GSU researcher discovers new method to provide better understanding of plant life

A Georgia State University scientist has found a new way to simulate data in examining processes during photosynthesis, a method which will lead to a better understanding of how plants work.

Gary Hastings, professor of physics, has developed a way to better interpret measurements that investigate the molecular interactions involved in photosynthesis. By using the data provided through Hastings' method, scientists will be able to more accurately develop a mathematical model of photosynthetic processes in plants.

The research appears in a journal article released Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

In photosynthesis, plants capture sunlight and use it to produce carbohydrates used as energy. In the process sunlight is used to transfer electrons across a membrane, Hastings explained. There is a positive terminal on one side of the membrane and a negative terminal on the other.

"Essentially, a plant is a solar-powered battery," he said. "The process is remarkably efficient, much more so than in artificial materials. The question is: 'How do electrons get across this membrane with such efficiency?'"

Plants contain pigment molecules, such as chlorophyll and quinone, which give them their colors. In the process of photosynthesis, electrons "hop" from one pigment to the next to get across the membrane. Proteins interact with these pigments, and this gives them special properties allowing them to move electrons quickly and efficiently across the membrane.

"The burning question is, what is it about these protein interactions that modify the properties of the pigments to help get electrons across the membrane? This is really a structural biology question, and everything we do is geared towards understanding how proteins modify these pigment properties," Hastings said.

The new method Hastings shows in his article provides an approach using numerical, or quantitative, data to describe the results of research using a process called Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. Previously, the norm for the field was to use a more descriptive, or qualitative, approach.

This research, in time, may lead to ways to predict how new plant strains might function more efficiently - something with implications in many fields, including biofuel research.

Hastings' research was made possible by powerful supercomputing resources at GSU. Hastings and his team used the university's IBM p5 supercomputer, called URSA, which allowed for the efficient processing of huge calculations in days, instead of the months it would have taken on even the fastest desktop computers.

GSU recently increased its supercomputing power by acquiring an IBM p7-755 supercomputer, named CARINA. It can run calculations at more than 14 trillion calculations per second.

Hastings' article, "Calculated Vibrational Properties of Pigments in Protein Binding Sites," appears online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, located online at www.pnas.org.

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Outbreak of strange moth posing danger to oak trees

Researchers at the University of Georgia are tracking an outbreak of caterpillars that can eat and strip the leaves off oak trees, potentially affecting the tree’s health for a year or more. The leaf-eating caterpillars have been confirmed in several counties surrounding Athens, including Clarke, Madison, Oglethorpe and Oconee. They are also possibly in both Barrow and Gwinnett counties, but UGA researchers fear they are also spreading throughout the state.

Kamal Gandhi, an assistant professor of forest entomology in the UGA Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, said home- and landowners began bringing her caterpillars last year for help with identifying the insects. The grayish-brown caterpillars had black heads and thin white lines down each side and were moving into the oak canopies at night to feed on leaves and seemed to favor white oaks. And they weren’t in the book on moths in North America that Gandhi could find, so she sent them to moth expert David Wagner with the University of Connecticut for help identifying them using DNA coding. That’s when they found that Georgia is now experiencing what appears to be an outbreak of the Black-dotted Brown moth (Cissusa spadix) that until now weren’t considered pests. They even found that this caterpillar defoliated a large white oak tree growing in Athens’ Whitehall Forest in just four days last year. This year, Gandhi said its spring leaves were delayed, and the caterpillars have returned in higher numbers.

Gandhi and Jacqueline Mohan, an assistant professor of terrestrial ecosystem ecology in the Odum School of Ecology, speculate that the moths went into an outbreak phase because of much warmer weather conditions with abundant autumn rainfall in 2009 and 2010, which stimulated the development and growth of both oak trees and leaves, and caterpillars. Entomologists living in Athens for decades and across eastern North America have never witnessed an outbreak of this moth species before.

What should homeowners look for? Gandhi said the specific signs that those caterpillars have possibly made themselves at home include:
- Oak trees on a homeowner’s property that have been stripped of leaves;
- Dark grayish-brown caterpillars with thin white lines on both sides that feed on the leaves mostly at night;
- A yard covered in the small black insect frass (excrement); and
- Caterpillars that come into the house at night and vomit reddish-brownish liquid.

