Thesis (M.A. Agriculture. (Plant Production)) -- University of Limpopo, 2021 / Root-knot (Meloidogyne species) nematodes are host to most plant species, with the success of most crops being dependent upon proper nematode management tactics. Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) is highly susceptible to root-knot nematodes, with physical damage being visible on roots. The withdrawal of highly effective fumigant synthetic nematicides from the agrochemical markets resulted in a need to investigate alternative strategies for managing high nematode population densities, with the use of nematode resistance being the most preferred strategy. The objectives of this study were (1) to establish whether sweet potato cv. 'Blesbok' would be resistant to M. javanica under greenhouse conditions, (2) to investigate whether cucurbitacin containing phytonematicides would be comparable to Velum synthetic nematicide in suppressing Meloidogyne species. For Objective 1, treatments comprised 0, 5, 25, 125, 625, 3125 and 15625 eggs and second-stage juveniles (J2), had six replications and validated in time. Uniform sweet potato cuttings were transplanted in 20-cm diameter plastic pots, filled with steam pasteurised (300°C for 1 hour) loam soil. At 56 days after inoculation, plant growth, plant nutrient and nematode variables were assessed using analysis of variance and subjected to lines of the best fit. Treatments had significant (P ≤ 0.05) effects on eggs and highly significant (P ≤ 0.01) effects on J2, final nematode population densities (Pf) and the reproductive factor (RF), contributing 39, 45, 42 and 92% in total treatment variation (TTV) of the respective variables. Treatments did not have significant effects on plant variables. Calcium, K, Mg and Fe versus M. javanica levels each exhibited negative quadratic relations, with the models being explained by associations from 59 to 96%. In contrast, Zn versus M. javanica levels exhibited positive quadratic relation, with the model being explained by 80 and 98% association and optimised at 125 M. javanica units. For Objective 2, four treatments, namely, untreated control, Nemarioc-AL phytonematicide, Nemafric-BL phytonematicide and Velum had 10 replications and also validated in time. The plantlets with well-developed root system were transplanted under field conditions. Data for Object 2 did not comply with the requirements for ANOVA and were therefore subjected to Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Nemafric-BL phytonematicide treatment in both experiments reduced eggs, J2 in roots and J2 in soil and RP of Meloidogyne species, with the results being comparable to those of Velum synthetic nematicide. Nemarioc-AL phytonematicide reduced J2 in roots and in soil of Meloidogyne species, without affecting eggs in roots and RP. Nemafric-BL phytonematicide and Velum each increased plant growth variables in Experiment 1 and Experiment 2, whereas Nemarioc-AL phytonematicide did not have significant effects on plant growth variables. Velum chemical nematicide stimulated the accumulation of most essential nutrient elements in leaf tissues of the test cultivar, followed by Nemafric-BL phytonematicide, whereas Nemarioc-AL phytonematicide had no significant effects on the accumulation of essential nutrient elements. The study had two major outcomes, namely, (1) that the efficacy of Nemafric-BL phytonematicide was comparable to that of Velum chemical nematicide in suppression of population densities of Meloidogyne species in cv. ′Blesbok′ under field conditions and (2) that cv. ′Blesbok′ was tolerant to M. javanica and therefore, it was not necessary to investigate the mechanisms of nematode resistance. / Agricultural Research Council (ARC) and National Research Foundation (NRF)

Invasive plants are a significant threat to native ecosystems and to biodiversity. They are often strong competitors and have multiple techniques to outcompete native plants. Thus, controlling or removing invasive plants facilitates the restoration of native ecosystems. We used GPS technology coupled with field surveying techniques adapted from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to locate and identify invasive plants present within VCU’s Rice Rivers Center. We digitally overlaid a 50-meter x 50-meter grid system over the property. In each grid cell we recorded visual estimations of invasive plant coverage sorted into modified Daubenmire cover classes and used ArcGIS for mapping and analysis. Altogether, we found 25 unique invasive plant species. 93% of the grid cells contained at least one invasive species, and one grid cell contained seven unique species. The influence of anthropogenic disturbance on invasive species distribution, analyzed by using a 50-meter wide buffer zone around each disturbance (e.g., roads, buildings, etc.), showed that the presence and coverage of invasive species was greater within disturbed areas compared to intact forest. Microstegium vimineum, Lonicera japonica, and Ligustrum sinense were most common and widely distributed within terrestrial habitats, while Murdannia keisak was most widely distributed in the restored wetland. Our results for M. vimineum were compared to a similar 2004 study: this species has since spread from 40% to 76% of the grid cells. The spatial maps we have created will be a foundation for an integrated invasive species management program at the Rice Rivers Center and will assist with management, control and restoration efforts within terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.

