

MCCARTHY

•:• Graduate Students--MATTHEW ALBRECHT,KURT HARTMAN, ELIZABETH MARTIN,

CYNTHIA RICCARDI

Ohio University Honk Research Awards forGraduate Students

•:• MATTHEW ALBRECHT (PHD-MCCARTHY)

+ CHRISTY CARTER (PHD-UNGAR)

•:• MIKE DUNN (PHD-ROTHWELL)

•:• THOMAS JACKSON (MSES-BALLARD)

•:• ELIZABETH MARTIN (MS-CANTINO)

•:• AswNI PAl (PHD-MCCARTHY)

•:• JESS PEIRSON (MS-CANTINO)

•:• CYNTHIA RICCARDI (PHD-MCCARTHY)

•:• MIHAI TOMESCU (PHD-ROTHWELL)

•:• MATT WEAND (MSES-MCCARTHY)

Geological Society ofAmerica GraduateStudent Research Grant

+ MIKE DUNN

•:• MIHAI TOMESCU

Southern Appalachian Botanical Society•:• JESS PEIRSON, $300

Ohio University Program to Aid Career Explora

tion (PACE) Awards

•:• HARVEY BALLARD

•:• HAROLD BLAZIER

•:• PHILIP CANTINO•:• ALLAN SHOWALTER

•:• IRWIN UNGAR

•:• MORGAN VIS

The Ohio EPA Environmental EducationFund (in conjunction with The Ohio Academy ofScience)

•:• CARY MILLER, $2,700

Phycological Society ofAmerica - Hoshaw

TravelAward

•:• DALE CASAMATTA

•:• ROBERT VERB

Sigma Xi

Election to Membership

•:• JESS PEIRSON

•:• CYNTHIA RICCARDI

Grant-in-Aid for Research

•:• ASWINI PAl, $800•:• CYNTHIA RICCARDI, $300•:• INNA BIRCHENKO, $300

Research Council ofNorway•:• EIRIK STIJFHOORN, $15,000

FACULTY AND STAFFNEWS

HARVEY BALLARD has had a busy year, serving his firstyear on the Board of Trustees of the Ohio Chapter ofThe Nature Conservancy and working with thenumerous students in his lab. His recent article withKen Sytsma, University of Wisconsin, in the journalEvolution was featured in the Editors’ Choice sectionof Science (Dec. 15, p. 2035). This section highlightsarticles of particular significance and interest. Al-though most Hawaiian plants are thought to havecome to the islands from tropical regions, violetsapparently got there from the Arctic, possibly carriedby wintering birds. Harvey also was nominated forUniversity Professor for the second year in a row. MIN

FENG (PhD) is investigating the molecular systematicsand floral ontogeny of the Violaceae. Doctoralstudent Ross MCCAULEY continues his systematic

Botany 7

studies of Froelichia (Amaranthaceae). PhD studentsAUREA CORTES-PALOMEC and CmRyi. MCCREARY areconducting pollination studies of Mexican andAmerican violets, respectively. MS students THOMAS

JACKSON and JENNIFER DEMURIA have joined the lab.Undergraduates CAROLYN REILLY, JEREMY Mc1(ir*m andDEBORAH THORNTON are looking at various aspects ofthe biosystematics of different subgroups of violets,while MICHELLE V ATTA is investigating the phylogeny of the Lemnaceae with HARVEY and GAR ROTHWELL.

HAROLD BLAZIER welcomes AARON MATHER to thegreenhouse as his new assistant (see page 3) andreports another very successful year of incorporatingseveral of the undergraduates into the GreenhouseExperience program. He supervises and instructs thestudents each quarter in a hands-on program dealingwith the everyday workings of the greenhouse andgarden, allowing the students to learn the basics ofhorticultural and landscaping skills. In turn, thestudents greatly benefit the greenhouse and depart-ment by providing the people-power to allow us tocontinue to improve facilitiesand collections. Thecollections continue to expand with new acquisitionsin ferns and fern-allies, carnivorous plants, wildflowers, economically important plants as well as otheracquisitions. A small water garden has been corn-pleted to complement the area that includes theoutdoor carnivorous plant collection and seating area.If your travels bring you to the Athens area, be certainto stop by, introduce yourself, and check out what hasbeen going on during the past twelve years sinceHAROLD became the greenhouse manager. He wouldalso like to acknowledge his deep appreciation toMORGAN Vis and her husband Wayne Chiasson for thedonation of a 1988 Chevrolet 510 pickup truck withtopper. The truck was received last year for use bygreenhouse and garden staff and is available foroccasional graduate student use. Additionally, wewere able to retire the old (1971!) green Botany van fora new van this fall thanks to generous support fromthe College of Arts and Sciences.

KIM BROWN officially arrived on the 1st of Septemberand spent most of the monthjumping into field workat three US Dept. of Energy-sponsored forest FACEresearch sites. The forest FACE experiments aredesigned to investigate the effects of elevated CO2onforest function and growth. The FACE experimentaldesigns are unusual in that large, mature trees areexposed to —56Oppm CO2without enclosing them intents or greenhouses - hence the acronym “FACE”(Free-AirCO2Exposure). By working at FACE sitesin northern Wisconsin, central Tennessee and thePiedmont of North Carolina, she was able to study theleaf functional anatomy in 6 species of trees growingunder FACE conditions. With this research, she willexamine the potential effects of future climate changeconditions on the carbon, water, and energy fluxes inthese tree species. An example of the FACE experi

mental design at the Duke Forest FACE site in a 19meter tall, 18 year-old loblolly pine forest with threeelevated and three ambient CO2exposure rings can beseen at the following site: http://152.16.58.129/site/main.html.

