I classify my research activities into two categories, namely research on basic ecological and evolutionary principles and research towards solving existing horticultural and environmental problems.

Ecological and evolutionary principles

Land is a complex biological system built up over a long period of time and it consists of different ecosystems. All ecosystems are vulnerable to human activities, such as discharge agricultural and industrial wastes, exploitation of resources from the earth. If we want to restore a damaged land, we must understand how it functions biologically, physically, and chemically.  One of the most common components of all reclamation schemes is plant cover, usually consisting of grass and legume species.  The choice and selection of plants determine the success or failure of a land restoration project.  The knowledge regarding plant and soil interactions and bioaccumulation of various mineral elements by plants have been discovered and discussed through my research activities.

Horticulture science research

Horticulture is a combination of agricultural and environmental sciences. It emphasizes improvement the quality of human life and health through interactions between man and plants. Turf is a very popular and important component in the landscape of The United States. The turfgrass industry is a multi-million dollar industry in the United States.

Turfgrasses are the largest seed market in the U.S. At the retail level, over 350 million pounds of grass seed are planted annually for home and professional landscaping, exceeding $900 million in sales. This is almost three times the market value of seed bought for wheat plantings and almost twice the value of commercial soybean seed. For energy and water conservations, the public need turfgrass species and varieties more environmental stress resistant, including heat and drought resistant. However, because of the turfgrass industry’s reliance on a few public breeders and limited genetic resources, new products are largely “look-alike”. This, in turn, discourages private turf-seed companies from investing in the search for novel seed types. Two approaches may be considered to overcome the limitation in turfgrass breeding: either use biotechnology or look for genetic resources and species outside the range of existing turfgrass materials.

Buffalograss (Buchloe dactyloides), a robust native grass of Central and North America that covers the Great Plains, is a potentially useful material for turfgrass breeding. Under my research program, buffalograss germplasms were collected from a wide range of geographic areas from central Mexico to the North American short grass plains.

Extensive genetic variation in both morphological and physiological traits has been found within and between germplasm collections. In 1993, two vegetative propagated cultivars (‘Hilite 15’ and Hilite ‘25’) and one seed variety ‘UCHL-1’ were released for commercial production. In 2000 another new buffalograss cultivar UCD-95 (commercial name UC Verde) was patented and released for commercial production.

Inventions in Turfgrass Breeding

1994. Lin L.Wu. Released new buffalograss seed variety ‘UCHL-1’

1994. Lin L. Wu. Received patent rights for the drought and heat resistant and low maintenance vegetative propagated buffalograss variety ‘HILITE-15’, U.S. Plant Patent No. 8,896.

1994. Lin L. Wu. Received patent rights for the drought and heat resistant low maintenance vegetative propagated buffalograss variety ‘HILITE-25’, U.S. Plant Patent No. 8,897

2000. Lin L. Wu, Victor A. Gibeault. Received patent rights for the drought and heat resistant low maintenance buffalograss UCD-95 (commercial name: UCVerde). Plant Patent No. 12,910.

Graduate Student Dissertation Research Advisory Records

Thomas Henry Whitlow
1982. Ph.D.
Title of dissertation: Phenotypic plasticity and genetic differentiation in the demography of the grass Anthoxanthun odoratum.

Zhang-Zhi Huang
1982. M.S.
Title of dissertation: Salinity and selenium resistance in five grass species.

Susan Lee Usin
1983. Ph.D.
Title of dissertation: Eco physiological response to salinity in three celery related Scirpus species (Cyperaceae).

Roger T. Chetelat
1983. M.S.
Title of dissertation: Some aspects of salt tolerance in a seashore population of creeping bent grass (Agrostis stolonifera).

Arthur Leo Kruckeberg
1985. M.S.
Title of dissertation: Copper tolerance in plants colonizing inactive copper mines in California.

David R. Huff
1988. Ph.D.
Title of dissertation: The reproductive biology of Buffalograss (Buchloe dactyliods (Nutt) Engelm).

Armando Tores
1989. M.S.
Title of dissertation: Effects of comprtitiom and environmental factors on life history parameters of Lupunus albiforons Benth.

Gerit Albert Jan Platenkamp
1989. Ph.D.
Title of dissertation: Phenotypic plasticity and genetic differentiation in the demography of the grass Anthoxanthum oderatum.

Robert Emmett Preston
1990. Ph.D.
Title of dissertation: The reproductive biology of Streptanthus tortuosus (Cruciferace).

Shen-Lin Lin
1991. Ph.D.
Title of dissertation: Physiological and biochemical studies of copper tolerance in a nitrogen fixing symbiotic system of Lotus purshianus (Benth) Clem. and Clem.

Jose Felipe Biberio
1991. Ph.D.
Title of dissertation: Plant, soil interaction in a San Francisco bay salt marsh.

Hongzhan Huang
1993. Ph.D.
Title of dissertation: Effects of long-term cut-flower yield in Gerbera (Gerbera hybrid, compositae).

Hong Lin
1994. Ph.D.
Title of dissertation: Effects of salt stress on the characteristics of the root plasma membrane of the salt-sensitive and the salt-tolerant genotypes of buffalograss (Buchloe dactyloids Nutt. Emglen).

Xiaofeng Yang
1994. Ph.D.
Title of dissertation: DNA-based markers and linkage map in celery (Apium graveolens L.)

Elizabeth Joy Schaber
1994. M.S.
Title of dissertation: Salinity and nutrient effects on the germination and growth of Chrysothamnus nauseosus and Sarcobatus vermiculatus in playa dunes around Monolake, CA.

Phillip Van Mantgem
1995. M.S.
Title of dissertation: Bioremediation of seleniferous soils at Kesterson National Wildlife Refuge.

Andrew William Enberg
1995. M.S.
Title of dissertation: Selenium and sulfate effects on growth, selenium assimilation, ion secretion and ion accumulation in two saltgrass (Distichlis spicata L.) ecotypes.

George Frederic Hrusa
1995. Ph.D.
Title of dissertation: The systematics and evolution of Rododendron occidental (Torrey & Gray) A. Gray (Sectim Pentanthera: Subf. Rododendroideae;Rododendroideae;icaceae).

Ramond Randall North
1996. M.S.
Title of dissertation: Genetic divergence in populations of saltgrass (Distichjis spicata ( L.) Greene.) of a heterogeneous habitat.

Tracy Tennant
1997. M.S.
Title of dissertation: Selenium accumulation in tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) as affected by soil moisture: Implications for the remediation of selenium-concentrated soils.

Kimberley A.M. Hunter
2000. M.S.
Title of dissertation: The growth response of five California native grass species to sprinkler irrigation with saline water: Implications for landscape irrigation with recycled water.