Very little is known about how to manage these insects, Gandhi said, but if a landowner does have an infestation, there is a simple way to help thwart their efforts to feed on oaks: Put burlap bands on high value trees to stop them from moving into the canopy. Burlap bands can be made by tying a piece of twine, rope or string around the tree and then slipping a foot-wide piece of burlap between the rope and tree, folding it in half over the string. The band should circle the entire tree, and the bottom part should be duct-taped to stop caterpillars from crawling under and through the bark cracks. The caterpillars should become caught in the burlap and can then be disposed of using soapy water after capture. Burlap bands are only partially effective, however, and Gandhi said it is unclear how effective pesticides are as well.

This insect is a bit of a mystery to scientists. They’re not even sure where the insects lay their eggs. What they do know is that the hatched caterpillars typically spend a day in leaf litter on the ground and under bark cracks and furrows, especially on white oaks. They then climb into the trees for feeding, pupating in early May in the litter layer until emerging as an adult the following year.

Gandhi and Mohan have launched both individual and collaborative research projects into the strange insect. Gandhi and her post-doctoral researcher, David Coyle, are working on determining what host plants the caterpillars prefer, its life-cycle, the extent and scale of defoliation this moth can inflict, and insecticide options to guide home-owners. Mohan and her students, Fern Lehman, Shafkat Khan and Paul Frankson, also are using the caterpillars to determine how herbivorous insects might respond to oaks grown in higher temperature conditions.

Based on the their 2010 research, they are finding that oak leaves grown under the higher temperature conditions predicted over this century lead to higher rates of caterpillar herbivory as the foliage becomes less nutritious and the insects need to consume more of it.

Gandhi and Mohan need to know how widespread the moth is in Georgia. Any calls and emails from homeowners from other counties will assist in research and management activities. Anyone with questions or information about this caterpillar can contact Gandhi at kgandhi@warnell.uga.edu.

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UGA researchers to study transmission of human pathogen to coral reefs

The spread of lethal diseases from animals to humans has long been an issue of great concern to public health officials. But what about diseases that spread in the other direction, from humans to wildlife? A multidisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Georgia has just been awarded a five-year $2 million Ecology of Infectious Diseases grant from the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health to study the first known case of such a “reverse zoonosis” that involves the transmission of a human pathogen to a marine invertebrate, elkhorn coral.

White pox disease has devastated coral reefs throughout the Caribbean and Florida Keys, and is believed to be responsible for much of the coral reef loss there since 1996. White pox disease is caused by a human strain of the common intestinal bacterium Serratia marcescens, which causes the hospital infection serratiosis. Historically, many emerging human diseases, such as AIDS and Ebola, have come from the natural world. The researchers are concerned that the transmission of Serratia marcescens from humans to elkhorn coralmay indicate the beginning of a new phenomenon of diseases jumping from humans to wildlife.

The UGA team will investigate the mechanisms of transmission of white pox disease and the factors that drive its emergence in marine animals. “This bacterium has jumped from vertebrate to invertebrate, from terrestrial to marine, and from anaerobic to aerobic environments,” said James W. Porter, associate dean of the Odum School of Ecology and the team’s leader. “Triple jumps like this are rare.” Understanding the modes of transmission will allow the scientists to attempt to predict future impacts of the disease and to begin to develop effective control strategies.

The scope of the team’s research will extend beyond gaining an understanding of the impact of white pox disease on elkhorn coral and how to counter it. The most likely source of the pathogen for coral reefs is under-treated human sewage, so the study will also explore the intersection of public health practices and environmental health outcomes.

“This investigation addresses not only environmental protection, but also the socio-ecological determinants of coastal zone protection,” said Porter. “This includes the cost of wastewater treatment infrastructure. Given a reliance on tourism by most Caribbean countries, this study addresses a disease system that is of great economic importance and public health concern to developing nations.”

The complexity of the problem required assembling a team of researchers from different scientific disciplines. “The Odum School is extremely well-positioned to lead this study,” said Dean John Gittleman. “Working effectively in collaboration with units from across campus is one of our strengths, and aquatic ecology, theoretical ecology and disease ecology are three of our areas of particular depth that facilitate such interdisciplinary team building.”