Members of the family Chenopodiaceae are routinely used as colonizer plant species to rehabilitate waste and tailings materials on mine sites in the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia. These are specifically selected for their salt and drought tolerance and also because they are representative of the surrounding natural vegetation. Where these have been sown, competition between several species has been observed. The resulting plant community structure is typically lower in species diversity than the initial seed mixture. This study aimed to determine whether competition was occurring between five of the species commonly used and some of the mechanisms that determine community structure on the rehabilitated areas of waste material. Atriplex bunburyana, Atriplex codonocarpa, Maireana brevifolia, Maireana georgei and Enchylaena tomentosa were selected for the study, which was conducted in three parts. Firstly, different plant densities and species combinations were studied in the field and in a pot trial to determine whether or not competition was occurring and to determine the resources that the plants were competing for. The results of the field trial revealed that competition was occurring, but that it formed only one component of the complex interactions between plant species, density and soil characteristics (i.e. pH and salinity). The pot trial complemented the outcome of the field trial. In addition, it showed that competition was occurring, but was even more pronounced. This was most likely due to the lack of nutrients and the limited availability of space in the pots. / In the second part of this study, the ability of each species to survive and grow when subjected to adverse environmental conditions, such as low moisture availability, high salinity and low light availability, was examined in relation to competition. All five species were treated with different water regimes and soil salinity. Salt played an important role, especially for the Atriplex spp. and M. brevifolia, in ensuring survival when moisture availability was low. The effect of shade on the Maireana species and E. tomentosa was also researched after field observations suggested that M georgei was adversely affected when growing within the canopy of A. bunburyana. The pot trial showed that growth of M. georgei was affected by progressively more shade, whereas E. tomentosa was facilitated by shade. Maireana brevifolia exhibited significant tolerance to low light intensity. In the last part of this three-part study, all five chenopods were screened for allelopathy. Allelopathy may play an important role in determining community structure in successive plant generations. All chenopod species produced allelopathic substances, which were isolated from their leaves. The inhibition of seed germination was found to be speciesspecific and occurred only at certain concentrations. The seed of the Atriplex spp. was not affected by M. georgei and E. tomentosa extracts.

Genetic diversity has rarely been the focus of study in species at risk in Canada. <i>Tradescantia occidentalis</i> is one of 157 species listed by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC 2005a). This species is nationally threatened due to the limited number of populations, their geographic isolation from each other and from the main distribution in the United States of America, and habitat loss. The National Recovery Team for Plants at Risk in the Prairie Provinces and the Alberta Western Spiderwort Recovery Team have called for research into the habitat requirements, demography, and genetic diversity of <i>T. occidentalis</i> in Canada. As a result, this study was designed to address the following objectives: 1) to conduct an inventory of the Canadian populations, 2) to investigate intra- and interpopulation genetic diversity in <i>Tradescantia occidentalis</i>, and 3) to provide recommendations for the conservation management of this species. <p>Information on demography and plant communities in <i>Tradescantia occidentalis</i> habitats indicated that the numbers of individuals in the Saskatchewan and Manitoba populations were similar to previous surveys; however, the Alberta population was significantly larger in number than prior estimates, indicating population growth. Taxonomic lists were prepared for each province in habitats with and without <i>T. occidentalis</i>. Community types, as separated by RA analysis, differed by province and not by association with <i>T. occidentalis</i>. Euphorbia esula, an invasive species in Canada, was observed in the Saskatchewan and Manitoba populations but was absent in Alberta. <p> Using amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs), genetic diversity was assessed at the intra- and interpopulation levels. Relatively low levels of intrapopulation variation were observed in Saskatchewan and Alberta, while higher levels were found in Manitoba. Gene flow via pollen or propagule transfer may account for higher genetic diversity among the closely situated Manitoba populations. The lack of correlation between dendrogram topology and geographic distribution suggests panmixia in all populations. Levels of intrapopulation diversity were low to moderate depending on primer combination used, indicating that populations are isolated within each province. <p>Information on population demography and genetic diversity are important within a conservation context. The large number of individuals within each population and the perceived increase in some populations suggest that the existing populations of <i>Tradescantia occidentalis</i> are relatively stable. Although levels of genetic diversity are low in Saskatchewan and Alberta compared to Manitoba, it appears that all populations are adapted to their local environments based on their apparent size and stability. The most viable conservation strategy for this species is in situ protection. This should include controlling invasive plant species, monitoring grazing, and preventing further habitat fragmentation. Ex situ methods must also be explored. Transplantation of individuals from one population to the next may not be a successful conservation strategy due to the moderate level of population differentiation. Alternatively, it is recommended that a seed bank from each population be implemented in case of a drastic population decline.

