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   Plant Life 

Doug Landis and colleagues compared native prairie and savanna plants with non-native plants for their ability to attract beneficial insects. The team counted number and kinds of insects visiting each plant species and noted the number of open flowers along with flower color, nectar quantity and quality, and pollen availability. If managing habitat can encourage natural predators, growers can reduce their use of agricultural pesticides.

Since grass doesn’t fare well under elaborate opening ceremonies at the Olympics, a team led by John Rogers designed a portable athletic field for Beijing this summer. Within 48 hours of the ceremonies, they’ll install thousands of interlocking four-foot-square sections of turf, each weighing more than 1000 pounds. They’ve also developed a joint education program on turfgrass management with four Chinese universities.

Corn kernels are the source of most U.S. ethanol; processing stalks and leaves to make the fuel is difficult and costly. Mariam Sticklen developed a series of corn genetic lines that grow the enzymes necessary to break down cellulose and hemicellulose into simple sugars in their leaves. The Spartan Corn series promises to make a waste product commercially viable and allow farmers to sell stalks and leaves as well as kernels.

Photosynthetic organisms—both plants and bacteria—grow and develop in response to their environment, including changes in the color of the light. Cells of the bacterium Fremyella diplosiphon can change from red to green and back in response to changes from green light to red and back. Beronda Montgomery-Kaguri studies the molecular mechanism that controls that adaptation designed to make the best use of available light.

Coddling moths are a major problem for apple growers, and pheromones help control them by disrupting mating. Larry Gut and colleagues think the male moths spend their time following the synthetic pheromone trails instead of females. Preventing mating for the first four days after the moths emerge improves results. Dispersal in wax droplets—about 100 per tree—proved to be the most effective and economical application method.

Larry Gut, professor of entomology, 517-353-8648

Douglas Landis, professor of entomology, 517-353-1829

Beronda Montgomery-Kaguri, assistant professor, Plant Research Laboratory, 517-353-7802

John Rogers III, professor of crop and soil sciences, 517-355-0271x1136

Mariam Sticklen, professor of crop and soil sciences, 517-355-0271x1177