Citrus fruit pathogen genome sequenced

"Citrus greening" (also known as Huanglongbing, HLB, or yellow dragon disease) is a tree disease, caused by the bacteria Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus and Candidatus Liberibacter africanus. The bacterium is transmitted by psyllid insects.

Ca. Liberibacter asiaticus' genetic sequence has been saved to GenBank, an open access database sponsored by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), a division of the National Library of Medicine (NLM) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Also of interest:

• Plant Pathology research guide
• "ARS scientists sequence citrus disease bacterium" (2/12/09)
  
• "Questions and answers: USDA’s federal order to prevent the spread of citrus greening and the Asian citrus psyllid" (July 2008)
• "Diversity of “Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus” based on the omp gene sequence" (2005)
  
• "Ecology of the insect vectors of citrus systemic diseases and their control in Taiwan" (1998)
• "Report of a mission to Malaysia and Thailand (June 28 - July 9, 1990) on citrus greening disease"
• "Virus diseases of citrus" (1989)
• "Psyllids of America North of Mexico : (Psyllidae: Homoptera)" (1943)

[Image by Steve Webel. Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 2.0 Generic. http://www.flickr.com/photos/webel/76665500]

WI Film Festival: "Farming and the Land" series

Wisconsin Film Festival
April 2-5, 2009
Madison, WI

Sub-series:
"The Cream and the Crop: Farming and the Land on Film"

• Cheese Wars (24 min. + Q&A)
  
• Earth Days (100 min. + Q&A)
  
• The Farmhouse (8 min.)
  
• Food Inc. (93 min.)
  
• The Greening of Southie (73 min. + Q&A)
  
• Tractors! International Harvester-sponsored films of the WI Historical Society (56 min.)
  
• Ladies of the Land (29 min. + Q&A)
  
• Lie of the Land (75 min.)
  
• Michael Schmidt: Organic Hero or Bioterrorist? (45 min. + Q&A)
  
• Milk in the Land: Ballad of an American Drink (75 min.)
  
• Rare Chicken Rescue (26 min. + Q&A)
  

ScienceDirect outage: 3/7-8

ScienceDirect and 2collab will be unavailable 5:00 p.m. Saturday, March 7th - 6:30 a.m. Sunday, March 8th, due to scheduled maintenance.

Affected journals include:

• Acta Agronomica Sinica
• Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
• Agricultural Systems
• Agricultural Water Management
• Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment
• Animal Feed Science and Technology
• Applied Soil Ecology
• Aquatic Botany
• Biological Control
• Cell
• Computers and Electronics in Agriculture
• Crop Protection
• Current Opinion in Plant Biology
• Ecological Informatics
• Environmental and Experimental Botany
• European Journal of Agronomy
• European Journal of Soil Biology
• Field Crops Research
• Flora - Morphology, Distribution, Functional Ecology of Plants
• Forest Ecology and Management
• Fungal Biology Reviews
• Fungal Ecology
• Fungal Genetics and Biology
• Gene
• Genomics, Proteomics & Bioinformatics
• Industrial Crops and Products
• Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
• Journal of Cereal Science
• Journal of Informetrics
• Journal of Insect Physiology
• Journal of Plant Physiology
• Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics
• Pesticide Biochemistry and Physiology
• Physiological and Molecular Plant Pathology
• Phytochemistry
• Plant Physiology and Biochemistry
• Plant Science
• Postharvest Biology and Technology
• Rice Science
• Science of The Total Environment
• Scientia Horticulturae
• Soil Biology and Biochemistry
• Soil and Tillage Research
• South African Journal of Botany
• Trends in Plant Science
• Urban Forestry & Urban Greening
• Virology

Butterflies on stage & in the garden

Butterfly: The Story of a Life Cycle
Sunday, March 22, 1:00-2:00 p.m.
Overture Center, Capitol Theater
Tickets: $10-$18

"Science takes center stage in this microscopic look at the insect world. Hudson Vagabond Puppets, known for larger-than-life puppetry and masks, examines the life cycle of the monarch butterfly, following the amazing metamorphosis from egg to caterpillar to adult butterfly, culminating in an incredible 1,500-mile round trip journey to Mexico. Each stage of the journey is brought to life by giant puppets, song and dance. You’ll meet a bunch of other creatures along the way, from the lowly earthworm to the majestic dragonfly, and learn about the monarch’s symbiotic relationship with the milkweed plant. Beautiful scrolling scenery helps make this scientific foray enjoyable for kids and adults alike."

