Team Members: Daniel Khaldarov, Mia Zaidi
Felix:
1) R. Geeta, Waleed Gharaibeh. “Historical evidence for a pre-Columbian presence of Datura in the Old World and implications for a first millennium transfer from the New World.” Journal of Biosciences, no. 32: 1227-1244
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12038-007-0132-y
The authors of this article are scientists in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University and the Department of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering at the Jordan University of Science respectively. They describe how species that existed in the Old World through European transfer are still present today in the Americas. These plants have long contributed to the toxic environment that plants are surrounded by, which provides a historical perspective on why some plants are affected by a toxic natural environment. While the article does not go into detail about New York City specifically, it provides a historical outlook on particular species of plants and why the species of plants today still connect to those from centuries ago, in terms of toxicity.
2) Narayanaswamy Tamilselvan, Thirunavukkarasu Thirumalai, Prabakar Shyamala, and Ernest David. “A review on some poisonous plants and their medicinal values.” Journal of Acute Disease, no 3: 85-89
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2221618914600226
The authors of this article are scientists at the Department of Biotechnology in Thiruvalluvar University in India. They describe how certain poisonous plants have beneficial medicinal values that can actually help the environment. By removing these poisonous plants from their surroundings, it helps decrease the toxicity levels and cause the surrounding natural environment to have less of an effect on the other plants. Since we are focusing on the toxicity of plants and the environment and how they affect the overall natural state of NYC parks, this article provides insight into how these poisonous plants can actually be a benefit. This leads into an interesting twist from the BioBlitz data and structure.
3) Dickson Achimugu, Okwesili Fred Chiletugo. “Acute and Sub-Chronic Toxicity Screening of Chloroform Extract of Ficus capensis in Rats.” Journal of Phytochemistry and Biochemistry, Plant Toxicology, no 2.
https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/acute-and-subchronic-toxicity-screening-of-chloroform-extract-of-ficuscapensis-in-rats.pdf
The authors of this article are scientists at the Department of Biochemistry at Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida University and the University of Nigeria. They discuss how certain poisonous plants that were harming the environment were tested on rats to see if the different plant features were indeed toxic. They tested the chloroform levels of different plants and found that the pants actually had at most a minimal effect on the health and behavior of rats. Being able to test out plants and their effect on the environment on animals provided insight on the extent of the harm that toxicity of plants causes. This article can be used to provide a unique perspective on how plants indeed affect certain aspects of the surrounding environment, more specifically animals. It is evident that animals are affected by the toxic plants, and although this was not tested for plants in NYC, it still does give a glimpse into the plants’ environmental impact.
Mia:
1) Stegelmeier, Bryan L., Field, Reuel, Panter, Kip E., Hall, Jeffery O., Welch, Kevin D., Pfister, James A., Gardner, Dale R., Lee, Stephen T., Colegate, Steve, Davis, T. Zane, Green, Benjamin T., and Cook, Daniel. “Selected Poisonous Plants Affecting Animal and Human Health-Chapter 40.” In Haschek and Rousseaux’s Handbook of Toxicologic Pathology, 1259-314. 2013.
This chapter of the book, “Selected Poisonous Plants Affecting Animal and Human Health,” seeks to introduce some common toxic plants and describe some of the pathologic changes relating to their poisoning in animals and humans, with a focus on livestock intoxication. Such information helps us to understand the potential impact of a high population of certain toxic plants in New York City parks according to our findings.
2) Panter, Kip E., Gardner, D.R., Lee, S.T., Pfister, J.A., Ralphs, M.H., Stegelmeier, B.L., and James, L.F. “Important Poisonous Plants of the United States-Chapter 66.” In Veterinary Toxicology, 825-72. 2007.
This chapter in the book, “Important Poisonous Plants of the United States,” describes some of the most important poisonous plants in the United States-physical characteristics of these poisonous plants and characteristics of the environment which these poisonous plants are prevalent in. The identification of poisonous plants is key in conducting our research of toxic plants in New York City’s major parks.
3) National Institute for Occupational Safety Health, Issuing Body. Protecting Yourself from Poisonous Plants. NIOSH Fast Facts. 2010.
This brief informative pamphlet provides simple methods for people to avoid the harmful effects. It is important to consider how we may reduce incidences of poisoning to prevent parks with high populations of toxic plants from creating harmful effects to its visitors.
Daniel:
1) Kasson, M.T., J.R. Pollok, E.B. Benhase, and J.G. Jelesko. 2014. “First Report of Seedling Blight of Eastern Poison Ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) by Colletotrichum fioriniae in Virginia.” Plant Disease 98, no. 7: 995. https://doi.org/10.1094/PDIS-09-13-0946-PDN
This article describes the use of a fungus to stop poison ivy seeds from germinating and killing those seedlings that do with blight. This is a chemical-free alternative for killing poisonous plants.
2) Orlando-Goulart, Camila F. P., Kevin D. Welch, James A. Pfister, Daniel S. Goulart, Adilson D. Damasceno, and Stepen T. Lee. 2018. “Neurobehavioral evaluation of mice dosed with water hemlock green seeds and tubers.” Poisonous Plant Reasearch 1. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/poisonousplantresearch/vol1/iss1/1
This was a study of the toxicity of different parts of the hemlock plant. They found that the green seeds and tubers were the parts of the plant that were potent enough to induce seizures and cause death in the mice.
3) Welch, Kevin D., Kip E. Panter, Dale R. Gardner, and Bryan L. Stegelmeier. 2012. “The Good and the Bad of Poisonous Plants: an Introduction to the USDA-ARS Poisonous Plant Research Laboratory.” Journal of Medical Toxicology 8, no. 2: 153-159. doi: [10.1007/s13181-012-0215-5]
This article is an overview of the Poisonous Plant Research Laboratory, which belongs to the research division of the USDA. PPRL identifies toxic plants and their compounds, their effect on animals and develop strategies to prevent poisoning. It is mainly focused on livestock, but much of the information can also apply to human poisonings.