PHILIP CANTINO reports that when he is not busy withhis Chair’s duties, his activities continue to focus onthe PhyloCode, a system of nomenclature governingthe naming of clades (see 2000 Newsletter). This pastyear, the PhyloCode was the subject of a feature articlein BioScience and a news article in Science. Phil wasinvited to present a seminar on this work at Harvardlast March. MARl-VAUGHN JOHNSON completed her

thesis on the flora of Dysart Woods after a four-monthleave of absence to study the flora associated with anendangered honey-creeper in Hawaii. ELIZABETH

MARTIN (MS) is nearing completion of her floristicstudy of the United Plant Savers botanical sanctuaryin Meigs County. JESS PEIRSON (MS) is making goodprogress on a systematic study of the mint genusCollinsonia (Stoneroot), which has entailed twocollecting trips in the southeastern U.S. He will workout the species limits based on a combination ofmorphological and molecular data (the latter researchto be carried out in HARVEY BALLARD’s lab) and preparea taxonomic treatment of the genus for the Flora ofNorth America.

JAMES C. CAVENDER participated in the ATBI (All TaxaBiological Inventory) going on at the Great SmokyMountain National Park. He was part of the slime

- mold TWIG (Taxonomy Working Group). The group. collected soil samples from various habitats in the

Smoky Mountains in early June 2001 and thenisolated the cellular slime molds. So far they havefound 26 species, 7 of which appear to be new. Theproject was supported by grants from the NationalPark, Discover Life in America, Friends of the Smokiesand Great Smoky Mountains Natural History Association. The project is continuing. Jim welcomesDAWN BLACK (MS) to the lab, and reports that doctoralstudent EIRIK STIJFHOORN is nearing completion of hisresearch

BRIAN MCCARTHY happily announces that he survivedhis first year as Graduate Chair. He remains on theeditorial board of Plant Ecology (Vegetatio) and theIournal ofthe Torrey Botanical Society and continues hisresearch program on the ecology of hardwood forests,invasive species biology, and restoration eology.This year he received funding to begin a new researchprogram on one of the last remaining stands ofAmerican chestnut (Castanea dentata) near LaCrosse,WI. His work with the USFS, aided by researchassistants CYNTHIA RICCuuI and MATTHEW ALBRECHT,

on fire ecology in southeastern Ohio is ongoing.Cynthia (PhD) continues her work on the ecology offire in mixed oak forests, concentrating this year onevaluating the fuel loads available in this region.

8 Botany

Additionally, she is conducting other fire experimentsinvolving seed germination and weevil ecology in thesoil and continues her floristic work at Deep Woodsin Hocking County. Matthew (MS) began his researchthis past year on the demography of hardwoodseedlings on the fire project, contributing to ourunderstanding of hardwood regeneration undervarious fire regimes. He also is working on theecology of medicinal herb species and will pursue hisdoctorate in that area. KURT HARTMAN continues tomake good progress on his doctoral research investigating the ecology and effects of the invasive Loniceramaackii in southwestern Ohio. He has done someinteresting studies of soil seed banks and successional dynamics in historically disturbed stands. Heis also working at the Fernald Environmental Man-agement Project a previous Department of Energyuranium enrichment facility, just outside of Cincinnati. DARRIN RUBINO continues his PhD work on theinfluences of topographic gradients on plant, fungaland slime mold communities. He committed quitesome time this past year to studying the moss andfungal communities on woody debris in the regionalforests. Darrin reportedly lost some hair in the processof moss & fungus identification. A. CHRISTINA WILLIAMSLONGBRAKE completed her Ph.D. this year with adetailed study of the ecology of an invasive treespecies (Paulownia tomentosa) in local forests. Shecurrently is an Assistant Professor at Washington &Jefferson College in Pennsylvania. CHRISTINE SMALL

also finished her Ph.D. on the relationship betweendisturbance and understory diversity patterns,examining the effects of even-aged forest managementpractices on understory herbs within the extremelydiverse topographies of southeastern Ohio. She isnow an Assistant Professor at Connecticut College.MATTHEW WEAND is on the home stretch of completinghis MSES degree investigating the vegetation patternsalong forest-field ecotones in the Wayne NationalForest, which should provide information on howpast surface mining, now abandoned some 30 years,has impacted the adjacent forest vegetation. ASWINI

PAl (PhD) continues her research on the populationecology of the clonal Sweetflag (Acorus calamus), a

plant with several ethnopharmaceutical uses. She isstudying aspects of the plant’s distribution, phenol-ogy, rhizome growth and genetic variation.

GAR ROTHWELL returned from his 2000-2001 sabbaticalleave at the University of Alberta in western Canada.This provided an opportunity to: develop a detailedoutline for a new paleobotany text book, completeseveral research projects (10 papers were written andsubmitted for publication), update research skills byparticipating in graduate course activities with aninternationally recognized authority in plant system-atics (Dr. Sean Graham), continue collaborativepaleobotanical research with Dr. RUTH STOCKEY (MS74), and conduct extensive field work to develop anew source of fossil plant material in marine deposits

of the Pacific Ocean. Specimens were recovered fromcentral California, Vancouver Island and the QueenCharlotte Islands (British Columbia), and in centralBritish Columbia near the town of Princeton in bedsthat ranged from 47 to 170 million years old. Thesefossils show some of best preservation of plant cellsand tissues known to date. Several research projectson ferns, extinct groups of seed plants, conifers andflowering plants were begun. Gar and Ruth spent tendays collecting living plants and DNA samples at theMunich Botanical Garden. This material is beingused in studies by Gar, Ruth, HARVEY BALLARD, Dr.

