bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Place of International Law in the Settlement of Disputes by the Security Council
Authors: Higgins Rosalyn
Published: April 2006

The place of law in the settlement of disputes by the Security Council is a topic which has already occasioned debate. Many lawyers contend that law plays a minimal rôle in the work of the Council. That organ is, they point out, essentially a political body. It operates in a different way from a judicial body such as the International Court of Justice, and frequently ignores the law of nations. Oscar Schachter, writing in this Journal in 1964, has offered another view, pointing to subtle ways in which the influence of law can still make itself felt in the work of the Security Council, by providing a common language, by applying principles to specific cases, and by determining new points of community interest. The purpose of this article is to examine, in the light of recent years, some of the limitations within which this legal endeavor takes place, and to see whether law has any real function in the settlement of disputes.
Contemporary Practice of the United States Relating to International Law
Authors: Rogers William P. , Meyer Armin H. , Nixon Richard , Nelson Steven C.
Published: April 2006

The material for this section is compiled by Steven C. Nelson, attorney in the Office of the Legal Adviser, Department of State.
The Travaux Préparatoires of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties
Authors: Briggs Herbert W.
Published: April 2006

The fundamental importance of the codification of the law of treaties by the International Law Commission and the Vienna Conference will gain increasing recognition as the rules and principles embodied in the 1969
Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties are applied in the practice of states and the jurisprudence of international tribunals. Inevitably the records of this great codification will be searched and researched, by scholars as well as by legal advisers, and for a variety of reasons: What is the function of a particular rule? What r61e was it designed to play in the relations of states and in the international legal community? What does it require in the way of performance or abstention? Is it a residual rule, binding upon states if no other solution is agreed on? Why was the rule given the particular formulation found in the Vienna Convention,and what alternative formulations were rejected? Since the entry into force of the Vienna Convention will be delayed until after thirty-five states have ratified or acceded to it (Article 84), what assessment of the general acceptability of a particular provision can be gained from a study of the drafting record or from the number of affirmative or negative votes or abstentions?
Human Rights for Women and World Public Order: The Outlawing of Sex-Based Discrimination
Authors: McDougal Myres S. , Lasswell Harold D. , Chen Lung-chu
Published: April 2006

As the United Nations commemorates 1975 as “International Women's Year,” in a concerted effort to “promote equality between men and women“ and to “ensure the full integration of women in the total development effort,” the concern of the larger global community for outlawing sex-based discrimination is being articulated with increasing vigor. This concern both builds upon and expresses a more general norm of nondiscrimination which seeks to ban all generic differentiations among people in access to value shaping and sharing for reasons irrelevant to individual capabilities and contribution. The particular norm against sex-based discrimination finds expression in many authoritative communications, at both international and national levels, and is rapidly being defined in a way to condemn all the great historic deprivations imposed upon women as a group.
The Twenty-Sixth Session of the International Law Commission
Authors: Kearney Richard D.
Published: April 2006

The International Law Commission celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of the opening of its first session on May 27, 1974—a little behind the historical course of events, for the first session had actually opened on April 12, 1949. As was to be expected, the occasion called forth almost a floodtide of oratory recounting the achievements of the Commission in the codification of international law.
The Protocol to the United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Inter-American System: A Study of Co-Existing Petition Procedures
Authors: Tardu M. E.
Published: April 2006

The purpose of this article is to examine the main legal questions that arise from the co-existence of two sets of international procedures for handling individual petitions: the system established by the Optional Protocol to the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, on the one hand, and two regional procedures within the framework of the Organization of American States, on the other.
May Israel as a Belligerent Occupant Lawfully Exploit Previously Unexploited Oil Resources of the Gulf of Suez?
Authors: Clagett Brice M. , Johnson O. Thomas
Published: April 2006

Since shortly after the 1967 Middle East war, Israel has sought to reduce its dependence on imported oil by exploiting the resources of captured Egyptian territory. Until recently attention was centered on the Sinai’s Abu Rhodeis fields, which in 1974 were reported to be meeting 55 percent of Israel’s needs. In 1975, however, these fields were returned to Egypt as part of the second Egypt-Israel Disengagement Agreement. Previously unexploited areas of the eastern Gulf of Suez then became the subject of Israeli efforts, and by the fall of 1976 exploratory drilling was in progress off the Sinai coast. On November 25, 1977, Israel announced that this drilling had resulted in a commercial strike, and on March 29, 1978, it was reported that commercial production had begun. The question whether Israel may rightfully exploit the oil resources of the Gulf thus came sharply into focus.
Developments in the Law and Institutions of International Economic Relations
Authors: Rubin Seymour J.
Published: April 2006

When there is no meeting of minds, agreement on a form of words, and the creation of machinery for discussion, are idle. Charles Kindleberger, in Global Companies, 84 (1973).

… the successful negotiation of an international treaty which could facilitate a massive movement of capital and of business from the industrialized to the developing nations through “multinational” companies is among the most urgent tasks of diplomacy.

Eugene V. Rostow, id. 113.
Technology and International Negotiations
Authors: Charney Jonathan I.
Published: April 2006

International law needs to respond to the dual pressures for change brought on by rapid technological development and the promulgation of the “New International Economic Order.” While a number of major international negotiations have been mounted in recent years to respond to these pressures, all of them have failed to meet expectations. The value of international law in shaping and stabilizing international behavior will certainly diminish unless the performance of these international negotiations is improved or other methods for effectuating change are found. It is the purpose of this article to explore some of the procedures that the international community has used to respond to these pressures and to suggest areas for improvement or further exploration.
The Geostationary Orbit: Issues of Law and Policy
Authors: Gorove Stephen
Published: April 2006

The technological advances of the space age have opened the door toward the increasing utilization of the so-called “geostationary orbit” by satellites for telecommunication, broadcasting, and meteorological and other services. More recently, the possible utilization of the geostationary orbit by satellites to transmit solar energy to the earth has been seriously considered. The growing importance of the geostationary orbit reflected in these actual and potential uses, coupled with recent claims of sovereignty advanced by equatorial countries with respect to segments of the orbit, calls for an analysis of its international legal status and for a review of some of the U.S. policy issues.
The 1980 French Law on Documents and Information
Authors: Herzog Brigitte Ecolivet
Published: April 2006

On July 16, 1980, France passed a law forbidding the communication of economic, commercial, industrial, financial, or technical documents or information to foreign natural or legal persons. In doing so, France joined a growing number of nations in efforts to put an end to what they perceive as the “abusive” extraterritorial application of United States law.
The Doctrine of Intertemporal Law
Authors: Elias T. O.
Published: April 2006

After the break-up of western Christendom following the Treaty of Westphalia of 1648, a number of historical changes took place in customary international law. One of the most important changes, if not the most important, was the emergence of the nation-state and the political philosophy to which it gave rise, that is to say, the theory of political sovereignty as the cornerstone of the rights and duties of the various states that came into existence. The political sovereignty of states resulted in the gradual replacement of the old international relations within Christendom, which were based upon a theocratic system of law, by a wider legal system that later embraced nations outside Christendom and engendered a universalization of international relations and, therefore, of international law.
Lawyers Who Established International Law in the United States, 1776–1914
Authors: Raymond John M. , Frischholz Barbara J.
Published: April 2006

In the late 18th and 19th, and the early 20th centuries invaluable contributions were made by lawyers to the establishment of international law in the United States. Their contributions took various forms, but all helped establish, clarify, or disseminate understanding of this branch of the law. Because of the ways international law develops, these people ranged from statesmen who established practices and doctrines in the international field that ultimately became the law, to those who participated in the development of important treaties and international agreements; and from judges who rendered significant decisions on points of international law, to scholars and others who were responsible for the gradual evolution of education and literature in the field.
Antitrust Jurisdiction under Customary International Law
Authors: Meessen Karl M.
Published: April 2006

When, on October 24, 1983, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California handed down its decision in Timberlane Lumber Co. v. Bank of America and denied U.S. jurisdiction out of regard for the Honduran “system of justice,” there may have been some surprise that the case was still pending. The Timberlane decision of 1976 of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which remanded the matter to the district court, had already become a classic, even though it was preceded by the 1968 decision in United States v. First National City Bank on the production of documents located abroad. The Timberlane approach outlined by Judge Choy, under which the exercise of antitrust jurisdiction has to be restrained by a case-by-case analysis of various factors, was widely discussed (and usually praised) in legal writing, and was also followed by federal courts of the Second, Third, Fifth, Ninth and Tenth Circuits.
International Law Under Time Pressure: Grading the Grenada Take-Home Examination
Authors: Vagts Detlev F.
Published: April 2006

When momentous events take place on the international scene, there are predictable pressures on those who have reputations as international lawyers to give opinions as to the legalities. There are phone calls from reporters, perhaps even student rallies, to say nothing of inquiries from academic colleagues (especially those who ignore the field most of the time). The recent episode in Grenada gives one an opportunity to evaluate what can be done under those pressured circumstances to give an enlightening and useful judgment as to what international law has to say about such an event. As any professor knows, the time constraints of examinations make a difference in the rate at which students can analyze problems, just as there are differences in the amount of information they can dig out of the stacks when a short period is allocated to the exercise. The space limitations that are imposed on the product also make it hard to put forth a coherent and nuanced argument. The more one knows about the topic, the less easy it is to wrap up the matter neatly and certainly. Legal foundations ought to underpin or contain one’s judgments about policy, but they can do that only if there is some real finality to them. How does one grade the performance of the international law community under this test?
“A Springboard for the Future”: A Historical Examination of Britain’s Role in Shaping the Optional Clause of the Permanent Court of International Justice
Authors: Lloyd Lorna
Published: April 2006

The Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ) was established in 1922. Article 36, paragraph 2 of its Statute reads:

The Members of the League of Nations and the States mentioned in the Annex to the Covenant may, either when signing or ratifying the protocol to which the present Statute is adjoined, or at a later moment, declare that they recognise as compulsory ipso facto and without special agreement, in relation to any other Member or State accepting the same obligation, the jurisdiction of the Court in all or any of the classes of legal disputes concerning:

(a)

the interpretation of a treaty;

(b)

any question of international law;

(c)

the existence of any fact which, if established, would constitute a breach of an international obligation;

(d)

the nature and extent of the reparation to be made for the breach of an international obligation.
International Law in the Third Reich
Authors: Vagts Detlev F.
Published: April 2006

What justifies asking American readers to take time in 1990 to review German international law during the Third Reich, which ended in 1945? First, it is a dramatic story. People who hold certain views on international law are dismissed, exiled, imprisoned and even hanged. The penalties for disagreement are far more severe than tenured faculty members of the 1990s would even dream. Second, the peculiarities of the period enable one to develop some hypotheses about the interactions in the law among people, institutions, ideas and policies in a way that is starker and clearer than the path one must try to trace in calmer times when movements are more gradual and subtle. It is in a sense a not-to-be-repeated laboratory test of how far a ruthless regime can impose a radical change in thinking on a community of legal scholars. The very repulsiveness of some of the concepts enables one to distance oneself from them and regard them as objects of disinterested scrutiny. Finally, the period is widely ignored, even in Germany, in the literature on the history of international law and in many other subsequent studies that seem to demand some reference to events and writings of that time. Although a few highly useful works have appeared, mostly on limited aspects of the scene, the field is clearly understudied. It is perhaps most strikingly so in the work of those authors who since 1945 have not mentioned what they themselves wrote in the period 1933-1945. In general, the German legal community has only recently started to investigate what happened to law in that period.
Our Rights and Obligations to Future Generations for the Environment
Authors: Weiss Edith Brown
Published: April 2006

This we know: the earth does not belong to man: man belongs to the earth. … Whatever befalls the earth, befalls the sons of the earth. Man did not weave the web of life: he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.

Chief Seattle†

We read every day about the desecration of our environment and the mismanagement of our natural resources. We have always had the capacity to wreck the environment on a small or even regional scale. Centuries of irrigation without adequate drainage in ancient times converted large areas of the fertile Tigris-Euphrates valley into barren desert. What is new is that we now have the power to change our global environment irreversibly, with profoundly damaging effects on the robustness and integrity of the planet and the heritage that we pass to future generations.
Liability to Third Parties of Member States of International Organizations: Practice, Principle and Judicial Precedent
Authors: Amerasinghe C. F.
Published: April 2006

One of the principal issues of interest to international lawyers in the International Tin Council cases decided by the English courts was whether member states of the International Tin Council (ITC) were secondarily or concurrently liable to third parties for the debts of the organization. This issue may arise when two or more states form an organization with legal personality that can perform functions with legal consequences. In the course of performing these functions, such an organization may incur liabilities to third parties. These third parties may be states, other organizations, individuals or legal persons. The states may be member states of the organization itself or other states, and the individuals and legal persons may be nationals of member states or not. The liabilities may emanate from transactions, such as international agreements between states and the organization, that take place at the international level and may be governed by international law; or they may stem from transactions governed by municipal law, whether between the organization and states, individuals or legal persons. Such liabilities may be contractual, quasi-contractual or delictual.
Chuidian v. Philippine National Bank
Authors: Kahale George
Published: April 2006

The dispute arose out of a 1985 settlement of litigation between Vincente Chuidian, a Philippine national, and the Philippine Export and Foreign Loan Guarantee Corporation (Guarantee Corporation). As part of the settlement, the state-owned Philippine National Bank (Bank) issued a letter of credit to Chuidian on behalf of the Guarantee Corporation. After the Government of President Aquino took office in 1986, the Presidential Commission on Good Government (Commission) was formed and “charged with recovering ‘ill-gotten wealth’ accumulated by Marcos and his associates.” The Commission was authorized to enjoin acts that might frustrate its efforts. Raul Daza, a member of the Commission, instructed the Bank not to pay on the letter of credit issued to Chuidian, claiming that the Commission suspected that the settlement had been fraudulently entered into to prevent the revelation of facts concerning Marcos’s involvement in Chuidian’s business enterprises.
International Court of Justice Elects Officers
Authors: T. M. F.
Published: April 2006

We are pleased to report that, on February 7, 1991, the International Court of Justice elected Judge Robert Yewdall Jennings to be its President and Judge Shigeru Oda to be its Vice-President. Both offices carry five-year terms. Given the growing role of the Court, these elections are a significant tribute to, and responsibility for, two outstanding scholars of international law. Both have published in this Journal and are Honorary Members of the Society.
Shakespeare’s Henry the Fifth and the Law of War
Authors: Meron Theodor
Published: April 2006

William Shakespeare wrote during the Elizabethan Renaissance, a period of revived and intense interest in history. The Life of Henry the Fifth, written in 1599, one of Shakespeare’s histories, is a patriotic, epic portrayal of a phase in the bloody Hundred Years’ War (1337-1453) between England and France. It describes a medieval campaign led by a chivalrous and virtuous king, who could perhaps do wrong but not a great deal of wrong, and in which the few acting in a just cause defeat the many. In this play, Shakespeare relives past glories.
The Action Does Not Violate International Law
Authors: Szasz Paul C.
Published: April 2006

I am pleased to have been given an opportunity to respond to Professor Barrie’s arguments that the decision of the Executive Council of the Society to divest its portfolio of stocks in all corporations with investments in South Africa was both substantively misguided and legally improper.
Foreign Affairs and the Political Question Doctrine
Authors: Glennon Michael J.
Published: April 2006

The unevenness of congressional oversight, the proclivity of executive foreign affairs agencies for violating the law and the traditional responsibility of the courts as the last guardians of the Constitution—all point to the propriety of an active role for the judiciary in ensuring governmental compliance with the law. Specifically, courts should not decline to resolve foreign affairs disputes between Congress and the President because they present “political questions.” The recent case of Lowry v. Reagan illustrates the serious systemic damage wrought by judicial abstention in such disputes.
U.S. Ratification of the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: The Need for an Entirely New Strategy
Authors: Alston Philip
Published: April 2006

In January 1989, in the follow-up to the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (the so-called Helsinki process), the United States signed the Vienna Declaration, in which it recognized “that the promotion of economic, social, cultural rights … is of paramount importance for human dignity and for the attainment of the legitimate aspirations of every individual.” To that end, the United States in signing the declaration undertook, inter alia, to guarantee “the effective exercise” of economic, social and cultural rights and to consider acceding to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. These undertakings seem to warrant renewed consideration of proposals that have been made at various times over the past quarter of a century for the United States to ratify the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Panama: Beyond the Charter Paradigm
Authors: Farer Tom J.
Published: April 2006

In the fall of 1867, a powerful British expeditionary force, dispatched from India under the command of Field-Marshall Lord Napier and conveyed by over 250 ships, began deploying on the Red Sea coast of Africa. Its mission: rescue two British emissaries and their several assistants who, together with a brace of other Europeans, had been imprisoned by the volatile Ethiopian Emperor Theodore.
The UN Body of Principles for the Protection of Detained or Imprisoned Persons
Authors: Treves Tullio
Published: April 2006

On December 9, 1988, the United Nations General Assembly adopted, without a vote, a “Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment.” The preparation of this text was started in 1976 within the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities of the Commission on Human Rights. On the basis of a project prepared by Mr. Erik Nettel of Austria, the Sub-Commission approved a Draft Body of Principles in 1978. After being submitted to the General Assembly’s Third Committee, it was referred to a working group, which considered it in 1980 but could not complete its task. The item was then moved to the Sixth Committee, which entrusted it to an open-ended working group. This working group met during every session of the General Assembly from 1981 until 1988, and slowly progressed toward the completion of its task.
All’s Well That Ends Well. Or Is It? More on the Publications of the International Court of Justice
Authors: Rosenne Shabtai
Published: April 2006

In 1987 I drew attention to a report published in 1986 by a member of the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) of the United Nations, recommending a number of changes, some of them fundamental, in the presentation by the International Court of Justice of its judgments and advisory opinions. I indicated the principal objections that the Court had expressed on those recommendations, and pointed out that the implementation of some of them could constitute violations of the Charter, of which the Statute of the Court is an integral part. The matter was also the subject of a resolution adopted on April 9, 1987, by the American Society of International Law, reproduced in part in note 30 on page 695 of my Note. It is now possible to bring the story up-to-date and close an unfortunate chapter in the history of the Joint Inspection Unit.
Constitutional Control of Military Actions: A Comparative Dimension
Authors: Damrosch Lori Fisler
Published: April 2006

Throughout history, decisions to go to war have been made by a handful of individuals in powerful positions. American constitutionalists from James Madison’s day through our own have tried to establish a better system of deciding for war, by shifting the locus of responsibility from one person to a broadly representative group. The Persian Gulf crisis has shown all too vividly what dangers lie in the persistence of processes that put awesome amounts of force at the disposition of single individuals, and how much is at stake in developing and nurturing structures of deliberation and accountability.
Prisoners of War, Civilians and Diplomats in the Gulf Crisis
Authors: Meron Theodor
Published: April 2006

Out of the long catalog of international law issues pertaining to prisoners of war, civilians and diplomats currently affected by the Persian Gulf crisis, I have selected for brief discussion a few that merit special attention.
Evolution of the Governing Law for Loan Agreements of the World Bank and Other Multilateral Development Banks
Authors: Head John W.
Published: April 2006

What is the governing law for loan agreements entered into by the World Bank and other multilateral development banks (MDBs) in carrying out their public sector lending? That question was first definitively addressed about thirty-five years ago. This article examines the question anew, against the backdrop of recent developments in practice, especially at the newest of the MDBs, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).
Judging the Security Council
Authors: Alvarez Jose E.
Published: April 2006

Should the International Court of Justice (ICJ) “judicially review” Security Council decisions? The question, once fanciful, is now being asked seriously by litigants in and judges on the World Court, nonpermanent members of the Security Council that consider it an “undemocratic” body acting as “a cloak for a new form of imperialism,” and scholars worried about its recent “quasi-legislative” or “quasi-judicial” acts. The recent throng of commentators and advocates includes students of realpolitik warning the Court against any unrealistic attempt to transform the United Nations collective security scheme into a constitutional structure of checks and balances, and legalists grasping hopefully for hints of Marbury v. Madison in recent World Court pronouncements.
European Convention on Human Rights—applicability to acts performed outside national territory— acts in Northern Cyprus possibly within Turkish jurisdiction—territorial limitation of declarations of acceptance—dynamic interpretation of provisions on enforcement
Authors: Bello Judith Hippler , Kokott Juliane , Rudolf Beate
Published: April 2006

Loizidou v. Turkey. 310 Eur. Ct. H.R. (ser. A).

European Court of Human Rights, March 23, 1995.

The applicant, a Greek Cypriot woman, stated that since July 20, 1974, Turkish troops had prevented her from returning to land in Northern Cyprus that she owned and had intended to use, inter alia, for her family home. Furdiermore, she alleged that her arrest and detention by Turkish Cypriot policemen for ten hours after she had crossed die cease-fire line in 1989, when participating in a women's march aimed at asserting the Greek Cypriot refugees’ right to return to their homes, violated her human rights. Rejecting in part die preliminary objections raised by the respondent Government, die Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights held that die facts of die case are capable of falling widiin Turkish jurisdiction as a result of die presence of Turkish troops on the territory of Cyprus, so that the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) may be applicable to these acts.
The Fiftieth Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights
Authors: Crook John R.
Published: April 2006

The fiftieth session of the UN Human Rights Commission took place in Geneva between January 31 and March 11, 1994, under the chairmanship of Peter P. van Wulfften Palthe of the Netherlands. During its annual six weeks of rhetoric and resolutions, the Commission adopted 109 resolutions and decisions, most by consensus. It adopted resolutions or took other actions addressing human rights violations in thirty countries.
The Security Council’s First Fifty Years
Authors: Kirgis Frederic L.
Published: April 2006

The provisions relating to the Security Council in the United Nations Charter of 1995 do not look much different from those in the Charter of 1945. Articles 23 and 27 were amended in 1965 to increase the membership of the Security Council from its original eleven to its present fifteen, with a corresponding change from seven to nine votes for the adoption of resolutions. No change was made in the five permanent members’ veto power over substantive matters. Article 109 was amended in 1968 to increase from seven to nine the number of votes in the Security Council needed to complement a two-thirds vote in the General Assembly for the convening of a Charter review conference. Otherwise, c’est la même chose.
The Proposed Expatriation Tax—A Human Rights Violation?
Authors: Vagts Detlev F.
Published: April 2006

Income tax law and human rights law operate in quite separate worlds, but a proposal recently presented to Congress brings them together. The Clinton administration has advocated a tax on certain unrealized capital gains of expatriates and some of its opponents have claimed that it constitutes a violation of human rights law. They evoke the hardships visited on those who fled from Nazi Germany in the 1930s and from the Soviet Union and the German Democratic Republic more recently. They assert that a similar wrong would be inflicted by this proposed tax on those who surrender United States citizenship. The reaction of this writer is that of Justice Cardozo to the charge that twentieth-century administrative practices are “Star Chamber” procedures: “Historians may find hyperbole in the sanguinary simile.”
Organogenesis of Fascicled ear mutant inflorescences in maize (Poaceae)
Authors: Orr Alan R. , Haas Gretchen , Sundberg Marshall D.
Published: April 2006

The ontogeny of staminate tassels and pistillate ears in the maize mutant Fascicled ear was examined using scanning electron microscopy. The normal pattern of inflorescence development is perturbed by the Fascicled ear mutation at the transition stage. The Fascicled ear mutation promotes the development of an abnormal transition stage axis that is both shorter and broader than the wild type. The inflorescence apical meristem then undergoes a bifurcation, and two inflorescence axes arise in place of a single axis. Each derived inflorescence apical meristem may undergo a similar perturbation sequence. This expression of the Fascicled ear mutation may be repeated one to several times, which leads to the development of a fascicled pistillate inflorescence and a fascicled central spike in the staminate inflorescence. The apical meristems of some tassel branches are also bifurcated. Subsequent organogenesis during paired‐spikelet and floral development in Fascicled ear plants follows the pattern of normal maize. However, triplet spikelets are occasionally observed. The organogenic disruption by the Fascicled ear mutation that we describe will aid genetic and molecular analysis on the regulation of inflorescence development in maize and other members of the genus Zea.
The role of the epidermis as a stiffening agent in Tulipa (Liliaceae) stems
Authors: Niklas Karl J. , Paolillo Dominick J.
Published: April 2006

We investigated the hypothesis that the epidermis is a tension‐stressed “skin” whose contribution to stem stiffness depends on the turgor pressure exerted on it by an hydrostatically inflated inner “core” of tissues. This hypothesis was tested by relying on the intensities of bending stresses due to stem flexure, which must reach their maximum levels at the outer surface of epidermis such that damage to the surface of the stem should produce the most significant decrease in overall flexural stiffness. We discerned whether the principal tension supporting members at the stem surface (cellulosic microfibrils) were oriented parallel or normal to stem length by comparing the bending stiffness of stems before and after their surface cells first received three parallel longitudinal incisions followed by one helical incision, and by comparing the bending stiffness of stems for which the sequence of cuts was reversed. The same protocol was also applied to stems with various water potentials to determine the effect of hydrostatic pressure on stem stiffness contributed by the surface. Based on the behavior of 82 turgid Tulipa stems, parallel cuts reduced, on average, stem stiffness by 8%, whereas a subsequent helical incision further reduced stiffness by 42%. In contrast, an initial helical incision reduced stem stiffness by 50%, while three subsequent parallel cuts through the same stems did not significantly further reduce stiffness. These results suggested that the net orientation of cellulose microfibrils in the outer epidermal walls was parallel to stem length. This was confirmed by microscopic observations of cells with dichroic staining and polarized light. The responses to surgical damage were directly proportional to stem water potential. We thus conclude that the epidermis, probably in conjunction with a single layer of subepidermal collenchyma cells, acts as a tension‐stiffening agent that can contribute as much as 50% to overall stem stiffness We present a simple mechanical model that can account for all our observations.
Genetic and cytological analyses of a partial‐female‐sterile mutant (PS‐1) in soybean (Glycine max; Leguminosae)
Authors: Pereira Telma N. S. , Lersten Nels R. , Palmer Reid G.
Published: April 2006

Soybean partial‐female‐sterile mutant 1 (PS‐1) was recovered from a gene‐tagging study. The objectives were to study the inheritance, linkage, allelism, and certain aspects of the reproductive biology of the PS‐1 mutant. For inheritance and linkage tests, PS‐1 was crossed to flower color mutant Harosoy‐w4 and to chlorophyll‐deficient mutant CD‐1, also recovered from the gene‐tagging study. For allelism tests, reciprocal crosses were made with PS‐1 and three other partial‐sterile mutants (PS‐2, PS‐3, and PS‐4) recovered from the same gene‐tagging study. The PS‐1 mutant is inherited in a 3:1 ratio and is a single recessive gene. Linkage results indicated that the gene for partial sterility in PS‐1 is not linked either to the w4 locus or to the CD‐1 locus. Allelism tests showed that the gene in PS‐1 is nonallelic to the gene in PS‐2, PS‐3, and PS‐4. Investigations of developing and mature pollen indicated no differences in morphology, stainability, or fluorescence between normal and partial‐sterile genotypes. The PS‐1 mutant is completely male fertile. Confocal scanning laser microscopy was used to determine that early embryo abortion in PS‐1 is due indirectly to abnormal migration of the fused polar nucleus, which prevented it from being fertilized. Subsequent absence of endosperm development leads directly to abortion of the proembryo.
Morph‐biased male sterility in the tropical distylous shrub Erythroxylum havanense (Erythroxylaceae)
Authors: Domínguez César A. , Ávila‐Sakar Germán , Vázquez‐Santana Sonia , Márquez‐Guzmán Judith
Published: April 2006

