Thursday, September 26, 2013

Scientific Library of Institute of Botany, Tbilisi, Georgia: Algae in the Planted Aquarium

Scientific Library of Institute of Botany, Tbilisi, Georgia: Algae in the Planted Aquarium: Algae in the Planted Aquarium Assembled by Kris Weinhold Table of Contents Introduction Black Brush/Beard  (Rhodophyta) Brown Algae...

Scientific Library of Institute of Botany, Tbilisi, Georgia: Diatoms

For much of the course of life on Earth, these microscopic algae have been, and are still, extremely important. More than 10,000 living diatom species are known, with about the same number of named fossil forms.

Over ninety percent of the biosphere is plant life, of which diatoms make up about a quarter by weight. They are enormously abundant in the upper layers of the world's oceans, providing high-grade nutrition to creatures as diverse as protozoans and baleen whales, and supplying the atmosphere with around a quarter of its oxygen.
Most diatoms are much less than half a millimetre in size, but their oil-rich, silica-shelled bodies, sinking to the ocean floor in vast numbers over long periods of time, have been transformed into the petroleum deposits of the world, and their skeletons have formed thick strata of diatomaceous earth which has found application in human products as varied as dynamite and (in earlier times) toothpaste.

Whilst most diatoms are to be found in the oceans, they are also abundant and important in freshwater habitats and in moist soil. The siliceous skeleton common to all varieties is frequently described as structured like a pill box or Petri dish, and offers two possible views -- the valve view (as in viewing a Petri dish from the top) and the side or girdle view. They present a great variety of shapes (mostly symmetrical) in valve view, but most commonly are rectangular in girdle view (See Cocconeis below). In general terms, the shape of the valve can be described as pennate (elongated) or centric (circular). The shape and markings of the valve are the means by which species are identified.

The photosynthetic pigment of diatoms is brown, and occurs in the pennate diatoms usually in the form of two identical plastids running the length of the cell (see Navicula below), and in the centric diatoms in the form of numerous sometimes clumped granules.
In the summer waters of a healthy pond, diatoms can grow to such numbers that submerged plants can have the appearance of being covered with a brown mud which the microscope reveals as a dense growth consisting entirely of diatoms.
Notes on diatom reproduction will be added at a later date.





Scientific Library of Institute of Botany, Tbilisi, Georgia: List of botanical gardens

Scientific Library of Institute of Botany, Tbilisi, Georgia: List of botanical gardens: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia A  botanical garden  is a place where  plants , especially  ferns ,  conifers  and  flowering plan...

Scientific Library of Institute of Botany, Tbilisi, Georgia: Books on Algae

Scientific Library of Institute of Botany, Tbilisi, Georgia: Books on Algae: Books on Algae (A-Z) (Cat 115) (updated 1 December 2008 ) http://www.euronet.nl/users/backhuys/ Adams, N.M. & W.A. Nelson, 198...

Scientific Library of Institute of Botany, Tbilisi, Georgia: Internet Directory for Botany - Alphabetical List ...

Scientific Library of Institute of Botany, Tbilisi, Georgia: Internet Directory for Botany - Alphabetical List ...: Internet Directory for Botany - Alphabetical List The  Internet Directory for Botany . http://www.botany.net/IDB/botany.html Abo...

Scientific Library of Institute of Botany, Tbilisi, Georgia: Internet Directory for Botany - Alphabetical List ...

Scientific Library of Institute of Botany, Tbilisi, Georgia: Internet Directory for Botany - Alphabetical List ...: Internet Directory for Botany - Alphabetical List The  Internet Directory for Botany . http://www.botany.net/IDB/botany.html Abo...

Scientific Library of Institute of Botany, Tbilisi, Georgia: List of botanical gardens and arboretums in the Un...

Scientific Library of Institute of Botany, Tbilisi, Georgia: List of botanical gardens and arboretums in the Un...: This  list of botanical gardens in the United States  is intended to include all significant  botanical gardens  and arboretums  in...

Scientific Library of Institute of Botany, Tbilisi, Georgia: Scientific Library of Tbilisi Botanical Institute

Scientific Library of Institute of Botany, Tbilisi, Georgia: Scientific Library of Tbilisi Botanical Institute: Here You Will Find Lots of Useful Resources, an Extensive and Frequently Updated Collection of Well Annotated Links to Botanical Informati...

Scientific Library of Institute of Botany, Tbilisi, Georgia: Selected Internet Resources - Botany

Scientific Library of Institute of Botany, Tbilisi, Georgia: Selected Internet Resources - Botany: Selected Internet Resources - Botany Unless otherwise noted, the sites listed in this directory are provided by organizations other th...

Scientific Library of Institute of Botany, Tbilisi, Georgia: BSA Suggested Websites

Scientific Library of Institute of Botany, Tbilisi, Georgia: BSA Suggested Websites: BSA Suggested Websites Young People's Plant Sites   |  K-12 Resources  |  Undergraduate Resources   |  Career and Funding   |  ...

Societies and Universities

California Botanical Society


California Botanical Society was founded by Willis Linn Jepson in 1913 and has served a major role in advancing western American botany. Since 1916, the Society has published the peer-reviewed, scientific journal Madroño, the leading source of research articles on the natural history of western American botanical organisms (including those of Mexico, Central America, and South America). The Society welcomes membership by all interested individuals worldwide and encourages members to submit manuscripts on original research to the Editor of Madroño for consideration as publications in the journal. Articles and notes (in English or Spanish) on ecology, systematics, floristics, conservation biology, and other areas of organismal botany are routinely published in Madroño, in addition to noteworthy collections. The Society sponsors annual or biennial graduate student meetings and an annual banquet at various locations in California.

Sunday, September 1, 2013

California Botanical Society Symposium Welcome: Professor V. Thomas Parker

California Botanical Society Symposium Welcome 
Professor V. Thomas Parker


Botanical Society of Edinburgh

The Botanical Society of Edinburgh was founded by Dr John Hutton Balfour (who eventually became Regius Keeper at RBGE) and a group of like-minded men in February 1836. 100 years later, a day of events was hosted in Edinburgh on the 1st of July 1936 to celebrate its Centenary. One of these was a tea party, held in one of the RBGE laboratories surrounded by portraits, photographs and exhibits of people, events and objects significant to the Society's history. Regius Keeper William Wright Smith can be clearly seen holding a cigarette, as well as RBGE photographer Robert Moyes Adam (light suit, bow tie) and Professor Ferdinand Orpen Bower (white beard, sitting) talking to Arthur William Hill, the Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. Do you recognise anyone else?
The Society, now renamed the Botanical Society of Scotland is still going strong today, over 175 years after its foundation.


Copyright: Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh