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Lee Tarpley |
Associate Professor |
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Mailing Address: |
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1509 Aggie Drive |
Beaumont, TX
77713 |
Phone &
Fax: |
(409) 752-2741 Ext. 2235 &
(409) 752-5560
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E-Mail:
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ltarpley@tamu.edu |
Office
Location: |
Beaumont Center |
Education: |
Ph.D., Plant Physiology,
Texas A&M University, 1993 |
M.S., California State
University, Plant Science, 1987 |
B.A., University of Wyoming,
Botany, 1980 |
Professional
Experience:
2001-Present:Texas
A&M University, Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, , Plant
Physiology, Assistant Professor
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2001-2005:Texas
A&M University, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Soil
and Crop Sciences, Plant Physiology, Assistant Professor
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1999-2001: Visiting
Research Scientist, Mississippi State University, Plant and Soil
Sciences, Remote Sensing and Crop Physiology
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1997-1999:
Postdoctoral Researcher, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Plant
Biochemistry & Physiology
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1996-1997:
Postdoctoral Crop Physiologist, Texas A&M University, Soil and
Crop Sciences
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1993-1996:
Postdoctoral Plant Physiologist, Texas A&M University, Soil and
Crop Sciences
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1992-1993: Research
Plant Biochemist, Texas A&M University, Biochemistry and
Biophysics
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Responsibilities:
Research
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I am a plant physiologist, and primarily work
with crop plants. Plant physiology looks at the plant as an organism
and seeks to understand the interactions among the different parts
of the plant, and how these interactions are influenced by
development of the plant, environmental factors, and genetics.
Because I work with crop plants, I further seek to advantageously
manipulate the interactions among the plant parts (for example to
increase yield of a particular part), identify ways to minimize
adverse effects of the environment with respect to crop production,
and develop new interventions, e.g. through crop management or
breeding, to achieve desired goals in crop production.
Crop yield, whether in the form of the grain of a cereal crop or the
biomass of a large tropical grass, is in some sense a chemical yield
(e.g. starch or cellulose), and demonstrates that the interactions
among plant parts is at once chemical and physical. I focus mainly
on the chemical aspects of the interactions because of the obvious
connections to yield, and use research methods that are
comprehensive in some sense. For example, the ?omics? seek to
comprehensively profile the expression of genes, proteins,
metabolites, ions, or other classes of compounds. As another
example, when I can study events inside the plant instead of in
excised tissue or extracts of the plant material, then I can make
fairly strong statements that the event is happening in a particular
way. Or if I examine a particular set of chemical throughout the
growth of a plant part, then I can partially establish the role of
the set of chemicals in that growth.
Crops grow in the field, and are exposed to many environmental
factors (temperature, solar radiation imbalance, water deficit or
surplus) that can greatly affect their yield. These effects are
usually indirect, but are determinable. I take two different
approaches when studying the effects of environmental factors. One
is to alter the factors individually or in controlled combinations,
then study the plant response; the other is to develop methods that
allow me to nondestructively measure certain plant responses.
Knowing how the environmental factor affects the plant is the first
step, but if I am to help the agricultural industry then I must
identify ways to minimize the effect, either through interventions
in crop management or in breeding.
An intervention in crop management is not useful unless it improves
an aspect of crop production, usually profitability and/or
sustainability. For example, an effective intervention might be an
inexpensive way to boost crop growth leading to better yield, or
perhaps a way to maintain the yield while lowering the costs of
production, or perhaps the identification of ineffective
interventions that can be avoided.
As a plant physiologist working on crop plants, I am sometimes
positioned to conduct research that directly translates into
improved crop production, but quite a bit of what I do also involves
answering questions about how the crop plants work. These questions
are often quite basic, but are ones for which I think the answer
will be useful in improving crop production. These might be
questions that are understudied about chemical processes that are
pivotal to how a crop plant operates in producing the product of
yield, or might be about environmental factors that are silent
effectors of yield.
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Teaching
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My primary goal is to teach the plant physiology
of crop plants. A major objective is to teach how to synthesize
knowledge of biological levels above and below that of the organism.
Most students in the plant sciences train at the ecological (e.g.
ecology, agronomy) or cellular/sub-cellular levels (e.g. cell
biology, biochemistry). When I teach a course, I want to bring
students together with these different backgrounds in addressing
problems in improving crop production and genetics. These problems
are multi-disciplinary in the real world, and very fruitful to treat
as such in the classroom. The benefit of this goes beyond mimicking
the real world. It encourages synthesizing the knowledge of the
various biological levels by the individual students, which promotes
an understanding of the important physiological, ecological, and
genetic factors to manipulate when improving crop plants and their
production, and which of these are best manipulated by changes to
management, via classical plant breeding, via marker-assisted plant
breeding, or through genetic engineering.