Sean Graham (U. Of A.) and several of their students.Gar continues as Secretary of the InternationalOrganization of Paleobotany (hftp://ibs.uel.ac.uk/palaeo/) and in his ongoing participation in organiz

ing the Midcontinent Paleobotanical Colloquium(hftpoak.cats.ohiou.edu[-rothwe1I/MPC-2OOO/index.htm). MIKE DUNN (PhD) is investigating theglobal floristic turnover at the boundary between theLower and Upper Carboniferous, as well as additional projects on Medullosan seed fern ovules andthe characterization of a Medullosan vine from

Arkansas. MIHAI TOMESCU (PhD) is concentrating onthe origin of land plants using the earliest evidencefor terrestrial communities from lower Siluriandeposits of Ohio. Additionally, he has characterizeda new species of Lyginopteris from North America. Garwelcomed the following visiting scholars to the labthis Fall: Dr. Jason Hilton (Museum of NaturalHistory, Edinburgh, Scotland) and Dr. DennisStevenson (New York Botanical Gardens) each spentseveral days completing studies of fossil seeds. Dr.Ruth Stockey (University of Alberta) is spending the2001-2002 academic year in the PaleobotanicalLaboratory working on extinct groups of seed plants,developing molecular techniques for the study ofliving duckweeds, and collaborating on a new textbook.

ALLAN SHOWALTER’S lab focuses on the structure andfunction of arabinogalactan-proteins. These cell

surface glycoproteins are important in plant develop-ment. They have potential commercial uses asindustrial gums and adhesives as well as medicaluses due to their ability to stimulate our immunesystem. Allan was Ohio University’s institutionalrepresentative for the Ohio Plant BiotechnologyConsortium and served as guest editor for Cellular

and Molecular Life Sciences (Volume 58, Number 10,2001), a special issue devoted to plant cell wallproteins. In collaboration with Marcia Kieliszewski(Chemistry and Biochemistry) he has purified LeAGP1, a novel, modular arabinogalactan-protein intomato, using a novel GFP (green fluorescent protein)tagging approach and analyzed the carbohydratecomponents of this cell surface glycoprotein. Thiswork was presented at the International Plant CellWall Meeting in Toulouse, France in September 2001.Prior to the meeting, Allan & Carol Showalter were

Botany 9

able to visit with DOMINIQUE RUMEAU, Allan’s first post-doc here at OU, and her family. Graduate student Li-WEN WANG is in the process of writing up her Ph.D.dissertation research. She has isolated and character-ized two genes fromAtriplex, a halophyte, coding forglycinebetaine, a small molecule thought to be in-volved in conferring salt tolerance. She also investigated the connection between salt stress and pro-grarnmed cell death. Additionally, she has beenacting Lab Coordinator in Betty’s absence. Doctdralstudent WENXIAN SUN has demonstrated that LeAGP-1is associated with the plasma membrane in tomatoprotoplasts. He is investigating how LeAGP-1 isanchored to the membrane and what moleculesinteract with it. MING CHEN (PhD) continues work onarabinogalactan-proteins that are involved withprogrammed cell death, including the signal transduction pathway by which programmed cell death isinduced. Chen has focused much of his recentattention on hypoxia-induced programmed cell deathin tobacco BY-2 cells. Two new Ph.D. students havejoined the lab, BRIJESH KARAKKAT (a.k.a. Babu) and JIE

YANG. Both students are MCB/Plant Biology studentsand have begun preliminary research for theirprojects. Two visiting scientists came to work inAllan’s lab for several months, Inês Chaves (a Ph.D.student from ITQB-Instituto de Tecnologia QuImica eBiolOgica LaboratOrio de BioquImica Vegetal inPortugual) and Gabriella Scippa (a research scientistfrom the University of Molise in Italy). Allan previously met Inês at an International Advanced Courseon Stress, Programmed Cell Death and Signaling inPlants held at the Instituto de Biologia Molecular eCelular in Porto, Portugal, where Allan was a courseinstructor and conference speaker. Inês is interestedin programmed cell death in tobacco and visited thelab to examine the possible role of arabinogalactanproteins in inducing programmed cell death in hersystem. Gabriella works on Fraxinus ornus andSpartiumjunceum, two plant species grown on road-side slopes to prevent erosion. She is studying themechanical stress of the roots through expression ofplant cell wall proteins as a stress indicator. Allanenjoyed sharing mutual research interests with thesetwo young, talented scientists and, on a more per-sonal level, sharing their cultures/cuisines (i.e., saltcod dishes from Portugal and pizza and tiramisufrom Italy).

IVAN SMITH took over the responsibility for the Biology101 laboratory after JIM BRASELTON’s retirement.

During 2000-2001, he substantially revised the labs,and he and BETTY MOORE prepared a beautifully

illustrated lab manual for the course, which has beenpublished by Wiley.

ART TRESE continues his work with Barbara Grover

(Mathematics) on a project to develop an intercollegiate Masters program for high school teachers. Artand undergrad CARY MILLER are producing a virtual

“Field Guide to Worm Boxes” with numerous digitalimages and short video clips of the microscopic life ina worm box. The resulting CD or DVD would beavailable to teachers to illustrate recycling of organicwastes, predator/prey relationships and the circle oflife reduced to the microcosm of the worm box. SARAH

BASHORE (PhD) is investigating the molecular geneticsof strain compatibility in the combination of mutantbean plants and the rare rhizobial isolate able tonodulate them. VIJAYANAND NADELLA (MS) is workingon the action mechanism of an organic herbicide onplant root development.

