ChloroFilms

Triphyophyllum peltatum the clandestine carnivorous plant
Siegfried R.H. Hartmeyer

Technical
Summary of video content: The African liana Triphyophyllum peltatum is the largest of all carnivorous plants (CP) on earth, but strange enough the rarest in cultivation. Due to civil wars and difficult conditions the Western African rainforests are poorly explored and for a long time not very much was known about the hooked leaved lianas of the botanical family Dioncophyllaceae. Thanks to the generous donation of photos from a pioneering project at the University Wuerzburg (Germany) by Dr. Jan Schlauer and Dr. Heiko Rischer, and even first video shots from the habitat in Sierra Leone by Stewart McPherson, we are now able to show the complete live-cycle of the really clandestine carnivorous plant Triphyophyllum peltatum. This film has been edited as a lecture for the European CP Conference 2008 in Mira, Italy.
Additional Information: I confirm that we (my wife Irmgard and I) own the copyright for this documentary and that we have the permission by Dr. Jan Schlauer, Dr. Heiko Rischer and Stewart McPherson to use their photos and video for our movie.

Sophisticated survival strategies of the annual Drosera
Siegfried R.H. Hartmeyer

Technical
Summary of video content: This footage shows the sophisticated survival strategies of the annual sundews. Living a full life-cycle, from germination to flowering and seed-production, within one single season needs highly effective trapping strategies to get enough protein. The sundews in section Arachnopus, Coelophylla and Thelocalyx manage that with the most prominent and fast snap-tentacles, yellow light reflecting lens-headed tentacles and other adaptations to make as much prey as possible, and to produce seeds even under bad conditions. Our film shows several pictures of these species that have never been shown before.
Additional Information: We (my wife Irmgard and I) own the copyright for this film and have permission to use the picture of Dr. Barry Rice, and the SEM images made by Dr. Regina Kettering, for our common project with Prof. Dr. Stephen Williams, to investigate the lens-tentacles of Drosera hartmeyerorum.

Enjoy Your Meal Part 1: Mice eating Nepenthes truncata
Siegfried R.H. Hartmeyer

Technical
Summary of video content: Part 1: A garden pond wich contains small peaty islands for Darlingtonia, Dionaea, Drosera and Sarracenia does not only look nicely in the early summer, as it is also soon attracting small animal carnivores as amphibes, reptiles and predatory insects like dragon flies and mantis. But there is even more to be seen when a large Roridula dentata at our balcony catches a big wasp which is immediately attacked by a hungry Pameridaea bug. And things become actually dramatically with the pictures of our multifold mice killing Nepenthes truncata.
Additional Information: We (my wife Irmgard and I) own the copyright for this video series in 2 parts.

Enjoy Your Meal Part 2: Enzyme-testing with Byblis, Drosera and Roridula
Siegfried R.H. Hartmeyer

Technical
Summary of video content: Part 2: Carnivorous plants digest their prey with proteolytic enzymes, or they profit from the enzymes in the stomache of mutualistic arthropodes living on the plant. But how is it possible to detect the enzymes. Fortunately there exists a simple and cheap adapted photo-film test for plants with sticky traps that is suitable for your own experiments or the use in schools. This film shows the procedure of the test with Byblis filifolia, Byblis liniflora, Drosera adelae, and Roridula dentata. Also possible problems with the evaluation of the test strips are discussed in detail. Well, you may understand the end of this part 2 only if you have seen part 1(smile!).
Additional Information: We (my wife Irmgard and I) own the copyright for this video series in 2 parts.

Time-Lapse Characterization of Arabidopsis Starch Metabolism Mutants
Zach Jarou

Technical, Part of a Series
Summary of video content: During the early exponential growth phase of plants, the majority of photoassimilates are reinvested into new leaf material. Leaf area, one of many growth parameters, has been examined by time-lapse photography in Arabidopsis starch metabolism mutants. The irregular shape of leaves can make measurement by traditional means difficult, especially for large numbers of plants. By taking a digital picture of the leaves to be measured, along with an object of known size, the pixel area of the leaves can be can quantified into physical units. This is accomplished using the color range and histogram tools in Adobe Photoshop. A screen capture demonstration of this process is available on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3O-V6WLw0g). The accompanying song, “Claire de Lune,” was composed by Claude Debussy and performed by pianist Van Cliburn.

Reincarnation of Trudy, a Titan arum in Berkeley
Seung Yon (Sue) Rhee

General
Summary of video content: This video shows shows the rapid growth and 'flowering' of the inflorescence of Titan arum (commonly known as the corpse plant) at the UC Botanical garden in Berkeley in June of 2009. Affectionately called 'Trudy' by the garden staff, this plant grew at an average of 2-3 inches per day for about a week until the spathe (the dark purple 'skirt' of the plant) started opening on June 23, 2009. During flowering, the plant makes rotting-flesh smell by producing stinky metabolites, putrescine and cadaverine, to attract flies and beetles to pollinate.

