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1. Comparative Metabolomics of Fruits and Leaves in a Hyperdiverse Lineage Suggests Fruits Are a Key Incubator of Phytochemical Diversification

   https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2021.693739  

   Schneider, Gerald F.; Salazar, Diego; Hildreth, Sherry B.; Helm, Richard F.; Whitehead, Susan R. (August 2021, Frontiers in Plant Science)

   Interactions between plants and leaf herbivores have long been implicated as the major driver of plant secondary metabolite diversity. However, other plant-animal interactions, such as those between fruits and frugivores, may also be involved in phytochemical diversification. Using 12 species of Piper , we conducted untargeted metabolomics and molecular networking with extracts of fruits and leaves. We evaluated organ-specific secondary metabolite composition and compared multiple dimensions of phytochemical diversity across organs, including richness, structural complexity, and variability across samples at multiple scales within and across species. Plant organ identity, species identity, and the interaction between the two all significantly influenced secondary metabolite composition. Leaves and fruit shared a majority of compounds, but fruits contained more unique compounds and had higher total estimated chemical richness. While the relative levels of chemical richness and structural complexity across organs varied substantially across species, fruit diversity exceeded leaf diversity in more species than the reverse. Furthermore, the variance in chemical composition across samples was higher for fruits than leaves. By documenting a broad pattern of high phytochemical diversity in fruits relative to leaves, this study lays groundwork for incorporating fruit into a comprehensive and integrative understanding of the ecological and evolutionary factors shaping secondary metabolite composition at the whole-plant level. 

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2. Development of a STEM student centric space

   https://doi.org/10.55632/pwvas.v97i2.1200  

   Murphy, Sytil; Cole, Jacquelyn (April 2025, Proceedings of the West Virginia Academy of Science)

   Prior to Spring 2024, STEM students at Shepherd did not have a space of their own.  With funds from the First2 Network, the office of the Shepherd University President, and Shepherd University Facilities, a non-functional computer lab was renovated for student use.  This talk will focus on the development process and how having access to the space affects student’s sense of belonging.  The First2 Network is supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Award Numbers:  HRD-183-4586, WV Higher Energy Policy Commission; HRD-1834595, Green Bank Observatory; HRD-183-4575, Fairmont State University; HRD-1834595, High Rocks Educational Corporation; HRD-183-4569, West Virginia University. 

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3. Symplocos Fruits from the Pliocene of Colombia

   https://doi.org/10.1600/036364421X16231782047398  

   Manchester, Steven R.; Lott, Terry A.; Herrera, Fabiany; Hooghiemstra, Henry; Wijninga, Vincent M.; Fritsch, Peter W. (August 2021, Systematic Botany)

   null (Ed.)

   Abstract— Fossil fruits of Symplocos (Ericales: Symplocaceae) are here recognized from the Pliocene of Guasca, Colombia, based on specimens formerly attributed to Cordia (Cordiaceae, Boraginales). Symplocos vera (Berry) comb. nov. is represented by 19 lignitized fruits. The fossils are recognized as belonging to Symplocos primarily by their woody endocarps that are apically truncate and that possess 3 to 5 apical germination pores and locules, and a central vascular canal extending the length of the endocarp. In several key characters they are highly congruent with the endocarps of the extant Neotropical clade S. ser. Symplocos . Some of the extant species in the series are variably 3- to 5-locular; 4-locular endocarps are otherwise rare in Symplocos , and 5-locular endocarps appear to be unique to this series. Symplocos vera is the only specifically named record of fossil Symplocos fruits with accessible voucher specimens from South America. The younger Neogene age of the fossils relative to those attributed to S. ser. Symplocos from the late Eocene of Texas, along with a report of Colombian fossil endocarps from the middle Miocene, supports the North America to South America migration inferred for this clade from molecular phylogenetic data. 