Porter, who has spent decades studying coral reefs in the Florida Keys and the Caribbean, said that this is the most exciting and groundbreaking study of his career. “This is science in action to save an endangered species and a threatened ecosystem,” he said. “We are linking good public health practices to effective environmental protection.”

Microbiologist Erin K. Lipp, associate professor of environmental health science in the College of Public Health, will be looking at the genetic diversity of Serratia marcescens to determine which of its different strains are pathogenic to corals, and why. She will collect and analyze samples to determine how the different strains of the bacterium are related, and will then conduct challenge experiments. “We’ll inoculate fragments of corals with different strains and see which cause signs of disease,” said Lipp. “If we can identify strains that do versus those that don’t cause disease, we can then conduct genetic comparisons to isolate the genes that are responsible.”

Assistant professor Andrew W. Park, who has a joint appointment in the School of Ecology and College of Veterinary Medicine department of infectious diseases, will use the data gathered by Porter and Lipp to create models to inform analysis of the spread of the disease. “My part of the project is about making sense of the data in terms of transmission,” said Park. “We’ll use the modeling to help test the hypothesis that there is variation for resistance to the bacteria and explore different candidate hypotheses for how the disease spreads. The pathogen can be spread in different ways—forinstance, by predatory snails, or through water currents. We’re trying to untangle all those competing explanations.”

John Wares, assistant professor of genetics in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, will be looking into the interactions of the pathogen with the microbial environment of coral reefs in the Caribbean. Unlike humans, corals do not have classic immune systems, with white blood cells to take on and destroy invading bacteria. Instead, they appear to rely primarily on external defense systems, such as beneficial bacteria that live on their surface. Wares will investigate this system to determine whether healthy bacterial communities can defend corals from disease. “This is essentially high-tech community ecology,” said Wares. “I’ll be looking at what organisms are living on the coral and what role they play in promoting coral immunity.” He said he is excited about the opportunity to use next-generation genetic sequencing, through the Georgia Genomics Facility at UGA. “In the past, we might have been limited to looking at a sample of a few hundred microbes from a given sample of the community,” he said. “For this study, we can study tens of thousands from each sample. It will be very powerful.”

Understanding the transmission process is critical, but Porter said that the study has wider implications. “By incorporating the role of land use practices and water quality into our environmental models of disease prevalence and transmission, this project will have particular significance for sustainable development activities and coastal-zone carrying capacity studies worldwide,” he said. “The modeling element of this study connects disease transmission with water quality, climate variability and patterns of human population density. We expect to show that if you upgrade land-based wastewater disposal systems you improve survival of economically important natural resources such as coral reefs.”

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Long-term study finds that nutrient enrichment of headwater stream disrupts food web in unexpected ways

Human activity is increasing the supply of nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, to stream systems all over the world.The conventional wisdom—bolstered by earlier research—has held that these additional nutrients cause an increase in production all along the food chain, from the tiniest organisms up to the largest predators.A long-term, ecosystem-scale study by a team of University of Georgia researchers, however, has thrown this assumption into question.

The researchers—a team from the UGA Odum School of Ecology and department of entomology in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences—found , unexpectedly, that while nutrient enrichment did indeed cause a steady increase in the production of organisms lower on the food chain, organisms at the top of the food chain did not benefit.

Their study, “Long-term nutrient enrichment decouples predator and prey production,” published this week in the early edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was funded by the National Science Foundation.It documents the effects of long-term nutrient enrichment of a headwater stream in a forested area at the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory in North Carolina.For the first two years of the study, the results were as expected: the production of both prey (the organisms low on the food chain) and predators (in this case salamanders and macroinvertebrates) increased.But with continued addition of nutrients, things began to change.While the prey continued to increase at the same rate, the production of predators leveled off, signifying a ‘decoupling’ of the typical relationship between predators and prey.

Maintaining patterns of energy flow between predators and prey is a critical aspect of healthy ecosystems. “What we found was a dead end in the food chain,” said Amy Rosemond, assistant professor at the Odum School, and one of the lead researchers.“This is the first time we’ve seen this kind of trophic decoupling, or break in the food chain, between the levels of prey and predator on this scale.This kind of disruption of the food web wasn’t on anyone’s radar screen before now.”

