1989 PBIO Newsletter

Ohio University

BotanyNew 1 tt 1 989

1)C College ofArts and Sciences

S e er Athens, Ohio 45701

REPORT FROM THE CHAIR

The department continues to prosperthanks to the efforts of faculty, students and officepersonnel, and the continued support of alumnae,alumni and friends. This year, Dr. Larry Larsonannounced his intention to seek early retirement.We will sorely miss Larry’s exceptional service to thedepartment as a teacher and advisor of under-graduates and his whimsical good humor. He willcontinue to teach in the winter quarter, allowing usto be weaned gradually. Larry wifi be replaced—interms of FTE, though not in style and discipline—byJan Salick, a tropical botanist, who will enhanceour traditionally strong ecology program and willadd courses and research opportunities in tropicalbotany and conservation ecology. This year we weresuccessful in competing for In-house monies,including a $61,000 award from House Bill 810money to establish an equipment laboratory, and a$6,000 UPAC award to permanently increase oursupplies budget.

In last year’s newsletter we called upon youto support our botanical garden project. We weregratified by the response, which made possiblephysical landscaping of several sites, Including theestablishment of a fern garden. As the physicalappearance of the garden improves, the necessity topurchase plants of special botanical importancebecomes a priority. Unfortunately, the additionalmonies mentioned above are earmarked for teach-ing and research, leading us again to seek yoursupport for the botany garden. We hope that youwill “stand up and be counted” by making at least asmall gift, designated to the Department ofBotany,when Dean Eckelmann invites you to participate inthis year’s College ofArts and Science Annual RollCallfor Excellence.

.WfaiIvan K. SmithProfessor and Chair

“‘ ‘

Torn Vierheller and Chenzhao Jian

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Botany Newsletter 1989

NEW FACULTY:

The department has strengthened its program bythe addition of a new faculty member in the area oftropical botany and conservation biology. We haveselected a young, bright and established scientist, DR.JAN SALJCIC Jan is currently a Visiting Scientist InEcology and Evolutionary Biology at Cornell University,on leave from her position as Assistant Scientist at theNew York Botanical Garden. She wifijoin our faculty asan Assistant Professor this coming September.

Jan receIved her B.A. from Wisconsin, M.S. fromDuke University and Ph.D. from Cornell University In1983. Her current studies deal with the Interactions ofplant populations and communities and human beings inboth agricultural and tropical forest habitats. She statesthat “For conservation to succeed In a realm beyond thepreservation of small reserved areas, human interactionswith plant resources need to be understood. “ To this end,she has integrated her research on populations andgenetics with conservation of habitats and germplasm.She has extensive experience In the tropics, IncludingMalaysia, Indonesia, Venezuela, Mexico, Central America,Colombia and Peru. She spent about four years inCentral Selva, Peru, studying the ethnobotany of theAmuesha Indigenous people of the upper Amazon. Thesestudies included population genetic studies of crop do-mestication, community analysis of agroforestry systemsand regeneration and use of native tropical forest. Shehas studied the community ecology of rainforests, including termite decomposition, In Malaysia; development oflongterm conservation and resource management inIndonesia; ecology ofwild cassava species and plant?insect interactions on cassava in Mexico, Central Americaand Colombia. This past year at Cornell, she has workedon the genetics of peach tomato (SolanumsessilWorum)and has been involved with the development of Cornell’sconservation biology program, incorporating tropical fieldstudies in ecology with conservation education. Thissummer, she wifi be teaching tropical conservation andapplied ecology with the Organization for Tropical Studiesin Costa Rica.

Jan’s present work is supported by a $200,000grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. She hasreceived numerous other grants from The Agency forInternational Development, The Institute for Plant Re-sources Investigation, The International Board for PlantGenetic Resources and the National Science Foundation.She Is fluent in Spanish, French and Indonesian, as wellas her native English.

An added bonus to the department and universityis that Jan’s husband, DR. CHARLES STAVER, hasextensive expertise and experience in tropical agroecologyand farming systems. He Is a 1971 graduate of ColumbiaUniversity (AB, Geography) with graduate degrees (MPS,Agronomy, and Ph.D., Vegetable Crops) from CornellUniversity.

RETIRING FACULTY:

This year, one of our most loved and respectedfaculty members has opted for early retirement. DR.LARRYLARSON has been a valued member of the depart-ment for the past 26 years, serving as both teacher,advisor and mentor, par excellence! Larry was honoredJune 2, at a retirement dinner attended by DeanEckelmann and his wife, Jean, all current faculty andtheir spouses, and emeritus faculty Art Blickle andWarren Wlstendahl. He was presented with a wall plaquewith the following Inscription:

“Presented to Laurence A. Larson in recognition of26 years ofdedicated service, loyalty andfriendshp whichwill long be remembered. “

His guests at the dinner included his wife, Betty, daughters Amy and Betsy, Reid Huntley, Margaret Hill andMartha Allen. Larry has graciously submitted the follow-ing “life-history”, for his present and former students,wherever theymight be.

THE RETIREMENTOF

LAURENCE A. LARSON

The Beginning ofa Journey

I came to Athens in thefall of 1953, havingjust been

I discharged from the U.S. Army,to visit a boyhood friend whowas then a student at theuniversity. I liked what I saw,applied for admission to O.U.and was accepted as a physicsmajor.

While working on the physics degree I enrolled inseveral botany courses taught by Professors Vermfflion,Buckle and Gambill and as a consequence changed myprofessional goal from physics to botany.

I graduated in 1956, and took ajob with the U.S.Hydrographic Office and did field work in northern Alaskaand the Arctic Ocean. While In Alaska I made a small

collection of mosses which was sent to the BartleyHerbarium at O.U.

At the Arctic Research lab, at Pt. Barrow, Dr.Royal Shanks, of the University of Tennessee convincedme to return to school and to consider the botany graduate program at Tennessee. In March of 1957 I enrolled atthe University ofTennessee, earned the M.S. degree inI959 and stayed on as instructor ofbotany for one term.

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The teaching experience at Tennessee convinced me tocontinue my graduate training in preparation for auniversity teachingjob. I enrolled In the Ph.D. programat Purdue University and was awarded the degree in1963.

I returned to Ohio University in the summer of1963 as the 7th member of the Botany Department. Ideveloped courses In plant physiology and radiationbiology techniques with the help of grants from theAtomic Energy Commission and National Science Foundation.

During this time I developed and co-authoredwith C. E. Mifier a laboratory manual for General Botany.Over the years I wrote several more laboratory manualsand Study Guides for Botany and Biology.

A sabbatical leave in 1970-71 was spent atOxford University in England with a friend whom I metwhile at Purdue. That year was yet another turning pointin my professional development. On my return to AthensI concentrated on undergraduate teaching and course.development. During the 70’s I attended workshopswhich contributed to experimental course development.Some of the more Interesting workshops were: UltimateReality and Meaning; Freedom and Creativity In Education and the Arts; Evolution/Creation; Ethics in Science;Human Sexuality; Small Group Facilitation; and Bioethics. These workshops led to several experimental coursessuch as: Science and Religion; Human Sexuality; Tech-nology and Human Values; Reproductive Biology.

A real breakthrough in course development forme came in the early 1980’s when the University developed a General Education requirement for all students.One part of the requirement was that all students mustcomplete a Tier-Ill course, a senior synthesis course. Ideveloped two courses; Unity and Variety in Biology andLiterature and The Human Life Cycle.

The development of the Human Life Cycle courserequired time and energy. It integrates biology, art andpoetry with the stages of creation, transformation sexual-ity and death of the human cycle. Art and poetry asmetaphor of the biological life cycle is a major componentof this course.

