Scott's Botanical Links--September 1996

September 27, 1996 - Research on the Internet

This is a wide-ranging site that features about 50K of links on general links to research sites on the Internet. These include Bookstores, Directories, Document Delivery, Governmental Information, Libraries, OPACs, News Media, Online Books, Journals, Newsstands, Reference, Research Centers, Organizations, Searching, Browsing, Selecting. One site to see is Criteria For Evaluating Research on the Internet, an introduction to what to look for and where to look. Bob Swisher, SLIS, University of Oklahoma. (***1/2).

September 26, 1996 - Tree Education

This site describes Types of Forests (from mangrove, to deciduous, coniferous and tropical, including effects of altitude), Ecology and Trees (including groundwater, hydrological cycle, and greenhouse effect), Agroforestry, Nitrogen Fixation and Legumes (nitrogen cycle, including Rhizobium) and how to capture the sun's energy yourself with a Solar Box Cooker. Organized by the New Forests Project. (****)

September 25, 1996 - Cactus - can't find 1/16/98

"Instead of publishing an expensive book that would be obsolete before it even hit the press, I decided to take the manuscript at its latest stage and turn it into WWW hypertext." This is from the introduction to the Illustrated Manual of the Rare Cacti of the United States and Puerto Rico, by Frank W. Reichenbacher, featuring the type of taxonomic detail expected of a good text, with some nice figures. Although this is not the easiest site to navigate, it is a very complete one and features original illustrations. The book became too expensive to publish and the benefit is for all of us to share it on the Internet! By Frank W. Reichenbacher. (***1/2)

September 24, 1996 - Online Courses

This site links to course material for the following Ohio State University courses: HC&S 210 - Discovering Horticulture, HC&S 300 - General Plant Biology, HC&S 560 - Computers in Horticultural Management, and HC&S 600 - Quality, Ethics, and the Global Environment. Nice resources. This is part of the Horticulture & Crop Science Department site of The Ohio State University. (****)

September 23, 1996 - Lycos Searches for People, Places, Businesses and Web Sites

Lycos has significantly changed over the last several months. Look at this site to check any phone directory in the US and a wide selection of email addresses at their PeopleFind site. These link to addresses that are linked a star on a zoomable map and to their CityGuide which lists addresses and phone numbers of businesses by category (might kill or drastically modify FTD flower deliveries), also restaurants by type. The future of the Web is here! Lycos, Inc. also acquired Point, which has its "Top 5%" winners reviewed on this site. (****)

September 20, 1996 - Plants for a Future

Plants for a Future is "a resource and information centre for edible and other useful plants" that has a catalog of over 200 useful plants, a species database of almost 7,000, a garden and plant advisory service, and numerous leaflets on topics from alternative food crops to winter salads and conservation gardening to edible lawns. Also information is available about permaculture, plants suitable for ground cover, plants suitable for hedging and windbreaks, trees and shrubs suitable for shelterbeds, and edible trees and shrubs hardy in Britain. This is the home page for the organization Plants for a Future. Copyright (C) 1995, Plants for a Future, 1995. (***1/2)

September 19, 1996 - The "Canoe Plants" of Ancient Hawai`i

The canoe plants are those edible and useful plants that facilitated travel by the ancient Polynesians. These plants include: `Ape (elephant's ear), `Awa (kawa), `Awapuhi Kuahiwi (shampoo ginger), Hau, Ipu (gourd), Kalo (taro), Kamani (Alexandrian laurel), Ki (ti), Ko (sugar cane), Kou, Kukui (candlenut), Mai`a (banana), Milo (portia tree), Niu (coconut), Noni (Indian mulberry), `Ohe (bamboo), `Ohi`a `Ai (mountain apple), `Olena (turmeric), Olona, Pia (Polynesian arrowroot), `Uala (sweet potato), Uhi (yam), `Ulu (breadfruit), Wauke (paper mulberry). A nice speality site with ethnobotanical information and very nice graphics. This is part of the Nation of Hawai`i Home Page. (***1/2)

September 18, 1996 - WebGarden

Pages include Buckeye Yard and Garden onLine, Weekly Gardening News for Central Ohio, WebGarden Factsheet Database, Plant Dictionary, Plant, Hort, and Garden Quest, and a Commercial Ornamental Horticulture Calendar. Noteworthy in its own right is the Plant Dictionary, which is a searchable database of over 1,400 links to images and descriptions for 285 selected ornamental plants representing 60 families including: annuals, bulbs, grasses, groundcovers, perennials, shrubs, trees, and vines. This is part of the Horticulture in Virtual Perspective site of The Ohio State University. (****)

September 17, 1996 - Seeds of Life

Heavy on graphics but light on message, this is still a great site for beginning botany students. The types of seeds are explained, their economic and ethnobotanical value, their dissemination, a seed forum and "an identify the seed" contest. The photographs are astounding! Copyright © 1995, 1996 by Françoise Brenckmann. (****)

