Volume 1, No. 1
Systematics • Ecology • Evolution
April 2000
College of Basic Sciences Rewards
SEE* Members
 |
Faculty awards were won in research
and teaching by three members of the Department of Biological Sciences:
Excellence in Research Award (Frederick Rainey, left), Excellence in Undergraduate
Teaching Award (Mohamed Noor, center), and Tiger Athletic Foundation Teaching
Award (Mark Hafner, right). Photograph by Ron Bouchard. |
In Biological Sciences everyone is above average but
several members are exceptional! Faculty and students won awards
at the 25th Annual Dean Arthur R. Choppin Memorial Honors Convocation held
at the Pennington Center on Monday afternoon 20 March 2000.
Frederick Rainey is exceptional in leadership and teaching
in the department, but it is his research activity that brought him the
College of Basic Sciences Faculty Research Award, shared with John DiTusa
of the Department of Physics. The over 1,400 times he has been cited by
other researchers is a clear indication of the worldwide attention his
work garners. In addition to the sheer numbers of his many-cited publications
(over 140 papers with about 15 appearing in the last academic year), Dr.
Rainey’s work is intellectually important. He has been a leader in
determining the bacteria of particular habitats ranging from the depths
of the mullet gut to the thermophiles associated with sugar beets. He has
studied the driest deserts on earth to determine the effect of minute amounts
of moisture supplied by occasional clouds. He is interested in bacteria
from trickling filters, from leachate treatment plants, from zebra muscles,
from day care centers, from holothurians, and from any bacterial habitat
imaginable. His work discovers organisms never suspected to exist and helps
to evaluate their effects on the organisms with which they are associated.
His research is supported by two grants from NSF as well as support from
several foundations
and industry.
Mohamed Noor won the College of Basic Sciences
Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. He was cited for
high scores (9.65 and 10.00 (on a 10 scale) on teaching evaluations in
two classes: Evolution (BIOL 3040) and Animal Behavior (BIOL 4270). Students
in his courses repeatedly comment that he is "one of the best teachers
[they've] had at LSU" for "going out of his way to help students and caring
about [their] opinions and concerns." One student referred to him
as "a mutant of the highest caliber." Noor also was cited for mentoring
numerous undergraduate students in his laboratory (he has 11 this semester).
In just two years, Noor and one undergraduate are co-authors on a paper
in press, and four more undergraduates are co-authors on two papers that
will be submitted this semester. Students in his laboratory praise
his open-door policy, his general advice on preparing for graduate school,
and the energy he brings to his group.
Student evaluations of teaching for Mark
Hafner have consistently been above 9.00 (on a 10 scale), and for the
past five years his summary evaluation scores have been 9.45, 9.14, 9.40,
9.44, and 9.84. Each year, he has received a letter of commendation from
the Dean of the College of Basic Sciences recognizing his performance in
the classroom, and he previously received a teaching award from the LSU
Student Government Association in 1991 and the Robert L. Packard Outstanding
Educator Award from the Southwestern Association of Naturalists in 1997.
He instituted a laboratory course in Evolution in 1990 and developed a
laboratory manual to accompany the course. This laboratory course is unique
in the nation, and the lab manual has been used as a model at other universities.
Both of the courses that Hafner teaches (Evolution and Mammology) tripled
in enrollment after he began teaching them. In addition Hafner has
obtained grant money from NSF to hold workshops on the teaching of evolution
and in addition to his research area, has published on science-education
issues. These activities brought him the Tiger Atheletic Foundation Teaching
Award.
Welcome to SEE*
Dr. Nora Espinoza will join the Noor lab
as a postdoctoral research associate on Monday, April 17, 2000. She received
her PhD from the University of Chicago studying biomechanics of frog jumping.
At LSU, she plans to study the speciation of the frogs Hyla versicolor
and H. chrysoscelis via polyploidy by reconstructing the evolutionary history
of these species with nuclear sequence data. |
Phi Kappa Phi Awards
Fred Rainey received a singular honor when
he was chosen Outstanding Non-Tenured Faculty member in the Physical and
Natural Sciences. The honor society, Phi Kappa Phi, presents a plaque
and sizable check to non-tenured faculty in three areas; the other categories
are social sciences and humanities and creative and performing arts.
Fred was cited at the annual banquet of the organization, held 13 April
in the LSU Union Cortillion Ballroom.
