Date of Last Revision

2023-05-02 14:15:54

Major

Biology

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Date of Expected Graduation

Spring 2015

Abstract

We performed two experiments to examine the effects of different water treatments and micro topographic conditions on the growth of sphagnum species. In order to examine the effects of different micro topographic conditions on sphagnum regeneration, we worked with two species of sphagnum; Sphagnum palustre and Sphagnum capillifolium. The focus of this experiment revolved around identifying which species of sphagnum has the greater capacity to regenerate and which of these two sphagnum species has the competitive advantage. The final results will center around which test container of sphagnum displayed the greatest growth in biomass making it a potential candidate for the goal of sphagnum regeneration in Tamarack Bog. In order to examine the effects of different water treatments on sphagnum growth, we grew the same S. capillifolium in three different water sources. We collected S. capillifolium from Singer Lake bog and collected water sources from Singer Lake and Tamarack Bog of the Bath Nature Preserve; we also used reverse osmosis water as a third source. We grew the S. capillifolium in each of the three different water treatments. The moss grew best in reverse osmosis water. We thought the suspended sediments from the Singer Lake water and Tamarack Bog water may have inhibited optimal growth of the sphagnum shoots. Therefore, we used gravity filtration to filter out the suspended sediments.

Research Sponsor

Dr. Randy Mitchell

First Reader

Dr. Donald Ott

Second Reader

Dr. Anne Wiley

Included in

Biology Commons

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