Scott's Botanical Links--February 1997

February 27, 1997 - Rhythms in organisms -- An introduction for observing, experimenting, recording and analysing [biological clocks]

This is an advanced manual on photoperiodism and how it is studied using both plant and animal examples, describing hardware and software required, how to formulate hypotheses and ultimately how to interpret the data. Over 170 short pages (few or no images) include detailed information about cell biological means of altering biological clocks and well-selected references to the formal literature. Author of this site is Wolfgang Engelmann, Institut für Botanik, Physiologische Ökologie der Pflanzen, Universität Tübingen, Germany. (****)

February 26, 1997 - Workshop Biology: Promoting Science Literacy for Non-Science Majors

This is an assessment site for a 3-year program in promoting undergraduate scientific literacy conducted at the University of Oregon. In addition to detailed information on the course format, concept activities, assessments, teacher improvement and investigations, there are also links to download course software and read their monthly Biology Ed newsletter. This is a very complete and thoughtfully constructed Web site. Only criticism: it includes the unbiquitous (stolen?) self-folding and mailing letter (); haven't we all seen enough of it??? (****)

February 25, 1997 - Vascular Plant Families Photographic site (University of Hawaii)

Dr. Gerald Carr of the Department of Botany at the University of Hawaii has assembled a total of over 1000 different photographs, which are available free for academic use. The site given is the systematics page, with links to photos to a 225 family collection of photographs. This is a major photographic site that also includes photographs of University of Hawaii Campus Plants (over 400 images), Hawaiian Native Plants , and the Hawaiian Silversword Alliance. The photos are 400 x 400 or slightly larger JPEGs (~50 KB, but some are significantly larger) and thumbnail images are present on some pages. Each site is a nice collection in its own right, and they do differ in content! (****)

There is a URL change for the Genus of the Week site to: http://fisher.bio.umb.edu/pages/JFGenus/jfgenus.htm If you bookmarked it, please note that it has moved!!

February 24, 1997 - Plant Genome Database Collaboration

The Plant Genome Database is a reference site about genes, chromosome maps and DNA sequences, as available, for the following model plants: Arabidopsis thaliana, Wheat, Maize, Soybase (Gopher for soybeans) and forest trees. A lesser sibling of the Human Genome Project, the research for this is funded by USDA, NSF, and DOE. Plant Genome Database is part of the Agricultural Genome Information Server (AGIS). (****)

February 21, 1997 - Arid Lands Newsletter

An online newsletter to report and promote research into desertification, the Arid Lands Newsletter features information on efforts and studies around the world. Published twice per year, it is also available by listserv (address given at the site). In addition to a number of formal articles in each issue there is also an updated list of Internet resources on desertification. This site is maintained and hosted by the Office of Arid Lands Studies, College of Agriculture, University of Arizona, Tucson. (***1/2)

February 20, 1997 - XVI International Botanical Congress

International Botanical Congresses are major events in the study of plants. In addition to marking the progress made during the past six years since the last IBC, the herbarium curators of the world meet to discuss the rules of nomenclature. The next IBC will be held in the U.S. (an unusual event) and the program is being developed now. This newly-opened site is where the information about the IBC will be posted. Site by the IBC organizing committee, hosted by the Missouri Botanical Garden. (***) [This domain was not renewed and is no longer available.]

February 19, 1997 - Tree Rings and Tree Ring Research

This is a remarkably multi-level site--reaching grade school to grad school. The site features: detailed references for dendrochronologists, important links for tree ring research, software available for tree ring research, principles of dendrochronology, classic references in dendrochronology, and a fun photo gallery/quiz. A What's New page (complete with dates) is given for frequent visitors. Links are well annotated and carefully chosen. Site by Henri D. Grissino-Mayer, Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research, originally University of Arizona, Tucson - now, University of Tennessee, Knoxville. (****)

February 18, 1997 - Genus of the Week

A different genus is featured each week on this site, giving information about the plant, its growth habit, the etymology of the plant name, interesting notes, and selected links to images and references elsewhere. Technically well constructed, the pages should attract repeat visits. A fairly new site (started less than a month ago) by Jennifer Forman, Biology Department, University of Massachusetts, Boston. (***)

February 17, 1997 - Plants in Motion

Plant growth movements in response to germination, anthesis and phototropism in motion are the subjects of this site, illustrated by animated GIFs and QuickTime movies. (Warning: These are high bandwidth [i.e., big files]!! and require a recent, full-featured browser [Netscape 3 or greater will suffice].) Featured are the comparative curvature response of dark-grown Arabidopsis, a model angiosperm, to unilateral light, with and without prior exposure to red light, as viewed in IR light and floral anthesis of a lily. Instructions are also available to make your own IR color camera from an inexpensive Connectix QuickCam camera. A small, but wide bandwidth site by Roger P. Hangarter, Department of Biology, Indiana University. (****)

February 14, 1997 - Virtual Greeting Cards

The life of a scientist consists of hours of work invested for moments of revelation. Keeping this in mind, it might not be a bad idea to keep a bookmark handy for sending virtual cards to your loved ones during time-consuming experiments or grading papers. If you send a virtual card, you might still be thought to suffer from social awkwardness, but it can't be claimed that you forgot an important occasion, like say ... Valentine's Day. [Does anyone have an emoticom for tongue-in-cheek?] (****) - [site discontinued, presumably because free services were no longer part of their business model!]