Some of the experiences I had in developing andmaintaining this course led me Into new areas of activityand interest. It is risky business In academia to transferone’s interest and activity from one area to another. Itrequires a kind of courage on the part of the individualand an open-minded philosophy on the part of thedepartment. I’m pleased to say that we both succeededand I believe are more aware of the world around us as aconsequence. I attended art history seminars andcourses in pottery and became aware of what It was liketo be a student again. After years of being “the instructo?, the experience of going through the daily routine of astudent was helpful to me to understand the problems

students have In their day to day life. Also I began tounderstand the significance of the sense of creativity inmy work as; botany teacher, in biology course develop-ment and in the creation of a functional piece of potterysuch as a bowl or plate. Just as the poet may use a walkthrough the woods as metaphor for his/her inspirationfor a poem, I used the selection of clay, shaping of thebowl, selection of the glaze and firing temperature asmetaphor for the human life cycle.

And so you might well ask what wifi I do retiringat the age of 59. Ohio University has an excellent earlyretirement plant ofwhich I am able to take advantage. Iwill teach my two favorite courses; the Tier-Ill course TheHuman Life Cycle and Botany 101, the non majorsbiology course one quarter each year.

I enjoy teaching 101. It is an important courseand must be done well. For many students this may bethe only experience they will have to taste the sweetnessof livingness. Where else might students be exposed totheir molecular origin and begin to be aware of the impactof those unsaid eternal questions they know they havebut do not elucidate. Questions such as; who am I?;what am I doing here?; is there significance in my existence? Basic concepts in 101 , such as, evolution, genetics, energy transfer and structure do not directly answerthose questions but can put them in a Knowing context.There are many ways of Knowing and knowledge of livingsystems and their relationship to non-living thingscontribute to that Knowing. Biology has the potential totranscend the concreteness of living things to become thepoetry of the soul. To recognize that in yourself and to beable to expand and develop answers to those ancienteternal questions can be achieved once the facts ofbiology are assimilated and we can move on to question-ing the significance of our being. This can be a magnificent breakthrough of those walls of intellectual wisdom inwhich many of us have become mired.

In addition to teaching, my wife and I will makereturn visits to England and Italy and plan to visitIreland, France and Norway. I will do more ceramics andcourses in drawing and poetry. And then there are theeveryday things that one always does such as having teaparties for neighborhood children, working in the garden,reading, writing letters to relatives, friends, editors,congressmen and heads of state. After a few years of thisI hope to settle down and begin to think about what to dofor my life’s work!!! L.A.L.

AsJlrmly cemented clamshells

. Fall apart in autumn

so i must take to the road again

Farewell myfrienci.s

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ACTIVITIES “IN THE NEWS”:

“Science comes through—Crops with lesswater” . . . STEVE RIOCH, OU honors student andEast Coast director of Ecology Action, and WAN K.SMITH have been featured in both local and national press for research on biointensive gardening.iW wire services report that Steve is growing morefood with less water for a world which is becomingincreasingly desert-like each year. Botany’s one-eighth acre biointensive garden, located on WestState Street, has raised a weekly toll of more than150 pounds oftomatoes, red chard and cucumbersas well as lettuce, cabbage, radishes, Swiss chard,squash and other vegetables. Steve and Ivan havereceived letters and certificates of appreciation fromthe Tn-County Community Action Agency and theSoutheastern Ohio Foodbank for contributing over6,000 pounds ofvegetables to the needy of South-eastern Ohio. The garden uses only one-fourth toone-eighth as much water per pound of food, compared to commercial farms. It has three essentialcomponents: compost-rich, fertile soil, deep-diggingwhich introduces air to the soil, and close spacingof plants to reduce water loss from evaporation.Steve states that there is nothing new to this process, it has been used for thousands ofyears. Hegoes on to say that blointensive gardening (which herefers to as “sophisticated low technology”) is theanswer for individuals who are interested in growinghigh-quality food at home, in a small space, withless water.

The potential of biointensive gardening is receiving more recognition: our one week summerworkshop on this method attracted 28 particIpantsfrom 1 1 states, as distant as California, Oregon,Florida and Massachusetts, and two participantsfrom Mexico. Steve believes that many of theprinciples can be adapted to commercial farms, thatpeople will be able to grow two to six times morefood using less water, half the amount of fertilizerand one hundredth the energy. Ivan says thatdeveloping countries can utilize the practice as itholds promise of “true land reform, allowing peopleto make a living off their land.” Jim Cavender,Rioch’s advisor, emphasizes this point . . . malnourishment often drives people to the city, which theysurround with “squalid shantytowns” packed withrefugees. In Bangul, Central African Republic, foodwas scarce and much of what was available wasimported at great expense from Europe. Cavenderstates that “If people could grow food where they areand could make a little money out of It, this flow ofpeople to the cities would stop. Even in the shanty-

towns, small but bountiful biointensive gardenscould lessen the misery by providing essentialnourishment for the grower’s families and cash fromthe sale of surplus crops in the city centers.”

“Investigating the Life Cycle of the LowlySlime Mold The research of DR. JAMESCAVENDER was featured in the April 12, 1989,issue of The Chronicle ofH4jher Education. He saysthat slime molds do not deserve their repugnantname. “They probably are no slimier than any othersoil microbe.” Jim has over 1 ,000 freeze-driedsamples of cellular slime molds stored in his walk-in refrigerator in boxes of glass tubes filled with amilk suspension. This collection contains not onlyCavender’s collections but also those of his formermentor, the late Kenneth Raper of the University ofWisconsin who donated his collection in 1987. Jimhas described 29 of the 60 known species, collectedon his numerous travels to much of the world.They occur in humus, leaf mold and the top fourinches of the forest soils and feed on the bacteriathat feed on the decaying litter. He says that theyare important because of their activities at thebottom of the food chain and are vital for increasingsoil fertility. Thus, without slime molds, forests,especially in the tropics, cannot regenerate. Follow-ing deforestation, the increase in sunlight heats thesoil and destroys cellular slime molds and mostother microbes. The frequent use of slash and burnagriculture diminishes their number and Westernstyle agricultural practices devastates them. Jimbelieves his samples can be revived and introducedback into tropical forest soils and may be a key inforest regeneration.

Although many scientists are studying slimemolds in the laboratory, Cavender is one of only twoparticipating in field studies, including taxonomyand ecology, and has been responsible for “land-mark studies” on their ecology and biogeography.He says that “When you invert the soil it creates adesert almost immediately. But it’s hard for us tosee what we are doing to microbes and easier for usto see what we are doing to trees.” Thus, he doesnot expect the popularity of slime molds to becomewidespread among conservation groups. They ...

“are not apt to rally around the slime mold.” How-ever, his work has pointed out the importance of thesoil and its organisms and their significant role inconservation.

“Dormancy: How Seeds Evolved” . . . Anarticle by GENE MAPES, GAR ROTHWELL andM. T. HAWORTH, on the “Evolution of seed dormancy” (Nature, 337: 645-646, 16 February, 1989)

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has been featured in the Science Notebook of theFebruaiy 27, Washington Post, and the April 3, TheScientist. Seeds deposited 286 million years ago inKansas were unearthed and appear to contain theearliest evidence of the ability of seeds to remaindormant. Although this may appear obscure, seeddormancy was a major step facilitating the occupancy of thy habitats by land plants. Prior todormancy, seeds would germinate immediately andthose disseminated to dry areas would die quickly.Thus, plants were probably limited to humid, wetregions and drier upland areas were uninhabited.The Kansas seeds contained embryos and werewithin cones of early conifers, a group which Genehas been studying intensively at Ohio University.Gene reports that she has really enjoyed receivingreprint requests from all over the world and “evenseed companies, who will be so surprised when theysee the fossils.”