This study explores whether ecological factors, such as pollinators and pollen flow, or variation in pollen and ovule development account for the observed differences (approximately twofold) in the reproductive output of pin and thrum individuals of Erythroxylum havanense. The importance of ecological factors was assessed by means of comparison of the identity of pollinators and the rates of flower visitation, and by performing controlled hand pollinations and measurements of fruit set. In addition, we described the pollen and ovule development of thrum and pin individuals. Our results indicate that pollinators of E. havanense do not distinguish between floral morphs. The differences in fruit set between pin and thrum plants held even after hand pollination and, therefore, the observed differences in reproductive output between floral morphs of E. havanense cannot be explained in terms of asymmetrical pollen flow. There were no differences in the pattern of gynoecium development between the pin and thrum morphs, however androecium development showed marked differences between the morphs, and there was a resemblance between the developmental pathways leading to male sterility of the thrum morph of E. havanense with that of species with cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS).
Chloroplast dna restriction site study of Verbesina (Asteraceae: Heliantheae)
Authors: Panero Jose L. , Jansen Robert K.
Published: April 2006

Chloroplast DNA variation was examined for 79 species of Verbesina and 24 outgroups. Two independent analyses of the data were performed. An intergeneric study to elucidate the phylogenetic relationships of Verbesina used 22 genera, most of which are regarded in the literature as closely related to Verbesina. Coreopsis and Hymenoxys served as outgroups for this analysis. The 16 6‐bp (base pair) restriction endonucleases used in the intergeneric study revealed 263 phylogenetically informative sites. Wagner analyses of these characters resulted in four equally parsimonious trees with a length of 857 steps and a Consistency Index of 0.492. Results from this study indicate that Verbesina is monophyletic, a member of the tribe Heliantheae, and that its sister taxa are the mostly Mexican genera Podachaenium, Squamopappus, and Tetrachyron. The infrageneric study of Verbesina included species belonging to all of its infrageneric taxa, except the monotypic sect. Stenocarpha. The 17 6‐bp restriction endonucleases used in the infrageneric study revealed 137 sites 77 of which were phylogenetically informative. Wagner analyses of these characters generated 180 equally parsimonious trees with a length of 158 steps and a Consistency Index of 0.786. The genera Podachaenium, Squamopappus, and Tetrachyron served as outgroups. Two major clades, which correspond to traditional divisions of the genus based on leaf arrangement, are supported by the study. No support was found for the monophyly of seven of the 11 sections examined; further sampling of sections Lipactinia, Ochractinia, Verbesina, and Ximenesia is needed. Results support a major reassessment of the traditional infrageneric classification of the genus and provide the basis for the reevaluation of the sectional taxonomy of Verbesina. These studies support a North American origin for the genus with several independent introductions into south America producing significant diversity, especially in the Andean region.
The functional ecology of gynodioecy in Eritrichum aretioides (Boraginaceae), the Alpine Forget‐Me‐Not
Authors: Puterbaugh Mary N. , Wied Anna , Galen Candace
Published: April 2006

Eritrichum aretioides is a gynodioecious species with female and hermaphrodite individuals. In populations on Pennsylvania Mountain in central Colorado (USA), the frequency of females ranges from 22 to 41%. Flower number and the number of seeds produced per flower were similar in hermaphrodites and females. However, hermaphrodites produced larger flowers, while females produced larger seeds (P < 0.05 for both). In the field, seed germination was higher for seeds from females than for seeds from hermaphrodites (20 vs. 9% germination; P < 0.05). Unvisited flowers and open‐pollinated flowers of hermaphrodites had similar pollen receipt (° 20 pollen grains per stigma), but seed set following autogamous pollination was significantly lower than seed set following natural pollination. This finding indicates that hermaphrodites have a barrier to selfing and implies that the larger seed size and greater establishment advantage of offspring from females is unlikely to have resulted from female outcrossing advantage. Rather, differences in the quality of seed progeny between morphs probably reflect a trade‐off in sexual allocation or pleiotropic effects of the sex‐determining genes.
Leucocyanidin reductase activity and accumulation of proanthocyanidins in developing legume tissues
Authors: Skadhauge Birgitte , Gruber Margaret Y. , Thomsen Karl Kristian , von Wettstein Diter
Published: April 2006

Proanthocyanidin (PA) and anthocyanin accumulation and location in developing leaves, flowers, and seeds of the legumes Medicago sativa, Lotus japonicus, Lotus uliginosus, Hedysarum sulfurescens, and Robinia pseudacacia were investigated by quantitative measurements and by histological analysis after staining with 1% vanillin/HCl, butanol/HCl, or 50% HCl. M. sativa leaves and flowers, L. japonicus leaves, and R. pseudacacia flowers do not contain PAs, but seeds of all investigated species contain PAs. Anthocyanins are absent in the seed coats of all five species and in leaves of L. japonicus. PA content generally increases as a function of development in leaves, but declines in flowers. With the exception of H. sulfurescens, flower PAs are synthesized in the parenchyma cells of the standard petal, while anthocyanins are located in the neighboring epidermal cells. Leucocyanidin reductase (LCR) catalyzes the conversion of 2,3‐trans‐3,4‐cis‐leucocyanidin to (+)‐catechin and is the first enzyme in the PA‐specific pathway. LCR activity was only detected in PA‐containing tissues and generally declined during tissue development.
Arabidopsis (Brassicaceae) flower development and gynoecium patterning in wild type and ettin mutants
Authors: Sessions R. A.
Published: April 2006