In this instance, Rosemond explained, the break was driven by the traits of the various prey species that inhabit the stream system.Some of these species were better able to take advantage of the extra nutrition than were others.After the first two years, the nutrient enrichment began to favor the growth of large-bodied prey, such as the caddisfly, Pycnopsyche spp., over smaller organisms.These large-bodied prey were simply too big for the stream’s predators to consume; hence, they were unable to capitalize on the increase in available food.

John Davis, who conducted the research as part of his Ph.D. dissertation, said that the work has global implications.“Nutrient enrichment is a global threat to the health of freshwater ecosystems,” he explained.“However, our understanding of its effects is limited.Our experimental results varied substantially from the few other large-scale experiments, which suggests that ecosystem-level responses to nutrient enrichment are largely context-dependent.This is important because humans are increasing nutrient loading rates to a diversity of ecosystems, but our understanding of their effects is based on only a small number of ecosystem types.”

Rosemond said that their results point to the need for more research, especially large-scale, long-term studies in a variety of ecosystems.Davis agrees.“It took over four years for nutrient enrichment to decouple predator and prey production within these headwater streams,” he said.“But most ecological experiments are limited to time scales of weeks to months.”

And the need to understand the effects of nutrient enrichment continues to grow more important. According the Environmental Protection Agency, the health of 47 percent of lakes and 45 percent of streams in the U.S. is impaired, with excessive nutrients a significant source of that impairment.Nutrient inputs to lakes and streams are likely to continue to increase globally from fertilized agricultural and suburban lands and from human and animal wastes that enter aquatic systems from treated sewage, septic tanks, or run-off from land.Furthermore, headwater streams, like the study stream in Coweeta, may account for as much as 73% of all stream miles.These headwater streams are the ‘feeders’ of larger rivers, so their response to nutrient enrichment likely affects downstream systems as well. But long-term effects of nutrients have not been previously tested in these systems.

“Without more accurately assessing the long-term effects of nutrients on a diversity of ecosystem types,” Davis concluded, “we won’t be able to adequately predict how global ecosystems are going to respond to chronic nutrient enrichment.”

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UGA acquires zoysiagrass collection

University of Georgia has received the zoysiagrass collection developed by Jack Murray, a turf breeder with the United States Department of Agriculture/Agricultural Research Service in Beltsville, Md. An agreement between Bladerunner Turf, Inc., which acquired the collection in 2000, and the University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc., was signed to allow the UGA turf breeding program in Tifton to develop new turfgrass cultivars from the valuable zoysiagrass collection.

David Douget, owner of Bladerunner Farms, said the collection has already produced several commercially available varieties of zoysiagrass, and he has high hopes that UGA breeders will use the collection to further improve and refine cultivars for release.

Brian Schwartz, the University of Georgia researcher who heads the turf breeding program at UGA’s Tifton campus, said his team will use the plant collection to develop superior zoysiagrass cultivars adapted to the southeastern U.S. and similar environments around the world. “This collection will fill a need in Georgia and the southeast for new, improved zoysiagrass varieties,” said Schwartz.

The new collection adds to a turfgrass program that now includes four of the world’s top five warm-season turfgrass types — Bermuda, centipede, seashore paspalum and zoysia. Schwartz said zoysiagrass is a high-quality, slow-growing turf that requires less fertilizer than faster-growing Bermudagrass.

“This zoysiagrass collection gives us an opportunity to mix excellent plant material with a turfgrass breeding program that’s been active and hugely successful for more than 50 years,” said Schwartz, “and we intend to make the most of it.”


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UGA research shows some plants can remove indoor pollutants

Some plants have the ability to drastically reduce levels of indoor pollutants, according to new research at the University of Georgia. Researchers showed that certain species can effectively remove air-borne contaminants, including harmful volatile organic compounds, suggesting a critical new role for plants in home and office environments.

Of the 28 plants tested, researchers identified five “super ornamentals”—those that had the highest rates of contaminant removal, a process called phytoremediation. These include the purple waffle plant (Hemigraphis alternataa), English ivy (Hedera Helix), variegated wax plant (Hoya cornosa), Asparagus fern (Asparagus densiflorus) and the Purple heart plant (Tradescantia pallida). Placed in glass, gas-tight containers, the plants were exposed to a number of common household VOCs, including benzene, toluene, octane, alpha-pinene and TCE. The work, funded by UGA’s Agricultural Experiment Stations, was published in the August 2009 issue of HortScience.