AWARDS AND HONORS:

Alumni Award: DR. LESUE G. HICKOK (MS1 971) was unanimously selected by the College ofArts and Sciences Awards Committee to receive theCollege’s 1989 SIgnificant Achievement Award inrecognition of “ . . . your distinguished record Inacademic research and teaching . . . “ Les hasdistinguished himself in academic teaching andresearch since receiving his doctorate from theUniversity of Massachusetts in 1975. He is thiscountry’s leading plant geneticist specializing inferns, with a worldwide reputation for excellence.His work has had continuous grant support of over$720,000, has received awards from his colleagues,and has led to a patent for obtaining agriculturallyimportant genes. This work continues today in asearch for salt tolerant mutants. Les writes that “Ihave always considered my training at O.U. to befirst rate and influential in regards to my career.”Les and his wife Donna returned to Athens on May19 and 20, where they attended the Society ofAlumni and Friends Program of Recognition. OnFriday afternoon, he presented a seminar to thedepartment on his recent work on the selection andcharacterization of single and double gene NaCltolerant mutants in the fern Ceratopteris. Les Iscurrently Professor of Botany at the University ofTennessee, Knoxville.

DR. ROBERTB. GOLDBERG (BS, 1966) hasbeen elected an Alumni Member of Phi Beta Kappa.Bob is a plant molecular biologist and is a professorin the Department of Biology at the University ofCalifornia, Los Angeles. He is on the Board ofReviewing Editors of Science and is editor of PlantCell Biology.

DR. RICHARD B. RYPMA, greenhouse curator, was recognized by SEPAN (Special EducationParent Advocacy Network) for contributions to thelives of handicapped people. Senator Jan MichaelLong was the master of ceremonies.

Awards to undergraduate students werepassed out during our annual picnic at StroudsRun State Park in late May. C. Paul and Beth K.Stocker Scholarships ($1950.00) for the 1989-90academic year were awarded to TODD Cl-lADWELLand HEIDI SCHOCH. Todd is a sophomore and abotany major in the Honors Tutorial College. Heidiis currently ajunior In the College ofArts andSciences. Wolfe Awards are given each year tojuniors and seniors with interests and expertise inconservation. The winners of the junior and seniorWolfe Awards this year are, respectively, JACKIEand JUDITH JARDINE. Judith will be entering ourgraduate program this coming fall and will bespending most of this summer in Costa Rica withDr. Jan Salick at the Organization for TropicalStudies. Jackie was inducted into the Phi BetaKappa honors society this summer.

GRANTS:

Our faculty and students continue to besupported by both national and “in-house” grants.In addition to those continuing grants, new grantswere awarded from the Baker Fund of Ohio University to DRS. JAMES BRASELTON and OARROTI-IWELL. Jim’s grant will support his work onthe karyology and systematics of the Plasmodiophoromycetes, while Gar will continue his work onbiostratigraphy of early gymnosperms. DR. IRWINUNGAR has received a grant from the Ohio University Research Committee to study the seed ecologyof Spergularia marina and a Ohio University Re-search Challenge Award to investigate the seedphysiological ecology of this species.

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DR. ALLAN M. SHOWALTER and DR. MARTINTUCK (Chemistry) have been awarded a $25,000grant from Ohio House Bill funds to equip a molecular and cell biology instructional laboratory.The laboratory will be located In Room 101 of theBotanical Research Facifity at the greenhouse corn-plex.

JACKIE HARDYADAMS (PhD. candidate)received an award of $500 from the Roger ToryPeterson Institute of Natural History to support herresearch on “Phlox maculata and Habemaria peramoena: convergent evolution or a case ofmimicry?’. MARYLOUISE (COOKIE) TRIVFflT (Ph.D.candidate) was awarded a Wray and Todd grant of$sOo from the Paleontological Society to supporther research.

PROGRAMS AND FACULTY NEWS:

The success that the department hasachieved during the past two decades has been duein large part to our undergraduate and graduatestudents as well as to the excellence of the facultyIn both teaching and research. The Botany program

Is designed to provide expertise in each of the threelevels of biological organization: cellular (CELL ANDMOLECULAR BIOLOGY), organismal (SYSTEMATICS AND MORPHOLOGY), and populational(ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY) . Tothat end, our faculty have been chosen to maintatha balance in these areas, and our students areexposed to the breadth of the spectrum of plantbiology.

CELL AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY

During the past ten to 1 5 years there hasbeen an explosion of interest, information andexcitement In cell and molecular biology. Researchaided by the development of a wide variety of expanding techniques, including those for the characterization and manipulation of genetic material,cytophotometric analysis, and molecular cloning,has led to a revolution in our concepts of genes andtheir expression. This arena of research is important not only for the value of basic knowledgegained but also for the potentially useful cropswhich may be produced by genetic engineering.

DR. ALLANM. SHOWALTERjoined our department to enhance our program in molecularbiology. Allan’s research involves determining themolecular structure of genes that encode proteinsfound in the plant cell wall and discovering themanner in which these genes are regulated bywounding or pathogen activities. More specifically,he Is focusing on three different cell wall proteins(extensins, glycine-rich proteins, and solanaceouslectins). Currently, his lab has succeeded in Isolating and characterizing genes from tomato plantswhich encode extensins and glycine-rich proteins.During the past year he has reported on this workat the Gordon Research Conference on Plant Mo-lecular Biology at Andover, New Hampshire, theUCLA symposium on Plant Gene Transfer at ParkCity,Utah, the Biotechnology Center and Depart-ment of Plant Pathology, Ohio State University, andthe Department of Biological Sciences at BowlingGreen State University. Contributing to his research were DOMINIQUE RUMEAU, a postdoctoralassociate who has recently returned to France,DORIS POWELL, research technician, graduatestudent JINZHOU, and undergraduate studentPETER TANDLER. Allan has also developed a newundergraduate/graduate course entitled “Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering” which coversmodem recombinant DNA techniques and theirapplication to fields of agriculture and medicine. He

Dr. Allan Showalter and JUt Zhou

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is active In the interdepartmental Molecular andCell Biology Program and organized the annualMCB retreat in September at Burr Oak State Park.

In the Botanical Research Facility, the workof DR. NORMAN S. COHN and DR. JOHN P. MiTCH-EIL focuses on peas, cytophotometiy, and what Isgoing on Inside a developing pea stem. Specifically,they are developing cytophotometric measurements,particularly of nuclei, to characterize developmentalevents. Their work has resulted In two publicationson the localization of nuclear protein In pea seed-lings during development and the ultrastructuralimmunolocalization of developmental proteins inphloem cell wall regions of shoot tissues. This workwas presented at the meeting of the InternationalSociety for Histochemistry and Cytochemistry inAugust, 1988, held in Washington, D.C. Newresults of a morphological! anatomical study of theeffects of gibberellic acid on pea internode growthwill be presented this August at the BotanicalSociety ofAmerica meetings in Toronto. Graduatestudent research involves in vitro translation analysis of gibberellic acid-induced proteins in dwarf peamutants with cDNA clonal analysis. Undergraduates are participating in preparing purified mono-clonal antibodies for affinity column purification ofGA-induced antigenic proteins for peptide sequencIng. John comments that “ . . the presence of twoChinese graduate students, two Korean HonorsTutorial students, one Kenyan student visiting fromDr. Ungar’s lab and two American undergraduatesaided and abetted by an American and a Scotsprofessor has led to some very interesting, and occasionally non-botanical, discussions. “ This comingfall quarter, Norm will be visiting labs in Cardiff,Aberystwyth, Bristol and Edinburgh to consult onresearch In shoot development and GA-inducedprotein changes during development.

The research of DR. WAN K. SMITH focuseson the role of glutathione (GSH), and glutathionereductase (GR) in cold tolerance. Several environ-mental stresses, including low or high temperature,drought, and atmospheric oxidants, are thought toinhibit plant growth and development by causingoxidation of cellular components. GSH, a sulfurcontaining tripeptide, is an Important reductant andit has been suggested that elevation of cellular GSHand/or GR could prevent oxidative damage. Ivanhas two graduate students working in his lab. TOMVIERHELLER, a doctoral student, and CAROLTHORNE, in the second year of a masters program.Tom has shown that a cold-sensitive cultivar ofsoybean accumulates oxidized GSH when exposedto moderately cold temperatures, despite the pres

ence of large amounts of GR. He is currently comparing the behavior of this cultivar with a cold-tolerant cultivar from Switzerland.