Genetic diversity has rarely been the focus of study in species at risk in Canada. <i>Tradescantia occidentalis</i> is one of 157 species listed by the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC 2005a). This species is nationally threatened due to the limited number of populations, their geographic isolation from each other and from the main distribution in the United States of America, and habitat loss. The National Recovery Team for Plants at Risk in the Prairie Provinces and the Alberta Western Spiderwort Recovery Team have called for research into the habitat requirements, demography, and genetic diversity of <i>T. occidentalis</i> in Canada. As a result, this study was designed to address the following objectives: 1) to conduct an inventory of the Canadian populations, 2) to investigate intra- and interpopulation genetic diversity in <i>Tradescantia occidentalis</i>, and 3) to provide recommendations for the conservation management of this species. <p>Information on demography and plant communities in <i>Tradescantia occidentalis</i> habitats indicated that the numbers of individuals in the Saskatchewan and Manitoba populations were similar to previous surveys; however, the Alberta population was significantly larger in number than prior estimates, indicating population growth. Taxonomic lists were prepared for each province in habitats with and without <i>T. occidentalis</i>. Community types, as separated by RA analysis, differed by province and not by association with <i>T. occidentalis</i>. Euphorbia esula, an invasive species in Canada, was observed in the Saskatchewan and Manitoba populations but was absent in Alberta. <p> Using amplified fragment length polymorphisms (AFLPs), genetic diversity was assessed at the intra- and interpopulation levels. Relatively low levels of intrapopulation variation were observed in Saskatchewan and Alberta, while higher levels were found in Manitoba. Gene flow via pollen or propagule transfer may account for higher genetic diversity among the closely situated Manitoba populations. The lack of correlation between dendrogram topology and geographic distribution suggests panmixia in all populations. Levels of intrapopulation diversity were low to moderate depending on primer combination used, indicating that populations are isolated within each province. <p>Information on population demography and genetic diversity are important within a conservation context. The large number of individuals within each population and the perceived increase in some populations suggest that the existing populations of <i>Tradescantia occidentalis</i> are relatively stable. Although levels of genetic diversity are low in Saskatchewan and Alberta compared to Manitoba, it appears that all populations are adapted to their local environments based on their apparent size and stability. The most viable conservation strategy for this species is in situ protection. This should include controlling invasive plant species, monitoring grazing, and preventing further habitat fragmentation. Ex situ methods must also be explored. Transplantation of individuals from one population to the next may not be a successful conservation strategy due to the moderate level of population differentiation. Alternatively, it is recommended that a seed bank from each population be implemented in case of a drastic population decline.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2002. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 96-118).

No description available.

Biometric identification is a pattern recognition based classification system that recognizes an individual by determining its authenticity using a specific physiological or behavioural characteristic (biometric). In contrast to number of commercially available biometric systems for human recognition in the market today, there is no such a biometric system for plant recognition, even though they have many characteristics that are uniquely identifiable at a species level. The goal of the study was to develop a plant species biometric using both global and local features of leaf images. In recent years, various approaches have been proposed for characterizing leaf images. Most of them were based on a global representation of leaf peripheral with Fourier descriptors, polygonal approximations and centroid-contour distance curve. Global representation of leaf shapes does not provide enough information to characterise species uniquely since different species of plants have similar leaf shapes. Others were based on leaf vein extraction using intensity histograms and trained artificial neural network classifiers. Leaf venation extraction is not always possible since it is not always visible in photographic images. This study proposed a novel approach of leaf identification based on feature hierarchies. First, leaves were sorted by their overall shape using shape signatures. Then this sorted list was pruned based on global and local shape descriptors. The consequent biometric was tested using a corpus of 200 leaves from 40 common New Zealand broadleaf plant species which encompass all categories of local information of leaf peripherals. Two novel shape signatures (full-width to length ratio distribution and half-width to length ratio distribution) were proposed and biometric vectors were constructed using both novel shape signatures, complex-coordinates and centroid-distance for comparison. Retrievals were compared and the biometric vector based on full-width to length ratio distribution was found to be the best classifier. Three types of local information of the leaf peripheral (leaf margin coarseness, stem length to blade length ratio and leaf tip curvature) and the global shape descriptor, leaf compactness, were used to prune the list further. The proposed biometric was able to successfully identify the correct species for 37 test images (out of 40). The proposed biometric identified all the test images (100%) correctly if two species were returned compared to the low recall rates of Wang et al. (2003) (30%, if 10 images were returned) and Ye et al. (2004) (71.4%, if top 5 images were returned). The biometric can be strengthened by adding reference images of new species to the database, or by adding more reference images of existing species when the reference images are not enough to cover the leaf shapes.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Victoria University of Wellington, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Michigan State University. Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on July 7, 2009) Includes bibliographical references. Also issued in print.