IRWIN UNGAR continues to study the effects of extremeenvironments on the seed germination, growth anddistribution of halophytes. He is trying to determine ifthe tolerance to stress differs at the germination andgrowth stages of plant development and how thiscould influence the distribution of species in plantcommunities. He continues to investigate the effects ofsalinity and bracteoles on the germination anddispersal of Atriplex seeds from salt marsh and saltdesert habitats. Irwin is continuing his collaborationon an NSF sponsored research project with his formerstudent, Professor M. AJMAL KHAN (PhD 1985), Depart-ment of Botany, University of Karachi. They areinvestigating the effects of salinity and growthregulating substances on the germination and growthof salt desert and mangrove marsh species fromPakistan. Irwin visited Ajmal’s very active laboratory,where a number of graduate students are studying thephysiological ecology of salt desert and mangrovemarsh species, and presented an invited seminar totheir department. Ciuusn TUCKER CiurnR (PhD) iscarrying out experimental studies on the germinationand seed bank dynamics of halophytes, including astudy comparing the genetic variation in current andolder seed collections of halophytes with that of theseed bank at the Rittman, Ohio salt marsh to deter-mine whether or not the seed bank represents a sourceof genetic variability for these populations. JOHN

GIAMMARIO found some interesting interaction be-tweensalinity and growth regulator substances in

their effect on the seed germination responses ofSpergularia marina. He is interested in determiningwhether or not there is variation in salt tolerance ofhalophytes at various stages of development andwhether or not growth regulator substances alleviatethe effects of stress. John has left to pursue a doctoraldegree in the Department of Biological Sciences atLouisiana State University. WENDY DoBRowoLsKI

investigated the allelopathic effects of Lespedezacuneata on the seed germination and growth of severalold-field species. She determined that the toxic effectsof Lespedeza were both plant-organ and speciesspecific. Undergraduates CAROLYN REILLY, LORENA

BROWN and AMY MCCLINTIC assisted with the researchin the laboratory this year.

MORGAN Vis and her research group have had their

10 Botany

usual busy year. Numerous projects have beencompleted and the papers are coming out. Morgan,EMILY MILLER (BS) and MELISSA HALL (MS) finished theiranalyses of Batrachospermum helmin thosurn usingmolecular and morphological data. An experiment oneffects of different vegetative substrates on algalcomposition in vernal mesocosms was conducted inthe greenhouse garden by BOB VERB (PhD) and DALE

CASAMATTA (PhD). Morgan welcomes Mastersstudents NANDA FILKIN and SARAH HAMSHER to the lab.Two undergraduate researchers worked in thelaboratory this year. NICK MACHESKY (BS-Microbiology)researched the utility of a mitochondrial marker forstudies with Batrachospermum helminthosum, which hepresented in a poster at the Ohio Academy of Scienceand our departmental poster session. After her returnfrom the Global Studies in Plant Biology Bolivia fieldcourse (see related article, this page);AMY MCCLINTIC

(BS) joined the laboratory and conducted research onthe macroalgae from montane cloud forest and alpinestreams in Bolivia, which was presented at theNortheast Algal Symposium by Morgan. Morgan’sresearch with Dave Bayless (Mechanical Engineering)using algae as bioremediators in the CO2Bioreactorprogram was reported in a science news article onBBC radio. It also was on ABCNews.com, CNN.com,and Science Daily, was the featured project on theDOE’s main web site, and was a semifinalist for theChristopher Columbus Invention Award. For moreinformation, see (hftp://www.ohiou.edu/perspectives/0003/briefOO6.HTML).

SARAH WYATT’S research focuses on plant growth anddevelopment with an emphasis on the use of molecular and genetic tools to study plant responses toenvironmental stimuli. There are two major projectsongoing in her lab. The first deals directly with signaltransduction in the response to gravity stimulation.Her research group has identified several “GyPSi”(gravity persistent signal) mutants that are directlyinvolved in signal transduction. These mutants mayprovide clues to how a plant initiates a response togravity. The second project deals with identificationof genes involved in wood production and lignification. Identification of genes involved in this process,although commercially important, has been difficultbecause of the large genome size and long generationtime of most trees. Because Arabidopsis thaliana is amore amenable system for analysis of the genesinvolved in wood formation, Sarah’s lab is developingArabidopsis as a model system to study lignificationand wood production. Sarah welcomes MS studentKRISTA SHASTEEN to her lab.

STUDENTS COMPLETINGDEGREES

BA: Andrew Gaston, Angelo Giallombardo, BrianKibler

BS: Ben Avery, Josh Beniston, Lea Birbilas, LorenaBrown, Jennifer Chandler, Kathleen Dixon,

Amanda Habel, Aaron Kloss, David May, EmilyMiller, Kevin Noble, Brian Rayo

MS: Wendy Dobrowolski (Ungar), John Giammario(Ungar), Mari-VaughnJohnson (Cantino), MariaSegovia-Salcedo (Ballard), Aurea Cortes-Palomec(Ballard)

PhD: Christina Longbrake (McCarthy), Christine Small(McCarthy); RobertVerb (Vis)

VISITORS TO THEDEPARTMENT

Shirley Graham, Kent State UniversityTerry Henkel, Duke UniversityJohn Gray, University of ToledoMelany Fisk, Cornell UniversityBrent Ewers, University of WisconsinAl Steinman, S. Florida Water Management DistrictDon Cipollini, Wright State UniversityDonald Eggert, University of Illinois, ChiagoNeal Stewart, Univ. of North Carolina-GreensboroRobert Sheath, University of GuelphTom Givnish, University of WisconsinSimcha Lev-Yadun, University of Haifa, IsraelAlex Avery, Hudson Institute’s Center for Global Food

IssuesJohn Stiller, East Carolina UniversitySteve Stephenson, Fairmont State College, WVDennis Stevenson, New York Botanical GardenElizabeth Kellogg, University of Missouri, St. LouisVirginia Bouchard, Ohio State UniversityRoger Anderson, Illinois State University

