Bio-contamination & Bio-remediation

Toxic contamination of soil, water, air, plants, animals and humans is on my mind lately, as a result of Japan's earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear power plant crisis.

One path to detoxification is "bioremediation" - the application of biological processes to sequester or break down contaminants, either on- or off-site.

Books & E-books:

• Biochemical mechanisms of detoxification in higher plants: basis of phytoremediation
• Biodegradation and bioremediation
• Bioremediation: a critical review
• Bioremediation: applied microbial solutions for real-world environmental cleanup
• Bioremediation of contaminated soils
• Biotransformations: bioremediation technology for health and environmental protection 
• Ecology of industrial pollution
• Environmental biotreatment: technologies for air, water, soil, and waste
• Fungi in bioremediation
• Mycoremediation: fungal bioremediation
• Natural and enhanced remediation systems
• Natural processes and systems for hazardous waste treatment
• Phytoremediation: transformation and control of contaminants
• Produce contamination problem: causes and solutions
• Remediation of contaminated environments
• War and nature: the environmental consequences of war in a globalized world

Conference Proceedings:

• Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Environmental Remediation and Radioactive Waste Management 2009
• Proceedings of the 11th International Conference on Environmental Remediation and Radioactive Waste Management 2007
• Mutational analysis of root characters in food plants: proceedings of a final research coordination meeting, organized by the Joint FAO/IAEA Programme of Nuclear Techniques in Food and Agriculture and held in Antalya, Turkey 11-15 October 2004
• Scientific basis for nuclear waste management XXVI: symposium held December 2-5, 2002, Boston
• Agricultural aspects of nuclear and/or radiological emergency situations; OECD/NEA Workshop, Fontenay-aux-Roses, France, 12-14 June 1995
• Relative effectiveness of agricultural countermeasure techniques, REACT : proceedings of a workshop organised by the Commission of the European Communities DG XII-D-3 Radiation Protection Research, DG XI-A-I Radiation Protection, Brussels, 1-4 October 1991

Technical Reports & Government Documents:

• Arrangements for preparedness for a nuclear or radiological emergency: safety guide
• Bioremediation of munitions contaminated soil: annual report
• Citizen’s guide to bioremediation
• Classification of soil systems on the basis of transfer factors of radionuclides from soil to reference plants
• Comparison of the models and assumptions used in the DandD 1.0, RESRAD 5.61, and RESRAD-Build 1.50 computer codes with respect to the residential farmer and industrial occupant scenarios provided in NUREG/CR-5512
• Environmental consequences of the Chernobyl accident and their remediation: twenty years of experience
• Management of waste from the use of radioactive material in medicine, industry, agriculture, research and education: safety guide
• Nuclear waste: DOE’s environmental management initiatives report is incomplete
• Preparedness and response for a nuclear or radiological emergency : safety requirements
• Probabilistic accident consequence uncertainty analysis: food chain uncertainty assessment 
• Soil-to-plant concentration ratios for assessing food-chain pathways in biosphere models
• Technical basis for assessing uranium bioremediation performance
• Use of bioremediation at Superfund sites
• Use of plants for the removal of toxic metals from contaminated soils

Insects and Biofuels

Researchers are studying the interactions of insects, plants, fungi & microbes for clues to maximizing the production and efficiency of biofuels...

• Special issue of Insect Science (June 2010): "Exploring and integrating cellulolytic systems of insects to advance biofuel technology"

• UW Libraries Research Guide - Bioenergy: Plants and Microbes

• Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center

More resources:

• Journal of Economic Entomology

• Insect Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

• Journal of Insect Physiology

• Biotechnology for Biofuels

• Biomass & Bioenergy

• Bioresource Technology

• Bioenergy Research

• Global Change Biology Bioenergy

Plant Management Network: journals and more

UW-Madison is a partner of the Plant Management Network, managed by the American Phytopathological Society, American Society of Agronomy, and Crop Science Society of America.  Students, staff and faculty have full access to the site, including:

• Plant Health Progress - peer-reviewed journal focusing on plant protection; covers plant disease, entomology, and nematology of crops and ornamentals.

• Crop Management - peer-reviewed journal covering crop management practices, crop nutrients, and production agriculture; focuses on maximizing crop yield and value.

• Forage and Grazinglands - peer-reviewed journal covering animal nutrition and rangeland management.