Ivan’s duties as Chair of the departmenthave encouraged him to travel. He attended thenational meeting of botany chairs at Purdue University, presented an Invited symposium paper at thesouthern section meeting of the American Society ofPlant Physlologists in Athens, Georgia, and accompanied Tom Vierheller to an international sulfurworkshop in Gronigen, The Netherlands. Thissummer, Tom and Ivan will be attending the ASPPmeetings in Toronto, Canada.

DR. JAMES P. BRASELTON is completing hisstudies of the Plasmodiophoromycetes. This is agroup of parasitic protists which sometimes areclassified in the fungi. They are significant becausethey are serious plant diseases (e.g. clubroot ofcabbage, powdery scab of potatoes) and may serveas vectors for viral infections. Jim has received aBaker Fund Award and will use most of the fundsfor a collecting trip to Scotland during August. Hehas recently published two papers on karyotypeanalysis of two species in the group. Jim’s Botany100 course (The World of Plants) has grown beyondall expectations and he now reports that he taughtmore students this past year than any other in-structor or professor at the University.

SYSTEMATICS AND MORPHOLOGY

Current patterns of human activitiesthroughout the world in pursuit of space, food andenergy indicate that within the next century most ofthe tropical habitats will be destroyed and alongwith them most of the world’s plants and animals.The expertise of biological scientists will be calledupon to facilitate both the preservation and reestablishment of these habitats. To do that adequately, we must have an understanding of theevolutionary history of plants, their current relationships, and the roles that they and other organ-isms play or have played.

The role of microbial organisms Is being in-vestigated byDR. JAMES C. CAVENDER. Duringthis past year he investigated cellular slime moldsIn Japan In collaboration with Kunihiko Kawaba ofShizuoka University, with support from a grantfrom the Ohio University Research Committee. Healso visited the laboratory of Hiromitsu Hagiwara,

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Tsukuba University, his counterpart in Japanstudying the ecology and systematics of this group.After returning from Japan, Jim has been studyingthe effect of slash and burn agriculture on cellularslime molds in the Central African Republic In collaboration with Jaques-Paulin Regner of the University of Bangui, work supported by a grant from theNational Science Foundation. Slime molds areeliminated by slash and burn agriculture but returnto original levels within 1 5 years after abandonmentof the fields to fallow, if the soil Is not excessivelymanipulated. A paper on the cellular slime molds ofJapan will appear this August in the journal My-cologia.

Jim has traveled to Belize twice with students to study integrative tropical botany, an cx-perimental course which combines tropical rainforest botany and sustainable agriculture. Thereare two graduate students currently working withhim, MICHAEL HOLP{ES and EDUARDO VADELL.Both of these students are studying the cellularslime molds at the Mayan ruins of Tikal, Guatemala, where there is exceptional species diversity.Michael will return to Tikal this August to do additional field work and collecting. Dr. Cavender hasdeveloped a Tier III course, Alternative Agriculture.The 35 students enrolled are building a sustainable30-bed garden at the Botany Experimental Gardenon the Hocking River flood plain.

DR. GAR ROTHWELL is currently focusingon the origin of major groups of vascular plants,with ongoing studies on the evolution of seedplants, the early evolution of conifers, and evolutionary radiations among ferns. His other activitiesinclude coauthorlng a second edition of WilsonStewart’s popular text “Paleobotany and the Evolution of Plants.” During the past year, he presentedseminars on his research at the Smithsonian Institution, the University of Chicago, the annual meet-ing of the South-Central Section of the GeologicalSociety ofAmerica In Lawrence, Kansas, and theNorth-Central Section in Akron, Ohio, the BotanicalSociety ofAmerica meetings In Davis, California,and the Third International Organization of Paleobotanists Conference in Melbourne, Australia. Thissummer, he will visit Japan and will present hiswork at Chiba University and Tokyo University inJune, and will speak on a symposium on lycopods,conifers and ferns at the Botanical Society of America meetings In Toronto. The remainder of thissummer will be spent on book writing and In fieldexplorations for Tertiary fossil ferns in westernCanada. This coming year, facets of structuralbotany will be brought more solidly into the curricu

lum and he will be teaching plant anatomy each falland plant morphology each winter. He has alsobeen running an experimental course in BotanicalPhotography, which will soon be a permanentcourse.

Oar’s plant paleontology research laboratoryis active with three doctoral students now concentrating on completing their doctoral dissertationresearch. MARYLOUISE TRIVE1Ts work on growtharchitecture of fossil plants includes two recentpapers on primitive seed plants and two presentations at the upcoming meetings of the BotanicalSociety ofAmerica in Toronto. JAWELLE PRYOR iscontinuing her community ecology studies of Paleozoic coal-forming swamps, and is awaiting publication of her recent study of medullosan seed ferns.LI BAT, from Nanking, China, is continuing hischaracterization of one of the most ancient seedplants. This coming fall, RUDOLPH SERBET fromthe University ofAlberta, Canada, wilijoin hislaboratory as a masters student.

DR. GENE K. MAPES is investigating thebiology and evolutionary ecology of primitive conifers. This past February she published some of herwork on fossil conifer embryos and the origin ofseed dormancy with Dr. Rothwell and undergraduate student M. T. Haworth (Zoology) in the Britishjournal Nature. In April, Gene and Roy Mapes(Department of Geological Sciences) presented astudy on fossil plant remains from shales of oceanicsediments to the South-Central Geological Societyin Arlington, Texas. Although deposited manykilometers from the paleo-shorelme and their placeof growth, these plants are from a species-richconifer community and enable geologists to recognize time-equivalent terrestrial and marine rocks.In May, they edited a guidebook to the RegionalGeology and Paleontology of the Upper Paleozoicarea in southeastern Kansas, published by theKansas Geological Survey. They have also hadproductive excavations at Hamilton, Kansas, including three weeks of digging with 18 paleontologists,graduate and undergraduate students from severalcountries, experiencing the “joy of one of the hottestsummers on record in July in Kansas.”

DR. PHILIP D. CANTINO has been on afaculty fellowship leave this past year at the RoytalBotanic Garden, Kew, where he has been continuIng his studies on the mint family, Labiatae. He willreturn to campus late in August.

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Botany Newàletter 1989

ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY

Organisms do not occur alone in nature butinteract with enumerable other organisms and withan ablotic environment. Basic to understanding lifeon earth Is an understanding of how organismscope and survive, and the mechanisms whichfacffitate their evolution. To the end, faculty andgraduate students in these areas are Investigatingthree aspects of ecology and evolution: responses ofplants, and their evolution, to stressful environ-ments; the physiological ecology of fern gametophytes and the population biology of sporophytes;and the evolution of flowering plant breeding systems.

DR. GAYLE MUENCHOWhas been studyingthe underlying mechanisms which support theevolution of dioecy. Last summer, she found thatflower-eating weevils attack staminate andmonoecious (with male and female flowers) inflorescences of the local water “arrow-leaf,” Sagittaria1atfo1ia, at a higher frequency than they attacksolely pistillate Inflorescences. This differentialherbivory and the potential causes of it are cur-rently being Investigated further by graduate student BRYAN BISHOP. The overall hypothesissuggests that this differential herbivoiy may havebeen a driving force for the evolution of dloecy insome populations of this species. Gayle and post-doctoral associate VERONIQUE DELESALIE willtravel extensively this summer throughout much ofthe range of the species to start the process ofcomparing populations that are made up entirely ofmonoeclous plants to populations that are predominantly dioecious. Genetic differentiation within andbetween populations of Sagtttaria are being studiedby the use of starch gel electrophoresis by researchassociate DR. THEODORA LEE GREGG. This pastyear, these studies have focused on the feasibility ofusing isozymes as genetic markers and the perfection of over 10 enzyme systems. Graduate studentJACKIE M. ADAMS has recently completed herdoctoral comprehensives and Is working on mimicrybetween orchids and a local species of Phlox. FiN-IEYBRYANwil1 be working on a chasmogamous/cleistogamous breeding system. Both Adams andBryan will be working for the Ohio Department ofNatural Resources this summer, doing ecologicalsurveys ofJackson and Vinton Counties. Last fall,Gayle presented some of her work In a symposiumon dioecy and herbivory, sponsored by the Entomological Society ofAmerica, at Syracuse University.