GLOBAL STUDIESCOURSE ENJOYS INTER-NATIONAL COVERAGE

The Global Studies in Plant Biology course, designedby Harvey Ballard and Morgan Vis, is proving to bequite successful for its student participants. Additionally it has garnered a great deal of national andinternational news coverage, particularly this pastsummer’s trip to Hawaii for an Island Biogeographyfield course. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin ran a storyabout the research course which is available, complete with pictures, at this URL: http:llstarbulletin.com/2001/09/12/news/storyl6.html. A very good website offering fuller coverage is at: http//www.ohiou.edsciencespot1ight/. The first course centered onthe Ecology of the Andes with a field course inBolivia. Upcoming field courses will include FrenchGuiana and possibly China. Currently Drs. Vis andBallard are in the field with students in the Neotropical Rainforests of Brazil where the research is goingwell but where phone links to the States are difficult.Before each field course, the students take a seminarcourse that introduces the ecology and language ofthe region, and after the field course, students analyzethe data in a laboratory course.

Botany 11

IFTS TO THEDEPARTMENT

In past years, monetary gifts to the department havebeen used, for example, for improvements at theBotany Garden and Greenhouse and to supportinstruction in summer workshops for teachers. Inaddition, gifts to the Department provided plaques tothe junior and senior students with the top botanicalprojects at the District Science Fair. Contributionsmay be made to the Department in general or may bedirected toward a specific purpose, for example,through one of the following accounts:

•:• The Professor Arthur H. Buckle BotanyScholarship for women.

•:• Charles E. Miller Scholarship for under-graduate and graduate students.

+ Lee and Irene Roach Graduate Fund forgraduate student research in cellular andmolecular biology.

•:• Monroe T. Vermilion Scholarship for under-graduates.

•:• Plant Biology Faculty Memorial Scholar-ship for graduate students.

•:• Betty Moore Memorial Fund for studentprofessional travel

BADRA, PETER

BARTELLIS, Lois JEANNE

BONECUTTER, MARGARET & DUSTIN

CALABRO, NICHOLAS C.CHENEVEY, ROBERT

COKER, JENNIFER REED

DOKTOR, THOMAS A.ELPHINGSTONE, MEGAN HANLEY

FODERARO, MARGARET ANGELA

Fox, TERRENCE & MARY

FRASCH, ROBERT G. & BONNIE

GIALLOMBARDO, GARY

KURTZMAN, DR. CLETUS P.HAMMER, CHARLES & JANET

LoIzoS, LEA

LYON, JEFFERY P.MCCASKEY, THOMAS

MICKLE, JAMES

MIETTY, WAYNE A.MITCHELL, JOHN P. & LILLIAN

MOORE, ELIZABETH

NUSSBAUM, FRANCIS & GLORIA

PAPSIDERO, LAWRENCE D.POST, BOYD W.PRICE, WILLIAM B.RICE, JOHN & ANITA

RICHARDS, MILu

ROBERTSON, DAVID & MARY

RoSS, MICHAEL D.SHORES, ARTHUR

SMITH, IVAN K. & LYNN

STEINBACK, JOHN T.STERLING, EDWARD & SANDY

STOUT, NORMAN B.STROBEL, JAMES & DONNA

SZABO, BERTALAN, L.UNGAR, IRWIN & ANA

VERMILLION, ARTHUR

VIERHELLER, THOMAS & CHENZHAO

WHITMER, RHONDA SCHWEIZER

WYLIE, STEVEN & SUSAN

WE THANK THE FOLLOWING ALUMNI AND FRIENDS WHO HAVE MADE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE DEPARTMENT

DURING THE PAST YEAR. WE RESPECT THE WISHES OF DONORS WHO WISH ANONYMITY AND WHO HAVE RE-

QUESTED WE NOT LIST THEIR NAMES. IN EITHER CASE, WHEN YOU MAKE A GIFT TO PBIO, YOU WILL RECEIVE

AN ACKNOWLEDGEMENT FROM THE CHAIR, DR. P. D. CANTINO. IF YOU DO NOT RECEIVE A PERSONAL

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT, OR IF YOUR NAME SHOULD, BUT DOES NOT APPEAR ON THIS LIST, PLEASE CALL IT TO OUR

ATTENTION SO WE CAN CORRECT THE OMISSION. WE HAVE FOUND THAT OCCASIONALLY DONATIONS INTENDED

FOR PLANT BIOLOGY ARE INCORRECTLY DEPOSITED IN ACCOUNTS OF OTHER DEPARTMENTS.

Checks should be made out to The Ohio University Foundation and designated for the Depart-ment of Environmental & Plant Biology in the memo section of the check or on a sepate note andsent to:

The Ohio University FoundationP.O. Box 869

Athens OH 45701

0UTSTANDING TEACHING AWARDS

ART TRESE was one of three recipients awarded the Jeanette G. Graselli Brown Faculty TeachingAward this past spring. At the same ceremony, Art also received one of the four Dean’s Out-

standing Teacher Awards. Congratulations Art!

12 Botany

I{ECENT PUBLICATIONS

Ballard, HE., Jr. and Sytsma, K.J. 2000. Evolution andBiogeography of the woody Hawaiian violets( Viola, Violaceae): artic origins, herbaceous ancestry and bird dispersal. Evolution 54: 1521-1532.

Ballard, H. E., Jr., Casamatta, D.A., Hall, ME.,McCauley, R.A., Segovia-Salcedo, M.C. and Verb,R.G. 2001. Phenetic analysis shows conspecificitybetween Hispaniolan Viola dorningensis Urban andNorth American Viola rnacloskeyi sensu lato(Violaceae). Brittonia 53: 122-136.