September 16, 1996 - Ecology SImulation Server

This site runs ecological simulations on the Lotka-Volterra predator prey model, Lotka-Volterra competition model and a plant-pollinator model online. Just enter the parameters and charts/graphs will be posted; results are given as fast as computers and Internet connections allow. This is scientifically sometimes dense, but worthwhile. The simulations are easy to operate and understand. Documents and scripts written and maintained by Sigfrid Lundberg, University of Lund, Sweden. (****)

September 13, 1996 - Craig's Juicy Native Grass Gossip & Research

A quarterly newsletter on native grasses. A current project is to characterize native diversity by gel electrophoresis - a project that accepts volunteers. Sample contents include: Native Grass Seed Outlook and 1996 Crop Forecast, Search Out and Preserve!, Articles, Reports on Native Grass Genetic Gels, Botanic Exploration for Ecotypes, Collection Data Sheet, Top Ten Not Wanted Plants! and book and article reviews on ecological restoration. Craig's Juicy Native Grass Gossip & Research is edited and published by Craig Dremann of The Reveg Edge (sm), a division of the Redwood City Seed Co.

September 12, 1996 - University Email Directories on the Web - No longer functional

This site, run by Oklahoma State University, has a page of links to other university and institutional online email directories. In case you were wondering where to go to find a current email address, this page is a good place to start. Developed and rights reserved by Middlebury College.

September 11, 1996 - FLORIN Databases

FLORIN has applications, support, a newsletter and currently four databases: "Catalogue of Authentic Specimens of Moscow State University Herbarium (MW)," "Checklist of mosses of the former USSR" by Michael S. Ignatov and a "Lotus database" by Tatjana E. Kramina in addition to a Taxonomic Revision of the Genus Pseudodracontium N.E.Br. (Araceae - Aroideae - Thomsonieae) by Michael M. Serebryanyi. An image area is still under development. Copyright(C) 1996 DataX/FLORIN, Inc., Moscow, Russia. (***)

September 10, 1996 - Computer Virus Database

A complement to my previous warning on viruses is this site, which provides information on all of the important computer viruses out there. One omission though is the "Good times" virus, which was actually a hoax; this started in 1994 and promised dire consequences if you open any email with the message "Good times." If you think about it, the message itself is a virus! Otherwise, the information is complete. The rest of the site is mainly ads. Get an anti-virus program and use it! Produced by the McAfee Software group. (****)

September 9, 1996 - Microscopy Resources for K-12 Education

This featured site includes links relating to: An Introduction to Microscopes and Their Use, Examples of Using Microscopes in the Classroom, Getting Some Help, Sites for Learning About Microscopic Worlds, Best Sites for Obtaining Images for Educational Use, Short Courses and Training, Books, Posters, Videos, and Exhibits, Microscope Dealers, and a Meta-list of Science Education Resources. Although this is billed as being K-12, there are still a lot of links to material that college students may find useful. The mother site is MicroWorld Resources and News which covers new developments on the Web and covers many aspects of microscopy; it is an excellent site in its own right. Site by MicroWorld Resources. (****)

September 6, 1996 - Microscopy UK

An excellent microscopy site that has software, an online magazine, images and very attractively organized Web pages on a variety of topics including amateur microscopy. This works best with a fast connection, particularly for video or audio feeds. This site is maintained by Microscopy-UK, an organization of microscopists. (****)

September 5, 1996 - Graphic Techniques for Biological Presentation

This site explains how to set up a copy camera and do both halftone and line-oriented copy work to prepare material for posters and for scientific talks. It is one of a few handouts that I used when I taught a course on this here at OU. Some of the techniques are outdated if you have access to a computer-drive slidemaker but much of the material will still meet professional publication standards. As with many sites in life, this one is important if and when you need it!

September 4, 1996 - Science and Plants for Schools (SAPS)

This is an plant resource site for rapid-cycling brassicas, Rapid-Cycling Brassica Kits, Plant DNA Investigation Kits, Experimental Protocols, Investigating Plant Science on CD, Practical Workshops for teachers, Sponsorship schemes, Osmosis Newsletter, References.This site is part of the PHYTOS educational network and is maintained by Dr Mary Anderson, Director, Nottingham Arabidopsis Stock Centre, Dept of Life Science, Nottingham University, Nottingham, UK. This is an evolving site! (***)

September 3, 1996 - Balogh Scientific Books: WWW sites in Botany and Gardening

I rarely select commercial sites for this page, but today I made an exception. This site (part of "Biocruising the Internet®") is a collection of discriminating links. How discriminating? She dropped my site from her list! Isn't there a Groucho Marx punchline about this? Site by Dr. Pamela Burns-Balogh. (****)

September 2, 1996 - Labor Day

U.S. Holiday signaling the end of summer. (Already?) See you in class...

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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

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http://www.ou.edu/cas/botany-micro/bot-linx/sep96.shtml