Olbrich's Blooming Butterflies
July 15th - August 9th 10:00-4:00 daily
Tickets: $5 adults, $3 children 3-12 yrs, Free: 2 yrs and under
Free: Olbrich Botanical Society members

"Experience the magnificence of free-flying butterflies while strolling through the tropical Bolz Conservatory. Live butterflies emerge from chrysalises daily in the Conservatory, including low-flyers like the playful yellow and black striped zebras and bright orange julias. More than a dozen species of butterflies, native to both Wisconsin and the more tropical areas of the southern United States can be seen at various times during the exhibit."

At the UW Libraries:

• Tiger moths and woolly bears: behavior, ecology, and evolution of the Arctiidae (2009)
  
• North American monarch conservation plan (2008)
• A review of the diversity and evolution of photonic structures in butterflies (2008)
  
• Specialization, speciation, and radiation: the evolutionary biology of herbivorous insects (2008)
• A comparison of leafhopper, butterfly, and skipper species richness on prairie restorations and remnants in south central Wisconsin (2007)
• It’s a butterfly’s life (2007)
• 100 butterflies and moths: portraits from the tropical forests of Costa Rica (2007)
  

Gardening mini-courses

Wisconsin Union Mini-Courses are open to all students, staff, faculty, and the public.

Gardening 101 - Tuesday, April 21th and Tuesday, April 28th

"This class will cover basic gardening information for common vegetables and flowers. We will focus on the differences between annuals and perennials; sun, soil, fertilizer and watering requirements; propagation methods, such as seeds versus plants; planting and maintenance requirements for specific plants; green gardening practices and will customize a garden plan for each student. 2 Meetings. INSTRUCTORS: Marvin and Kathryn Schiedermayer, owners of Garden Spirit Co. tend their two-acre prairie along with their herb, vegetable and potager gardens in New Glarus."

Gardening by the Moon - Tuesday, March 24th

"The moon and all of its magic is closely connected with gardening and herbs. Explore the lunar connection of specific herbs and the best times to plant and harvest the herbs based on the phases of the moon. Explore interesting uses for the herbs. Uncover the lore and legend of both the moon and the herbs. A once in blue moon opportunity to learn more about the moon and the various herbs and plants, gardening techniques, rituals, goddesses and activities that are associated with the moon's cycles. Unravel an outer space mystery and garden with the moon! 1 Meeting. INSTRUCTOR: Kathryn Schiedermayer, an herbal and gardening educator for many years and owner of The Garden Spirit Co."

3/5 emergency E-Resource Gateway outage

Due to severe problems with today's E-Resource Gateway / Find It reindexing job, the UW-Madison A-Z list of online journal article databases, etc. is in a failed state.

Per the vendor's recommendation, we need to restore the index from Tuesday night's backup.

This work will be done at noon today (Thursday, March 5th) and will require a complete outage of the E-Resource Gateway / Find It.

We are not absolutely sure about the timing, but expect the outage to be less than one hour.

For those who have done work within the E-Resource Gateway, anything data updated since Tuesday night will be lost.

We apologize for the inconvenience!

Library computer print system maintenance

Staff will be upgrading the memory on the GoPrint transaction server tonight at midnight in an effort to alleviate some previously reported problems. Sites can expect a brief outage (less than 1/2 hour). We recommend a reboot of the print release station computer around 12:30.

If you ever notice a print station with a blank screen or with all the buttons grayed out, first try refreshing the screen with the mouse/keyboard. If that doesn't work, wait 5 minutes and then reboot that print station's computer.

The vendor has been notified and we hope for a timely resolution to this issue. Please contact the Library Technology Group Helpdesk if you have any questions.

Also of interest:

• Laser printing at Steenbock Library - color or black & white
  
• Debit card machine at Steenbock - how to buy a copy/print card
• MyWebSpace - 1 GB free online storage for faculty, staff & students
• Flash drives at DOIT Tech Store - 1 GB is now just $8.95
  

Plant + insect movie archive

The Internet Archive is a non-profit organization that preserves public access to websites, out-of-copyright book texts, audio (including live music), and video in digital format. Over 158,000 movies can be watched online, or downloaded as files, including:

• Andy Leigh: Terrestrial Plant Ecophysiology (2008) - "Biologist Andrea Leigh speaks to Shannon Jones about her research into how leaves deal with heat." University of Technology, Sydney, Australia.