Science and Engineering Workshop, designed toprovide women students with field and career informatlon on scientific and engineering disciplines andCOLLENCHYMA, a women’s support group withparticular interest in gender issues. This groupmeets twice monthly and, although initially foundedby women from botany, now includes women fromvarious scientific disciplines throughout the university. Issues under discussion have included sexualharassment, subtle and overt bias and how to dealwith it, practical issues women face in graduatetraining and flndlngjobs, women’s participation innontraditional fields, and the role ofwomen In science, the professions and the house-hold.

In investigating the effects of biotic andabiotic factors on plant growth and distributionalong environmental gradients, DR. IRWINA. UN-GAR hopes to be able to determine which factors arelimiting to species at both the most stressful andthe least stressful ends of physical gradients. He isstudying responses of species both in the field andin the laboratory. These studies include determining the seed bank dynamics of the annualhalophyte Spergularia marina in a salt marshhabitat near Rittman, Ohio. Spergularia is a prolificseed producer and is estimated to produce morethan one million seeds per meter square in the seedbank during the spring. He has several studentsworking in his lab. KEM BADGER has just completed his doctoral research on the life history

Dr. Irwin Ungar with (left to right) Kern Badger,Tortya Selby, Jirn Nellesen, and Williarn Katembe

Gayle has also been active in the Women in

10


dynamics and physiological responses of seedgermination in the grass Hordeumjubatum. Kernhas accepted a position as Assistant Professor ofBiology at Missouri Valley College. JIM NELLESENis currently completing his dissertation on thedifferences in physiological and phenological responses of the grass Andropogon virginicus Inabandoned spoils and old field habitats. JIRAKATEMBE Is studying the effects of salt stress onthe seedling ernergence and DNA content of Atriplextriartgularis. TONYA SELBYhas recentlyjolned hislab and will be cornpleting her M.S. research corn-paring plant population size with that of the seedbank during the growing season in a saline rnarsharea at Constitution, Ohio. This past year, DR.MARLIS RAHMAN cornpleted his doctoral work onthe dernography and physiological ecology of Echinochloa crusgalli and has returned to Indonesia to hisfaculty position at the University of Andalas. Irwinhas also been active In a university and cornrnunltywide committee to determine the use of the AthensMental Health grounds, which have recently corneunder university ownership, and has been elected tothe Executive Cornrnittee of the Ohio BiologicalSurvey. He presented serninars on his studies onthe demography and physiology of halophytes at theUniversity of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada, the OhioAcademy of Sciences, Newark and the BotanicalSociety ofAmerica meetings in Davis, California.

Although the systernatics and morphology offerns is well understood, very little Is known aboutthe factors which control their distribution andtheir physiological ecology. Efforts to understandthe role of the various life-history stages, includingthe free-living garnetophyte, In fern distribution areunderway In the laboratory of DR. ROBERT M.lLOYD. These studies Include studies by doctoralcandidate ROBERT HAMILTON on an analysis ofpreferential habitats by two co-occurring species ofAthyrium and the responses of these species to thevarious abiotic factors present, and studies bymasters student THOMAS BRENNAN on the role ofthe gametophyte in the distribution of calciphilicferhs. Bob Hamilton will be completing his studiesthis corning year. They have included docurnentation of the presence of a spore bank, antheridiogeneffects In gametophyte populations, gametophytedistribution and gender in field populations, sequence of frond developrnent during the growingseason and photosynthetic measurements andresponse to various light levels. He has also studiedgenetic differentiation within his populations usingisoenzymes and hopes to finish with restrictionanalysis of DNA of his plants this coming summerand fall. Bob presented various aspects of his work

at the Botanical Society of America meetings inDavis last summer and again this summer at themeetings in Toronto. Tom’s work will try to discriminate why certain species ofAsplenium aremostly restricted to limestone habitats while otherspecies are not found there. He will culture gametophytes of a variety of calciphilic and non-calciphiicspecies on various concentrations of calcium atvarious pH levels and determine their responses.The work will be supplemented with field studies todetermine more exactly the calcium concentrationand pH of the soils sporophytes occur in. Dr. Lloydcontinues to develop a volume on the evolutionarybiology of ferns and has completed two taxonomictreatments of Acrostichum and Ceratopteris for theFlora North America project, organized by theMissouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis.

RECENT FACULTYAND STUDENT PUBLICATIONS:

Braselton, J.P. 1989. Karyotypic analysis ofLigniera verrucosa (Plasmodiophoromycetes).Can. J. Bot. 67: 1216-1218.

Braselton, J. P. 1989. Karyotypic analysis ofMembranosorus heterarttherae (Plasrnodiophoromycetes). Can. J. Bot. 67: 12 19-1220.

Cohn, N. S. , J. P. Mitchell and Z. Zhou. 1989.Ultrastructural immunolocalization ofdevelopmental proteins in phloem cell wallregions of Pisum sativum L. shoot tissue.Plant Science 60: 137-143.

Feng, B. C. and G. W. Rothwell. 1988. Microsporangiate cones of Mazocarpon bensonii fromthe Upper Pennsylvanian of the AppalachianBasin. Review of Paleobotany and Palynology57: 289-297.

Good, C. W. and G.W. Rothwell. 1988. Areinterpretation of the Paleozoic fernNorwoodiaartgustum. Review ofPalaeobotany and Palynology 56: 199-204.

Hamer, J. J. and G. W. Rothwell. 1988. Thevegetative structure of Medullosaenclocentrica Baxter (Pterldospermopsida).Can. J. Bot. 66: 375-387.

11


Hamilton, Robert G. 1988. The significance ofspore banks in natural populations ofAthyrium pycrtocarport and A. thelypterioides.Amer. Fern J. 78: 96-104.

Kauffman, G., J. C. Cavender and H. R Hohi.1988. Polysphortdylium luridum, a newdictyostelid species with unique spores.Botanica Helvetica 98: 123-13 1.

Larson, L. A. 1988. Curiosity about biologyKendall-Hunt.

Lloyd, R. M. 1988. Experimental studies on theprobability of selfing by protandrousgametophytes. Amer. Fern J. 78: 1 1 7- 121.

Mapes, G. K. and R. H. Mapes (Eds.). 1988.Regional geology arid paleontology of upperPaleozoic Hamilton quamj area in southeast-em Kansas. Kansas Geol. SurveyGuidebook Series 6.

Mapes, G. K. and G. W. Rothwell. 1988. Diversityamong Hamilton conifers. j G. Mapesand R. Mapes, thici, pp. 225-244.

Mapes, G. K., G. A. Leisman and W. Gillespie.1988. Plant megafossils from the HartfordLimestone (Virgiian-Upper Pennsylvanian)near Hamilton, Kansas. in G. Mapes and R.Mapes, thid.

Mapes, G. K., G. W. Rothwell and M. T. Haworth.1989. EvolutIon of seed dormancy.Nature 337: 645-646.

Mitchell, J. P. , N. S. Cohn and Z. Zhou. 1988.Localization of a nuclear protein duringdevelopment in the pea seedling. PlantScience 58: 253-260.

Muenchow,G.E.andM.Grebus. 1989. Theevolution of dloecy from distyly:reevaluation of the hypothesis of the loss oflong-tongued pollinators. Amer. Nat. 133:149-156.

Rothwell, G. W. 1988. Upper PennsylvanianSteubenvile coalball flora. Ohio J. Sd.88: 61-64.

Rothwell, G. W. 1988. Cordaltales, C. B. Beck(Ed.) Origin and evolution ofgymrtosperms.Columbia Univ. Press. pp. 273-297.