“The idea that plants take up volatile compounds isn’t as much of a surprise as the poor air quality we measured inside some of the homes we tested,” said Stanley Kays, UGA horticulture researcher and one of the study’s authors. “We found unexpectedly high levels of benzenes and many other contaminants that can seriously compromise the health of those exposed.”

In fact, harmful indoor air pollutants can cause a host of serious illnesses, including asthma, cancer, reproductive and neurological disorders—and more than 1.6 million deaths a year, according to a 2002 World Health Organization report. The VOCs emanate from furnishings, carpets, plastics, cleaning products, building materials like drywall, paint, solvents and adhesives. Even tap water can be a source of VOCs. The air inside homes and offices is often a concentrated source of these pollutants, in some cases up to 100 times more polluted than outdoor air, according to research.


Why some plants are very effective at remediation—while others show little promise—is a mystery. “That’s one of the things we want to learn,” said Kays. “We also want to determine the species and number of plants needed in a house or office to neutralize the problem contaminants.”

Kays, D.S. Yang and S.V. Pennisi at UGA collaborate with researchers at Konkuk University in Seoul and at the National Horticultural Research Institute in Suwon, Korea, “where scientists are substantially ahead of us in phytoremediation research,” said Kays. “My colleague, Kwang Jin Kim, has evaluated the ability of 86 species to remove formaldehyde in indoor environments.”

Not all VOCs are toxic, and plants themselves emit some VOCs, though most appear not to be toxic, at least at normal exposure levels. But Kays said a lack of information about chemical toxicity—and an affordable method for measuring interior air quality—makes assessing their presence and safety more difficult. Fifty million organic and inorganic chemicals are now registered in the CAS system, a registry that includes chemical substances identified since 1957.

Kays said simply introducing common ornamentals into indoor spaces has the potential to significantly improve the quality of indoor air, but further research could help scientists refine the concept.

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Miracle gardening products most likely aren’t

From diet pills to wrinkle cream, if a product sounds too good to be true, chances are it is. Cable television and the Internet are filled with advertisements for wonder products. With gardening being a favorite outdoor activity, many of these so-called miracle products are designed with gardeners in mind.

One example is foolproof pesticides that are supposed to eradicate everything from Japanese beetles to millipedes. And herbicides that will supposedly last for months and eradicate almost any weed.

I recently heard a radio advertisement for a product that claims to kill Japanese beetles 'year-round. Being a Master Gardener, trained by the University of Georgia, I didn’t believe this claim for a minute. Unfortunately, the average homeowner or novice gardener may.

To avoid being burned by the latest revolutionary product, gardeners should read product labels thoroughly.

And it doesn’t hurt to know a little chemistry. Become familiar with potential active ingredients such as glyphosate, bifenthrin, triclopyr, cyfluthrin, imidacloprid, trifluralin and spinosad.

When using a new gardening product, ask yourself a few questions: Are there any potential hazards? Will the product harm pets, wildlife or bees? Can it be safely applied in or near vegetable gardens or near a water source?

Before you purchase a product based on a flashy TV advertisement, do some personal homework. One good resource is the Web site www.GeorgiaTurf.com. Here consumers can find unbiased research-based recommendations.

The Environmental Protection Agency's Web site at www.epa.gov/agriculture/pesticide.html lists the different types of pesticides and their requirements.

For in-depth information on managing pests, see the UGA Pest Management Handbook online at www.ent.uga.edu/pmh/ or contact your local UGA Cooperative Extension Office at 1-800-ASK-UGA1.

Know the facts before getting drawn in by advertising claims that are likely too good to be true.

By Charlie Christian
Georgia Master Gardener

Charlie Christian is a Morgan County Master Gardener and an avid gardener.
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UGA licenses new Bermuda grass that thrives in sun

An internationally recognized turfgrass researcher from the University of Georgia has developed a new Bermuda grass that thrives in sun and produces healthy turf in areas with less than half the light normally required for other Bermuda grass.

The new grass, licensed by the University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc., to New Concept Turf, will soon be available to homeowners for planting lawns; to developers for recreational facilities, sports complexes and golf courses; and to urban area landscapers.