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4. Detecting Transient Deformation at the Active Volcano Ol Doinyo Lengai in Tanzania with the TZVOLCANO Network: Supplementary software, data, model files

   https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10439790  

   Daud, Ntambila; Stamps, D. Sarah; Ji, Kang-Hyeun; Saria, Elifuraha (January 2023, Zenodo)

   These are supplementary data, code, and model files associated with the manuscript "Detecting Transient Deformation at the Active Volcano Ol Doinyo Lengai in Tanzania with the TZVOLCANO Network" in consideration for publication in the Geophysical Research Letters. tzvolcano_code_and_models.zip contains all necessary Targeted Projection Operator (TPO) software, input, and output files for the GNSS inversions presented in our manuscript necessary to reproduce the results. The TPO program is a Unix/Linux code developed by Kang-Hyeun Ji working at the Korea Institute for Geoscience and Mineral Resources, Daejeon, South Korea. The source code is available in the supplementary Zenodo repository. We also include input and output model files for the USGS code dMODELS for reproducibility. Please see the README.txt file for more details. This study was funded by the US National Science Foundation grant number EAR-1943681 to Virginia Tech, internal university funds via Ardhi University, and Ministry of Science and ICT of Korea Basic Research Project GP2021-006 to the Korea Institute of Geosciences and Mineral Resources. We acknowledge and thank the EarthScope Consortium for archiving and making TZVOLCANO GNSS datasets freely available, supported by the National Science Foundation’s Seismological Facility for the Advancement of Geoscience (SAGE) Award under Cooperative Support Agreement EAR-1851048 and Geodetic Facility for the Advancement of Geoscience (GAGE) Award under NSF Cooperative Agreement EAR-1724794. 

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5. IDTReeS 2020 Competition Data

   https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3700196  

   Graves, Sarah; Marconi, Sergio (January 2020, Zenodo)

   {"Abstract":["Data provided by the Integrating Data science with Trees and Remote Sensing (IDTReeS) research group for use in the IDTReeS Competition.<\/p>\n\nGeospatial and tabular data to be used in two data science tasks focused on using remote sensing data to quantify the locations, sizes and species identities of millions of trees and on determining how these methods generalize to other forests.<\/p>\n\nVector data are the geographic extents of Individual Tree Crown boundaries that have been identified by researchers in the IDTReeS group. The data were generated primarily by Sarah Graves, Sergio Marconi, and Benjamin Weinstein, with support from Stephanie Bohlman, Ethan White, and members of the IDTReeS group.<\/p>\n\nRemote Sensing and Field data were generated by the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON, Copyright © 2017 Battelle). Data were selected, downloaded, and packaged by Sergio Marconi. The most recent available data of the following products are provided:<\/p>\n\nNational Ecological Observatory Network. 2020. Data Product DP1.30010.001, High-resolution orthorectified camera imagery. Provisional data downloaded from http://data.neonscience.org on March 4, 2020. Battelle, Boulder, CO, USA NEON. 2020.<\/p>\n\nNational Ecological Observatory Network. 2020. Data Product DP1.30003.001, Discrete return LiDAR point cloud. Provisional data downloaded from http://data.neonscience.org on March 4, 2020. Battelle, Boulder, CO, USA NEON. 2020.<\/p>\n\nNational Ecological Observatory Network. 2020. Data Product DP1.10098.001, Woody plant vegetation structure. Provisional data downloaded from http://data.neonscience.org on March 4, 2020. Battelle, Boulder, CO, USA NEON. 2020.<\/p>\n\nNational Ecological Observatory Network. 2020. Data Product DP3.30015.001, Ecosystem structure. Provisional data downloaded from http://data.neonscience.org on March 4, 2020. Battelle, Boulder, CO, USA NEON. 2020.<\/p>\n\nNEON has the following data policy:<\/p>\n\n\u2018The National Ecological Observatory Network is a program sponsored by the National Science Foundation and operated under cooperative agreement by Battelle Memorial Institute. This material is based in part upon work supported by the National Science Foundation through the NEON Program.\u2019<\/p>\n\nTHE NEON DATA PRODUCTS ARE PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS OR ANYONE DISTRIBUTING THE NEON DATA PRODUCTS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE NEON DATA PRODUCTS.<\/p>"],"Other":["This data is supported by the National Science Foundation through grant 1926542 and by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation's Data-Driven Discovery Initiative through grant GBMF4563 to E.P. White, and the NSF Dimension of Biodiversity program grant (DEB-1442280) and USDA/NIFA McIntire-Stennis program (FLA-FOR-005470)."]} 

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