A degree bound for families of rational curves on surfaces
  We give an upper bound for the degree of rational curves in a family that covers a given birational ruled surface in projective space. The upper bound is stated in terms of the degree, sectional genus and arithmetic genus of the surface. We introduce an algorithm for constructing examples where the upper bound is tight. As an application of our methods we improve an inequality on lattice polygons. 
Niels Lubbes
math.AG