Life Sciences Commons^™

Investigating Plant Physiological Responses To Global Phylogenetic Diversity Of Glomeromycotina, David Z. Mowbray

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi are ubiquitous symbionts of terrestrial plant species with associations predominantly characterized as mutualistic. In addition to well-documented enhancement of host growth response, more recent analyses have demonstrated the conferral of host benefits under numerous biotic and abiotic stressors. However, much of the established evidence originates from studies involving limited AM fungal diversity. Accordingly, this study sought to evaluate the potential effects of inoculation on plant host physiological traits within a growth chamber environment, investigate potential correlations between host trait responses, & assess the degree of phylogenetic signal observed in trait responses due to the presence of …

Investigating The Phytochemical Profiles Of Wild And Cultivated Blueberries (Vaccinium Spp.) In Central Florida, Anisa Khalid

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Blueberries (Vaccinium spp.) are valued for their high nutritional quality and flavor. There are five species in the Vaccinium genus native to the state of Florida, but only three are palatable to humans: V. myrsinites, V. darrowii, and V. corymbosum. While V. darrowii has been studied extensively due to its successful hybridization with northern highbush blueberry cultivars, V. myrsinites and wild V. corymbosum have been understudied. This study aims to 1) quantify the abundance of various phytochemicals in fruits of these wild blueberry species and compare fruit quality both among the wild taxa and two varieties of …

Bioprospecting For Improved Floral Fragrance In Wild Sunflower, Jason Anandappa

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The cultivation of crop sunflower or Helianthus annuus is a 20 billion USD industry globally. Crop wild relatives of H. annuus have a long history of being used to breed improved traits into cultivated varieties. Cultivated H. annuus is not known to have a pleasant aroma, and at times seed yield is limited by pollination services, particularly in the production of hybrid seed. Improved floral fragrance could improve pollinator attraction and would add value to ornamental sunflowers in the context of the cut-flower industry. If volatile organic compounds that together generate favorable scents are present in wild Helianthus species, they …

Consequences Of Stress-Induced Trait Plasticity In Cultivated Helianthus, Gillian Gomer

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The Leaf Economics Spectrum (LES) describes the continuous range of leaf ecophysiological strategies that plants across the globe utilize to achieve a net-positive return on their resource investment. This spectrum is measured by traits such as leaf mass per area, leaf nitrogen, and leaf lifespan. Unsuitable leaf trait combinations are selected against in nature due to a net-loss on the return of initial resource investment, while some potentially extremely effective trait combinations may not be possible due to genetic constraints. Existing genetic variation in LES traits, however, suggests the spectrum may be less rigid than previously expected. To test this, …

Genetic Control Of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Colonization In Helianthus Annuus, Katherine Stahlhut

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Plant symbiosis with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi provides many benefits for plants, including increased nutrient uptake, drought tolerance, and belowground pathogen resistance. In order to have a better understanding of the genetic architecture of mycorrhizal symbiosis, we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) by phenotyping a diversity panel of cultivated sunflower (Helianthus annuus) for root colonization under inoculation with the AM fungus Rhizophagus intraradices. This mapping panel consists of 261 inbred lines that capture approximately 90% of the genetic diversity present in the cultivated sunflower germplasm. Using a mixed linear model approach with a high-density genetic map, we …

The Effects Of Zinc Nanofertilizers On Tomato Plants, Ketsira Pierre

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Farmers around the world aim to use soil with adequate nutrients to produce sufficient and quality crops to the world's ever-growing population. Unbalanced use of nutrients in the soil will lead to soil deficiency, which is usually seen in South and Southeast Asian countries. This soil deficiency is often due to loss of micronutrient(s) within the soil from farming practices. Micronutrient deficiency affects not only plant growth but human health. Plants grown in nutrient deficient soil produce food with nutrient deficiencies, which affect people dependent on these foods for nutrients (Kathmandu, 2004). Nutrient deficient diseases and disorders like malnutrition are …

Predicting Herbivore Induced Phytochemical Shifts In Helianthus Using Spectral Reflectance, Jessica Jowais

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Induced defense responses in plants vary greatly among species, with many species exhibiting strong upregulation of secondary metabolites under attack by herbivores or pathogens. Secondary metabolite responses are most commonly analyzed using nuclear magnetic resonance or mass spectroscopy, though such approaches are costly and time-intensive. This study explores the use of hyperspectral reflectance as a more time- and cost-efficient method of detecting herbivore-induced secondary metabolite responses in plants. A diverse cross-section of wild sunflowers (genus Helianthus) were grown under controlled conditions and challenged with insect herbivory. Hyperspectral reflectance data was collected and analyzed using a principal component analysis in …

Micro-Spectroscopy Of Bio-Assemblies At The Single Cell Level, Jeslin Kera

Honors Undergraduate Theses

In this thesis, we investigate biological molecules on a micron scale in the ultraviolet spectral region through the non-destructive confocal absorption microscopy. The setup involves a combination of confocal microscope with a UV light excitation beam to measure the optical absorption spectra with spatial resolution of 1.4 μm in the lateral and 3.6 μm in the axial direction. Confocal absorption microscopy has the benefits of requiring no labels and only low light intensity for excitation while providing a strong signal from the contrast generated by the attenuation of propagating light due to absorption. This enables spatially resolved measurements of single …

Political Ecology Of Medicinal Plant Use In Rural Nepal: Globalization, Environmental Degradation, And Cultural Transformation, Emily Dovydaitis

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Prior to the advent of biomedicine, rural communities in Nepal relied on phytochemically active compounds in medicinal plants as their primary source of medicine; however, ethnobotanical practices have shifted over time due to economic, environmental, and sociocultural stimuli. Findings from 2016 fieldwork conducted in Dumrikharka, Nepal and Tutung, Nepal are compared to existing literature to describe the political ecology of medicinal plants in rural Nepal.

Anthropogenic climate change threatens individual plant species and ecosystem biodiversity. Globalized markets unabated by weak conservation programs place increasing demands on medicinal plants. As indigenous plants become overharvested and more difficult to access, Nepalis incorporate …

Determining Factors That Influence Smooth Cordgrass (Spartina Alterniflora Loisel) Transplant Success In Community-Based Living Shoreline Projects, Steven A. Carrion

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Efforts to mitigate shoreline erosion through living shoreline methods along the USA Atlantic seaboard have often incorporated the cultivation and transplantation of smooth cordgrass, Spartina alterniflora. Assessments of these transplants at several sites in the Indian River Lagoon have shown that survival is variable after a year (survival: 10-93%). Lower survival has been attributed to environmental variables such as dislodgement by wave energy, and transplant shock due to salinity changes from cultivation to estuarine conditions. To improve living shoreline projects, we examined the effects of cultivation salinity (0 ppt, 15ppt) on transplantation success, and the success of anchoring plants …