Screening for mutations that alter flower development in Arabidopsis has led to the identification of two general types of genetic loci: those affecting meristem and organ identity, and those affecting growth and development independent of identity. ettin (ett) mutants belong to the latter class and exhibit pleiotropic phenotypes distinct from previously described Arabidopsis mutants. These phenotypes include increases in sepal and petal number, decreases in stamen number and anther locule number, and gross alteration of tissue patterning in the gynoecium. To determine when and how differences in ett floral meristems originate, flower development was compared between the wild type and ett mutants. ett floral meristems exhibit increases in abaxial sepal and petal primordia number without apparent increases in meristem size. Extra sepal and petal primordia develop into normal organs. In contrast, stamen and carpel primordia exhibit alterations in shape and form, subsequent to premature elongation of the terminal floral meristem. Phenotypes are allele‐strength dependent. The stigma develops precociously and style differentiation is basally and abaxially misplaced in ett gynoecia. The data are discussed in the context of a model suggesting that two concentric boundaries specify the apical–basal pattern of gynoecium differentiation.
Comparison of flagellated and nonflagellated sperm in plants
Authors: Southworth Darlene , Cresti Mauro
Published: April 2006

Differences among flagellated and nonflagellated sperm in land plants are striking, but close examination reveals similarities in pattern of cytoskeleton and in nuclear structure. The microtubular cytoskeleton of flowering plant sperm consists of microtubule bundles arranged obliquely around the nucleus, terminating in cellular extensions. Microtubules are linked into bundles that branch and rejoin along the axis of the sperm cell, forming a cytoskeleton that determines cell shape but does not actively participate in cell movement. Generative cells and sperm share a pattern of microtubules not found in somatic cells. This pattern is initiated in the generative cell, one division before sperm formation, a situation parallel to spermatogenous cell development in vascular plants with flagellated sperm. Chromatin in flagellated and nonflagellated sperm is condensed by specialized histones.
Extreme preformation in alpine Polygonum viviparum: an architectural and Developmental Analysis
Authors: Diggle Pamela K.
Published: April 2006

Preformation, the initiation of organs one or more years prior to maturation and function, is reported to be common and crucial for plant survival in arctic and alpine environments, yet the phenomenon is remarkably little studied. In order to understand the role of preformation in the ecology and evolution of tundra species, this investigation takes a developmental and architectural approach to the analysis of plant growth and reproduction in the alpine perennial Polygonum viviparum L. Analyses show that the extent and duration of preformation in P. viviparum are extraordinary. Four years are required for each leaf and inflorescence to progress from initiation to functional and structural maturity. This single salient feature of development has profound consequences for basic architecture, dynamics of resource allocation, and the timing of plant responses to environmental variation. As a consequence of the protracted duration of leaf and inflorescence development, five cohorts of primordia, initiated in successive years, are borne simultaneously by an individual plant. In the year prior to maturation leaves reach 30% of their maximum size, and the maximum potential reproductive output of each inflorescence is determined. Thus, developmental processes that affect final morphology and resource allocation occur at least 1 yr before functional maturity. From the developmental and architectural models constructed for P. viviparum, a 1‐yr delay in measurable plant responses to environmental variation is predicted. The models also apply generally to arctic and alpine species and provide a mechanistic explanation for observed patterns of productivity at the community and ecosystem scale.
Cockroach pollination and breeding system of Uvaria elmeri (Annonaceae) in a Lowland mixed‐dipterocarp forest in Sarawak
Authors: Nagamitsu Teruyoshi , Inoue Tamiji
Published: April 2006

Tropical forest plants are known to be pollinated by a diverse array of animals. Here we report on the pollination of a woody climber species, Uvaria elmeri (Annonaceae), by cockroaches in a lowland mixed‐dipterocarp forest in Sarawak, Malaysia. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of pollination by cockroaches. The cauliflorous flowers in the understory are protogynous and bloomed for 50 h. An odor similar to decayed wood or a mushroom was secreted by flowers and was stronger during the male stage. Pollinators were cockroaches (Blattellidae) and drosophilid flies (Drosophilidae). Cockroaches, the main pollinators, visited flowers during both female and male stages at night, feeding on stigmatic exudate and pollen. Drosophilids, the secondary pollinators, mainly visited female‐stage flowers during daytime, fed on stigmatic exudate, and laid eggs on stigmas. Neither autogamy nor self‐compatibility was observed. Fruit production appeared to be pollen‐limited. The fruit set, which was 2% of flowers in natural condition, was significantly lower than the 30% fruit set obtained by artificial cross‐pollination. We discuss the traits of cockroaches as pollinators and the breeding system of U. elmeri.