When I advise a graduate student, I want to encourage her/his skills
at synthesizing knowledge from biological levels surrounding the
organism. Most students in physiology lean toward one end or the
other of the spectrum of biological levels, and I need to encourage
their awareness of the value of their research at the organismal
level. I especially like to teach graduate students about how to
study the effects of understudied potential yield-detrimental
environmental factors on the physiology, growth, development, and
yield of crop plants, and how to continuously consider possible
(practical and economical) interventions in crop management to
minimize the yield effects of the environmental factors. These
near-term interventions are potentially very useful because genetic
improvements to minimize environmental effects typically take a
number of years to bring to practice.
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Service |
As a plant physiologist, primarily working with
crop plants, I need to participate and be useful to the communities
of scientists studying plant physiology and/or crop science (for
example, by being an officer in scientific societies or editing or
reviewing manuscripts and proposals), to participate in
multi-disciplinary efforts addressing issues of scientific,
academic, and/or regional importance when my expertise in plant
physiology and crop science is beneficial. I also need to
participate in team-building exercises at the
university/system-level that facilitate the ability to attract
resources for multi-disciplinary efforts.
Because I work primarily with crop plants, and seek to provide
findings useful for the agricultural community, I need to convey my
findings to extension agents, consultants, farmers and other members
of the industry by authoring technical articles, and through
presentations reaching a wide audience of end users.
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Professional
Affiliates and Project Formalized Development:
1. American Society of Plant Biologists.
Member for many years |
2. Botanical Society of America.
Member
off and on over the years |
3. Crop Science Society of America.
Member
for many years |
4. North American
Chapter of the International Chemometrics Society. Member about 8
years |
5. Rice Technical
Working Group (the major U.S. rice science society). Officer |
6. Member. M
Holtzapple, M Ehsani (founding directors) Center being established for
?Renewable energy and sustainable transportation systems? TAMUS TEES |
7. Principal
Investigator: L Tarpley, LT Wilson, M Holtzapple, JM Gould, J Da
Silva, J Outlaw, R Fjellstrom, Y Yang, M-H Chen, K Li, H Lu, MO Way, T
Tew, W Rooney, J Dahlberg. Transforming the economy of the Texas Gulf
Coast through the development of bioenergy industries. Response to
Texas A&M BioEnergy Alliance RFI |
8. Principal
Investigator. L Tarpley, S Tichy, T Mahavier. Fluxomics of biomass
accumulation in grass/cane bioenergy crops. Response to Texas A&M
BioEnergy Alliance RFI. Fluxomics provides a comprehensive view of
the major metabolic paths being utilized |
9. Founding Member. BioEnergy Alliance of
Southeast Texas. The Southeast Texas region has been among the most
active in organizing the efforts to create awareness of the many
advantages of the region for development of bioenergy industry,
encourage investment interest in the bioenergy industry in the region,
and provide an organized source of information for potential
investors. The BioEnergy Alliance of Southeast Texas was formed to
specifically address these functions. Members of the Alliance
represent diverse sectors of the regional economy, including the
Chamber of Commerce, the regional planning commission, the Port of
Beaumont, the economic development team of our regional energy
company, a large petrochemical company, a company that constructs
large industrial facilities, the local university, the Texas A&M
Center, and local agricultural producers |
Service
Activities:
Funding
Received:
Funding Received - Highlights |
? Brought in $7.2 million in grants for research |
? Brought in $6 million since coming to Texas A&M |
? Brought in more than $2 million to my program over
my career |
? Brought in close to $1.6 million to my program
since coming to Texas A&M |
? Active in proposal development ? having
participated in ca. 84 proposals, with half as PI, including 17 for
federal funding |
? Part of team obtaining a large ($5,323,284) NSF
grant with Purdue and Dartmouth, including more than $900,000 going
to the at
Beaumont (SR Pinson and L Tarpley, co-investigators).
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Funding Received |
1. 1985. Principal Investigator. L Tarpley. Graduate
Student Research Grant. Calif. $550. Internal competitive |
2. 1989 to 1990. Principal Investigator. L Tarpley.
Tom Slick Research Fellowship in Agriculture. Texas A&M University.
$12,000. Internal competitive |
3. 1996 to 1997. Co-author. J.T. Cothren, L. Tarpley.
Postdoctoral Research in cotton physiology to improve efficacy of
harvest aids. Ciba. $15,000. Non-competitive |
4. 1996 to 1997. Co-author. J.T. Cothren, L. Tarpley.
Postdoctoral research in cotton physiology to improve efficacy of
harvest aids. Elf Atochem. $15,000. Non-competitive |
5. 1996 to 1997. Co-author. J.T. Cothren, L. Tarpley.