TifGrand was developed by Wayne Hanna, professor of plant breeding and genetics in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences at University of Georgia’s College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

“Although TifGrand produces a beautiful turf in full sun, its major contribution will be the production of nice turf in areas with reduced light -- up to 60 percent less light than is normally required for healthy Bermuda grass growth,” Hanna said.

Hanna is a world-renowned plant breeder. During his 37-year career, Hanna has developed winter-hardy, pest-resistant Bermuda grasses able to handle high traffic. These grasses now grow on golf courses around the world and in major sports stadiums.

Hanna has spearheaded the screening of Bermuda grass for hybrids that naturally deter mole crickets, the No. 1 lawn and turf pest in the Southeast. He and his research team have been awarded seven patents.

New Concept Turf, a Georgia-based company specializing in marketing new turfgrasses, has contracted The Turfgrass Group of Ft. Valley, Ga., to exclusively handle licensing of TifGrand for sod production. TifGrand will be licensed to a selected number of growers beginning in summer 2009. It is expected to be available in the general market in 2010.

For more information on TifGrand and licensing opportunities, contact Bill Carraway, vice president of marketing for The Turfgrass Group, 770/207-1500, or visit www.theturfgrassgroup.com.

By Terry Hastings
University of Georgia

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Manure Info, Anyone?

Animal Manure Management Finds Internet Home

The University of Georgia and its partner universities and organizations are using new media to help get the word out about solutions to a long-time issue – animal manure. They’ve combined resources and given animal manure management a home on the Internet.

The United States Department of Agriculture estimates that, nationwide, 257,000 livestock and poultry operations on 15 million acres of cropland need plans to manage their 780 million tons of animal manure.

To help deal with the manure challenge, UGA professor Mark Risse and his colleagues from universities in Washington and Nebraska created the online Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center, now housed on eXtension’s Web site (www.extension.org).

eXtension is a nationwide clearinghouse of research-based information on topics ranging from animal manure to financial crisis to science, engineering and technology for youth. Land-grant universities across the nation, including UGA, contribute scientific information to the site.

“As we get fewer and fewer resources, we’ve got to be able to work together like this,” said Mark Risse, a UGA Cooperative Extension engineer and animal waste specialist.

The Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center is designed for one-stop shopping on issues surrounding animal manure. Risse’s goal is to help people indirectly involved in animal manure, whether they deal with policy issues, help animal producers or deliver technical services – and whether they live in Alaska or Florida.

Currently, the site averages 10,000 to 20,000 hits a month, and 2,000 people subscribe to the monthly newsletter.

Of the 200 to 400 people who listen to their monthly webcasts, each in turn helps about 200 producers each year. That brings the Web site’s impact, through those listeners, to between 40,000 and 80,000 people annually.

The number of hits the site gets doesn’t equal success for Risse.

“I’m less concerned with numbers,” he said. “Success is that people are finding what they want on our site.”

So far, people are finding what they need, and they’re asking for more.

The Web site’s reach stretches internationally, too. That was something Risse hadn’t considered, but it isn’t what amazes him most.

“Our biggest surprise is the Environmental Protection Agency and policymakers make up 25 percent to 30 percent of the audience for our webcasts,” Risse said. “Our stakeholders find that very good, because they know and trust the information on our site.”

The EPA and others aren’t just listening in. They’re using the center to distribute information. The EPA approached the center about doing a webcast in December. That session had their “highest attendance ever,” Risse said. As the EPA discussed its new regulations for confined animal feeding options, 400 people listened.

Risse and his colleagues use both webcasts and research briefs to address issues and deliver answers to problems livestock producers may have. They pull from their own research or from expertise from the nation’s top animal specialists. They also have databases of “Frequently Asked Questions” and an “Ask the Expert” platform on the Web site.

The site prides itself on “connecting experts with those [who] need the information. Animal producers are getting information from the person in the country who knows the most about it,” Risse said.

For more information on the Livestock and Poultry Environmental Learning Center’s Web site, visit www.extension.org and click on the Livestock and Poultry Learning Center link.

By Stephanie Schupska
University of Georgia

Stephanie Schupska is a news editor with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

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Scientist Names Top Five Invasive Plants Threatening Southern Forests in 2009

U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station (SRS) Ecologist Jim Miller, Ph.D., one of the foremost authorities on nonnative plants in the South, today identified the invasive plant species he believes pose the biggest threats to southern forest ecosystems in 2009.

