WHAT: Kevin Folta, interim chairman of the University of Florida’s horticultural sciences department, will participate in a public forum hosted by the Washington, D.C.-based Cato Institute, called “Biotechnology: Feeding the World, or a Brave New World of Agriculture?”

WHEN: 2 p.m. Tuesday, June 4

BACKGROUND: The last few decades have seen traditional plant-breeding techniques begin to give way to a new era of agriculture in which DNA sequencing allows scientists to select for beneficial traits and vastly shortening the time it takes to create new cultivars. While many have concerns about these changes, Folta and science journalist and author Jon Entine have no such fears. During the forum, they will answer critics who say biotechnology may do long-term damage to the world’s food supply or result in inadvertent harm to consumers.

The event initially was to be  the first formal debate between biotechnology advocates and detractors, but those who had been set to argue that the technological changes pose a threat  — French professor Gilles-Eric Seralini of the University of Caen and Jeffrey Smith, the author of “Genetic Roulette: The Documented Health Risks of Genetically Engineered Foods” — withdrew.

The Cato Institute is a public policy think tank, and according to its website, is “dedicated to principles of individual liberty, limited government, free markets and peace.”

WHERE: The Cato Institute, Hayek Auditorium, 1000 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington, D.C. The event can be seen live online at www.cato.org/live or you can follow @CatoEvents on Twitter.

CONTACT: Kevin Folta, 352-392-1928, ext. 269, kfolta@ufl.edu or @kevinfolta. Folta is available for interviews before Tuesday’s forum.

GAINESVILLE — A University of Florida specialist recently received an award from the American Council on Consumer Interests for her research on Social Security survivors benefits.

Presented at the annual conference in April, the ACCI awarded Martie Gillen, an assistant professor in the UF/IFAS Department of Family, Youth and Community Sciences, and co-author Jason Hans the Applied Consumer Economic Award. They were recognized for their identification of an important consumer issue, descriptions of practical solutions and strong communication of the findings’ immediate implications.

Gillen and Hans, an associate professor at the University of Kentucky, examined attitudes about the eligibility of posthumously born children for Social Security survivors benefits.

Five types of eligibility were examined: normal births, posthumous births, cryopreserved embryos, cryopreserved gametes and posthumous gamete retrieval. Their findings indicated broad support for the eligibility of normal and posthumous births for benefits, but significantly less favorable attitudes toward the other three.

Gillen, a family and consumer economics for older adults specialist, received her doctorate in family studies from the University of Kentucky. She came to UF in 2011, and divides her time between extension work and teaching.

-30-

Contacts

Writer: Andrew Kays, 352-392-2411, apkays@ufl.edu

Source: Martie Gillen, 352-392-0404, mgillen@ufl.edu

See photo cutline at bottom.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Art and science aren’t always birds of a feather, but a new University of Florida project has them flocking together.

Students from UF’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences recently worked with UF’s Harn Museum of Art to identify Brazilian birds and plants illustrated by famed naturalist painter Jean-Theodore Descourtilz.

A website detailing their work was launched earlier this year. It can be found here: http://descourtilz.wordpress.com/.

“The museum needed to know the names of the birds and plants depicted, whether they were accurately rendered, and if they were biologically realistic,” said Emilio Bruna, an associate professor in UF’s Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation.

Bruna and John Blake, a professor in the department, co-taught the graduate-level class that led the project. Both are members of UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences.

Students in the class, An Introduction to Tropical Ecology and Conservation, examined five prints – each portraying three to five birds and a plant species upon which the birds are perched. And while some of the birds were labeled by Descourtilz, none of the plants had identification.

The students were asked to accurately classify the birds and plants using modern taxonomic nomenclature and to prepare a report that outlined what the birds eat, where they live and in which part of the tropical forest canopy they reside.

Blake said one of the interesting findings from the project was that some of the birds portrayed together are not from the same part of Brazil.

“Some would be from the far corner of the Amazon and others would be from southern Brazil, and yet they’re all posed together on the same plant,” Blake said.

For example, in one print, the scarlet-headed blackbird, sharpbill and the pampas meadowlark are pictured on the same plant. However, the three birds do not share a similar habitat range and would not likely be found together.

On the same print, the birds sit on a ficus branch. And while the sharpbill may eat the plant’s fruit, the other three birds pictured eat mainly insects.

Bruna said he suspects that rather than being drawn from nature, the prints were drawn from memory or from museum specimens.

The artwork is part of Harn’s growing natural history collection of about 400 prints from the 16^th to the 19^th century by European and American artists that depict birds, rocks, mammals, plants, shells and more from Asia, the Americas and Europe.

Eric Segal, the museum’s education curator of academic programs, said once information is obtained about artwork, it is kept for later use when writing wall labels or essays.

“It’s very powerful information for us,” Segal said. “Everything that the students have done for this project is really useful and will come back again when those prints are shown.”

These works arrived at the museum in 2010 as part of an acquisition program initiated with generous loans from Graham Arader, a prominent dealer whose specialties include natural history prints.

They are from Descourtilz’s four-part book of 164 species of Brazilian birds titled “Ornithologie brésilienne ou Histoire des Oiseaux du Brésil, Remarquables par leur Plumage, leur Chant ou leurs Habitudes,” published between 1852 and 1856.