Cantino, PD. 2001. Nomenclature, Phylogenetic.McGraw-Hill 2002 Yearbook of Science & Technology, Pp. 242-244.

Casamatta, D.A., Fleischman, D.J., Beaver, JR. andVerb, R.G. 2001. Taxonomic characterization of theplanktonic and metaphytic algal communities in anewly rehabilitated Ohio wetland. Castanea 66:227-236.

De Queiroz, K. and Cantino, PD. 2001. Taxon names,not taxa, are defined. Taxon 50: 821-826.

De Queiroz, K. and Cantino, PD. 2001. Phylogeneticnomenclature and the Phylocode. Bulletin ofZoological Nomenclature 58: 254-271.

Dunn, MT. 2001. Palynology of the CarboniferousPermian boundary stratotype, Aidaralash Creek,Kazakhstan. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology. 116: 175-194.

Egan, T.P. and Ungar, IA. 2000. Mortality of the saltmarsh species Salicornia europaea and A triplexprostrata (Chenopodiaceae) in response to inundation. Ohio Journal of Science. 100: 24-27.

Greer, G.K. and McCarthy, B.C. 2000. Patterns ofgrowth and reproduction in a natural populationof the fern Polystichum acrostichoides. AmericanFern Journal 90: 60-76.

Gulzar, S., Khan, MA. and Ungar, l.A. 2001. Effect ofsalinity and temperature on the germination ofUrochondra setulosa (Trin.). CE. Hubbard. SeedScience and Technology 29: 21-29. V

V

Hernandez-Castillo, C., Rothwell, G.W. and Mapes,G. 2001. Thucydiaceae Fam. Nov., with a reviewand reevaluation of Paleozoic Walchian conifers.International Journal of Plant Science 162: 1155-1185.

V

Hernandez-Castillo, G., Rothwell, G.W. and Mapes,G. 2001.Compound pollen cone in a Paleozoicconifer. American Journal of Botany 88: 1139-1142.

Hilton, J., Rothwell, G.W., Li, C-S., Wang, S-J andGaltier, J. 2001. Permineralized Cardiocarpaleanovules in wetland vegetation from early Permian

volcaniclastic sediments of China. Palaeontology44: 811-825.

Keiper, J.B. and Casamatta, D.A. 2001. Benthicorganisms as forensic indicators. North AmericanBenthological Society 20: 311-324.

Khan, MA., Ungar, IA., and Showalter, AM. 2000.Effects of sodium chloride treatments on growthand ion accumulation of the halophyte Haloxylonrecurvurn. Communications in Soil Science andPlant Analysis 31: 2763-2774.

Lu, H., Chen, M., and Showalter, A.M. 2001. Develop-mental expression and perturbation ofarabinogalactan-proteins during seed germinationand seedling growth in tomato. PhysiologiaPlantarum 112: 442-450.

Mapes, C. and G.W. Rothwell. Conifer. McGraw-Hill2000 Yearbook of Science & Technology, Pp. 92-95.

McCarthy, B.C., Small, C.J., and Rubino, D.L. 2001.Composition, structure, and dynamics of DysartWoods, an old-growth mixed mesophytic forest ofunglaciated Ohio. Forest Ecology and Manage-ment 140: 193-213.

Meekins, J.F., BallardJr., HE., and B.C. McCarthy.2001. Genetic variation in Garlic Mustard (Alliariapetiolata, Brassicaceae) using inter-simple sequencerepeats (ISSRs). Internationaijournal of PlantSciences 162: 161-169.

Nadot, S., Ballard, HE., Jr., Creach, J.B., Dajoz, I. 2000.The evolution of pollen heteromorphism in Viola: Aphylogenetic approach. Plant Systematics andEvolution 223: 155-171.

Pigg, K.B. and Rothwell, G.W. 2001. Anatomicallypreserved Woodwardia virginica (Blechnaceae) anda new filicalean fern from the middle MioceneYakima Canyon flora of central Washington, USA.Americanjournal of Botany 88: 777-787.

Railing, CA. and McCarthy, B.C. 2000. The effects ofrhizome severing and fertilization on growth andallocation in Diphasiastrum digitatum. AmericanFern Journal 90: 77-86.

Ratzel, S.R., Rothwell, G.W., Mapes, G., Mapes, R.H.and Doguzhaeva, L.A. 2001. Pityostrobushokodzensis, a new species of Pinaceous cone fromthe Cretaceous of Russia. Journal of Paleontology75: 895-900.

Rothwell, G.W. and Mapes, G. 2001. Bartlieliafurcatagen. et sp. nov., with a review of Paleozoicconiferophytes and a discussion of coniferophytesystematics. International Journal of Plant Sciences162: 637-667.

Rubino, D.L. and McCarthy, B.C. 2000. The challengeand benefits of quantifying woody debris decaydynamics in the Central Hardwoods Region.Natural Areas Journal 20: 288-290.

Botany 13

Rubino, DL. and McCarthy, B.C. 2000.Dendroclimatological analysis of white oak(Quercus alba L. Fagaceae) from an old-growth forestin southeastern Ohio. Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society 127: 240-250.

Rubino, DL. & Vis, ML. 2001. Bryophyte flora ofDysart Woods, An Ohio old growth forest. Castanea (December Issue).

Showalter, AM. 2001. Arabinogalactan-proteins:structure, expression, and function. Cellular andMolecular Life Sciences 58: 1399-1417.

Showalter, AM. 2001. Introduction: Plant Cell WallProteins. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences 58:1361-1362..