Postdoctoral research in cotton physiology to improve efficacy of
harvest aids. Zeneca. $15,000. Non-competitive |
6. 1997. Co-author. J.T. Cothren, L. Tarpley. Field
evaluation of potential harvest aids. Company-sponsored. $3,000.
Non-competitive |
7. 1997 to 1998. Co-author. J.T. Cothren, L. Tarpley.
Postdoctoral research in cotton physiology to improve efficacy of
harvest aids. Elf Atochem. $22,500. Non-competitive |
8. 1997 to 1998. Co-author. J.T. Cothren, L. Tarpley.
Postdoctoral research in cotton physiology to improve efficacy of
harvest aids. Novartis. $22,500. Non-competitive |
9. 1997 to 1998. Co-author. J.T. Cothren, L. Tarpley.
Postdoctoral research in cotton physiology to improve efficacy of
harvest aids. Zeneca. $15,000. Non-competitive |
10. 1999 to 2001. Co-Investigator. Principal Author.
K.R. Reddy, L. Tarpley, F. Whisler. Process-based system for
reliable remote sensing of agronomic plant nutrition, growth
regulation, water stress and insect pressure. NASA-MSU Remote
Sensing Technologies Center. $474,139, of which $358,002 to Reddy/Tarpley
project
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11. 2001. Project Leader. L. Tarpley. Eden
BioSciences. $10,000. Gift |
12. 2001 to 2004. Co-Investigator, Principal Author.
K.R. Reddy, L. Tarpley. Remote monitoring of crop physiology and
growth parameters: Development and validation of reliable
algorithms. NASA-MSU Remote Sensing Technologies Center. $600,000.
Wrote proposal before moving to Texas A&M. Project stayed in
Mississippi |
13. 2001. Principal Investigator. L. Tarpley.
Physiology research to improve combined first and second crop yield.
Texas Rice Research Foundation. $41,515.
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14. 2002. Principal Investigator. L. Tarpley.
Equipment Grant for Oxygen Sensors. Texas Rice Research Foundation.
$1,510
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15. 2002. Principal Investigator. L. Tarpley. Rice
Physiology. Texas Rice Research Foundation. $45,345
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16. 2002 to 2004. Principal Investigator. L. Tarpley.
Physiology of Rice Hybrids. RiceTec, Inc. $45,000. Non-competitive
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17. 2003. Principal Investigator. L. Tarpley. Rice
Physiology Research. Texas Rice Research Foundation. $49,527
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18. 2004. Principal Investigator. L. Tarpley.
Physiological Bases for Texas Rice Ratoon Crop Management. Texas
Rice Research Foundation. $35,000 |
19. 2005. Project Leader. L. Tarpley. Valent. $1500.
Gift |
20. 2005. Principal Investigator. L. Tarpley. Plant
physiology research. Texas rice ratoon crop management and
prevention of losses in yield and quality due to environmental
stresses. Texas Rice Research Foundation. $47,481 |
21. 2005. Project Leader. L. Tarpley, F. Turner, M.
Jund, Evaluation of new rice varieties, herbicide resistant
varieties and hybrids for main and ratoon crop production in Texas.
Texas Rice Research Foundation. $40,000. with $40,000 to my program
of which Jund is part and knowing that Turner was retiring |
22. 2005. Project Leader. L. Tarpley, F. Turner, M.
Jund. $3,000. Transfer of funds from G. McCauley for support of his
research in Beaumont. With $3,000 to my program of which Jund is
part and knowing that Turner was retiring |
23. 2005. Project Leader. L. Tarpley, F. Turner, M.
Jund. $2,500. Transfer of funds from L. Nelson for support of his
research in Beaumont. With $2,500 to my program of which Jund is
part and knowing that Turner was retiring |
24. 2005 to 2006. Project Leader. L. Tarpley, F.
Turner, M. Jund. Evaluation and validation studies with rice
hybrids. RiceTec. $22,000. Non-competitive. With $22,000 to my
program of which Jund is part and knowing that Turner was retiring |
25. 2005 to 2006. Project Leader. L. Tarpley, F.
Turner, M. Jund. Evaluation of subsurface banded fertilizer
application for rice production. National Fluid Fertilizer
Foundation. $6,000. with $6,000 to my program of which Jund is part
and knowing that Turner was retiring |
26. 2006. Project Leader. L. Tarpley. RiceTec.
$24,200. Gifts |
27. 2006. Principal Investigator. L. Tarpley. Plant
physiology research. Texas rice ratoon crop management and
prevention of losses in yield and quality due to environmental
stresses. Texas Rice Research Foundation. $49,981
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28. 2006. Project Leader. L. Tarpley. $3,000.