In addition to the faculty awards, a junior level
undergraduates with a 4.0 GPA were given the George Robertson Award.
This group included Doan Dang and Rebecca Sweany, who have
taken courses taught by several SEE* members.
Foureaux Society
The Boyd professors honor students who have maintained a 4.0 GPA throughout
their sophmore year. The Lod Cook Center was the site of a reception
held 5 April, which honored three students with SEE* research interests.
These included Doan Dang, Ebony Spikes, Rebecca Sweany,
Chris Thibodeaux. Meredith Blackwell spoke briefly at the event on
careers in biology.
Intellectual Gumbo 2000
Two Department of Biological Sciences students won monetary awards
at Intellectual Gumbo 2000, Thursday 24 February in the LSU Union Ballroom.
The exhibit of posters was a project of the LSU Graduate Student
Association and was organized by Eric Barnes, President of the organization
and graduate student in Physics and Astronomy. The exhibit included forty
nine posters in the areas of Bioscience, Humanities, Physical Science,
and Social Science. The twenty four posters in the Biosciences included
exhibits from several departments in agriculture and veternary medicine
as well as the Department of Biological Sciences. Steve Pollock, Ph.D.
student of James Moroney, was the overall winner for all of the Biosciences
posters with "Development of a homologous recombination strategy for site-directed
mutagenesis in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii." A second award, given
for special achievement, was won by SEE* Ph.D. student Ning Zhang,
who works with Meredith Blackwell; Ning's poster was "Molecular phylogeny
of
Melanospora corda and similar pyrenomycetous fungi." The
day-long poster session attracted a number of student and faculty browsers,
including top universtiy administrators: the Chancellor, Dr. Mark Emmert;
the Provost, Dr. Daniel Fogel; the Vice-Chancellor for Research, Dr. Lynn
Jelinski; and the Associate Dean of the Graduate School, Dr. John M. Larkin.
The competition probably will be held next year, and the many meeting posters
already prepared can be submitted for Intellectual Gumbo. Ning's
research had been the basis of a poster presented at the Mycological Society
of America meeting held in conjunction with the International Botanical
Congress in August 1999 in St. Louis; the poster won one of four equal
poster awards that were presented to students by the society. The
research was also the subject of Ning's presentation in her McDaniel Travel
Award seminar.
The dissertation of Paul B. Drewa (Ph.D. 1999 with
Bill Platt) was nominated by the College of Basic Sciences for the LSU
Distinguished Dissertation Award.
| Congratulations
to Charles Kwit for his successful Ph.D. thesis defense, 17 April 2000.
He has obtained position as a postdoctoral researcher, Savannah River Ecology
Laboratory, Aiken, South Carolina |
SEE* the Grants
Student Grants:
*Two prestigeous NSF Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grants have
been awarded to SEE* students in this round of competition:
*Saara DeWalt (with M. Blackwell as stand in for Julie Denslow).
Comparison of genetic variation and breeding systems of Clidemia hirta
(Melastomataceae) between native and introduced populations. 2000-2002.
$9,984.
*Sarah Riley (with Bill Platt). Predicting invasion graminoids
in the Long Pine Key region of Everglades National Park. 2000-2002. $21,175.
Sigma Xi:
*SEE* students in Biological Sciences won six of the seven awards given
to LSU students by the Sigma Xi National Grants in Aid of Research for
Fall, 1999:
Alexandre Aleixo (Remsen lab), Darren Burkett (undergraduate,
Noor lab), Frederick Pontillas
(Sheldon lab), Marcus Williams
(undergraduate,
Noor lab), and Wiebke Boeing and Bjoern Wissel (both of the
Ramcharan lab).
The local chapter of the Society of the Sigma Xi LSU Chapter awarded
Grants-in-Aid of Research at the annual banquet and Initiation Ceremony
held 10 April 2000 in the LSU Union Plantation Room. Two of three awards
went to LSU Biological Sciences students in the SEE* Division:
*Life-history strategies of tropical birds: Interpreted by experimental
brood manipulation” by Daniel Christian, M.S. student of Van Remsen
*The role of the Isthmus of Panama in speciation of the New World goby
genus Elacatinus (Teleostei: Gobiidae)” by Michael Taylor,
Ph.D. student of Michael Hellberg.
We await word of the national awards for Spring 2000.