"Cogongrass, tallowtree, and Japanese climbing fern are among the fastest moving and most destructive nonnative plant species facing many southern landowners this year," said Miller. "Rounding out the top five invasive species that I’m very concerned about would be tree-of-heaven and nonnative privets. While our forests are besieged by numerous invasive plants, these and other nonnative species present serious financial and ecological threats to the South and its forests in 2009."

Nonnative species often out-compete native forest plants and may degrade forest productivity, wildlife habitat, recreational values, and water quality. Invasive species also greatly increase expenses as public and private land managers work to combat their spread and deal with their effects (such as increased wildfire risk and severity).

Nonnative plants can be introduced and spread by wildlife or through other natural means. Humans also spread invasive species by planting them in their gardens and yards and by seeds hitchhiking on their clothes. Additionally, tractors and mowers used in multiple locations without being cleaned often spread nonnative plants.

In an effort to inform forest managers, landowners, and others about where the most threatening invasive plants are in the South and to help them prepare for these threats, Miller collaborated with SRS Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) scientists to develop maps showing the spread, county-by-county, across the Southeast of more than 30 of the most serious nonnative plant species. The invasive plant data were collected on FIA plots throughout the southern United States in cooperation with State forestry agencies. In partnership with the University of Georgia’s Center for Invasive Species Science and Ecosystem Health, SRS researchers recently posted the maps and occupation levels online.

Maps posted at http://www.invasive.org/fiamaps/acres.cfm show the number of acres in a county covered by each nonnative species. Maps posted online at

http://www.invasive.org/fiamaps/percent.cfm show the percent of subplots analyzed in a county that have each invasive species. A spreadsheet found at
http://www.invasive.org/fiamaps/summary.pdf shows the total acreage of 33 invasive plant species in 12 Southeastern States (data for eastern Oklahoma is missing as SRS FIA just
completed this part of the State’s inventory this month). Users can access the maps and spreadsheet via http://www.invasive.org/fiamaps/. Current plans are for researchers to update the information annually.

Miller hopes government agencies, forest managers, natural resource professionals, landowners, students, and others will use the information to help combat the spread of nonnative plant species in southern forest and grassland ecosystems.

Details on the five invasive plants mentioned above can be found online via: http://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/pubs/gtr/gtr_srs062/. The Web page features Jim Miller’s book titled Nonnative Invasive Plants of Southern Forests: A Field Guide for Identification and Control, published in 2003. Request a copy by e-mail at srspubqueue@fs.fed.us or by calling 828-257-4830.

Based in Auburn, AL, Miller is a scientist in the SRS Insects, Diseases, and Invasive Plants of Southern Forests unit.

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Soybean Grant Gives Researchers Tools to Unravel Better Bean

For millennia, people have grown soybeans and turned them into many useful products. But when it comes to understanding why a soybean grows, blooms or produces like it does, researchers are left with unanswered questions.

University of Georgia professor Wayne Parrott aims to find the answers with a three-year, $2.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation and a jumping gene in rice found by a UGA colleague.

"I'm convinced that soybeans would be so much more useful and flexible if we knew what genes we need to be working with," said Parrott, a crop and soil sciences professor in the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

The soybean's genome was sequenced, or mapped, earlier this year. Now Parrott and his colleagues from the universities of Nebraska, Missouri-Columbia and Minnesota are taking soybean's genetic map and translating it so that soybean breeders can use it to produce a better bean.

Parrott is using a jumping rice gene for his part of the research. His counterparts are using radiation.

UGA plant biology professor Sue Wessler found the jumping gene in rice. Her discovery is unique. The gene is one of only a few with the ability to cut themselves out of and move to another location in the genome, altering it, Parrott said.

She shared the technology. Parrott's lab will insert the jumping rice gene into soybean plants. When something changes in a plant with the added jumping gene - such as how fast it flowers - they will then search the plant genetically. When they find the jumping gene - presumably in a new location in the genome - they can identify the modified gene there and, in this example, know what caused the plant to bloom faster.

The more genes they identify using the jumping gene technique, the more they'll know about the soybean and what they can do to improve it. The soybean has a few issues that could stand modifying, Parrott said.