Rothwell, G. W. and G. K. Mapes. 1988. Vegetationof a Paleozoic conifer community. j G.Mapes and R. H. Mapes (Eds.) Regionalgeology and paleontology ofthe Upper Paleozoic Hamilton quarry area in southeasternKansas. Kansas Geol. Survey GuidebookSeries6: 213-224.

Rothwell, G. W. and S. E. Seheckler. 1988. Biologyof ancestral gyrmnosperms fl C. B. Beck(Ed.), Origin and evolution ofgymnosperms.Columbia Univ. Press, pp. 85-134.

Rothwell, 0. W. and Ruth A. Stockey. 1989. FossilOphioglossales in the Paleocene ofwestern North America. Amer. J. Bot. 78:637-644.

Showalter, A. M. and J. E. Varner. 1989. Planthydroxyproline-rich glycoproteins. P. K.Stumpf and E. E. Conn (Eds.), The biochemLsty ofplants, Vol. 15, molecular biology.Academic Press, New York, pp. 485-520.

Showalter, A. M., D. Rumeau, J. Zhou, S. G. Worstand J. E. Varner. 1989. Tomatohydroxyproline-rich glycoprotein genes:structure and expression in response towounding. J. Cell Biochem. 13D: 326.

Smith, I. K. and A. L. Lang. 1988. Translocation ofsulfate in soybean. Plant Physiol. 86:798-802.

Smith, I. K., T. L. Vierheller and C. A. Thorne.1988. Assay of glutathione reductase incrude tissue homogenates using DTNB.Anal. Biochem. 175: 408-417.

Trivett, Mary L. and G. W. Rothwell. 1988.Diversity among Paleozoic Cordaitales: Thevascular architecture of Mesoxylort birwneBaxter. Bot. Gaz. 149: 116-125.

Trivett, Mary L. and G. W. Rothwell. 1988.Modeling the growth architecture of fossilplants: A Paleozoic Filicalean fern.Evolutionary Trends in Plants, 2: 25-29.

Ungar, I. A. 1988. Effects of the parental environment on the temperature requirements andsalinity tolerance of Spergularia marinaseeds. Bot. Gaz. 149: 432-436.

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Ungar, LA. 1988. A significant seed bank forSpergularta marina (Caryophyllaceae). Ohio

J. Sd. 88: 200-202.

Wame, T. R. and R M. Lloyd. 1987. Expression of

a clumped-chloroplast mutant In the fernAcrostichum danaelfolium. Bot. Gaz. 148:120-122.

Warne, T. R and R. M. Lloyd. 1987. Gametophyticdensity and sex expression inCeratopteris. Can. J. Bot. 65: 362-365.

STUDENTS COMPLETINGGRADUATE DEGREES:

M. S. : Bryan Hoffman

Ph.D. : Barbara Ballard, Kemuel Badger, MarlisRahman, Zeqi Thou

NOTES ON FACILITIES:

This past year a major Impetus has beengiven by Dr. Smith to evaluating and improving the

departmental greenhouse and botanical gardencomplex. Under the direction of Jim Braselton,

plans have been made to remodel the existinggarden, next to the Botanical Research Facility and

greenhouse complex by improving floral displays,plantings and labeling and walkways. A portion of

the south end of the greenhouse will also be remodeled to provide displays of tropical plants and ethnobotanically useful plants. These Improvements

are intended to serve not only the teaching and

research needs of the department but also to pro-

vide a pleasant educational atmosphere for thepublic and the university. The departmental garden

cqmmittee, headed by Dr. Braselton, has beenjoined this year by JEANANDREWS. Jean hasrecently moved to Athens from Berkeley, California,where she served as Assistant Museum Scientistand Curatorial Assistant at the University of Califor

nia Botanical Garden. While at Berkeley, sheinitiated a flowering phenology program, computer-ized their plant records, produced the biennial seedexchange catalog and co-authored three successful

grant proposals. She has also worked at theMildred E. Mathias Botanical Garden at UCLA.

Jean has provided a number of new ideas to thecommittee and has attended a number of confer-ences and regional botanical gardens on behalf ofthe department. She has also revived the Athenschapter of the Ohio Native Plant Society and mostrecently submitted an extensive proposal recommending the establishment of an Ohio UniversityEcological Study Area and Botanical Garden at ‘TheRidges,” land recently acquired by the universityfrom the Athens Mental Health Facility.

ALDEN UBRARY of Ohio University was therecipient of a gift of the first of two volumes ofLinnaeus’ Genera plantarum, edition 8, attributed toJohann Christian Daniel Schreber, and publishedin Frankfort, Germany, in April 1789. The donorwasMr. H. C. Torrey of Highland Park, New Jersey,a descendent of Manasseh Cutler. The volumebears Cutler’s signature.

VISITORS TO THE DEPARTMENT:

William (Bil) Alverson, University of WisconsinK. Arumuganathen, Cornell UniversityJane H. Bock, University of ColoradoJohn L. Caruso, University of CincinnatiPeter S. Curtis, Ohio State UniversityPeter R. Crane, Field Museum, ChicagoWilliam Crepet, University of ConnecticutMichael Ellis, Ohio State University, WoosterRay Evert, University of WisconsinKeith Garbutt, University of West VirginiaLeslie G. Hickok, University of TennesseeLlewellya Hillis, Ohio State UniversityRafael Pont Lezica, Washington University, St. LouisEileen A. Maher, University of WisconsinJames McCarthy, Harvard UniversityDavid J. McLaughlin, University of MinnesotaJohn H. Miller, Syracuse UniversityNatasha Raikel, Michigan State University

. John Rotenberly, Bowling Green State UniversityJan Salick, New York Botanical GardenEugene W. Schupp, Estacion Biologica de Donana,

Sevilla, SpainMark Shotwell, Purdue UniversityAllison Snow, Ohio State UniversityRuth A. Stockey, University of AlbertaDesh Pal Verma, Ohio State University

13


DEPARTMENT OF BOTANYPERSONNEL:

FACULVñArthur Blickle, Associate Professor EmeritusJames E. Braselton, ProfessorPhifip D. Cantino, Associate ProfessorJames C. Cavender, ProfessorNorman S. Cohn, Distinguished ProfessorJ. Herbert Grafflus, Associate ProfessorLaurence A. Larson, ProfessorRobert M. Lloyd, ProfessorGene K. Mapes, Adjunct Assistant ProfessorJohn P. Mitchell, ProfessorGayle E. Muenchow, Assistant ProfessorGar W. Rothwell, ProfessorAllan M. Showalter, Assistant ProfessorIvan K. Smith, Professor and ChairInvin A. Ungar, ProfessorMonroe T. Vermilion, Associate Professor EmeritusWarren A. Wistendahi, Professor Emeritus

POSTDOCIDRALS AND RESEARCH ASSOCIATES:Veronique Delesalle, Theodora Lee Gregg, DorisPowell, Dominique Rumeau

STAFFJudith Dowler, Department SecretaryBrenda S. Ingraham, Technical TypistCarolyn H. Keiffer, Technical AssistantElizabeth D. Moore, Technical AssistantRichard Rypma, Greenhouse Curator

GRADUATE STUDENTS:Doctoral StudentsMones Abu-Asab, Jackie M. Hardy Adams, KemuelS. Badger, Finley A. Bryan, Jon J. Hamer, Robert G.Hamilton, Chenzhao Jian, LI Bal, James E.Nellessen, Janelle S. Pryor, Mary L. Trivett, ThomasL. Vierheller, Steven J. Wagstaff, Liulai Wu, JinZhou.

Master’s StudentsD. Bryan Bishop, Thomas H. Brennan, Michael T.Holmes, William Jira Katembe, Nandini Ramachandra, Tonya Selby, Carol A. Thorne, Eduardo M.Vadell.