• Gardening (1940) - "Follows a boy and a girl through a garden-raising project from the selection of seeds to the harvesting of the crops. Includes radishes, carrots, tomatoes and potatoes. Emphasizes aspects of soils, growth, role of the sun, insect pests and the various parts of plants used for food--leaves, stems, buds and roots."


• Goodbye, Mr. Roach (ca.1959) - "Detailed film about cockroaches, their habits and methods of extermination, with a harrowing sequence of roach nymphs hatching." Clemson College Extension Service.


• Goodbye, Mrs. Ant (1959) - "The life cycle and habits of the ant, and how to control and exterminate them with insecticides. Begins with a wonderful sequence in which we hear ants screaming "We're hungry! We're hungry!"" University of Georgia, Agricultural Extension Service.


• Hemp for Victory (1942) - "U.S. government propaganda film made during WWII touting the virtues of hemp. The film was aimed at farmers at a time when the miltary was facing a shortage of hemp, it shows how hemp is grown and processed into rope and other products."
  


• The Plow that Broke the Plains (1936) - "Classic drama which details the Great Plains during the Depression. With Cinematography by Leo Hurwitz, Ralph Steiner, Paul Ivano and Paul Strand. Selected for the 1999 National Film Registry of "artistically, culturally, and socially significant" films."


• The Southerner (1945) - "Jean Renoir's classic tale of a cotton picker (Zachary Scott) who moves his wife (Betty Field) and children to a run down farm in hopes that they can grow their own cotton and make for a better future."


• Weed Ecology: Competition (2008) - "[Powerpoint] lecture about crop/weed competition for resources." Andrew Kniss, University of Wyoming.
  


• Who Shall Reap? (1969) - "Insects or humans? Weeds, diseases, and other pestilence that confound farmers and threaten the worlds food supply."


• Zaagkii Wings & Seeds Project: Northern Michigan teens and KBIC tribal youth protecting pollinators (2008) - "Northern Michigan teens are on a mission to protect pollinators by helping butterflies and restoring native plants to areas of the Upper Peninsula."

Bergey's manual of bacteriology

Bergey’s manual of determinative bacteriology

• Use this to determine which species a bacterium is, based on its physical characteristics
• Google Books - selected pages of current edition
  
• Steenbock Library (QR81 A5) - current edition in Reference (non-circulating), current & older editions on 3-hour Reserve, and older editions on 1st floor circulate
  
• Ebling Library (QW15 B4962m) - current edition in Reference, and older editions circulate
  
• Plant Pathology Library (QR81 A5) - current edition in Reference, and older editions circulate
  

Bergey’s manual of systematic bacteriology
Volume 1: The archaea and the deeply branching and phototrophic bacteria
Volume 2: The proteobacteria
Volume 3: The firmicutes (new edition coming soon)
Volume 4: The bacteroidetes, planctomycetes, chlamydiae, spirochaetes, fibrobacteres, fusobacteria, acidobacteria, verrucomicrobia, dictyoglomi and gemmatimonadetes (new edition coming soon)
Volume 5: The actinobacteria (new edition coming soon)

• Use this if you already know genus and species
• Current vol. 2 = Online e-book
• Steenbock Library (QR81 B46) - current edition in Reference, current & older editions on 3-hour Reserve, and older editions on 1st floor circulate
  
• Ebling Library (QW4 B496m) - older editions circulate
  
• Plant Pathology Library (QR81 B46) - older editions in Reference
  
• Primate Center Library (QW4 B496) - older editions circulate

Also of interest:

• Bergey's Manual Trust
  

Proquest: New online full text publications

New Content (full text coverage)

• Agriculture Business Week (Jan 7, 2008 - current)


• Agriculture Week (Jan 7, 2008 - current)


• Bio-IT World (Sep 2008 - current)


• Business of Global Warming (Jan 7, 2008 - current)


• Chemicals & Chemistry Business (Jan 7, 2008 - current)


• Ecology, Environment & Conservation (Jan 7, 2008 - current)


• Ecology, Environment & Conservation Business (Jan 7, 2008 - current)


• Energy Business Journal (Jan 7, 2008 - current)


• Energy & Ecology (Jan 7, 2008 - current)


• Energy & Ecology Business (Jan 7, 2008 - current)


• Energy Weekly News (Jan 7, 2008 - current)


• Food & Farm Week (Jan 7, 2008 - current)

Permission Changes

• Biophysical Journal - Ended full text coverage Dec 15, 2008. Abstract and citation coverage continues.


• Europe Environment - Removed backfile of full text coverage. Abstract and citation for backfile coverage remains.