Life Sciences Commons^™

Summer 2024 Research Proposal: Swanberg Sanctuary Prairie Plant Community Characterization And Management Testing, Jillian Becksfort

Scholar Week 2016 - present

Prairie management is an involved process that is focused on maintaining existing grassland plant and animal communities. Invasive species and the spread of woody shrubs and trees presents a real threat to the existing prairie. Woody stems can affect resources such as water access and nutrient availability, which may cause changes to the prairie’s unique plant communities. Management techniques like burning and mowing are commonly used to prevent woody stems from causing changes to the prairie ecosystem. The Sanctuary was restored to natural prairie habitat in 2008 and a list of planted species is available. However, no plant surveys have …

Stratification Of Potassium And Phosphorus In Tillage Vs. No-Till Systems And Uptake In Corn (Zea Mays) In Western Kentucky, Ava Isaacs, Kyle Krieger, Christopher Powell

Scholars Week

There are 12 nutrients essential for plant growth, two of these are phosphorus and potassium. The demand and need for these nutrients are very high in agricultural systems including corn. Phosphorus stimulates root and shoot growth and is essential for seedling growth and stability. Potassium increases tolerance to water stress, as well as resistance to disease, these are both critical in terms of soil fertility and in determining what fertilizers to apply as well as the amount of fertilizer needed. Both nutrients are not readily available for plant uptake in the soil and are largely lost during harvest, which could …

Lai As Affected By Flashing-Light Interception With Corn And Soybeans, Josh W. Pohl, Jondavid Mcclanahan, Jake Eaker

Scholars Week

LAI as Affected by Flashing-Light Interception With

Corn (Zea mays) and Soybeans (Glycine max)

Corn (Zea mays) and Soybean (Glycine max) are both staple crops in global agriculture. With growing concern regarding food security and production, indoor cultivation of corn and soybean plants has become a question of interest. This study looks at the application of different lighting regimes for corn and soybeans and effects on development. Light that can be used by plants is called photosynthetically active radiation (PAR). PAR is the solar radiation range of energy that plants use for …

Soil Properties Associated With Land Management Practices In Western Kentucky, Ava Isaacs, Gracey Moffitt

Scholars Week

Soil Properties Associated with Land Management Practices in Western Kentucky

1. A. Isaacs, G. Moffitt, W. Sides, and Corey Hale

Mentor: Dr. I.P. Handayani

Hutson School of Agriculture, Murray State University, Kentucky, USA

Abstract

One of the most important factors regarding soil and plant health is nutrient availability and fertility. Of these two factors that were mentioned available potassium is a key component. With that being said we decided that it would be beneficial to see how potassium can be traced within the soil in various locations after fertilizer is applied. There were two parts to this experiment. Part one was …

Foliar Application Of Acetic Acid And Effectiveness Against Drought At Different Time Points In Soybean (Glycine Max) Development, Miranda Rudolph, Megan Taylor Phd.

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Drought is arguably the most serious environmental factor affecting crop production today. A plant's response to drought stress is extremely complex, affecting numerous metabolic pathways that are all interconnected in their responses. Due to this complex nature, scientists do not fully understand the implications of different treatments and how they affect these processes. Acetic acid has been shown to improve plant growth and resistance to drought stress, but exactly how it accomplishes this is also unknown. Soybeans (Glycine max) are one of the most important crops worldwide and can suffer significant yield loss due to drought stress. As climate change …

Foliar Application Of Acetic Acid And Effectiveness Against Drought At Different Time Points In Soybean Development, Miranda Rudolph

Scholars Week

Abstract

Drought is arguably the most serious environmental factor affecting crop production today. A plants response to drought stress is extremely complex, affecting numerous metabolic pathways that are all interconnected in their responses. Due to this complex nature, scientists do not fully understand the implications of different treatments and how they affect these processes. Acetic acid has been shown to improve plant growth and resistance to drought stress, but exactly how it accomplishes this is also unknown. Soybeans (Glycine max) are one of the most important crops worldwide and can suffer significant yield loss due to drought stress. As climate …

Fungal Co-Pathogenicity On Panax Quinquefolius, Andrea Ong

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) is a perennial crop commonly grown for its medicinal properties. Ginseng replant disease (GRD) is a condition that prevents the re-cultivation of ginseng in previous ginseng gardens and is normally associated with extensive root rot caused by the fungus Ilyonectria mors-panacis. My project aims to investigate the relationship common GRD fungal pathogens and their pathogenicity on 1 year old ginseng seedlings.

