Creating The Charms of Duckweed, An Educational Website John W. Cross, Ph.D. Alexandria, VA, USA

Transcription

1 Creating The Charms of Duckweed, An Educational Website John W. Cross, Ph.D. Alexandria, VA, USA The Charms of Duckweed Providing information about the smallest flowering plants since Hosted by the Missouri Botanical Garden The family of duckweeds (botanically, the Lemnaceae) are the smallest flowering plants. These plants grow floating in still or slow-moving fresh water around the globe, except in the coldest regions. The growth of these high-protein plants can be extremely rapid. Lemna is one of the best known of this group and has been the subject of much research. Researchers are using these plants to study basic plant development, plant biochemistry, photosynthesis, the toxicity of hazardous substances, and much more. Genetic engineers are cloning duckweed genes and modifying duckweeds to inexpensively produce pharmaceuticals. Environmental scientists are using duckweeds to remove unwanted substances from water. Aquaculturalists find them an inexpensive feed source for fish farming. To learn more about these fascinating plants, next read the botanical facts, or view some duckweed illustrations. Read about cloning. Copyright 2013 John W. Cross

2 Two Themes: 1. People and Events that led me to create The Charms of Duckweed 2. Helping me keep the website current and accurate

3 Two Themes: 1. People and Events that led me to create The Charms of Duckweed 2. Helping me keep the website current and accurate

4 Dr. William S. Hillman ( ) Senior Plant Physiologist, Brookhaven National Laboratory, ( ) Assistant Professor, Yale University, Ph.D. Yale University Hillman pioneered basic research on photoperiodic control of flowering in Lemna, playing a critical role in the study of photomorphogenesis. Later, he began collaborating with Bud Culley at LSU on applications of duckweeds.

5 Janet P. Slovin, Ph.D. Molecular Biologist, Research Plant Physiologist, Genetic Improvement for Fruits and Vegetables Laboratory, USDA-ARS, Beltsville, MD A recognized expert on the Lemnaceae and on the use of genetic systems to study plant development.

6 Testing Plant Growth Regulators for Phytotoxicity, Dr. William S. Hillman ( ) Senior Plant Physiologist, Brookhaven National Laboratory, ( ) Assistant Professor, Yale University, Ph.D. Yale University Hillman pioneered basic research on photoperiodic control of flowering in Lemna, playing a critical role in the study of photomorphogenesis. Late in his life, he began collaborating with Bud Culley at LSU on applications of duckweeds / Sogetal Inc., The University of San Francisco

7 Counting fronds: Exponential growth of duckweed as the basis of a phytotoxicity bioassay The average number of fronds per dish is plotted, plus or minus standard deviation. An exponential curve was fit to the averaged data (see box) and is plotted (blue line). The average doubling time for frond number ( t 2 ) can be calculated from the exponential constant. In this experiment, t 2 = ln(2)/0.298 = 2.3 days / EPL Bio-Analytical Services

8 Prof. Dr. em. Elias Landolt, Born in Zürich, Switzerland Study of biology at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zürich 1949 MS at Institut für spezielle Botanik ETH 1953 Ph.D at ETH Postdoctoral studies at Carnegie Lab., Stanford California and Cal. Tech., Pasadena, California Assistant and lector at Institut für spezielle Botanik ETH 1964 Prof. of Plant Systematics, Institut für spezielle Botanik ETH Director of Geobotanical Inst., Rübel Foundation, ETH, and Prof. of Geobotany. Since 1993 Prof. em. at Geobot. Inst., ETH.

9 Dudley D. Culley, Jr. Professor Emeritus, School of Renewable Natural Resources. Louisiana State University PhD, Mississippi State University. At a dairy near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, wastes from a milking shed are washed into a neighboring lagoon planted with duckweed (Spirodela spp.). The plants can aid in purifying such lagooned wastewaters by absorbing large quantities of nutrients. In experiments at Louisiana State University duckweeds are being mixed into poultry, swine, and cattle rations to test their suitability as feed ingredients. (D. D. Culley, 1976) From: Ad Hoc Panel of the Advisory Committee on Technology Innovation, Board on Science and Technology for International Development Commission. on International Relations, Making Aquatic Weeds Useful: Some Perspectives for Developing Countries, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, 1976, p. 151.

10 Figure 2. William S. Hillman and Dudley D. Culley, Jr., 1978 A duckweed/dairy farm A duckweed/dairy farm Although several uses of duckweed thus seem attractive, none has been fully tested in practice. To introduce some quantitative elements and illustrate some general aspects of the approach, we will describe one possible system in some detail. Figure 2 is an artists concept of a duckweed dairy farm system with an average sized herd of cattle (about 100) encompassing waste treatment, nutrient recycling an deficient energy utilization. It is based on data obtained at Louisiana State University and elsewhere over the past few years. From Hillman, S., Culley, D.D. (1978) The Uses of Duckweed. American Scientist 66(4):

11 Emergence of the World-Wide Web in Early Web Browsers, NCSA Mosaic and Netscape Navigator In 1993 Mosaic was developed at the NSF-supported National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois, Urbana- Champaign. Mosaic was the world's first freely available Web browser that allowed Web pages to include both graphics and text.

12 Beginning in the early days of the web, it became customary for scientistusers to have their own web sites or home pages, filled with personal content. NSF encouraged Program Directors to use this space to create educational pages. So, while I was at NSF in , I began to learn the basics of web page design and HTML code National Science Foundation

13 I began The Charms of Duckweed writing the web pages directly in HTML code Universities Space Research Association

14 The Charms of Duckweed first appeared in 1998 on the personal space provided by my Internet Service Provider (ISP). The website moved to the Universities Space Research Association in Since 2001, it has been hosted by the Missouri Botanical Garden.

15 Wayne Armstrong Palomar College Botanical Consultant for the Palomar College Arboretum and editor of the Friend's of the Palomar College Arboretum Newsletter Ventral view of Landoltia punctata showing conspicuous reddish underside and multiple (2-3) roots on each plant.

16 Cheryl C. Smart Fleming University of Edinburgh, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Turions and mother fronds of Spirodela polyrrhiza

17 Ludmila V. Tsatsenko Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor Department of Genetics, Breeding and Seed Kuban State Agrarian University, Russia

18 Two Themes: 1. People and Events that led me to create The Charms of Duckweed 2. Helping me keep the website current and accurate

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23 In summary, acknowledgment and appreciation go to these duckweed pioneers who have provided images content or other assistance to The Charms of Duckweed Wayne P. Armstrong, Palomar College Philomena Chu, Rutgers Univ. Dudley D. (Bud) Culley, Louisiana State Univ. Anne H. Datko, NIH/NIMH Patrick Denny, IHE, Delft Alberto Godoy, Panama City, Panama Tim Journey, Aquasanitation Louis Landesman, Virginia State Univ. People Elias Landolt, ETH Luis Sala, Costa Brava Water Agency, Spain Paul Skillikorn, Prism, Biotechnology Research and Development, LLC Janet P. Slovin, USDA/ARS Cheryl C. Smart Fleming, University of Edinburgh, ETH Ludmila V. Tsatsenko, Kuban State Agrarian University Institutions The Missouri Botanical Garden Universities Space Research Association