Scott's Botanical Links--March 2003

Past links:

March 31, 2003 - University of South Carolina Herbarium

The University of South Carolina Herbarium site is an attractive model for a university herbarium site. The A. C. Moore herbarium features research links, as well as popular links that include a South Carolina plant atlas, pines of SC, poison ivy, what is an herbarium, course links, local endowment & dedication information and Ask Plantman. The latter is depicted as a cartoon character who will receive specimens by email or postal mail for identification. This site is maintained by John Nelson. (***1/2) -SR

March 14, 2003 - Plants In Motion

This is a double encore link, featured before in February, 1997, and again in January 1999, by Roger P. Hangarter of University of Indiana. He has photographed the ordinary responses of plants to stimulation in their environment using time-lapse Quicktime movies. Displayed are seed germiniation, phototropism, gravitropism, circadian movements, nutation, wilting, growth habits, and photomorphogenesis to name a few. The movies continue to increase in diversity and also in presentation. A couple artists have set these to music (also available on the site). This site requires the free Quicktime player from Apple (many platforms supported). If nothing happens with the movie, make sure it has downloaded completely and press the arrowhead. The presentations are useful for grades 7 to beginning undergraduate botany classes. (****) -S

March 13, 2003 - Botany: The History of a Science

"Botany: The History of a Science" provides detailed and excellent chapters covering botany from before Theophrastes (excellent summary of early Greek work) to the recent. Chapters include "First Scientific Description", "Botany under Roman Rule", "Decline of Botany-the Dark Age", "Renaissance", "Botany in the 17th and 18th Century: the Basis of Systematics", "Microscopy: the Achievments of the 19th Century and their 17th Century Roots", "Characterization of Cryptogams: Phylogenetical Relations between Cryptogams & Phanerogams", "Physiology", and the referring literature. This work is archived at the International Art & Science Showcase Botanik Online and was written as part of "Botany online-The Internet Hypertextbook" by Peter v. Sengbusch. (****) -S

March 12, 2003 - Moss Life Cycle

This completes a moss, pine, fern trilogy of life cycle sites hosted by the University of Sydney. This page presents a typical moss life cycle, Phylum Bryophyta, with hyperlinked illustrations, succinct narratives and selected glossary items. Hyperlinked terms include sporophyte, meiosis, spore, protonema, mitosis, gametophyte, archegonium, egg, antheridium, sperm, fertilisation, zygote, and young sporophyte. The quality is high, quite hyperlinked and well designed. (***1/2) -S

March 11, 2003 - Pine (Gymnosperm) Life Cycle

The typical gymnosperm life cycle is well illustrated in this site on sexual reproductive cycle of pines, Phylum Coniferophyta. Developmental phases and organs are hyperlinked with well chosen illustrations, brief narratives and appropriate glossary items. Hyperlinked terms include sporophyte, female cone (meiosis, megaspores, female gametophyte), male cone (meiosis, microspores, male gametophyte), pollination, sperm, egg, fertilisation, zygote, embryo, endosperm, and young sporophyte. The quality is high, quite hyperlinked and well designed. This is hosted by University of Sydney. (***1/2) -S

March 10, 2003 - Fern Life Cycle

This is a well organized single topic page on the sexual reproductive cycle of ferns, Division Pteridophyta. Each phase and organ is hyperlinked with illustrations, brief narratives and appropriate glossary items. Hyperlinked terms indlude sporophyte, meiosis, sporangia (sporangium, spore dispersal, spores), mitosis, prothallus, gametophyte (archegonium, egg, antheridium, sperm), fertilisation, zygote, mitosis, and young sporophyte. The quality is quite high and the page dynamic. This page is hosted by University of Sydney. (***1/2) -S

March 7, 2003 - Secret Life of Mosses, Ferns, Flowers, Pines

Although plant life cycles are critical to understanding plant reproduction, there are few dynamic methods for portraying these processes. Dr. Larry Jensen and Andrew Chung of the University of Auckland have therefore produced a teaching aid of animations depicting sexual reproductive lifecycles from the organismal to the cellular level. Full animations are available for mosses, ferns, pines, and flowers, with three different levels of narration available: elementary, intermediate and advanced. These videos have accompanying web material, including full narration, quiz questions and activities. As this effort needs to be sustainable, the videos are not free. I hope that students enjoy these as much as I did watching them. (****) [Disclaimer: I was an unpaid consultant for the storyboards and narration on the flower, but some of the views are incredible. Four images are on this page.]

March 6, 2003 - The Virtual Fossil Museum

The Virtual Fossil Museum is a well organized site on the fossil history of life. Although there are no plant entries yet, there is covereage on the tree of life, fossil sites, fossil galleries, evolution, geological history, paleobiology and a time machine (the geological time scale). The tree of life and the time machine provide a nice history of the ancient divergences of life. The site is organized by a number of scientists and volunteers. Hopefully, the gaps in plants will be filled. (**1/2 -not much on plants) -S

March 5, 2003 - Deep Time Project

The goal of the Deep Time project is to integrate angiosperm phylogenies of living and extinct plants through characterizing & prioritizing fossils, correcting time estimates, and integrating fossils into a master tree of angiosperms. Angiosperm evolution has remained one of the most conspicuous gaps in our understanding of plant evolution; Deep Time may have a significant impact. This NSF program integrates the work of many researchers. A "Virtual Fossil Collection" is in early stages of development (currently all entries are in "A"). This looks like it will be a worthwhile site in its own right, and is linked through the News & Info link. Site hosted at the Florida Museum of Natural History. (***) -S

March 4, 2003 - Deep Green - Green Plant Phylogeny Research Coordination Group

Deep Green is a coalition of plant biologists who are assembling the "Tree of Life" for plants and other green organisms. Supported by National Science Foundation, the group has assembled molecular, genetic and morphological data of major systematic groups into large databases that ultimately depict the phylogeny of these groups. Databases, news, discussions, past meetings, challenges, and most importantly the "Tree" are given at this site. Two versions of a hyperbolic tree are given (using Java technology): one is for reasearch and one for teaching, though in actuality, the content differs only in group names and depth. This is a highly interactive tree allowing exellent resolution of the nodes and many options for viewing (see icons on the lower left). Site by GPPRCG. (***1/2) -S

March 3, 2003 - Plants of the Machiguenga - An Ethnobotanical Study of Eastern Peru

This web site is an illustrated chronicle of two months of field work by Dr. Ethan Russo, MD, who was looking for plants of Eastern Peru's rainforest to treat headaches in 1995. Dr. Russo watched indigenous people use the plants and then recorded the plant's identity, efficacy and prospects for future use. He published an article in the Journal of Ethnopharmacology based on this work, which is reproduced at the site. An interesting feature of the published work is that all species examined are listed by local tribal common names as well as scientific names. The images are small, but shows some of the life and experiences of an ethnobotanist. Site by Tracy Stone-Manning at Montanta.Com. (***) -S

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/mar03.shtml