Scott's Botanical Links--April 1997

May 1997

Past links:

April 30, 1997 - Biological Sciences WWW Resources - discontinued (9/11/00)

An authoritative AND encyclopedic link source for information about biology websites, it has literally thousands of links listed alphabetically by subject. Part of the Digital REST (research, education, science and technology) Area at SUNY-Plattsburgh, organized by William D. Graziadei. (****)

April 29, 1997 - Picture It: Great graphics for busy biology teachers

A well-hyperlinked archive site for some of the best graphic sites for plants, molecules, ecology, life forms, genetics and biology. This links many of my favorite sites with a graphic sample of each. By Craig Cramer, Cortland, NY, who's preparing for biology teaching. (***1/2)

April 28, 1997 - BOTN301 - Taxonomy of Flowering Plants

Texas A & M University has among the best developed Web sites for Plant Systematics, all of which serve as resources for their Bot 301 course - a noteable Web model! This site has tremendous detail, including course notes (covering basic taxonomy, nomenclature, key-making, plant collections, field notebooks, collection labels, noteworthy exercises on vegetative characteristics, reproductive characteristics, and selected plant families), virtual tours, flowering plant family gateway, and numerous online photos (the latter three have already been featured separately at this site!) Site by James Manhart and Monique Reed, Herbarium, Texas A & M University. (****)

April 25, 1997 - Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants

This site features distribution maps for over 4,000 plant species in the third most diverse state of the US. A nice model for state flora distribution sites, especially when used with other photographic sites to visualize the plants. Authors: Richard P. Wunderlin & Bruce F. Hansen, University of South Florida Institute for Systematic Botany, Tampa, and Edwin L. Bridges, Fairchild Tropical Gardens. (***1/2)

April 24, 1997 - Florida Wildflower Showcase

A beautiful local widflowers site, this has folksy information about local flowers, contributed pictures and a photographic gallery of hundreds of excellent mid- to large-sized JPEGs of modest download size (40 KB and up). Some photos are also in GIF format, but considerably larger (>100 KB). This site also features some pollinator images. An award-winning site, this was constructed by Michael E. Abrams, Tallahassee, FL. (***1/2)

April 23, 1997 - Scientific information on Chile Peppers

Home to the chile garden photo gallery, chemical sites on capsaicinoids, and medical and non-medical (pepper spray) uses of hot peppers of the genus Capsicum. Photos include: New Mexico/Anaheim peppers, Poblano/Ancho, Wax, Jalapeño, Serrano, Pasilla, C. chinense (habaneros and others), Cayenne, Pimiento, C. frutescens (Tabasco), C. baccatum (Aji), C. pubescens (Rocoto), Asian and other peppers. Links rate the peppers in a variety of regards, including the Scoville scale of heat production -- units that describe how hot a pepper really is. Site by Mike Bowers at University of California, Davis. (***1/2)

April 22, 1997 - Plants, People & the Environment

A website for the University of Illinois' introductory botany course (PB102), this is a high tech answer to providing individual attention to masses of students. This site features true 3-D molecular models, online grading of quizzes*, a chat room*, current gradesheet* (*behind passwords), hot-button directory to the site, search engine, well-illustrated synopsis of course content and expectations. This is a nice model for organizing Internet materials for an intro course, although considerable computer knowledge would be needed to construct such a site. Content is by Richard Crang, Dept of Plant Biology, professionally published by Tom Dolbilin at LiveText Publishing. (****) Originally: http://ampere.scale.uiuc.edu/pb102/

April 21, 1997 - Forestry in the Appalachian Hardwoods of Kentucky

The outlook of a consulting forester, this site has information on local to global forestry problems with a nice selection of links to other forestry sites, forestry schools, state agencies, silviculture & mensuration sites, forest fire sites and conservation sites. Constructed by Duane Bristow, the local content on this site includes a well organized Web bulletin board, a "Forest Management Workshop Manual," a sample forestry site report and info about his personal software programs. The site is not rich in graphics, but has interesting content! (***1/2)

April 18, 1997 - Metabolic Plant Physiology

This is the home page for David Rhode's HORT640C - Metabolic Plant Physiology, which concerns nitrogen metabolism, sulfur metabolism and secondary metabolism. The site has numerous chemical formulas and excellent links for plant biochemistry. The site is principally at the advanced undergradate to graduate student level; also a useful reference to bookmark. Site by David Rhodes, Department of Horticulture, Purdue University, IN. (****)

April 17, 1997 - HTML Reference Manual

An essential resource for developing fully functional Web pages, this reference has all of the relevant information about hypertext markup commands that are needed. Links are provided to RFC standards, reference sites and stylistic considerations. Site by Michael Hanna at Sandia National Labs, New Mexico. (****)

April 16, 1997 - Conifer Cone Identification Page (not found, October 1997)