*In addition to his Sigma Xi grant Alexandre Aleixo's research
will be well funded by a National Geographic Society Research Award for
$20,990 and the Frank Chapman Memorial Fund of the American Museum of Natural
History ($2,650).
*Mario Cohn-Haft received two research awards. They were
from the Wetmore Fund, American Ornithologists' Union ($2225) and the Chapman
Fund, American Museum of Natural History ($2000).
Other students with Chapman fund awards are:
*Robert C. Faucett ($1400)
*Rob Moyle ($2573)
*Christopher Witt ($2900)
*Jim Parham and Lori Benson are co-principal investigators
on a grant that will continue to support their doctoral research on Hawaiian
fishes for the 2000-2001 fiscal year ($135,134)
*Kazuya Naoki received the Cooper Ornithological Society Joseph
Grinnell Student Research Award ($1,000).
Platt group funding
*TNC Ecosystem Research program. Effects of overstory removal on fire
behavior and shrub invasion in pine savannas with J. Thaxton, co-PI.
2000-2001. $22,535.
*TNC Ecosystem Research Program. Landscape-level patterns of fire and
vegetation in frequent-fire ecosystems of south-central Florida with J.M.
Huffman, co-PI. 2000-2001. $15,958.
*NGW Contracted Projects Program, State of Florida. Changes in vegetation
patterns in south-central Florida dry prairies and flatwoods after fifty
years of fire management with J.M. Huffman, co-PI. 2000-2001. $8,121.
*NGW Contracted Projects Program, State of Florida. Graminoid invasion
of south Florida savannas with S.A. Riley, co-PI. 2000-2001. $11,060. |
Faculty Grants:
*Combining and rehousing the Louisiana State University Herbaria (DBI
NSF-9987491 Biological Research Collections) $260,600. (Lowell Urbatsch,
PI) to purchase 200 double sized specimen cases for the new herbarium complex
in the Life Scineces Annex.
*In addition to the NSF funding, Lowell Urbatsch also received an award
from the Board of Regents Proposal Enhancement Program. This proposal,
“Enhancements for the Louisiana State University Herbaria” was recommended
for funding at a reduced level of $32,400. The funds will be used to purchase
equipment for database development and maintenance and equipment for capturing
images. Meredith Blackwell and Mark Mayfield were co-PIs
on both herbarium proposals.
*Beetles and their yeast symbionts from basidiocarp habitats. NSF DEB-0072741
(Biotic Survies and Inventories). 2000-2003. $300,000. (M.
Blackwell, Sung-Oui Suh, and Joseph McHugh (University of Georgia).
SEE* the Publications
*Tropical forest reserves may be endangered
themselves due to increasingly harsh environmental conditions in the matrix
in which they exist, or so says C. Gascon, B. Williamson and G Fonseco
in the April 21 issue of Science. This
Perspectives article, "Receding Forest Edges and Vanishing Reserves" purports
that fire, invasive species and the structure of the surrounding matrix
cause the edges of forest fragments to recede, ultimately leading to the
collapse of the fragment. The post-frontier tropics such as the Phillipines,
Madagascar and Brazil's Atlantic Forest already suffer rapidly receding
edges in reserves of less than 5000 ha. Development in frontier tropical
regions such as the Amazon needs to move quickly to the landscape scale
in order to design lasting reserves where edge effects are controlled.
Claude Gascon, G. Bruce Williamson,
and Gustavo A. B. da Fonseca 2000. Receding Forest Edges and Vanishing
Reserves. Science 288(5465):XX-XX. (April 21, 2000).
*Burbrink, F. T., R. Lawson, and J.B. Slowinski. 2000. Mitochondrial
DNA phylogeography of the polytypic North American rat snake (Elaphe
obsoleta): a critique of the subspecies concept.
*A. P. Chung, F. A. Rainey, M. Valente, M. F. Nobre and M. S.
da Costa. 2000. Thermus igniterrae sp. nov. and Thermus antranikianii
sp. nov., two new species from Iceland International Journal of Systematic
and Evolutionary Microbiology 50: 209-217.
*P. Kämpfer, F. A. Rainey, M. A. Andersson, E.-L. Nurmiaho
Lassila, U. Ulrych, H.-J. Busse, N. Weiss, R. Mikkola and M. Salkinoja-Salonen.