Out of Thin Air
Nancy Muleady-Mecham

General
Summary of video content: This is a audio/visual reading of the illustrated book, Out of Thin Air, A Story of Big Trees, by Nancy Muleady-Mecham, submitted for consideration by www.chlorofilms.org botany movie contest. It is a story about where trees com from and how important they are to the carbon cycle of our planet. Illustrated by Robert Muleady, Designed by Sandra Kim Muleady. Copyright 2009 by Nancy Muleady-Mecham.
Additional Information: The fidelity of the You Tube video does not do the film justice. It looks grainy and colorless compared to the original wmv which is available. Thank you.

Kenaf Callus Hoedown
Noah Flanigan

General
Summary of video content: Our video is intended to be a quirky and fun, yet informative demonstration on the early steps required to initiate a plant tissue culture. We employed stop motion techniques throughout the film to show seed sterilization and germination to provide axenic plant tissue for culture. This is followed by sterile dissection of cotyledon and hypocotyl regions which were placed on a complete culture medium containing MS salts, vitamins, sucrose, an auxin, and a cytokinin to generate callus. Callus growth was followed over the course of three weeks. The resulting undifferentiated tissue dances with joy at the growth potential it possesses.

A Leaf is born-The Microscopical Initiation of a Leaf through the Lens of a Scanning Electron Microscope
Md. Shafiullah

Technical
Summary of video content: Plants produce food for other living organisms through a process called photosynthesis and the factory of the produced food is the leaf. How the leaf is produced from a mass of cells is shown in this video through the lens of a scanning electron microscope. This work is the part of the research project of Md. Shafiullah who created the video in collaboration with his supervisor C. R. Lacroix, Professor of Biology at the University of Prince Edward Island, in Canada. All rights are reserved to the members of the Morphospace Laboratory, Dept. of Biology, and University of Prince Edward Island, Canada.

Venus Flytrap Video
Scott Klasek

General
Summary of video content: This video is a compilation of clips of Venus Flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) snap traps opening and closing, set to an edited version of Leonard Bernstein's Candide Overture. I selected this music because its spontaneous dynamic changes and comic, upbeat melody pair well with the abrupt movement of the snap traps. Many clips are time-lapsed, sped up, and even played backwards, and although they might not reflect the accurate, real-time movement of the traps, they clearly illustrate a few points that are often overlooked about these fantastic plants: they grow in wet, swampy conditions, their trap leaves include hairs that initiate closing once they are stimulated twice by movement, and that the traps eventually reopen after closing. These are some of the details that are to be noted, as they are not common knowledge to most people. However, given the simplicity of the video, it is intended for a general audience, and will hopefully invoke amusement and speculation into the detailed workings of this magnificent and unusual plant.
Additional Information: I hope you enjoyed it. It was fun to make!

Pollination Methods: Solanum Part 1
Karl Haro von Mogel

Technical, Part of a Series
Summary of video content: Pollination Methods: Solanum is part of a series of step-by-step, instructional videos on how to make controlled crosses with plants. The videos will cover a wide range of techniques applicable to open-pollinated, insect-pollinated, and self-pollinated crops, ranging from agronomic to horticultural species. The controlled pollination method videos are technically-oriented and are targeted to high school and college students with some background in plant biology. They will be useful for students learning about plant breeding methods, and may be of interest to backyard and commercial hybridizers of various crops. The Solanum video explains the biology and origin of tomato and potato species and how to make controlled crosses with those plants yourself. Some of the methods commercial seed producers use are mentioned, and finally, the concept of polyploidy is explained with potatoes, and how breeders take it into account when breeding new varieties.
Additional Information: This video has been split into two parts. For a full-length, higher-quality version of the video, or to download it to your computer, visit: http://www.wisconsinplantbreeding.com/educators/videos/pollination-methods-solanum/.

Pollination Methods: Solanum Part 2
Karl Haro von Mogel

Technical, Part of a Series
Summary of video content: Pollination Methods: Solanum is part of a series of step-by-step, instructional videos on how to make controlled crosses with plants. The videos will cover a wide range of techniques applicable to open-pollinated, insect-pollinated, and self-pollinated crops, ranging from agronomic to horticultural species. The controlled pollination method videos are technically-oriented and are targeted to high school and college students with some background in plant biology. They will be useful for students learning about plant breeding methods, and may be of interest to backyard and commercial hybridizers of various crops. The Solanum video explains the biology and origin of tomato and potato species and how to make controlled crosses with those plants yourself. Some of the methods commercial seed producers use are mentioned, and finally, the concept of polyploidy is explained with potatoes, and how breeders take it into account when breeding new varieties.
Additional Information: This video has been split into two parts. For a full-length, higher-quality version of the video, or to download it to your computer, visit: http://www.wisconsinplantbreeding.com/educators/videos/pollination-methods-solanum/.

Vitamin C and Water in Plants
Debbie Swarthout

General
Summary of video content: This video provides a description of the role that vitamin C plays in preventing plants from molecular damage caused by excess sunlight. Light-induced damage is a major limitation on crop productivity. This animation makes use of computational tools to produce a musical rhythym that follows part of the genomic sequence of a crucial mitochondrial enzyme that is used in the final production of Vitamin C (ascorbate) in the widely investigated mustard relative, Arabidopsis thaliana. A special set of rules was written to assign musical notes to the four genomic bases, A,T, G,C. It was fun writing the music notation from the genomic sequence. The video was created with the intention of educational use in high schools and undergraduate plant biology classrooms across the globe.