Natural rubber (NR) is currently sourced from a single species Hevea brasiliensis, which is primarily grown in Southeast Asia and Africa. The Taraxacum kok-saghyz (L.E. Rodin) (TK) plant, which grows in temperate climates and has NR in its roots, has been identified as an additional source for NR in the future. A major challenge to TK becoming a crop is direct seeding. This paper presents research on determining strategies for improving establishment of TK through direct seeding. Field trials were conducted in 2014 and 2015 in Ohio on a Wooster silt loam soil (2.4–2.9% OM) using “wild” TK seed. The study evaluated the impacts of different planting dates (April and May), planter types (broadcasting raw seed and drilling pelleted seed), companion crops, and compost mulch strips on plant stands (i.e., visible TK plant/TK seed drop). Results indicated that drilling of pelleted seed to a depth of 0.6 cm into a thin layer (<1.27 cm) of compost mulch after soil temperatures reach 16 °C (mid-May in Northern Ohio) would give the highest stand by the fall harvest season. These studies provide insight into direct seeding of TK and a baseline to use for evaluating future generations of TK.

Greenhouse experiments were conducted at Wooster, OH, during 2010 and 2011 growing seasons to evaluate the responses of five wine grape cultivars to sublethal doses of 2,4-D, dicamba, and glyphosate, and the ‘Riesling’ grape to mixtures of 2,4-D plus glyphosate and dicamba plus glyphosate. Treatments were made using a spray system calibrated to deliver 0.757 L min−1at 276 kPa and 4.8 km h−1. Herbicides were delivered through 8002 flat spray nozzles and applied at 1/30, 1/100, and 1/300 of the recommended field rate of 840, 560, and 840 g ae ha−1for 2,4-D, dicamba, and glyphosate, respectively. Injury was observed in all treatments 7 d after treatment (DAT). However, injury symptoms greater than 10% were observed 42 DAT in plants treated with 2,4-D at all rates and plants treated with dicamba at the two highest rates. Injury (35%) at 357 DAT was noted only in plants treated with the highest rate of 2,4-D. French hybrids showed slightly less injury symptoms compared with wine grapes at 7 and 42 DAT. Shoot length reduction in plants treated with 2,4-D at the highest rate was 43, 84, and 16% at 7, 42, and 357 DAT, respectively. Glyphosate caused the fewest injury symptoms in Riesling compared with 2,4-D and dicamba when applied separately or tank mixed with glyphosate. Shoot length reduction in Riesling was observed 42 DAT with all rates of 2,4-D, with and without glyphosate and dicamba, and dicamba plus glyphosate at the highest rate; however, at 357 DAT, no effect was observed in shoot length. Spray drift of 2,4-D and dicamba can severely injure grapes, with injury increasing with increased exposure. The combination of 2,4-D plus glyphosate caused greater injury and shoot length reduction in grapes than glyphosate applied alone.

Previous analyses have shown that secondarily aquatic tetrapods, including whales, exhibit osteological adaptations to life in water as part of their complex buoyancy control systems. These structural specializations of bone span hyperostosis through osteoporosis. The past 15 years of paleontological effort has provided an unprecedented opportunity to examine the osteological transformation of whales as they make their transition to an obligate aquatic lifestyle over a 10-million-year period. It is hypothesized that whales manifest their osteological specialization in the same manner as extant semiaquatic and fully aquatic mammals. This study presents and analysis of the microstructural features of bone in early and late archaic cetaceans, and in a comparative sample of modern terrestrial, semiaquatic, and aquatic mammals. Bone histology was examined from the ribs of 10 fossilized individuals representing five early cetacean families, including Pakicetidae, Ambulocetidae, Protocetidae, Remintonocetidae, and Basilosauridae. Comparisons were then made with rib histology from nine genera of extant mammals including: Odocoileus (deer), Bos (cow), Equus (horse), Canis (dog), Lutra (river otter), Enhydra (sea otter), Choeropsis (pygmy hippo), Trichechus (sea cow), and Delphinus (dolphin). Results show that the transition from terrestrial, to semiaquatic, to obligate aquatic locomotion in archaeocetes involved a radical shift in bone function achieved by means of profound changes at the microstructural level. A surprising finding was that microstructural change predates gross anatomical shift in archaeocetes associated with swimming. Histological analysis shows that high bone density is an aquatic specialization that provides static buoyancy control (ballast) for animals living in shallow water, while low bone density is associated with dynamic buoyancy control for animals living in deep water. Thus, there was a shift from the typical terrestrial form, to osteopetrosis and pachyosteosclerosis, and then to osteoporosis in the first quarter of cetacean evolutionary history.