Stevens, A.E., McCarthy, B.C. & Vis, ML. 2001. Metalcontent of Klebsormidium-dominated (Chlorophyta)algal mats from acid mine drainage waters insoutheastern Ohio. The Journal of the TorreyBotanical Society 128: 226-233.

Stratford, S., Barnes, W., Hohorst, DL., Sagert, J.C.,Cotter, R., Golubiewski, A., Showalter, A.M.,McCormick, S., and Bedinger, P. 2001. A leucinerich repeat region is conserved in pollen extensinlike (Pex) proteins in monocots and dicots. PlantMolecular Biology 46: 43-56.

Stockey, R.A., Rothwell, G.W., Addy, H.D. andCurrah, R.S. 2001. Mycorrhizal association of theextinct conifer Metasequoia milleri. MycologicalResearch 105: 202-205.

Stockey, R.A., Rothwell, G.W. and Falder, A.B. 2001.Diversity among Taxodioid conifers: Metasequoiafoxii sp. nov. from the Paleocene of central Alberta,Canada. International Journal of Plant Sciences162: 221-234.

Tomescu, A.M.F. 2000. Evaluation of Holocene pollenrecords from the Romanian Plain. Review ofPalaeobotany and Palynology 109: 219-233.

Tomescu, A.M.F., Rothwell, G.W. and Mapes, G. 2001.Lyginopteris royalii sp. nov. from the Upper Mississippian of North America. Review of Palaeobotanyand Palynology 116:159-173.

Ungar, IA. 2001. Seed banks and seed populationdynamics of halophytes. Wetlands Ecology andManagement

9:499-510.

Ungar, l.A. and Khan, AM. 2001. Effects of bracteoleson seed germination and dispersal of two speciesof Atriplex. Annals of Botany 87: 233-239.

Verb, R.G. & Vis, ML. 2001. Macroalgal communitiesfrom an acid mine drainage impacted watershed.Aquatic Botany 71: 93-107.

Verb, R.G., Casamatta, D.A. & Vis, ML. 2001. Effectsof different vegetative substrates on algal composition in vernal mesocosms. Hydrobiologia 455: 111-.120..

Vis, M.L., Miller, E.J. & Hall, M.M. 2001. Biogeographic analyses of Batrachospermum helminthosum(Batrachospermales, Rhodophyta) in NorthAmerica using molecular and morphological data.Phycologia 40: 2-9.

Vis, M.L. & Entwisle, T.J. 2000. Insights intoBatrachospermales (Rhodophyta) phylogeny fromrbcL sequence data of Australian taxa. Journal ofPhycology 36: 1175-1182.

Williams, AC. and McCarthy, B.C. 2001.A new indexof interspecific competition for replacement andadditive designs. Ecological Research 16: 29-40.

Wyatt, S. E., Perrson, S., Love, J., Thompson, W.,Robertson, D., and Boss, W.F. 2001. Alteredexpression of calreticulin alters intracellularcalcium storage and release in tobacco suspensionculture cells. Plant Physiology 126: 1092-1104.

.4ALUMNI NEWS

TIM BELL (MS. 1979) continues to teach botanyand ecology at Chicago State University. tjbelll@csu.edu

KELLY CAPORALE (BS, 1999) is a CryptogamicHerbarium Curatorial Assistant at the NewYork Botanical Garden.

WENDI CRABILL (BS, 1995) works forTreePeople, an urban forestry non-profitorganization, in California.wcrabill@treepeople.org

JENNIFER DEAN (BS-HTC 2000) is married, livingin Columbus, and has an infant daughternamed Alexa. She is applying to doctoralprograms, in which she hopes to specialize inplant-insect interactions.

LONNIE DROUHARD (MS 1997) is a 6th-l2thgrade science teacher in Corvallis OR. Re-cently married, he is enjoying exploring hisnew home state. LDrouhard@rocketmail.com

TODD EGAN (PhD 1999) is currently an Assistant Professor at Carroll College, New York.

14 Botany

MARGARET FODERARO (MS 1995) is an outdoor

horticulturalist with the Denver Botanic Gardens. She is in charge of Sacred Earth, a newinteractive garden focusing on plants used byAmerican Indians of the Colorado Plateauregion. The garden features four habitat areas:Montane, Cultivated, Riparian and PinonJuniper.

MINGGENG GAO (PhD 1999) is doing well in hispost-doctoral position at the Harvard MedicalSchool where he is involved with cancerresearch. He was joined by the Showalterfamily for an excellent Chinese dinner thissummer while Ming’s car continued to run inhis parking space where Ming had locked hiskeys in the car while it was idling.

HAROLD GILBERT (BA 1999) has accepted aposition with Envirotech Consultants doingwetland and prairie restorations and wetlandmitigation. hgilbert@mgci.com

BOB GOLDBERG (BS 1966) has been elected to theNational Academy of Sciences. He is a professor in the Department of Molecular, Cell, andDevelopmental Biology, UCLA.

TERRY HENKEL (BS 1983) finished his PhD atDuke University in October and will begin afaculty position at Humboldt State Universityin January. He will continue his research inneotropical mycology as well as developingprojects in his new surroundings, the northernCalifonia redwoods.

GENARO HERNANDEZ-CASTILLO (M.S. 2000) is adoctoral student at the University of Albertaand is continuing his work on the origin andearly evolution of conifers. He received theMaynard F. Moseley award (Botanical Societyof America) for the best student presentationin the Developmental and Structural and thePaleobotanical Sections for aspects of his thesiswork presented at the BSA meetings in Albuquerque in August.

BRIAN HOFFMAN (MS 1988) is currently a research assistant at The Ohio State UniversityPlant Biotechnology Center investigating thebiology of Gemini viruses, pathogens of to-bacco, tomatoes and beets.