Descourtilz produced them through chromolithography, a process by which an image is drawn in reverse onto stone using special markers, ink is applied to the image and then paper is placed firmly against the stone using a press to make a print. The prints were then hand colored.

The Harn’s work with CALS is part of a larger effort to continue to weave the museum into the academic fabric of UF, Segal said.

“The museum is a world-class art museum, but it’s also a resource for the university,” he said. “We have a long history of working with a wide range of disciplines across campus.”

-30-

Contacts

Writer: Robert H. Wells, 352-273-3569; rhwells@ufl.edu

Sources: Emilio Bruna, 352-846-0634; embruna@ufl.edu

John Blake, 352-846-0591; john.blake@ufl.edu

Eric Segal, 352-392-9826, ext. 2115; esegal@harn.ufl.edu

By Robert H. Wells, 352-273-3569; rhwells@ufl.edu

Photo cutline:

Emilio Bruna, an associate professor in the University of Florida department of wildlife ecology and conservation; Leah Henderson, a graduate student in UF’s department of anthropology; John Blake, a professor in the department of wildlife and ecology and conservation; and Eric Segal, education curator of academic programs for UF’s Harn Museum of Art, are pictured in front of natural history prints by artist Jean-Theodore Descourtilz. Graduate students in a class led by Bruna and Blake, both members of UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, recently worked to identify birds and plants pictured in the prints. UF/IFAS photo by Tyler L. Jones.

See photo cutline below

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The University of Florida Plant Diagnostic Center, one of the top facilities of its kind, is a front-line defender against invading pathogens that threaten plants in Florida and around the nation.

The Gainesville-based center, part of UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony on April 25 to celebrate its new headquarters, which opened in January.

The ceremony will begin at 1:30 p.m. with speeches by Jack Payne, UF senior vice president for agriculture and natural resources; Mike Irey, director of research for sugar cane and citrus for U.S. Sugar Corp. and Southern Gardens Citrus in Clewiston; and Rosemary Loria, a professor and the chair of the UF/IFAS plant pathology department— followed by tours of the facility and teaching gardens. The building, No. 1291, is located at 2570 Hull Road, directly behind Fifield Hall. Those interested in attending should RSVP to Lauretta Rahmes at lrahmes1@ufl.edu or 352-273-4635.

The center’s job is to diagnose submitted commercial, homeowner and extension plant disease samples from turf, ornamentals, fruits, vegetables and other plants. It’s a service of UF/IFAS Extension and is overseen by the UF/IFAS plant pathology department. More than 2,500 samples pass through the center annually.

“There is a huge benefit to Florida agriculture to have a reliable laboratory to send samples to,” Loria said. “For a grower, getting an accurate and timely diagnosis and disease control recommendation can mean the difference between losing the crop and being able to sell it.”

Florida’s agricultural industry contributes more than $100 billion to the state’s economy each year.

Carrie Harmon, director of the center, said the service gives growers access to proven disease-management strategies.

“We’re an extension laboratory, and field-tested, Florida research is going into our management recommendations, so we know that those things work,” she said.

The center is part of the Florida Plant Diagnostic Network that includes diagnostic laboratories at the UF/IFAS North Florida Research and Education Center in Quincy, the Gulf Coast Research and Education Center in Balm and the Tropical Research and Education Center in Homestead.

UF/IFAS’ plant diagnostic network is one of the top in the country because of its direct linkage with the department’s large number of plant pathology experts who specialize in areas that range from tropical ornamentals and fruits to row crops, tomatoes, strawberries and watermelons.

The center also houses the Rapid Turfgrass Diagnostic Service, which provides a fast turnaround for disease diagnosis in high-value turfgrass.

Additionally, it is one of the few plant diagnostic labs in the country that has a containment facility that can process highly regulated samples infected with pathogens considered a threat if released, as well as a molecular lab that allows for cutting-edge research and DNA diagnosis.

And since most of the plants that come into the U.S. are imported through Miami, the UF plant disease labs are often the first places that detect new diseases and threats, Loria said.

“With the volume and the opportunity to bring pathogens and pests right from field situations through the airport and into the country, we need to be among the best to keep agriculture as safe as possible,” she said.

Harmon has conducted training programs in the Caribbean and in Central and South America so diagnosticians there can detect and treat the latest plant diseases before they can reach the U.S.

The new building is 6,000 square feet —1,000 more than the previous —and features a larger classroom for professional training as well as a work room for students in the UF/IFAS doctor of plant medicine program, who often work in the clinic.

For more on the center: http://plantpath.ifas.ufl.edu/clinic/.

-30-

Contacts

Writer:  Robert H. Wells, 352-273-3569; rhwells@ufl.edu

Sources: Rosemary Loria, 352-273-4634; rloria@ufl.edu

Carrie Harmon, 352-273-4645; clharmon@ufl.edu

Photo cutline:

Anne Vitoreli (front), laboratory manager, and lab assistants John Bonkowski and Chris Kerr, work in the new University of Florida Extension Plant Diagnostic Center. The center is part of UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences and serves the state and region by diagnosing commercial, homeowner and extension plant disease samples submitted to the laboratory for turf, ornamentals, fruits and vegetables and other plants. The new center, which is one of the top facilities of its kind, opened in January 2013. UF/IFAS photo by Marisol Amador.