• Applied Turfgrass Science - peer-reviewed journal covering the many aspects of turfgrass management.

• Plant Disease Management Reports - More than 5,000 searchable efficacy reports on various means of pest control, such as fungicides, nematicides, and biological controls. PDMR’s purpose is to help users determine the most effective chemicals and nonchemical pest management agents and to ensure maximum effectiveness/minimum use in terms of application. Reports cover various crops, ornamentals, turf and forage.

• Arthropod Management Tests - Efficacy reports of insecticides and other means of insect control. Helps users determine the most effective chemicals and brands in managing insects and also to ensure maximum effectiveness/minimum use in terms of application rates. Reports cover crops, ornamentals, turf and forage.

• Symposium/Meeting Proceedings - A collection of proceedings on topics related to agriculture and horticulture.

• Focus on Soybean - An online portal for growers, crop consultants, and researchers seeking information on producing healthy, high-yielding soybean crops. Features webcasts from noted extension agents on soybean crop production, protection, and management.

• Focus on Potato - An online portal for growers, crop consultants, and researchers seeking information on producing healthy, high-yielding potato crops. Features webcasts from noted extension agents on potato crop production, protection, and management.

• Focus on Ag Practitioners - A one-stop portal of agricultural resources for certified crop advisers, independent consultants, and other ag practitioners.

• PMN Image Collections - A collection of more than 4,000 plant disease and agricultural images for disease identification, class illustrations, and presentations.

Light harvesting in plants

24 highly-cited papers from 2003 to 2009 form a "research front" on light harvesting in plants, as reported at Sciencewatch.com.

Topics covered include:

• Carotenoid and regulation of light harvesting
  
• Chloroplast protein kinase
• Light stress
  
• Organization of thylakoid proteins
  
• Photo-inhibition
  
• Photo-protection
  
• Photosystem I - crystal structure
• Photosystem II - core phosphorylation
• Photosystem II - light-harvesting antenna
• Photosystem II - repair
  
• Plant antenna protein
• Proteases in chloroplasts
  
• Quenching

Papers in the research front:

Title: Crystal structure of spinach major light-harvesting complex at 2.72 angstrom resolution
Journal: NATURE, 428 (6980): 287-292 MAR 18 2004
Authors: Liu, ZF; Yan, HC; Wang, KB; Kuang, TY; Zhang, JP; Gui, LL; An, XM; Chang, WR

Title: Crystal structure of plant photosystem I
Journal: NATURE, 426 (6967): 630-635 DEC 11 2003
Authors: Ben-Shem, A; Frolow, F; Nelson, N

Title: Carotenoid cation formation and the regulation of photosynthetic light harvesting
Journal: SCIENCE, 307 (5708): 433-436 JAN 21 2005
Authors: Holt, NE; Zigmantas, D; Valkunas, L; Li, XP; Niyogi, KK; Fleming, GR

Title: Supramolecular organization of thylakoid membrane proteins in green plants
Journal: BBA BIOENERGETICS, 1706 (1-2): 12-39 JAN 7 2005
Authors: Dekker, JP; Boekema, EJ

Title: Rote of chloroplast protein kinase Stt7 in LHCII phosphorylation and state transition in Chlamydomonas
Journal: SCIENCE, 299 (5612): 1572-1575 MAR 7 2003
Authors: Depege, N; Bellafiore, S; Rochaix, JD

Title: Molecular basis of photoprotection and control of photosynthetic light-harvesting
Journal: NATURE, 436 (7047): 134-137 JUL 7 2005
Authors: Pascal, AA; Liu, ZF; Broess, K; van Oort, B; van Amerongen, H; Wang, C; Horton, P; Robert, B; Chang, WR; Ruban, A

Title: Evidence for direct carotenoid involvement in the regulation of photosynthetic light harvesting
Journal: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCE OF THE USA, 100 (8): 4377-4382 APR 15 2003
Authors: Ma, YZ; Holt, NE; Li, XP; Niyogi, KK; Fleming, GR

Title: Photoinhibition - a historical perspective
Journal: PHOTOSYNTHESIS RESEARCH, 76 (1-3): 343-370 2003
Authors: Adir, N; Zer, H; Shochat, S; Ohad, I

Title: Is PsbS the site of non-photochemical quenching in photosynthesis?
Journal: JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY, 56 (411): 375-382 JAN 2005
Authors: Niyogi, KK; Li, XP; Rosenberg, V; Jung, HS

