Journal of Undergraduate Research

Lindsay Johnson and Dr. Eric N. Jellen, Agronomy and Horticulture The motivation behind this project involves the desire to assign diploid oat linkage groups to specific locations on the physical diploid oat chromosome (1). In order to accomplish this, a stock of monosomic oat plants is required. Monosomic plants are defined as plants that are […]

Susan Eldredge and Dr. Craig E. Coleman, Botany and Range Science Zein proteins represent the prolamin (alcohol soluble) fraction of maize storage proteins. Zeins constitute approximately 50 percent of the total seed protein in maize, and therefore greatly affect the overall amino acid balance of the maize grain (1). Four different zein subunits (á, â, […]

Kimberly Jo Davis and Dr. Rex G. Cates, Botany and Range Science There are many approaches to collecting medicinal plants. I compared results from two plant collection approaches, the ethnobotanical-based collection and ecologically-based collection. The ethnobotanical approach is based on plant use by native people. The ecological approach is based on plant life history principles […]

Matthew Baker and Dr. Mark Belk, Zoology Research exploring the effects of predation on life history evolution has focused almost exclusively on geographically disjunct populations subjected to discrete differences in mortality. Sampling only the ends of a predation continuum left to guess how prey life histories in the live bearing fish Brachyrhaphis rhabdopora vary by […]

Shawn Stolworthy, Department of Agronomy and Horticulture Cooperatives can work! Among the many cooperatives that have been organized, only a handful are successful commodity marketers. These successful cooperatives provide examples of how growers can work together to market their commodities profitably. Agricultural commodities have volatile markets. Farmers compete in perfectly competitive markets. Their individual decisions […]

Joseph Thurgood SUMMARY The palmar metacarpal aspect of 27 purebred (n=24) and appendix (n=3) American Quarter Horses were divided into sections and ultrasonically viewed to determine the circumference and cross-sectional area of the four principle tendons and ligaments in this region: superficial digital flexor tendon, deep digital flexor tendon, inferior check ligament, and suspensory ligament. […]

Heidi Lynn Stevens-Robbins and Dr. Eric N. Jellan, Agronomy & Horticulture Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) and tomato mottle virus (ToMoV), are both geminiviruses, and are considered major limiting factors in the commercially grown tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) in Florida and the Middle East (1). These viruses have been identified as reducing yields and/or […]

Eric Edgley, Department of Botany and Range Science Abstract The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of microbiotic (also called cryptogamic) crusts on soil surfaces on water infiltration and evaporative rates on a soil developed from fine textural lake sediments in Utah County, Utah. Twenty study plots (10 with cryptogamic cover and […]

J. Zachary Bruneel and Dr. Jeralyn J. Franson, Animal Science Introduction Embryonic stem (ES) cells are obtained through the culture of undifferentiated cells of embryos in early devel-opment. Because embryonic cells will undergo differentiation and development when placed in standard culture conditions, a media which contains differentiation inhibitors must be used in order for successful […]

Allison Louise Stockman, Zoology During the seven weeks which I spent researching at Hopkins Marine Station in Monterey, California, my focus was to delve into the many aspects of Poriferan biology. I am curious as to how sponges function and to what does the Phylum owe its long success in occupying such a specialized niche […]