A Bacterial Microbiome Analysis Of Solarized Ginseng Garden Soils, Anka Colo

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

American ginseng (Panax quinquefolius) is a highly valued perennial crop grown for its roots during a four-year cultivation cycle. American ginseng is subject to ginseng replant disease (GRD) in which severe root rot develops in newly planted ginseng grown in a former ginseng garden. A common strategy to mitigating GRD is not available and techniques such as fumigation, fungicides, and biocontrol are ineffective, banned, or are slowly being phased out. Alternatively, soil solarization is a pre-plant technique used to treat soil to reduce disease inoculum and alter soil microbiomes. In summer 2019, a six-week soil solarization experiment was …

Genetic Diversity In Helianthus Annuus: Selective Breeding And Induced Mutagenesis, Dillon Holton

Thinking Matters Symposium

H. annuus, more commonly known as the sunflower, is a single species that has many different variations. Traits have been selectively bred for hundreds of years in order to produce a beautiful flower as well as essential agricultural products. Recently interest in the sunflower as a food and fuel crop has led to selective breeding of seeds that produce high yields of sunflower oil. To further push the limits of this plant's genome, researchers have used mutagenesis to force mutations in hopes of developing novel modifications that could increase yield. With the entire genome mapped, the goal for many research …

The Plant And The Pathogen: Elucidating The Relationship Between Root-Knot Nematodes, Ph Levels, And Arabidopsis Thaliana Development, Rachel Garnett

Student Scholar Showcase

Root-knot nematodes (RKNs) within the Meloidogyne genus are considered one of the largest threats to plant health and subsequent crop yield and profit (Forghani and Hajihassani 2020; Bernard et al. 2017). As a pest that presents global consequences, its mitigation through sustainable interventions may confer results for the treatment of similar plant pathogens. A member of the Brassicaeae family, Arabidopsis thaliana, was chosen for this study to determine plant responses to RKN-standard pH media. pH was varied between control and experimental groups, and phenotypic variables of primary root length and plant height were observed and analyzed. Wild-type Arabidopsis thaliana …

Thermal Tolerances Of The Invasive Macrophyte Hydrilla Verticillata, Joshua Williams

Graduate Research Showcase

Invasive species often rapidly spread due to their ability to adapt to a wide range of habitats they can occupy and lack of competition. Hydrilla verticillata is an invasive aquatic macrophyte that has spread across the United States due to human activities. Like many aquatic plants, Hydrilla has the ability to reproduce through fragmentation of the mother plant. In this method, Hydrilla fragments are then dispersed by water current to other areas where they can settle and grow. To date, little is known about the abiotic conditions that may restrict the spread of invasive Hydrilla. However, compared to other macrophytes …

Optimization Of Dna Extraction From Difficult Sandy-Loam Soils, Anka Colo

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Ginseng is a high value perennial crop grown for its roots. A four-year cultivation cycle is required to obtain marketable ginseng roots, during which a condition called ginseng replant disease (GRD) develops. GRD is characterized by a severe root rot disease, and prevents the growth of newly planted ginseng in a former ginseng garden1. Microbiome analysis of ginseng garden soil will help our understanding of the formation of GRD and its severity. However, extracting DNA from the sandy-loam soils required for ginseng cultivation is difficult. Commercial kits are either too expensive or not applicable to the large volumes of soil …

Using Wgcna For Comprehensive Understanding Of Genes Involved In Suberin Biosynthesis From Rna-Seq Data Analysis, Stephanie Wu

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Suberin is a heteropolymer comprising a cell wall-bound poly(phenolic) domain (SPPD) covalently linked to a poly(aliphatic) domain (SPAD) that is deposited between the cell wall and plasma membrane (Woolfson 2018). Previous studies have measured phenolic and/or fatty acid compounds in suberized tissues, and for many of these the biosynthesis is known, However, restricting analyses to only those biomolecules that are known does not yield new information about other genes that may be involved. This experiment serves to identify suberin associated gene clusters within Modules, based on an analysis of their expression patterns using Weighted Gene Correlation Network Analysis (WGCNA). Once …

Photographs Of Seaweeds In Intertidal Monitoring Plots, 2020, David M. Burdick, Gregg Moore

Jackson Estuarine Laboratory

Records of photographs of intertidal seaweed sampling plots for cover (50 by 50 cm) and biomass (25 by 25 cm) collected by Jackson Estuarine Laboratory research staff in 2020.