Title: Coordinated regulation and complex formation of YELLOW VARIEGATED1 and YELLOW VARIEGATED2, chloroplastic FtsH metalloproteases involved in the repair cycle of photosystem II in Arabidopsis thylakoid membranes Journal: PLANT CELL, 15 (12): 2843-2855 DEC 2003
Authors: Sakamoto, W; Zaltsman, A; Adam, Z; Takahashi, Y

Title: Molecular design of the photosystem II light-harvesting antenna: photosynthesis and photoprotection Journal:JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY, 56 (411): 365-373 JAN 2005
Authors: Horton, P; Ruban, A

Title: Dynamics of photosystem II: a proteomic approach to thylakoid protein complexes
Journal: JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY, 56 (411): 347-356 JAN 2005
Authors: Aro, EM; Suorsa, M; Rokka, A; Allahverdiyeva, Y; Paakkarinen, V; Saleem, A; Battchikova, N; Rintamaki, E

Title: Photosystem II core phosphorylation and photosynthetic acclimation require two different protein kinases Journal: NATURE, 437 (7062): 1179-1182 OCT 20 2005
Authors: Bonardi, V; Pesaresi, P; Becker, T; Schleiff, E; Wagner, R; Pfannschmidt, T; Jahns, P; Leister, D

Title: FtsH-mediated repair of the photosystem II complex in response to light stress
Journal: JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY, 56 (411): 357-363 JAN 2005
Authors: Nixon, PJ; Barker, M; Boehm, M; de Vries, R; Komenda, J

Title: Protein degradation machineries in plastids
Journal: ANNUAL REVIEW OF PLANT BIOLOGY, 57: 599-621 2006
Authors: Sakamoto, W

Title: Photoprotection in an ecological context: the remarkable complexity of thermal energy dissipation
Journal: NEW PHYTOLOGIST, 172 (1): 11-21 2006
Authors: Demmig-Adams, B; Adams, WW

Title: Recent advances in the study of Clp, FtsH and other proteases located in chloroplasts
Journal: CURRENT OPINION IN PLANT BIOLOGY, 9 (3): 234-240 JUN 2006
Authors: Adam, Z; Rudella, A; van Wijk, KJ

Title: Identification of a mechanism of photoprotective energy dissipation in higher plants
Journal: NATURE, 450 (7169): 575-U22 NOV 22 2007
Authors: Ruban, AV; Berera, R; Ilioaia, C; van Stokkum, IHM; Kennis, JTM; Pascal, AA; van Amerongen, H; Robert, B; Horton, P; van Grondelle, R

Title: Lack of the light-harvesting complex CP24 affects the structure and function of the grana membranes of higher plant chloroplasts
Journal: PLANT CELL, 18 (11): 3106-3120 NOV 2006
Authors: Kovacs, L; Damkjaer, J;Kereiche, S; Ilioaia, C; Ruban, AV; Boekema, EJ; Jansson, S;Horton, P

Title: Psb27, a cyanobacterial lipoprotein, is involved in the repair cycle of photosystem II
Journal: PLANT CELL, 18 (11): 3121-3131 NOV 2006
Authors: Nowaczyk, MM; Hebeler, R; Schlodder, E; Meyer, HE; Warscheid, B; Rogner, M

Title: Architecture of a charge-transfer state regulating light harvesting in a plant antenna protein
Journal: SCIENCE, 320 (5877): 794-797 MAY 9 2008
Authors: Ahn, TK; Avenson, TJ; Ballottari, M; Cheng, YC; Niyogi, KK; Bassi, R; Fleming, GR

Title: Zeaxanthin radical cation formation in minor light-harvesting complexes of higher plant antenna
Journal: JOURNAL OF BIOLOGICAL CHEMISTRY, 283 (6): 3550-3558 FEB 8 2008
Authors: Avenson, TJ; Ahn, TK; Zigmantas, D; Niyogi, KK; Li, Z; Ballottari, M; Bassi, R; Fleming, GR

Title: Interorganellar communication
Journal: CURRENT OPINION IN PLANT BIOLOGY, 10 (6): 600-606 DEC 2007
Authors: Pesaresi, P; Schneider, A; Kleine, T; Leister, D

Title: How do environmental stresses accelerate photoinhibition?
Journal: TRENDS IN PLANT SCIENCE, 13 (4): 178-182 APR 2008
Authors: Takahashi, S; Murata, N

Invasive species

Invasive plant and insect species have ecological, economic and health impacts. With changes in human geography and climate, management of biological invasions is of increasing concern.