On grocery store shelves, soybeans may seem like the perfect plant. It can be made into tofu and its synthetic meat products. However, the bean's protein is not balanced to the 21 amino acids humans need for a healthy diet. In addition, soybean oil contains trans fats after it's processed.

On the agricultural side, an improved soybean variety would allow farmers to plant a crop that produces more soybeans using the same amount of land. And with soybean plants that are disease and insect resistant, farmers wouldn't have to apply as much money - draining pesticides.

Farmers could also grow varieties that produce more oil or more protein.

"Genome sequencing and gene discovery is starting to open a new, exciting era for us," Parrott said.

It's a good time for soybeans. Since 1982, the U.S. has had a 15 percent increase in total soybean production.

"Acreage-wise, soybeans are among the top three crops in the United States," Parrott said. "It's the No. 1 source of vegetable oil and vegetable protein. In that regard, it's the most important of the crops."

Soybeans are used for adhesives, alternative fuels, disinfectants, plastics, salad dressings, particleboard, candy, cookies and swine feed, to name a few. "It just boggles the mind that it lends itself to so many different uses," Parrott said. "It's even in furniture care products."

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Blueberry Grant Focuses Research on Significant Georgia Fruit

Blueberries are becoming big business in Georgia. University of Georgia experts plan to use a $1.7 million U.S. Department of Agriculture Specialty Crop Research Initiative grant to lead an effort to make the Southeast the leading producer of the fruit.

The U.S. has 75,000 acres of cultivated blueberries. A third of that is grown in the South. The region is on track to become the hub of U.S. blueberry production within the next five years, said Harald Scherm, a plant pathologist with the UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

A spring freeze severely damaged Georgia’s blueberry crop in 2007. But the 2006 crop was worth $75.8 million. The berry has the potential to add millions of dollars more to rural economies, said Gerard Krewer, a UGA Cooperative Extension fruit crop horticulturalist.

“Blueberries are grown in rural areas, areas that really need economic boosting,” Krewer said. “Blueberries are becoming a major horticultural commodity in southeast Georgia.”

Scherm will lead a team that includes Krewer and CAES horticulturists Dan MacLean and Anish Malladi, plant pathologist Phil Brannen, food scientist Rob Shewfelt and engineer Changying Li. The team will collaborate with colleagues in Florida, North Carolina, West Virginia and Mississippi.

The grant will be used to develop a way to harvest the berries mechanically while not damaging or dropping a majority of the fruit. The research team will also use the grant funds to genetically improve fruit quality and to fight diseases that are just starting to plague blueberry bushes.

Georgia producers predominately grow two types of blueberries – rabbiteye and southern highbush.

Rabbiteye – the variety traditionally grown in Georgia – has a thicker skin and is generally harvested in June and July. The development of the southern highbush variety allows growers to start harvesting blueberries in April and May, a period when berries are in short supply and prices are much higher.

But with the extra profits came new problems. The southern highbush has thin skin and bruises easily. Because of this, most are currently harvested by hand. Competition for farm workers and tighter immigration restrictions could cause the cost of harvesting to skyrocket for the crop in coming years. Hand-harvesting now cost farmers as much as 70 cents per pound.

Farmers now need machines that better harvest their crop. Current harvesting machinery drops too many blueberries – as much as 25 percent of the crop and can bruise delicate berries. Damaged berries are only good for the frozen market, and producers get much lower prices for frozen berries than they do for fresh.

Besides coming up with a better harvesting method, another way to deal with the thin skins of southern highbush is to breed new varieties with thicker skins, or with a crispy flesh.

Crispy flesh varieties are currently being developed by university breeding programs in Florida, North Carolina and Georgia. After narrowing down the varieties, UGA food scientists will use taste panels to determine which type of new southern highbush blueberry consumers would most likely buy.

“With so much blueberry acreage going in the last few years, there’s not been enough new plants to go around,” Scherm said.

New plants are propagated through cuttings, and he thinks this may help spread debilitating diseases not seen before. These diseases include blueberry red ringspot virus, bacterial leaf scorch and Botryosphaeria stem blight. Leaf scorch and stem blight have killed many southern highbush blueberry plantings in recent years.

Bacterial leaf scorch was first documented in 2006. Very little is known about how to control it. Scherm hopes to find answers to these questions primarily by studying disease epidemiology, transmission modes and cultivar resistance.

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