Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Comparison Of Arsenic Uptake And Oxidative Stress By Christmas Fern And Spider Brake Fern, Paul Lkanich, Pratheek Koneru, Robert Wei

Undergraduate Research Posters 2013

Plants are widely considered the most cost effective and environmentally friendly way to clean soils and waters contaminated with toxic metals, e.g. arsenic and mercury. We have focused our research on the uptake of arsenic and its biochemical effect on two species of fern, Spider brake fern and Christmas fern. Spider brake fern is known to be capable of accumulating significant amounts of arsenic. We wish to determine whether the levels of arsenic uptake in Christmas fern are comparable to Spider Brake fern (>1g kg-1 plant biomass) when both are grown under the same conditions. Another aim of the …