NEWS OF ALUMNI

DIANA WOZNIAK BALDI (BS, 1977). Diana is achemist In the Quality Assurance Section in RegionIII of the Environmental Protection Agency. Shewrites that “My nine years with EPA have beenconstantly evolving and exciting. Now, I managenearly 20 contractor staff for superfund. Thechallenges of toxic waste cleanup are continuallyexpanding.” Diana is currently living on S. VictorParkway In Annapolis, Maryland.

BARBARA BALLARD (Ph.D., 1988) has had a paperaccepted by the Can. J. Bot. on the phenology ofmycorrhizal infection in Hordeumjubatum. She hastwo children, Kitie, 5, and John, 8 months.

DAVID BARNES (BS/BSEd, 1979) is a SeniorEngineering Representative in Denver, Colorado,working as a loss control representative for AetnaInsurance Company. He writes that “The jobbasically involves hazard recognition, analysis,suggesting possible alternative solutions and mont-toring Implementation. “ Over the last three yearsthis has involved asbestos and pollution liabilitiesand asbestos removal. He has also been involved inair sampling and noise testing for various companies to determine workman compensation exposures and has been educating the workforce withpersonalized slide shows. Aetna is paying for partof his additional education in loss control manage-ment and data processing, programs he is about tocomplete. Following this, he will pursue programsfor becoming an Associate in Risk Managementand/or a Certified Safety Professional. “In particular, the latter will involve recalling and studyingtechnical material—much of which involves formero.U. study.” Dave says that there is always anotherstep to be taken, even beyond the intellect. He hasdone quite a bit of enthusiastic backpacking in theColorado Rockies and New Zealand the past twoyears. This year he had a fantastic garden usingthe Square Foot Gardening approach. Burpee hassome new corn hybrids out that are both diseaseresistant (vertidillium) and extra sweet (takinglonger for the sugar/starch conversion after harvest). “It was so sweet, no butter or salt wasneeded!”

14


CHRIS CLINGMAN (BS, Field Biology, 1985). Chris

is an Interpretive Naturalist for St. Joseph County

Parks in South Bend, Indiana. Since receiving his

degree he has worked In various aspects of the

environmental education field. His first position

was as a seasonal naturalist at Brown County State

Park in Indiana. He then worked at Woodland

Altars Outdoor Education Center, Peebles, Ohio, as

a senior naturalist. He then moved to northern

Indiana to work at Potato Creek State Park as a

naturalist and as a multi-image slide show pro-

ducer. He writes that “I just started with St. Joseph

County Parks . . . Thisjob gets me Into everything

from making sorghum syrup to maple syrup tospinning/weaving to voyageur living history pro-

grams (we have a 34 ft. voyageur canoe), to the

building of frontier settlement, an environmental

education center and now possibly a residential

outdoor education center.” He occasionally leads

school groups on hikes, and “these school groups,

whether they be environmental or historical, are our

main purpose. But, one thing is for sure. It Is too

flat up here! No hills to be found. It drives you

crazy after a while.”

DONNA G. COUCH (MS. 1971) is a Professional

Sales Representative for Winthrop Pharmaceuti

cals/Sterling Drug and is living in Cleveland Hts.,

Ohio. After moving to Cleveland, she was employed

by the Cleveland Board of Education as a math and

science instructor at the Adult Education Center

from 1972 until 1978. While there she wrote adiagnostic math development curriculum for adults

and for four years she was chair of the Science

Department. During this period she developed aquarterly minicurricula In biology for adults andtaught chemistry and physics to adult college

bound students. Upon leaving the AEC, she took aposition as a youth jobs coordinator and adrninis

trator until 1980 when shejolned the pharmaceutical company. She writes that “This position pro-vided me an entire new area of knowledge andexpertise. During my initial pharmaceutical salesrepresentative stage, I was a novelty in the medicalcommunity. Womenjust weren’t outside salesrepresentatives! Over the years I have been in-volved with sales training, representing Winthrop atnational conventions, marketing research andtrials, and of course Winthrop’s product trainingand promotion to physicians, interns and residentsas well as health support personnel.” She has

indulged in her passions for traveling, gardening,music and theater, including several trips to Europe

with visits to all the musical and theatrical greats inthe major European capitals as well as New York

City. She currently owns a 75 year old duplex andis renovating the house and gardens (1 1, so far).Because of the renovation, she has become seriously involved in the preservation and use of herbs

and flowers. As she writes, her life, thus far, hasbeen interesting, at times productive and rarely evercalm, sedate or boring!

LESLIE G. DYBIEC (BS, 1987) will be completingher M.S. degree in horticulture this August at Ohio

State University, Columbus.

PAUL GOLDSTEIN (MS. 1975) is an AssociateProfessor of Genetics in the Department of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at El Paso. Hewrites that he has published over 50 papers on theultrastructure of melotic chromosomes and recentlyreceived two copyrights for 3-D graphics computerprograms and has applied for a patent on immunoassay development.

DAVID HALL (MS. 1982) writes that “teaching high

school isn’t as bad as the media portrays it, but it isdemanding. We have finished another year and Iam still recovering. On the news front, Lori and Inow have two kids, a girl (now almost 5 years old)and a boy (three years old). We bought a house andhave two cats. Ifwe only had a dog and another 0.3children we’d be a statistician’s dream of the idealfamily. I have been very active in state biologyorganizations and have been nominated for miscellaneous awards, so I guess some folks think I knowwhat I am doing. Sure have them fooled!”

H. MICHAEL HARRINGTON (Ph.D. , 1978) is afaculty member in the Department of Plant Molecular Physiology at the University of HawaII, Honolulu.He was recently a co-organizer of a workshopentitled “Calcium Research on Plants: A Workshopon Methods”, held January 8-1 1, 1989, at the KonaSurf Resort, Kona, HawaII. This workshop evalu-.ated methodologies commonly used to investigatecalcium-mediated systems, responses and processes in plants.

15


CECILE HENAULT (BS, 1982) is Senior Representative for Merck Sharp and Dohme PharmaceuticalCompany in Larsen, Wisconsin. She specializes Inmusculoskeletal diseases and in cholesterol inhibition. She spent September 1987- 1988 retrainingnursing staff and physicians on cell-mediatedencocytosis and lipoprotein structures. She writesthat “It has been a challenge and exhilarating ascholesterol is the hot topic of the 80’s.”

LESLIE G. HICKOK (MS. 1971). Les Is Professor ofBotany and Director of the Plant Physiology andGenetics Graduate Program at the University ofTennessee, Knoxville. He has recently received a$172,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to characterize salt tolerant mutants in Ceratopteris. He has recently been elected into member-ship of Science Alliance, a Centers of ExcellenceProgram for the State of Tennessee and returned toAthens this past May to receive an Alumni Achieve-ment Award from the College of Arts and Sciences.

CHRIS HOPKA (MS. 1972) has started his ownbusiness, DRUMLIN Nurseries, Ltd., In Deerfield,Wisconsin, where he specializes in his own CapePrimrose (Streptocarpus) hybrids. In the DRUMLINcollection are also xerophytes, cymbidium orchidsand geraniums.

GARY KAUFFMAN (MS. 1986) published a paperwith Jim Cavender and H. R. Hol on a new species,Polysphortdylium luridum. He is teaching planttaxonomy at a small college in North Carolina andwill be conducting a horticultural tour of Costa Ricathis summer.

DAVID G. LOVELAND (MS. 1981) has resigned fromhis position as Environmental Advisor to the Leagueof Women Voters and has taken a new position asExecutive Director of the National Recycling Coalition. He recently appeared on the Cable NewsNetwork (CNN) discussing the environmental impactof disposable diapers.

SCOTF MARIS (BS, 1982) is an EnvironmentalManager at Chemical Waste Management, Inc. inVickery, Ohio. His job is to keep the site in corn-plete compliance with all the hazardous waste rulesand regulations. Scott is living on a farm with hiswife and first child, Emily, who he describes as “thebest thing ever.”