2000. Frigoribacterium faeni gen. nov., sp. nov., a novel psychrophilic
genus of the family Microbacteriaceae International Journal of Systematic
and Evolutionary Microbiology 50: 355-363.
*L. Albuquerque, F. A. Rainey, A. P. Chung, A. Sunna, M. F.
Nobre, R. Grote, G. Antranikian and M. S. da Costa. 2000. Alicyclobacillus
hesperidum sp. nov. and a related genomic species from solfataric soils
of São Miguel in the Azores. International Journal of Systematic
and Evolutionary Microbiology 50: 451-457.
*C. Moreira, F. A. Rainey, M. F. Nobre, M. T. da Silva and M.
S. da Costa. 2000. Tepidimonas ignava gen. nov., sp. nov.,
a new chemolithoheterotrophic and slightly thermophilic member of the Proteobacteria.
International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology 50: 735-742.
*A. F. Yassin, F. A. Rainey, J. Burghardt, H. Brzezinka, M.
Mauch and K. P. Schaal. 2000. Nocardia paucivorans sp. nov. 2000.
International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology 50: 803-809.
*Noor, M. A. F., M. D. Schug, and C. F. Aquadro. 2000. Microsatellite
variation in populations of Drosophila pseudoobscura and Drosophila
persimilis. Genetical Research, 75: 25-35.
*Noor, M. A. F., and K. R. Smith. 2000. Recombination, statistical
power, and genetic studies of sexual isolation in Drosophila. Journal
of Heredity, 91: 99-103.
*Hellberg, M. E., G. W. Moy and V. D. Vacquier. 2000. Positive
selection and propeptide repeats promote rapid interspecific divergence
of a gastropod sperm protein. Molecular Biology and Evolution 17: 458-466.
*Reed, D. L., S. Allen and M. S. Hafner. 2000.
Mammal hair as a possible mechanism for host specialization in chewing
lice. Journal of Mammalogy.
*Reed, D. L., M. S. Hafner, S. K. Allen, and M. B. Smith.
2000. Spatial partitioning of host habitat by ectoparasitic chewing lice
of the genera Geomydoecus and Thomomydoecus (Phthiraptera:
Trichodectidae). Journal of Parasitology.
*Han, K. H., Sheldon, F. H. and Stuebing, R. B.
In press. Interspecific relationships and biogeography of some Bornean
tree shrews (Tupaiidae: Tupaia), based on DNA hybridization and
morphometric comparisons. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society.
*Platt, W.J., R.F. Doren, and T. Armentano. 2000. Effects of
Hurricane Andrew on stands of slash pine (Pinus elliottii var. densa)
in the everglades region of south Florida (USA). Plant Ecology 146:43-60.
Travel and SEE* the Sights
* Charles Ramcharan will chair a session at the annual meeting
of the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) in Copenhagen.
He plans to use the opportunity to recruit students and distribute literature,
so let him know if you have duties for him.
*Fred Rainey will attend an NSF workshop to be held in Puget
Sound at Orcas Island, Washington, late in April. The participants will
discuss the directions that the Biotic Surveys and Inventories Program
should take.
*Meredith Blackwell will travel to Umea, Sweden, to act as opponent
at the Ph.D. exam of Katrina Winka, student of Ove Eriksson.
*Russ Chapman attended a special meeting of the Executive Committee
of the Phycological Society of America (PSA) held at the Alton Jones Campus
of the University of Rhode Island in conjunction with the 39th Northeast
Algal Symposium. Chapman is a member of PSA Board of Trustees.
*David Reed accepted a post doctoral research position at the
University of Utah to work with Dale Clayton studying the phylogenetics
of Phthirapteran lice and the cospeciation of endosymbiotic bacteria with
their louse hosts, beginning in September. He also was invited to be a
teaching assistant for the Workshop on Molecular Evolution hosted by the
Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA.
*Josie Babin was invited to be a teaching assistant for the
Workshop on Molecular Evolution hosted by the Marine Biological Laboratory
in Woods Hole, MA.
*Rob Faucett has accepted a job offer as Collections Manager
in the Department of Ornithology, Burke Museum, University of Washington.
SEE* the Meeting Abstracts
LSU SEE* ecologists had a presence at the Benthic
Ecology Meetings held March 9-12 in Wilmington, NC, on the campus of the
University of North Carolina, Wilmington. The following oral presentations
were given:
*Effects of protozoan epibenthos on harpacticoid
copepods in a Louisiana salt marsh. Gwyn L. Puckett and Kevin R.
