Brassica Rapa Essay

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Sara Ellen Goodwin September 28th, 2014 Organismal Biology Final Lab Report Sunlight and Herbivory Responses in Brassica rapa Under Laboratory Conditions Abstract: Set out to understand how the growth of Brassica rapa changes under flood like conditions, plants of the species were grown in lab in varying watering constraints. The study aims to begin understanding the important dynamics between precipitation and plant viability. Seeds were planted in separate pots in identical conditions with estimated average levels and flood levels of water administered weekly (100 mL and 200 mL respectively). Plants were in pots surrounded by plastic mesh at a height of 22 cm for later herbivory response assessments. These experimental parameters were later abandoned. Identical plantings were conducted again and sunlight levels and predation via caterpillar responses were observed in laboratory conditions alongside controls to study the relationship between both variables and plant growth/survival. Data concluded that sunlight has the largest effect on the fitness of Brassica rapa and higher levels of sunlight coincided with higher levels of growth both horizontally and vertically in plant height, plant width, leaf numbers and leaf are. This research leads a much larger discussion of how plants respond to changing environmental conditions. Introduction: Plants use sunlight to separate water molecules in combination with carbon dioxide to create the sugars it uses to grow and survive and it is therefore highly important in the process of photosynthesis. If a plant cannot appropriately absorb water it cannot enlarge current cells or create new plant cells for growth and survival. We live in an area of the country which receives high levels of precipitation and it is expected to increase within the at a rate of 1-2% each year (Littell et all, 2009). Flooding events will

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