Books:

• Applied weed science: including the ecology and management of invasive plants


• Handbook of alien species in Europe


• Pest management and phytosanitary trade barriers


• Ecology of weeds and invasive plants: relationship to agriculture and natural resource management


• Invasive plants: a guide to identification and the impacts and control of common North American species


• Unnatural landscapes: tracking invasive species


• Biological invaders in inland waters: profiles, distribution and threats


• Invasion biology


• Biological invasions in marine ecosystems: ecological, management, and geographic perspectives


• From biological control to invasion: the ladybird Harmonia axyridis as a model species


• Invasion ecology

Journals:

• Aquatic Invasions


• Biological Invasions


• Diversity & distributions


• Invasive plant science and management

Dissertations & Theses:

• Lake food webs and the benthos: cross-habitat connections, terrestrial subsidies, interaction strengths, and invasive species


• Invasive plant distributions: lessons from native and exotic ranges

Government Documents & Technical Reports:

• Field guide to noxious and invasive weeds: known to occur or are potentially occurring on the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forests


• Great Lakes shipping, trade, and aquatic invasive species


• Invasive bark beetles
  
• Current state of understanding about the effectiveness of ballast water exchange (BWE) in reducing aquatic nonindigenous species (ANS) introductions to the Great Lakes Basin and Chesapeake Bay, USA: synthesis and analysis of existing information


• Countdown to eradication = Pasos finales en la erradicación del escarabajo asiático de cuerno largo [Asian longhorned beetle]

Video:

• Stopping aquatic hitchhikers

See also:

• National Invasive Species Information Center (NISIC) - National Agricultural Library, USDA


• Nonindigenous Aquatic Species (NAS) - United States Geological Survey (USGS)


• "Why Invasive Plants Take Over" - Agricultural Research Service, USDA

Plants & insects in the National Archives

The United States National Archives contains a wealth of information in multiple formats. Search the Archival Research Catalog for topics of interest, or search by departments such as:

• Records of the U.S. Food Administration, 1917 - 1920


• Records of the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, 1863 - 1956


• Records of the Office of the Secretary of Agriculture, 1839 - 1981


• Records of the Extension Service, 1888 - 1995


• Records of International Conferences, Commissions, and Expositions, 1825 - 1972


• Records of the Office of Government Reports, 1932 - 1947


• Records of the Bureau of Land Management, 1685 - 2006


• Records of the Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering, 1879 - 1972


• Records of the U.S. Geological Survey, 1839 - 2002


• Records of the Work Projects Administration, 1922 - 1944


• Records of the National Park Service, 1785 - 2005


• Records of the Forest Service, 1870 - 2000


• Records of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, 1875 - 1977


• Records of the Bureau of Reclamation, 1889 - 2008


• Records of the National Agricultural Statistics Service, 1909 - 1992


• Records of the Environmental Protection Agency, 1944 - 2000


• General Records of the Department of Energy, 1915 - 2003


• Audiovisual Collection, 1957 - 2006


• Records of U.S. Foreign Assistance Agencies, 1942 - 1961


• Records of the Cooperative State Research Service, 1888 - 1989


• Records of the Office of Education, 1870 - 1979


• Records of the Office of the Secretary of the Interior, 1826 - 1981


• Records of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics, 1876 - 1959


• Records of the Office of War Information, 1926 - 1951


• Records of the Agency for International Development, 1948 - 2003

Sample record:

"Photographs Relating to Entomological Research, compiled ca. 1898 - ca. 1942"

• Series from Record Group 7: Records of the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, 1863-1956


• Contact: Still Picture Records Section, Special Media Archives Services Division (NWCS-S), National Archives at College Park, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD, 20740-6001. PHONE: 301-837-3530; FAX: 301-837-3621; EMAIL: stillpixorder@nara.gov


• Subjects Represented in the Archival Material:


• Agricultural experiment stations
  Agricultural machinery
  Agricultural research
  Crops
  Flowers
  Insects
  Clarksville (Montgomery county, Tennessee)
  Columbus (Franklin county, Ohio)
  Farmville (Chatham county, North Carolina)
  Madison (Dane county, Wisconsin)
  Phoenix (Maricopa county, Arizona)
  Richmond (Virginia)
  Ventura (Ventura county, California)
  Whittier (Los Angeles county, California)


• Contributors to Authorship and/or Production of the Archival Materials:
  Department of Agriculture. Federal Horticultural Board. (08/21/1912 - 07/01/1928), Photographer


• Scope & content: This series consists of images relating to entomological research conducted on plants and insects from 1898 to 1942. These images were collected primarily from offices within the Division of Entomology and later the Bureau of Entomology and Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine. The photographs show experimental farm fields and orchards, agricultural research facilities, pests, insect damage to various crops, including mushrooms and potatoes; and insect eradication efforts. There are also images of agency research activities, including field work and various types of machinery and equipment used in Bureau facilities in Clarksville, Tennessee; Farmville, North Carolina; Columbus, Ohio; Madison, Wisconsin; Phoenix, Arizona; Richmond, Virginia; Hogen, Utah; Whittier, California; and Ventura, California. In addition, there are a few of the photographs obtained from the Federal Horticultural Board that show flower bulbs, insect pests, insect damage to flowers, and pest eradication efforts.

Open access journals via Wiley-Blackwell

Wiley-Blackwell offers various open access options, including "OnlineOpen" (author or funding agency pays for individual articles to be publicly-accessible); policies regarding the NIH, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Wellcome Trust mandates; and "Open Access Backfiles" (society or funding agency pays for digitization of past issues). Journal backfiles available for free to the public include:

• Australian Journal of Entomology - Content older than 1997
• Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education - Content older than 2 years back to 2002
• Cellular Microbiology - Content older than 2 years
• FEBS Journal - Content older than 1 year
• Functional Ecology - Content older than 2 years
• Genes To Cells - Content older than 6 months
• Journal of Applied Ecology - Content older than 2 years
• Journal of Applied Microbiology - Content older than 3 years back to Jan 1st 1997
• Journal of Ecology - Content older than 2 years
• Journal of Evolutionary Biology - Content older than 2 years
• Letters In Applied Microbiology - Content older than 3 years back to Jan 1st 1997
• New Phytologist - Content older than 1 year
• Plant Cell & Environment - Content older than 3 years back to Jan 1st 1997
• Plant Pathology - Content older than 3 years back to Jan 1st 1997
• The Plant Journal - Content older than 1 year

Plant Variety intellectual property seminar: 4/24

"Plant Variety Protection Boot Camp"
Graduate School Seminar Series

Friday, April 24, 2009
1:30 – 3:30 PM
Biotechnology Center Auditorium
425 Henry Mall, Madison, WI

This seminar will provide useful information for plant researchers regarding the "ins and outs" of the plant variety protection act. Specifically, this seminar will examine the steps involved in filing a plant variety protection act application, including suggestions for collecting the information required for filing a plant variety protection act application and enforcement of plant variety protection certificates, including a discussion of "essentially derived varieties."  Presented by Lisa Mueller, Attorney, Dykema Gossett PLLC.

Graduate School Seminar Series sessions are open to all members of the campus community.

Registration is required, through the Office of Human Resource Development website.  To register, you must know the titles of both the series and the session.

Native Plant Sale: 5/9

The Friends of the UW Arboretum sponsor an annual Native Plant Sale, which will take place on May 9th from 9:00am-2:00pm, next to the Arboretum Visitor Center, Madison, Wisconsin.

More than a hundred species of native plants will be available. Information about soil and light conditions, bloom dates, plant height and color are provided for selection decisions.

Possible shrubs, vines & trees include:

• Blueberry
• Cranberry
  
• Dogwood
• Elderberry
• Hazelnut
• Hickory
• Ninebark
• Plum
• Viburnum

Possible ferns include:

• Cinnamon fern
• Interrupted fern
• Lady fern
• Maidenhair fern
• Royal fern
• Sensitive fern
• Wood fern

Possible woodland plants include:

• Anemone
• Baneberry
• Blue cohosh
• Dutchman's breeches
• Ginger, Wild
• Grass, Bottlebrsh
• Greendragon
• Jack-in-the-pulpit
• Jacob's Ladder
• Leek, Wild
• Mayapple
• Mitrewort
• Phlox, Wild Blue
• Sedge, Pennsylvania
• Solomon's Seal
• Trillium
• Trout lily
• Violet, Yellow Forest