Carman
*Direct and indirect effects of heavy metal contamination
on a Louisiana salt marsh benthic food web. Rod N. Millward, K.
R. Carman, J.W. Fleeger, R.P. Gambrell, R.J. Portier
*Interactive effects of metal and hydrocarbons
on a benthic community. Kevin R. Carman, R.N. Millward,
J.W. Fleeger, R.P. Gambrell, R.J. Portier, S.J. Macnaughton, D.C. White,
R. Powell
*Parasitism of sea stars from Puget Sound, WA
by a ciliated protozoan. William B. Stickle, Jr., S. Story
*Does the grass shrimp Paleomonetes pugio,
regulate epiphytic microalgae on Spartina alterniflora stems? Zorida
J. Quinones-Rivera, J.W. Fleeger
*Range change, positive selection on snail sperm
proteins, and speciation in the sea. Michael E. Hellberg
*Effects of habitat complexity on colonization
of meiofauna on artificial substrates. Nazan Atilla
*Interference competition between meiobenthic
nematodes and copepods. Markus A. Wetzel, J.W. Fleeger, K. R.
Carman
*In addition, a Blue Crab Symposium preceded
the Benthic Meetings and the following poster presentation was given: Effects
of fluctuating salinity on juvenile Callinectes sapidus and C.
similis. Heather J. Wyler, T. H. Dietz, W.B. Stickle
Jr.
Abstracts for Upcoming Meetings:
*Molecular phylogenetic studies on Endomyces scopularum, a mushroom
parasite. Mycological Society of America Meeting, Burlington, Vermont,
July-August 2000. Sung-Oui Suh and M. Blackwell.
*Higher level classification of the Laboulbeniales. Mycological Society
of America Meeting, Burlington, Vermont, July-August 2000. Alex Weir and
M.
Blackwell.
*Molecular Phylogeny of dogwood anthracnose fungus and the Diaporthales.
Mycological Society of America Meeting, Burlington, Vermont, July-August
2000. Ning Zhang and M. Blackwell.
*Group I introns from fungal nuclear SSU rDNA: characterization of
16 additional introns. Mycological Society of America Meeting, Burlington,
Vermont, July-August 2000. Sung-Oui Suh and M. Blackwell.
*The impact of molecular systematics on mycology instruction.
Mycological Society of America Meeting, Burlington, Vermont, July-August
2000. M. Blackwell.
*Tri-cycle, bi-cycle, life cycle: Variations on zygotic meiosis. Centraalbureau
voor Schimmelcultures Symposium, Mycology in the 21st Century: Morphology,
DNA and in the phylogeny and taxonomy of the Fungi, Amsterdam, The
Netherlands, May 2000. M. Blackwell. The symposium was organized
by the Centraalbureau voor Schimmelcultures (CBS) to honor Walter Gams
upon his retirement for his many contributions to mycology.
*Bolman, V., F. Sheldon, and M. A. F. Noor. Comparative
rates of molecular evolution in heron nuclear and mitochondrial DNA.
Joint meetings of the Society for the Study of Evolution, American Society
of Naturalists, Society of Systematic Biologists, and Association of Tropical
Biologists, June 23-28, Bloomington, IN.
*Burkett, D., S. Dixon, and M. A. F. Noor. Consubspecific
sperm precedence in Drosophila. Joint meetings of the Society
for the Study of Evolution, American Society of Naturalists, Society of
Systematic Biologists, and Association of Tropical Biologists, June 23-28,
Bloomington, IN.
*Grams, K., K. R. Smith, and M. A. F. Noor. Genetic
basis of reproductive isolation in Drosophila pseudoobscura and
D.
persimilis. Joint meetings of the Society for the Study of Evolution,
American Society of Naturalists, Society of Systematic Biologists, and
Association of Tropical Biologists, June 23-28, Bloomington, IN.
*McGuire, H., and M. A. F. Noor. Evaluating the taxonomic
status of the great white heron using behavioral and genetic data.
Joint meetings of the Society for the Study of Evolution, American Society
of Naturalists, Society of Systematic Biologists, and Association of Tropical
Biologists, June 23-28, Bloomington, IN.
