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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Buoyancy And Emergence In Elymus Species, Sandor Jakab Jan 2023

Buoyancy And Emergence In Elymus Species, Sandor Jakab

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

It is important that native plants are able to successfully emerge in wetlands because they play an important role in maintaining diversity. The relationship between seed buoyancy and seedling emergence was analyzed for three wetland species of the same genus: Elymus canadensis (FACU), Elymus macgregorii (FACW), and Elymus virginicus (FACW). E. macgregorii seemed to be the most buoyant, and E. virginicus and E. canadensis demonstrated very similar, less buoyant levels. Based on the idea that more buoyant seeds will be deposited at a shallow depth, and less buoyant seeds will be deposited at a deeper soil level, a relationship between …


Potential Effects Of Amynthas Agrestis Invasion On Woody Understory Flora In The Cvnp, Christian Mammana Jan 2022

Potential Effects Of Amynthas Agrestis Invasion On Woody Understory Flora In The Cvnp, Christian Mammana

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Ohio forests are threatened by the invasive ecosystem engineer A. agrestis. A. agrestis invasion typically co-occurs with the ecosystem engineer, Odocoileus virginianus, where their impacts may synergize. To determine the direct effects of A. agrestis invasion, fenced plots across the Cuyahoga Valley National Park that excluded deer were utilized. The species richness, Shannon diversity and evenness of woody understory flora was measured in each plot. Mustard extraction was used to determine earthworm abundance. Correlations between abundance and measured variables were used to highlight potential invasion effects. Abundance and species richness was found to have a significant, positive correlation (p = …


"Demeter" Soil Monitoring System, Ryan Matthews, Rachel Rummer, Temilolu Fayomi, Alex Fuller Jan 2022

"Demeter" Soil Monitoring System, Ryan Matthews, Rachel Rummer, Temilolu Fayomi, Alex Fuller

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of this project is to develop a soil monitoring system that can remotely sense and relay soil conditions back to a user. The deMETER soil probe, Demeter is the Greek goddess of the harvest, is designed to aid hobbyist gardeners, small-scale farms, and nurseries to monitor their dynamic soil conditions and maximize their harvest. The probe is a self-powered system that can monitor the moisture and essential nutrients of the soil profile to determine which areas should receive water and fertilizer. This would significantly cut water and fertilizer waste. The solution will include an embedded system with sensors …


The Effects Of Average Annual Temperature On Flowering Times And Flower Count, Angela Copploe Jan 2022

The Effects Of Average Annual Temperature On Flowering Times And Flower Count, Angela Copploe

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Over a course of 15 years, three different species of flowers were examined to see the relationship between the increase in average annual temperature, flowering time, and flower count.


Garden Bot: Autonomous Home Garden Weed Removal Robot, Brendon Lovejoy, Robert Connolly, Isaac Lucas, Stevan Veselinov Jan 2022

Garden Bot: Autonomous Home Garden Weed Removal Robot, Brendon Lovejoy, Robert Connolly, Isaac Lucas, Stevan Veselinov

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

With frequent weeding being a tedious chore and an essential task for a successful garden, there is need for an automated method of handling this routine. Existing technologies utilize computer vision, GPS, multiple units and other tools to remove weeds from garden plots. However, these solutions are often complex and expensive, suited for large agricultural plots in contrast to small-scale home gardens. In addition, many of these technologies, along with manual tillers and cultivators suited for home use, are unable to perform weeding within rows of crops in a process known as intra-row weeding. The Garden Bot is an autonomous, …


An Assessment Of The Ph Of The Soil In The Tamarack Bog, Clarity Gunn Jan 2021

An Assessment Of The Ph Of The Soil In The Tamarack Bog, Clarity Gunn

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The purpose of this research project was to assess the pH of the Tamarack bog. The research was conducted once a month, weather permitting, at the Tamarack bog at the Bath Nature Preserve in Akron Ohio. Data collection began on July 31st, 2019 ended October 2020 and was supplemented with pilot data collected in 2018. The pH was taken with a pH probe at specific sampling sites and transects that have been placed by Dr. Mitchell previously for other experiments. It was found that the Tamarack bog presented as a mosaic bog with features of a fen as well. The …


Plant Hormone Lab Module: Assessing Different Factors To Create The Most Effective Lab, Ahmed El-Kulak Jan 2019

Plant Hormone Lab Module: Assessing Different Factors To Create The Most Effective Lab, Ahmed El-Kulak

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The research project focused on evaluating 3 different factors in creating a plant hormone lab module for Principles of Biology II lab. The main hormone of focus was brassinosteroid. In the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, brassinosteroids promote cell elongation, cell division, root growth, and seed germination. Three goals were established to create the most efficient lab module possible. First, mutant (bes1,bri1) root length was assessed without addition of brassinolide (BL), a synthetic brassinosteroid. Then, ½ MS and ½ MS + 20% sucrose plates were compared to see which media produced the greatest difference in root growth between the mutant lines. …


Pollinator Sharing Between Mimulus Ringens And Coflowering Plant Species In Northeastern Ohio, Andrew M. Wuellner Jan 2016

Pollinator Sharing Between Mimulus Ringens And Coflowering Plant Species In Northeastern Ohio, Andrew M. Wuellner

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Competition between plants for pollinators can have serious impacts on plant reproduction; these impacts depend on many factors, such as plant abundance, plant diversity, floral abundance, pollinator abundance, and pollinator preference. The way pollinators move among and between coflowering species can tell us more about how these factors affect competition. In this study, we examine the movement patterns of flower visitors to Mimulus ringens and coflowering species in Northeastern Ohio through several types of observations. In addition, we measured the density and diversity of floral units with 20-30 meter transects across each study site. There were six total study sites, …


Do Epidermal Cell Types Have An Effect Upon Ultraviolet Patterns On Flower Petals?, Margaux Flaherty Jan 2015

Do Epidermal Cell Types Have An Effect Upon Ultraviolet Patterns On Flower Petals?, Margaux Flaherty

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Flower petal epidermal cell shape and ultraviolet patterns called nectar guides may have a considerable impact on pollinator behavior and consequently, the reproductive success of the floral species. Similarly, flower petal epidermal cell shape may have an effect on floral color; however, these effects have only been measured in the visible light range (Whitney et al., 2009). This study attempts to determine if epidermal cell shape has an effect upon ultraviolet floral patterns. Experimental results show that all of the floral species studied seem to have a conical epidermal cell shape, but varying levels of ultraviolet reflectance and absorbance; …