Subtidal Seaweed And Eelgrass Monitoring Photographs 2020, David M. Burdick, Gregg E. Moore

Jackson Estuarine Laboratory

Records of photographs of subtidal seaweed and eelgrass sampling plots for cover (50 by 50 cm) collected by Jackson Estuarine Laboratory research staff in 2020.

A Guide To Freshwater Aquariums, Noah Savastano

Senior Honors Projects

The objective of this project was to create a complete guide, useful for someone of any aquarium expertise level, describing how to set up and care for an aquarium. This guide explains the science behind processes involved in setting up and maintaining an aquarium. It also educates the reader on how to properly prioritize the safety of the fish. A full text was first created including all relevant information gathered from scholarly texts and online sources. Original photographs were incorporated as a supplement to the text. Fish and aquatic plants were drawn to further illustrate the concepts that were described …

Great Bay Estuary Subtidal Seaweed And Seagrass Sampling Photographs 2019, David M. Burdick, Gregg Moore

Jackson Estuarine Laboratory

Led by Dr. Gregg Moore, cover of sub-tidal seaweed and eelgrass was sampled using remote video. Nine images were clipped for each of three sample areas (replicates) for four locations around Great Bay and herein is a record of the photographs.

Great Bay Estuary Intertidal Seaweed Plot Photographs 2019, David M. Burdick

Jackson Estuarine Laboratory

Records of photographs of intertidal seaweed sampling plots for cover (50 by 50 cm) and biomass (25 by 25 cm) collected by Jackson Estuarine Laboratory staff and volunteers in June, August and October 2019. Many of the photos were taken by Coastal Research Volunteers, a SeaGrant Extension project led by Wells Costello.

Spanish Immersion And Soil Research At The Monteverde Institute In Monteverde, Costa Rica, Donna J. Riner

Annual Student Research Poster Session

No abstract provided.

Determining The Functions Of Novel Genes Required For Photosynthesis, Gillian Gomer, Moshe Kafri, Martin Jonikas

Gillian Gomer

Effects Of Invasive Species On Post-Fire Ceanothus Spinosus Seedling Establishment, Nina Duchild, Frank W. Ewers, Stephen D. Davis

Featured Research

This study compared seedling establishment of the native chaparral species Ceanothus spinosus in two different burn sites at Pepperdine University following the Woolsey Fire of November 2018. One site was a low-density fuel site, and experienced a “cool burn,” and the other site was a high-density fuel site and experienced a “hot burn.” In the low-density fuel site, fire type-conversion had occurred, resulting in a dominance of exotic species. The high-density fuel site was populated by many native fire-following species and chaparral shrubs, exemplifying pristine post-fire conditions. Initially, I hypothesized that seedling success in the cool burn site would be …

Seedling And Resprout Survival Of Three Chaparral Species Following Woolsey Wildfire, Karagan L. Smith, Stephen D. Davis

Featured Research

Fire is a common natural disaster that effects Southern California. Combined with recent chronic drought, there has been an increase in the damage and frequency of these fires in recent years. Three chaparral species are common to the Pepperdine campus: Malosma laurina, Ceanothus spinosus, and Ceanothus megacarpus. The survival of these native species is essential because they are indicators for the changes that are occurring in our local ecosystem and provide further implications of how our ecosystem responds to natural disaster. Seedling recruitment and resprouting are mechanisms these chaparral species use to reestablish postfire. Postfire data have been recorded …

Post-Fire Soil Microbiome Recovery And Respiration In A Chaparral Ecosystem, Mari R. Irving, Stephen D. Davis

Featured Research

This study characterizes post-fire recovery of microbial and fungal populations adjacent to three keystone chaparral plant species affected by varying burn intensities via systematic measurement of soil respiration. The CO₂ released from soil surrounding Ceanothus spinosus, Heteromeles arbutifolia and Malasma laurina affected by mild, severe or no heat during the Woolsey Fire of November 2018 were monitored and used as an indicator of microbial, fungal, and root activity. We hypothesized that soil which experienced less intense heat would exhibit higher rates of respiration based on preliminary data taken in March 2019. However, the opposite was observed from May through …

Photosynthetic Response Of Pentagramma Triangularis To Summer Desiccation, Brandon R. Grinovich, Stephen D. Davis

Featured Research

Ferns are thought to have been some of the first vascular plants to develop, perhaps on the order of 390 million years ago. Since then, ferns have speciated and developed innovative methods of survival especially in relation to water stress. Research conducted in 2016 by Helen Holmlund showed that eight California fern species fell into four primary classes of survival strategies, one of those being resurrection. Pentagramma triangularis is one of the resurrection-type ferns and is endemic to the western coast of the United States. As P. triangularis desiccates during the summer it enacts a physiological response by which it …