A very simple site, this has one beautiful clickable GIF of huge size (900 by 1350 pixels, 600KB!) linking to detailed descriptions and more photos of six conifers. This page posted through joint efforts of the Departments of Food and Resource Economics and Plant and Soil Sciences, College of Agricultural Sciences, University of Delaware. (***)

April 15, 1997 - Flowering Plant Reproduction

An introductory page on life cycles, angiosperms and flowers that includes numerous glossary links and introduces basic terminology in a concise format. This page is linked to other similar pages and to a page on Fertilization and Fruits at the same site, featuring gametogenesis, gametes, double fertilization, embryogenesis and fruit production. This also illustrates one of the most prevalent misconceptions about angiosperm reproduction: the sperm are NOT naked nuclei, but cells! Part of an online biology book by Michael Farabee, Department of Biology, Estrella Mountain Community College, Arizona. (***1/2)

April 14, 1997 - Biology Review Index Page

These review pages are intended to be part of the General Biology course of the University of Manitoba. It features pages on: microscopy, procaryotes & viruses, cells, cell division, fermentation & respiration, unicells & filaments, thalloid & vascular plants, seed plant reproduction, seed plant sporophytes, and the leaf and photosynthesis. An evolving site, an in depth glossary is provided and is illustrated. All rights are reserved by Michael Shaw, University of Manitoba. (***1/2)

April 11, 1997 - Flowering Plant Families

Part of Ray Phillip's Biology 211 site, this is a graphically-oriented site illustrating the "required" families for his class. A short list of diagnostic characteristics for each group is given with 3 or more images of plants for each family. An innovative Web resource is the World Wide Flowering Plant Family Identification Key -- a checklist of 174 morphological characteristics and six geographical regions which yields a family list. Site by Ray Phillips, Department of Biology, Colby College, Maine. (***1/2)

April 10, 1997 - Photosynthesis

This succinct review covers the nature of light, chlorophyll & accessory pigments, chloroplast & photosynthetic membrane structure, an overview of the process of photosynthesis, the light reactions, dark reactions, C-4 pathway, carbon cycle and links to other relevant sites. Designed for a biology course, this site could also serve as a good review for grad students or instructors. Part of an online biology book by Michael Farabee, Department of Biology, Estrella Mountain Community College, Arizona. (***1/2)

April 9, 1997 - World Resources Institute

Conservation resources are not difficult to find -- among them, this is one of the best. Encyclopedic in scope, it includes fact-rich information on global warming, ozone holes, tropical diversity and myriad other resources at your fingertips. A well-organized site with images as accents, this is an excellent ecological resource to bookmark. Site by the World Resource Institute, Washington, DC. (****)

April 8, 1997 - Plant Photobiology

The influence of light quality on plants is a complicated one that this site addresses intelligently and attractively. Although a plug-in is required for full functionality, it is well chosen; the utility contributes to an making an interactive spectrum. For those interested in the effects of ozone depletion on UV-B and studies of the effects of different types of light, this is a valuable informational and technical resource. Site by Pedro José Aphalo, Plant photobiologist and eco-physiologist, Finnish Forest Research Institute, Joensuu Research Station, Finland. (****)

April 7, 1997 - Boyce Thompson Southwestern Arboretum

A site that is better experienced than described, the Boyce Thompson site has pages on tours, deserts, gardens, wildflowers, plant care, their Desert Legume Program (DELEP), birds, mammals, and events. Midi songs, loaded in the background, add considerably to the impact of the site, which otherwise has few graphics and brief but pertinent information. The pages on plant care, the desert and their gardens are particularly well-organized pages. (***1/2)

April 4, 1997 - World Class Pumpkins

This site is dedicated to growing the better pumpkin -- apparently successfully. There is a picture of the 1,061 pound record holder! Scientifically, the site is valuable because it clearly shows that it takes more than MiracleGro to accomplish this feat. This site is brought to you by Dan Gardner, Appleton, Wisconsin USA (***1/2)

April 3, 1997 - Economically Important Plants / Food Allergy and Intolerance

This site lists plants with economic importance by family, along with particular notes for those that have resulted in reported cases of food allergy and intolerance. This also has links to other similar sites of value. Web site by Jack Campin, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. (***)

April 2, 1997 - Seagrass

This site is devoted to the taxonomy, distribution and issues of seagrasses, with a significant list of references and an impressively large image collection, accessible by thumbnail images. The full sized photographs fill the screen (or more) and are JPEGs of 100 KB or so, so a fast connection is preferable. Although they list the last change as 1995, if this is the case, it is precociously well organized and a very visually oriented site. This web site is maintained by K. W. Bridges and R. C. Phillips. (****)

April 1, 1997 - Ask Dr. Science

Appearing in relative obscurity to all but a furtive few who listen to fringe radio stations (like NPR), Dr. Science accepts questions from everyone and answers them with his unique scientific skills. "He knows more than you do"® ; truly an excellent April 1st choice. You can also listen to Dr. Science. To access the voice portion, you will need to install the free RealAudio Player. (****)

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/apr97.shtml