*Reiland, J., S. Hodge, and M. A. F. Noor. Founder
effect in New Zealand Drosophila pseudoobscura colonizing from North
America. Joint meetings of the Society for the Study of Evolution,
American Society of Naturalists, Society of Systematic Biologists, and
Association of Tropical Biologists, June 23-28, Bloomington, IN.
*Williams, M. A., and M. A. F. Noor. Genetic basis of
courtship song differences between Drosophila pseudoobscura and
D.
persimilis. Joint meetings of the Society for the Study of Evolution,
American Society of Naturalists, Society of Systematic Biologists, and
Association of Tropical Biologists, June 23-28, Bloomington, IN.
*Michael S. Taylor.Character displacement and cleaning behavior
in the Neotropical goby subgenus Elacatinus. American Society of
Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, La Paz, Mexico. June 14-20.
Meetings of interest to SEE*
*North American Benthological Society. 28 May - 1 June, KeyStone,
Colorado.
*American Society of Limnology and Oceanography. 4-9 June, Copenhagen.
*American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists. 14-20
June 2000, La Paz, Mexico.
*Mycological Society of America Meeting, Burlington, Vermont, 31 July
- 3August 2000.
*Ecological Society of America. 6-10 August, Snow Bird, Utah.
*Joint meeting of Society for the Study of Evolution, American Society
of Naturalists, Society of Systematic Biologists, and Association of Tropical
Biologists. 23-27 June 2000, Bloomington, Indiana.
*3rd International Symposium-Workshop on Frugivores and Seed Dispersal:
Biodiversity and Conservation Perspectives, 6-11 August 2000, Hotel Fazenda
Fonte Colina Verde, Sáo Pedro, Sáo Paulo, Brazil.
SEE* the Seminars
The seminars are held 5:30 sharp-6:30 on Wednesdays in 206 Williams
Hall. Snacks usually are served at 5:15. The student abstracts are available
by clicking here.
19 April --Susan Bolden (student of Ken Brown), Freshwater mussel
translocations: Move'em or lose'em.
26 April --Jeff Hoffman (student of Fred Rainey), Comparison
of bacterial diversity in two soils with different water availability.
03 May --Heather Wyler (student of Bill Stickle), Juvenile blue
crabs: some like it hot.
11 May --Special seminar by an applicant for adjunct status.
Information will be forthcoming.
Virtual Highway of Biological Historical Markers
Help with a project to cover the country with biological historical
markers. For now the project is a virtual one, but we need more markers.
Check the one that is finished, and please consider developing one in your
field. See it on line at
<http://lsb380.plbio.lsu.edu/highway.historical.markers>, and note
the links to related educational sites. This marker is intended to educate
the reader about the effects of one catastrophic introduction of a fungus.
The sign is to be placed in New York City at the Bronx Zoo, called the
New York Zoological Garden in 1904.
“Near this site in 1904 the chestnut blight fungus
(Cryphonectria parasitica) was introduced accidentally into North America
from Asia. It was described from the zoo locality by W.A. Murrill, Director
of the New York Botanical Garden. By that time the fungus already had been
shipped all over the eastern seaboard on Japanese chestnut trees and offered
for sale by many of the mail order nurseries in the southern New York and
northern New Jersey area. Within 50 years the disease had changed the appearance
of the United States eastern hardwood forests dramatically. The American
chestnut (Castanea dentata), once a major forest tree that was widely planted
as a shade and ornamental tree, was reduced to stump sprouts throughout
most of its range. Loss of the nuts had severe effects on wildlife
species that relied heavily on them for food, and nuts no longer were available
for roasting and stuffing holiday turkeys. Of far greater economic consequence
was the loss of a supply of wood that was highly resistant to rot and had
been used extensively for furniture, interior paneling, poles, and fencing.
Research on the development of resistant genotypes of chestnut trees and
the introduction of virus-infected strains of the fungal pathogen at first
provided hope that the American chestnut might be restored to its former
prominence. In 1912 the Plant Quarantine Act had been enacted by the United
States Congress to reduce the chance of similar catastrophes ever occurring
again, and legislation has helped to some extent. Although biological control
and plant breeding programs were working to bring American chestnut trees
back to their full stature, in 1993 an illegal importation of Asian chestnuts
brought with it an insect, the Oriental Chestnut Gall Wasp (Dryocosmus
kuriphilus) that truly threatens the American chestnut with extinction.” |
Back to main page of SEE*
the News
19 April 2000
M. Blackwell