Transfer of funds from G. McCauley for support of his research in
Beaumont |
29. 2006. Project Leader. L. Tarpley. $2,000.
Transfer of funds from L. Nelson for support of his research in
Beaumont |
30. 2006. Principal Investigator. L. Tarpley, M. Jund.
Varietal evaluations and characterization and nutrient management
improvement for Texas production practices. Texas Rice Research
Foundation. $46,000. with $46,000 to my program of which Jund is
part |
31. 2007. Project Leader. L. Tarpley. RiceTec.
$13,300. Gift |
32. 2007. Principal Investigator: L Tarpley. Plant
physiology research to improve Texas rice main and ratoon crop
yields. Texas Rice Research Foundation. $47,230.
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33. 2007. Principal Investigator: L Tarpley, MF Jund.
Varietal evaluations and characterization and nutrient management
improvement for Texas production practices. Texas Rice Research
Foundation. $46,000. with $46,000 to my program of which Jund is
part |
34. 2007-2011. Co-investigator. SR Pinson, L Tarpley.
TAES subcontract to Purdue. Within DE Salt, ML Guerinot, SR Pinson.
TRMS: Ionome to the genome: Mapping the gene networks controlling
nutrient content in rice grain. NSF, $5,323,284. with $902,141 to my
program |
35. Various dates from 2001. Equipment as donations
or external equipment grants to the Center (when I have primary
responsibility in developing proposal and supervising use),
including microplate spectrophotometer with UV, kinetics capability
and temperature control (2001); tractor for shared use by
researchers (2004); total organic carbon analyzer (2001),
colorimeter (2001), and miscellaneous minor equipment (mostly 2001).
$96,000. Gifts-In-Kind |
Current Publications:
(If you want to view all the publications, please click Here
)
? Tarpley L, Duran
AL, Kebrom TH, Sumner LW. 2005. Biomarker metabolites capturing the
metabolite variance present in a rice plant developmental period.
BMC Plant Biology 5:8 (31 May 2005). First comprehensive
metabolomics study with rice. One of first metabolomics studies
examining plant development
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? Tarpley L,
Sassenrath GF. 2006. Carbohydrate profiles during cotton floral bud
(square) development. J. Agron. Crop Sci. 192:363-372. Good
cotton bloom is important for good boll set. Describes mechanism of
bloom (i.e., of rapid bud expansion)
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? Turner FT, Jund
MF, Tarpley L*. 2006. Nitrogen efficiency is increased through
banded fluid fertilizer in rice production. Online. Crop Management.
Doi: 10.1094/CM-2006-0323-01-RS. Adopting this practice can
increase profitability for farmers. (This journal retains the
doi numbers)
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? Way MO, Reay-Jones FPF,
Stout MJ, Tarpley L. 2006. Effects of nitrogen fertilizer applied
before permanent flood on the interaction between rice and rice
water weevil (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). J. Econ. Entomol.
99:2030-2037.
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? Mohammed AR, Rounds E,
Tarpley L*. 2007. Response of rice (Oryza sativa L.) tillering to
sub-ambient levels of ultraviolet-B radiation. J. Agron. Crop Sci.
193:324-335. OnLine Early: doi: 10.1111/j.1439-037X.2007.00268.x.
Low UV conditions are not unusual in crop fields. Showed that low UV
can depress yield
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? Reay-Jones FPF, Way MO,
Tarpley L. 2007. Nitrogen fertilization at the rice panicle
differentiation stage to compensate for rice water weevil (Coleoptera:
Curculionidae) injury. Crop Protection: Doi:
10.1016/j.croprp.2007.04.009
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? Rounds EW, Mohammed AR,
Tarpley L*. 2007. Gibberellin applied to the main crop increases
ratoon-crop yield. Online. Crop Management: Doi:
10.1094/CM-2007-0417-01-RS. Adopting this practice can increase
profitability for farmers.
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? Tarpley L, Roessner U.
2007. Metabolomics: enabling systems-level phenotyping in rice
functional genomics. p. 91-107 in NM Upadhyaya (ed.) Rice
functional genomics ? challenges, progress and prospects. Springer,
NY. Rice is an important model species for functional genomics.
Metabolomics is rapidly emerging as important field in functional
genomics because it helps link genes to phenotype. This is the first
review of rice metabolomics research. The book has a prestigious
international set of authors
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? Tarpley L, Vietor DM.
2007. Compartmentation of sucrose during radial transfer in mature
sorghum culm. BMC Plant Biology 7:33 (20 June 2007). Shows that
sorghum accumulates sugar in the stem using a different mechanism
than its close relative ? sugarcane. Implications for improving
sorghum sugar accumulation, as well as sorghum biomass potential
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Teaching:
Consulting (Industrial
Relevance):
Suggest improved
management practices for crop production |
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