TONY KIRCHGESSNER is a computer programmer

and herbarium assistant at the New YorkBotanical Garden. Tony left OU in the late

80’s just short of receiving his BS which hecompleted at SUNY.

EMILY MILLER (BS 2001) is working as an urbaninventory forester in the Cleveland area.

BEN TORKE (MS 1997) has begun his doctoralwork at Washington University, St. Louis,investigating speciation and phylogeny in thelarge, neotropical genus Swartzia. He previously held a curatorial position at the NewYork Botanical Garden.

GRETCHEN WALTERS (BS 1996) is working on anMS at Arizona State University. In addition,she has a position at Missouri Botanical Garden that involves field work in Gabon.

FLOYD R. WEST (BS 1943) spent 19 years inpublic schools in Ohio followed by 16 years atBroome Community College, Binghamton, NY.Since retiring in 1982, he has had a full, activelife including volunteer work with: the localmuseum, curating an impressive avian/mammalian collection; the Binghamton Phil-harmonic and local opera company; teachinga yearly course for LYCEUM (Learn in Retire-ment Unit); nature outreach into the class-rooms of several former students; speaking forthe Historical Society; and volunteering at thelocal hospital with his wife (Marlene Wierman,BFAPAA, 1942) and for relaxation, singingseveral concerts a year with the MadrigalChoir of Binghamton. Whew!

lviMarriages

JENNIFER DEAN

L0NNIE DROUHARD

BirthsJENNIFER DEAN, a daughter.

MARIA CLAUDIA SEGOVIA SALCEDO, a son.

DeathsBETTY MOORE (see page 2)

JUDY KERTES

Ohio UniversityDepartment of Environmental and Plant Biology College ofArts and SciencesOhio UniversityPorter HallAthens, Ohio 45701-2979USA

TEL: 740-593-1126FAX: 740-593-1130WWW: www.plantbio.ohiou.edu

December 2001

Dear Alumni, Faculty, and Students:

I am sorry to report that the enclosed newsletter bears sad news. As you may alreadyknow, we recently lost a dedicated and much loved staff member. After a long battlewith cancer, Betty Moore succumbed in early September. Betty was part of ourdepartmental community for over 40 years, starting as an undergraduate and culminatingin 23 years of dedicated service as the stockroom manager and lab coordinator for ourintroductory courses. During her years on the staff, she was greatly appreciated for herenthusiasm for botany and her deeply felt desire to help others. It was my pleasure andgood fortune to work with Betty for 20 of her 23 years on the staff. Her eagerness toshare the beauty or peculiarity of a flower or to ask my help in identifying a plantbrightened many a day for me. She is sorely missed.

The Department is honoring Betty’s memory in two ways. A tree will be planted next toPorter Hall with a memorial plaque at its base. Because Betty was particularly fond ofmagnolias and was a supporter of the horticultural use of native plants, a cucumber-tree(Magnolia acuminata) was chosen. This will be the first specimen of this native specieson campus. Its presence will therefore benefit students in the Trees and Shrubs course, afact that Betty would have approved of. Indeed, it was Betty who brought in samples ofthis species so that students could see it. The species is rare in Athens County but there isa large tree near her home.

The other way we will honor Betty’s memory is by establishing a scholarship fund. TheBetty Moore Memorial Fund will differ from our department’s other scholarship funds inthat it will be dedicated to supporting student travel in connection with off-campuscourses and research. Because Betty was a strong believer in the importance of hands-onexperience in teaching botany, we feel that this use of the money donated in her honor isparticularly appropriate. Our department offers several overseas courses, including thenew Global Studies in Plant Biology program, which recently provided students theopportunity to study field botany in Bolivia (winter break 2000) and Hawaii (summer2001). A third group of students is currently studying the plants of southeastern Brazil,and a trip to French Guiana is scheduled for summer 2002. These courses offer anexciting educational opportunity, but they are also expensive, and some students find itdifficult to pay their way. The Betty Moore Memorial Fund will make participation infield courses possible for some students who might not otherwise be able to take part. Inawarding money from this fund, priority will be given to students whose travel is part of

a field course (including but not restricted to international courses), but research-relatedtravel is also eligible. Similarly, priority will be given to undergraduates because thedepartment has other sources of funding for graduate student travel, although graduatestudents will be eligible if there is not a suitable undergraduate recipient in a particularyear.

The Betty Moore Memorial Fund will initially be established as a “restricted account”(i.e., its use is restricted to a particular purpose but it is not endowed). However, if thetarget of $15,000 is reached, it will be converted to an endowed account. The advantageof an endowed account is that it will be available in perpetuity. The money awarded tostudents will come solely from the interest; the principal will not be spent. In contrast, ifthe $15,000 target is not met and the account is not endowed, money awarded from thefund will come from the principal and the fund may eventually be exhausted. Clearly, anendowed fund is preferable, but reaching the $ 15,000 that will make its establishmentpossible will depend on the generosity of the many present and former students, faculty,and staff whose lives Betty touched. Although this is not a good time to requestdonations, as many Americans have already given generously to charities helping thevictims of the September 1 1 attacks, I hope that you will be able to contribute. I ampleased to report that one current faculty member has already pledged a $ 1,000 donation.

Checks should be made out to The Ohio University Foundation and mailed to: The OhioUniversity Foundation, P. 0. Box 869, Athens, OH 45701 . In order to ensure that themoney is deposited in the correct account, please note on the bottom ofyour check that itis intendedfor the Betty Moore Memorial Fund. If you prefer, you may include a note tothis effect rather than writing it on the check itself. Donations are, of course, tax exempt.

Thank-you for your support and continued interest in the Department.

With best wishes for the holiday season and the coming year,

Philip CantinoProfessor and Chair