The Impact Of The Woolsey Fire On The Fungus Botryosphaeria Dothidea, Juan Arguijo

Featured Research

Southern California suffered a six-year drought in 2012 through 2018 during which the laurel sumac, Malosma laurina, experienced water stress and the fungus Botryosphaeria dothidea began to kill this plant, causing a massive dieback of this keystone chaparral species in the Santa Monica Mountains. Botryosphaeria is an opportunistic endophytic fungus that invades the xylem of woody type plants and waits till the plant starts to experience stress to proliferate. In November of 2018, the Woolsey fire burned up to 96,000 acres of vegetation. I ran tests at two sites on the Pepperdine University campus, the Baxter Ridge Site which …

Heteromeles Arbutifolia Associated Post-Fire Soil Microbiome Recovery And Respiration In A Chaparral Ecosystem, Gabrielle Boeger, Lauren Dedmon, Emma Thomsen, Alexander Soloniuk

Featured Research

The purpose of this post-Woolsey Fire project is to examine the relationship between soil respiration in areas of cool burns and hot burns relative to individuals of Heteromeles Arbutifolia. It was hypothesized that the soil subjected to a cooler burn would have greater respiration rates due to increased survival of microorganisms compared to a hotter burn. An Li-6800 CO2 Flux Chamber was used to collect measurements for several replicates. Significance was detected in the “Day 3” data, with the soil respiration higher at the cool burn site. Temperature and soil flux also varied directly. In the future experiments including increasingly …

Soil Respiration In Burned And Unburned Sites Of The Santa Monica Mountains, Sydney C. Jones, Micah S. Kim, Sierra H. Ball, Stephen D. Davis

Featured Research

Soil respiration (the flux of CO₂ released by the soil due to microbial and root respiration and organic matter decomposition) can be affected by fire (Qu et al., 2009, Richards et al., 2012, Ryu et al., 2009). After the 2018 Woolsey Fire in the Santa Monica Mountains, we hypothesized that soil respiration would be greater in unburned soil than in burned soil. This is because fire can decrease soil nutrient concentration, which could decrease soil microbial concentration and also because fire could burn and kill soil microbes and roots. To test this relationship, we recorded soil respiration on three …

Physiological Performance Of Ceanothus Spinosus In Hot Burn And Cool Burn Sites, Rishi Gattu, Christian Hill, Chris Kulpaca

Featured Research

After the Woolsey Fire, many fire adapted plants will resprout. However, increased fire frequency has negatively impacted the reproduction of many native species, while enhancing the survivorship of many invasive species. We compared the physiological performance of Ceanothus spinosus resprouters in areas that burned hotter compared to areas that burned cooler. We hypothesized that resprouters in hotter burn sites would have better physiological performance than resprouters in cooler burn sites. The resprouters in hotter burn sites would have better performance because of decreased competition from invasive species. We measured physiological performance using a Li-Cor LI-6400, specifically photosynthesis, transpiration, and stomatal …

Comparative Fitness Of Post-Fire Transplant Stipa Pulchra And Wild Stipa Pulchra In Competition With Avena Fatua, Ashley Bonin, Madison Cook, Sara Head

Featured Research

In the Spring Semesters of 2016 and 2017, research was conducted on the relative fitness of Stipa pulchra in the transplant garden on the Drescher campus at Pepperdine University. The first study in 2016 examined the fitness of Stipa pulchra and Avena fatua in the transplant and wild gardens after a five year drought in California. In the results of this experiment, the hypothesis was supported when observing that the wild S. pulchra depicted higher fitness that the transplant S. pulchra in areas of stomatal conductance, height, water potential, percent sun and dark-adapted fluorescence. The second study in 2017 investigated …

A Survey Of Post-Fire Chaparral Species’ Densities Using Point Quarter Sampling, Emma C. Stenz, Brandon R. Grinovich, Catherine H. William, Michael E. Gayed, Stephen D. Davis, Grace Palmer

Featured Research

The purpose of this observational study was twofold: to add to the existing data regarding the plant species composition of the Pepperdine hillsides and to set in place a foundation for post-fire chaparral recovery studies that will ensue over the coming years through various programs and classes. The 2018 Woolsey Fire burned nearly all of the natural environment surrounding Pepperdine University and the greater Malibu region, so it is a matter of urgency to take this opportunity to learn more about how this natural environment of the chaparral responds to a catastrophic event like fire. We focused primarily on facultative …