February 13, 1997 - Cornell University's Poisonous Plant Page

The poisonous plants site contains "plant images, pictures of affected animals and presentations concerning the botany, chemistry, toxicology, diagnosis and prevention of poisoning of animals by plants and other natural flora" (including fungi). Also includes a well-selected index to information on poisonous plants elsewhere on the WWW. Individual plant photos are very good; descriptions are incomplete but link to Canadian resources to provide the information. Site by Dan Brown and Tatiana Stanton, Cornell Animal Sciences Section. (***1/2)

February 12, 1997 - Fungi Photos

This is a hobby photo site of fungi in North Wales. These are taken with a Casio QV-10C digital camera and are stored as modest sized JPEGs (about 25 KB). About 30 photos are posted so far. Site by some chap named Chilton, I surmise. (***)

February 11, 1997 - MEDLINE

MEDLINE is a medically-oriented database that is available free through this port. If you are interested in cellular and molecular problems related to plants, the coverage of this database should more than suffice to find relevant reference data. This site is copyright © 1996 HealthGate Data Corp. (****)

February 10, 1997 - Botanical.Com

Home to A Modern Herbal by Mrs. M. Grieve and other old herbalist references, the most useful part of the site is the list of poison plants. This site also features a list of conversion tables (pot to soil yields, metric, cooking, others). Site by Electric Newt. (***1/2)

February 7, 1997 - N.J. Agricultural Weed Gallery

This is exclusively a picture site of the weeds of New Jersey, organized by the Rutgers Cooperative Extension through the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station. Images are modest in size (300 x 300 GIFs, 40 KB images) but of good quality. Species are listed by common name that links to a brief narrative about the weed and its botanical (Latin) name. The weed names are searchable, but regretably only by common name. As most weeds are fairly cosmopolitan in distribution, this site should still be useful to a wide geographic area. (**1/2)

February 6, 1997 - Primer on Molecular Genetics

This detailed tutorial site includes a hyperlinked table of contents, a significant introduction, and information on routine mapping and sequencing of a genome, model organism research, data collection and interpretation, impact of molecular data and a glossary. Although this site emphasizes the Human Genome Project, it is still useful as an introduction for plant molecular biology. It is available in both Adobe Acrobat (*.pdf) and WWW format. Assembled by the Department of Energy. (****)

February 5, 1997 - Publically Accessible Mailing Lists

Listservs, or automated mailing lists, are useful devices to stimulate discussion through email among people with common interests around the world. This site -- like Liszt, which appeared earlier -- is simply an index of mailing lists that anyone with email may join. This site is indexed by subject (currently over 800 entries), provides a group of listservs under each topic, a page on each listserv, and instructions on how to enroll. A nice resource that is easily searched. A number of these are related to plants and education. Resource by Stephanie da Silva, which also appears monthly on the Usenet Newsgroup news.lists. (***)

February 4, 1997 - Introduction to Tomatoes

Yes, this is it, the tomato home page! This site covers the history of tomatoes, their phylogeny, horticultural facts, and fairly complete coverage of the morphology and anatomy of Flowers & Fruits, Roots, Stems, and Leaves (each of the structural pages is extensively subdivided). Learn about the Flavr Savr genetically-engineered tomato through the Flowers & Fruits link. This site, part of Developmental Plant Biology (PLB 105) was constructed by Thomas Rost, Department of Plant Biology, University of California, Davis. (***1/2)

February 3, 1997 - How Corn Grows

This one long page (50 KB) details all of the developmental stages of corn -- one of the world's most important crop plants. Copiously illustrated, the site features thumbnail pictures that link to very wide bandwidth images. Full images are about 500 X 500 GIFs with average sizes over 100 KB, so modem users should be selective. An alternative was also available, but the 192 KB background file may deter modem users [remember this was written in 1997!]. This is also available in hard copy as Special Report No. 48 of the ISU Cooperative Extension Service, by Steven W. Ritchie and a host of others, Department of Agronomy, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa. (***1/2)

Past, past links (by date):

2006: January

2005: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

2003: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

2002: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

2001: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

2000: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

1999: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

1998: January*, February*, March*, April*, May*, June*, July, August, September, October, November, December   (*Leigh's links)

1997: January, February, March, April, May, June, September*, October*, November*, December*    (*Leigh's links)

1996: February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

Or search by: Subject Index

http://www.ou.edu/cas/botany-micro/bot-linx/feb97.shtml