The plant genus Salix (willows) was chosen as an ideal group for inoculation experiments because in North America there are over one hundred native species and are commonly host to a rust fungus in the genus Melampsora. Twenty-six different Salix species were inoculated in three separate experiments with isolates from different hosts of this pathogen.
Exotic plant pathogens have been the cause of many devastating disease epidemics in America’s forests and agriculture. Famous examples include chestnut blight and white pine blister rust, both cases of native plants showing catastrophic susceptibility to the pathogen of a congener. This project tries to understand this phenomenon of resistance and susceptibility to pathogens of congeners by performing host-range inoculation experiments using a speciose plant genus and multiple isolates of its most common pathogen.
The plant genus Salix (willows) was chosen as an ideal group for inoculation experiments because in North America there are over one hundred native species and are commonly host to a rust fungus in the genus Melampsora. Twenty-six different Salix species were inoculated in three separate experiments with isolates from different hosts of this pathogen.
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The study aimed to determine the effects of several variables on the survival and reproduction of a Crepis bakeri Greene ssp. idahoensis Babc. & Stebb., an Asteraceae listed as “sensitive” by the BLM. The ultimate goal of the project was to be one of the few studies to empirically document the effects of an invasive species on a native plant. The study variables included: the effects of YST, the effects of exotic plant species not including YST, the effects of insect herbivores, the effects of ungulate herbivores, and the effects of YST impacted by high levels of introduced insect biological control agents. Because this species is a perennial and the study sought to answer questions at a population level, the study was designed to be conducted over multiple years. During the growing season of 2007, the Hell’s Canyon study site was consumed by the Chimney Complex wildfire. In 2008, the fourth year of the study, the extra variable of fire was added to the study of C. bakeri. Results of this study will strengthen as the project continues and will be presented to CRISSP as they are produced. Invasiveness may be the result of ‘novel weapons’ that aid an introduced plant to outcompete evolutionarily naïve neighbours in its new range. Roots of Eurasian species of Centaurea are thought to produce allelochemicals that function as novel weapons in North America. However, a series of three experiments suggested that fungal endophytes that naturally established in seedling roots could have been confounded with novel weapons. In the first two experiments, endophtyes in roots of C. stoebe significantly reduced the biomass of naïve neighbours (i.e., Festuca idahoensis plants), compared to the effect of endophyte-free C. stoebe on F. idahoensis. For the third experiment, relative abundances of endophytes of C. stoebe in both its native and invaded ranges were determined so that representatives of the six most common haplotypes, three from each range, could be employed as root inoculants. In general, each of these endophytes again reduced the growth of naïve neighbours (i.e., Festuca idahoensis); remarkably, each also increased the growth of adapted neighbours (i.e., Festuca ovina) that were tested for the first time. Four of the six endophytes caused C. stoebe to gain a competitive advantage over its naïve neighbour that was significantly greater than the competitive advantage of endophyte-free C. stoebe over that same neighbour. Endophyte-free C. stoebe had no greater competitive advantage over F. idahoensis than it had over F. ovina. By aiding an invasive plant against F. idahoensis in a cryptic manner, endophytes could be confounded with novel weapons. However, without evidence that these endophytes are themselves native to Eurasia, it is premature to assert that they are themselves novel weapons.
Final EditsTime for final edits. We had a goal of six minutes max for the finished product. Our first cut came in at 12:14 minutes. Wow. Lots of editing needed to cut it down to 6:00 minutes. This part of the project took a lot of time—much more than we had planned for it to take. In the end, we found the best method for completing the project was to have one primary editor, with the rest of us giving that individual suggestions as to what might be cut and/or changed to make it better. Those of us not in charge of editing had to be very precise in our comments so that the ideas were understood by the editor. Once we got the hang of that communication, it went very smoothly.
The completed video is shown here. We are very proud of it. We each received A's for the class. Our hard work paid off!
EditingI have had many experiences recording myself in the past. This experience really helped us quickly lay down a nice track for the video that was about the right length. I am honored to be able to add an emotional element to this video in the form of my music. Once we determined that I would play one of my pieces for the video, it took us only two run throughs to capture the music. The end result needed almost no editing.
Lessons LearnedFor future projects in which we need to capture footage, I would make the following changes:
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AuthorHi, I'm Felix. Here you'll find examples of my work and play. Categories
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December 2012
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