BRIAN McCARTHY (MS. 1984) is now employed in atenure-track position as a forest ecologist at Frost-burg State University. He writes that “I am quiteexcited about the position for a variety of reasons.Firstly, it is a special research appointment with asignificantly reduced teaching load (never morethan 6 contact hours per semester). Secondly, theyhave a relatively new graduate program to providefor various specializations in Biology, ResourceManagement and Conservation Biology. So there isthe potential for graduate students. Thirdly, andperhaps most exciting, is that this position holdswith it a joint appointment to the newly createdInternational Institute of Renewable Resources (tobe based at FSU). I am encouraged and partiallysubsidized to engage in as much basic and appliedtropical research as I can handle or want. I havealready set in motion the steps to go to Costa Rica,Argentina and Malawi within the upcoming 18months. In addition, I hope to teach a 3-weekundergraduate field course in Tropical Ecology inCosta Rica. Unfortunately, this position will requiresome substantial understanding on the part of mywife who has now moved fairly high up in the NJDEP. She will be teaching anatomy and physiologyat Allegheny Community College in Cumberland.”

JAMES E. MICKLE (Ph.D., 1983) is on the botanyfaculty at North Carolina State University and hasreceived a Guggenheim Fellowship for the summerof 1989 to work with Dr. Manford Barthel (EastBerlin) on Pennsylvanian age tree ferns.

STEVEN H. MILLER (BS, Environmental Biology/Botany, 1977) is living in Solon, Ohio. For the past12 years he has been working in fire protection andsafety engineering. For the past five years he hasbeen with Chubb & Son, Inc. , Cleveland Branchoffice. The position involves evaluating automaticsprinkling systems and other fire protection systems; evaluating environmental and industrialhygiene exposures; evaluating product and public

16Botany Newsletter 1989

to risk management and safety of the large indus

trial concerns insured by Chubb. Steven has

attained the Certified Safety Professional designa

tion recognized by the Board of Certified Safety

Professionals of the Americas.

VIRGINIA S. MORAN (BS, 1983; MS. 1986) is a

botanist for Sweetwater Environmental Biologists,

an environmental consulting company that pre

pares biological surveys for environmental impact

statements or reports. From January to May, 1987,

she worked as a research technician for Dr. Paul

Zedler of San Diego State University, on vernal

pools, monitoring “a mint of all things (Pogogyrte

abrortsiO for demography, pollination biology and

phenology. She also traveled to Alaska where she

worked as a research technician at the Toolik Lake

Arctic Research Station on the edge of the Brooks

Range, 1 50 miles south of Prudhoe Bay. She is also

the chairperson of the San Diego Chapter of the

California Native Plant Society and is writing music

for a local nature program for children (Mr. B’s

World). She is active in the local environmental

movement and “learning my Phaeophyta! here in

SanDiego.”

EDWIN PERKINS (MS. 1973) is an organic farmer

living in New Marshfleld, Ohio. He writes, “We live

on a small farm in Athens County. My wife, Amy, is

a teacher, writer and church organist. Our kids are

Willie, 12, and Rebecca, 10. They both take violin

lessons at O.U. Music School. We have started an

organic farm raising vegetables and fruits.” Their

products are available at the Farmer’s Market in

Athens.

KATHLEEN B. PIGG (BS, MS. 1983) Is a new Assis

tant Professor of Botany at Arizona State University,

Tempe, and is presently on a NATO Postdoctoral

appointment at the University ofAlberta, Canada.

BOYD W. POST (BS, 1950) is a Forest Biologist for

the Cooperative State Research Service, U.S. De

partment ofAgriculture, Washington, D.C. He

writes that “The kids are all grown up and the dog

died last summer—life has begun! Three years ago

we added a greenhouse to the south side of our

home and are enjoying collecting fragrant flowering

plants. After nineteen years with USDA I still enjoy

what I do very much. The Mclntire-Stennis Coop-

erative Forestry Research Program occupies most of

my time, but I also have responsibilities In agricul

tural meteorology/climatology and wildlife/fisheries

research. During the coming year I will lead 7 or 8

comprehensive reviews of research instruction, and

extension activities in the cooperative state forestry

schools and land-grant institutions. I would appredate suggestions of fragrant plants for home green-

houses.” Boyd’s address is 1 107 Pekay St., Vienna,

VA 22180.

MARLIS RAHMAN (Ph.D. , 1988) completed his

degree and has resumed his academic appointment

at Universitas Andalas, Indonesia.

RUTh A. STOCKEY (MS. 1984) has been promoted

to full professor in the Department of Botany,

University ofAlberta. She is currently a Visiting

Scholar in the Laboratory of Phylogenetic Botany at

Chiba University, Chiba, Japan.

FRANK W. TELEWSKI (MS. 1980) is an Assistant

Professor in the Laboratory of Tree Ring Research,

at the University of Arizona, Tucson. This past year

he traveled to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef on a

NSF sponsored trip to talk to coral researchersabout Arizona’s use of tree rings to study past

climates. While there he participated in a planning-

training workshop following the International Coral

Reef Symposium in Queensland.

SALLY LEAR TIRRELL (MS. 1969) is a high school

science teacher (chemistry and physiology) inNorman, Oklahoma. She writes that she was one of

Dr. Ungar% first graduate students over 20 years

ago. Since receiving her degree she has been

involved in a variety of interesting careers, aninterpretive naturalist for the National AudobonSociety, consulting for Nature Centers, medicaltechnologist doing medical research as well asteaching. She would love to hear from Jerry Sledge,

Mark McClelland, Dave Enterline, Dennis Gavoni, tocatch up on the last 19 years. Sally’s currentaddress is 1630 Beverly Hills, Norman, Oklahoma73072.

17Botany Newsletter 1989

SUSAN HARRISON WYLIE (BS, 1977) is a housewifeand volunteer for the NaUonal Ski Patrol and livesin Clarkson, Michigan. Following graduation, in theCleveland area, she worked in marketing, thensales, first for a medical equipment company andthen for a pharmaceutical company, and then wentinto market research. She moved to Clarkson in1987 with her husband. They have a one year olddaughter and Susan is applying her botanicaltraining to gardening.

MARK K. WOURMS has written “a quick update ofpast and a brief look into the future: I have beengiving quite a few talks lately on zoo horticulture.As a member of the Assoc. of Zoological Horticulturalists, I gave two papers In our annual meeting inTucson. One was on a “Living Wall” we created atthe Central Park Zoo, the other was on using ho-tanical resources at zoos to teach ecology. Theywere well received. The highlight of the conferencewere several trips into the Sonoran Desert, including 3 days near Hermosillo, Mexico. I have beenteaching a Zoo Horticulture class at the New YorkBotanical Garden. I find myself explaining philosophy as much as horticulture. It is difficult to keeppeople from falling into the Shopping Mall syndrome

of interior/exterior landscaping. I was part of asymposium on Interior Landscaping in New York. Ipushed the 95 participants to push the growers andindustry in general to look for more diversity inplants. Additionally, I mentioned that I am worriedthat plant breeding for ornamentals may lead awayfrom enhancement and too far into architecturalform and function. I think some of the hybridbromeliads for example are now so colorful, perfect,that they no longer seem real, the nature has beenlost. They are now as architectural as a marblecolumn. One reason I have little prep time is that Iam going to spend three weeks in December inThailand. I will be traveling with an ecologist friendfrom Harvard. We will bird, botanize and just seethe country.

NECROLOGY:

JOHN WARD MILLER (BS, Agriculture,1950) on August 9, 1987, Dublin, Ohio. John wasretired from the International Harvester Co.

DON A. FREDERICK (BS, 1953), Marietta,Ohio, on December 7, 1987.

Botany Faculty

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.(Left to rqht) Phillip Cantino, Norman Cohn, Robert Lloyd, Gar Rothwell,Irwin Ungar, Gayle Muenchow, Warren Wistenclahi, James Cander,Lairy Larson, James Braseltoii John Mitchell, Herbert Graffius, Ivan Smith(Missing: Allan Showalter)

1989 PBIO Newsletter

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Transcript of 1989 PBIO Newsletter