Bill Laidlaw's Page Dr. Wm. G Laidlaw Professor Emeritus (1993) * B.Sc. (Hons. Chemistry and Physics), 1959,  University of Western Ontario * M.Sc., (Physical Chemistry) 1960, California  Institute of Technology, Pasadena * Ph.D., (Theoretical Chemistry)1963, University  of Alberta Contact  Chemistry Department  University of Calgary,  Calgary Alberta Canada T2N 1N4 e-mail:  laidlaw@ucalgary.ca [more]

In the Nursery of the National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG) Lawai, Kauai, Hawaii, USA Over the last six years our focus has been the propagation of  endangered and unique species: the Amborella, an archaic species from New Caledonia, several species of the Cyanea genus endemic to Hawii and a new Kadua species,endemic to Kauai, nominally called the Haupuensis, after the region where it was found.

Cyanea: A project to enable three species of this endangered Hawaiian endemic genus to set seed Amborella: A project to produce seedlings of an archaic flowering plant. Kadua.haupuensis: A study of the reproductive biology of an endangered species.

In the Douglas fir forest (Pseudotsuga menziesii Franco)  of the Columbia/Kootenay Valley in British Columbia, Canada  A ten year study of the dynamics of Douglas fir bark beetles (Dendroctonus pseudotsugae Hopkins) in response to aggregation  and anti aggregation pheromones  (with Hal Wieser)

Douglas fir bark beetle attack in Douglas fir forests Forest management: Using aggregation pheromones to  smonitor and control the attack phase of the Douglas -fir bark beetle  :Protection of high value forests The dynamics of the consolidation phase of the Douglas -fir bark beetle Computer simulations: The attack of Douglas fir  beetles on stands of Douglas fir

In Hawaii and the Islands of the South Pacific For over fifteen year we have built mathematical and computer models of the chemical and biological processes that occur in quarantine heat treatment of fruit (with colleagues at the University of Hawaii, the USDA Hilo, HORT (NZ), New Caledonia and MARDI, Malaysia).

Mortality of  four fruit fly species exposed to quarantine heat treatments in Hawai Increased resistance to heat (conditioning) of fruit flies exposed to non lethal temperatures prior to quarantine heat treatments  Degradation of ripening enzymes in papaya subject to heat treatment quarantine                     .

Return