Possible prairie plants include:

• Alumroot
• Baptisia
• Bergamot
• Blue-eyes grass
• Boneset
• Butterfly weed
• Cardinal flower
• Compass plant
• Coneflower
• Culver's Root
• Cup plant
• False dragonhead
• Gentians
• Grass, Side-oats Grama
• Harebell
• Hyssop, Lavender
• Iris, Wild
• Ironweed
• Joe-pye weed
• Leadplant
• Liatris
• Lupine
• Petunia, Wild
• Prairie Smoke
• Prickly Pear Cactus
• Rattlesnake Master
• Shooting Star
• Spiderwort
• St. John's Wort
• Strawberry, Wild
• Thimbleweed
  

Top 100 Plant Science Questions

"How can plant scientists change the world?"

Initiated by researchers in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Bristol, "100 Plant Science Questions" invites submissions of pressing plant-related research issues facing the world today. Deadline: March 31st, 2009.

A panel drawn from academia, the public services sector and the corporate world will screen submissions.

From the website:

"Plant science is helping to address many of the big issues facing society today, such as food security, biofuels, and the effects of climate change, but what are the key questions that you think the next generation of plant scientists should be addressing?

Anyone is welcome to contribute their question, including members of the general public; agriculture, horticulture and forestry industries; ecologists; charities; policy makers; food, fibre, fuel and pharmaceutical industries; funding bodies; and researchers."

Rice database wins award

The Rice Bibliography Database of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) Library is the winner of the 2009 Oberly Award by the Association of College and Research Libraries.

This online search engine of the world’s scientific and technical rice literature has its roots in "The International Bibliography of Rice Research," first published in 1961 and then supplemented annually. Since 1996, the database has been online, and updated daily.

All publications represented by the database's 267,000+ entries are available in print or electronic format, and made available upon request.

More:

• Oberly Award press release
  
• What's New in the IRRI Library blog
• Global rice and agricultural trade liberalisation: poverty and welfare implications for South Asia (2008)
  
• Deep roots: rice farmers in West Africa and the African diaspora (2008)
  
• Arroz en Bolivia (2007)
  
• Weedy rices: origin, biology, ecology and control (2007)
• Neak sre = Les gens de la rizière = Rice people [videorecording] (2006)
• Monograph on genus Oryza (2003)
  

Global Research on Cocoa

GRO-Cocoa
- "Global Research On Cocoa: Working with and for farmers" - is a twice-yearly newsletter funded by the USDA and created by CABI.

All issues of the newsletter are available free online, back to issue #1 in June 2002.

CABI is "a not for profit, intergovernmental organization that improves people's lives worldwide by providing information and applying scientific expertise to solve problems in agriculture and the environment." They are publishers (ex: CAB Abstracts), researchers, consultants, and purveyors of microbial research services.

You may also be interested in:

• Bitter chocolate: the dark side of the world’s most seductive sweet
• Trichoderma stromaticum for management of witches’ broom of cacao in Brazil, chapter in Biological control: a global perspective
• Chocolate (video)
• The chocolate tree: a natural history of cacao
• Chocolate in Mesoamerica: a cultural history of cacao

Impact Factors: "Parasites & Vectors" + "Plant Methods"

Open access publisher BioMed Central has announced that two of its journals, Parasites & Vectors and Plant Methods, have been accepted for tracking by Thomson Reuters (vendors of ISI Web of Science) and will both receive "Impact Factors" in 2010.

"Parasites & Vectors expands upon the scope of two former BioMed Central publications, Kinetoplastid Biology and Disease and Filaria Journal, both of which ceased publication in December 2007. Launched in January 2008, the journal has rapidly become an authoritative home for research in parasitology, reflected by its acceptance for tracking by Thomson Reuters from its first issue."

"Launched in 2005, Plant Methods encompasses all aspects of technological innovation in the plant sciences. The journal seeks to stimulate the development and adoption of new and improved techniques and research tools and, where appropriate, to promote consistency of methodologies for better integration of data from different laboratories."

"These journals bring to a total of 71 BioMed Central journals that are tracked by Thomson Reuters and either have or are on course to receive an Impact Factor."

[Source: KnowledgeSpeak.com]