Date of Last Revision
2023-05-03 09:15:17
Major
Biology
Degree Name
Bachelor of Science
Date of Expected Graduation
Fall 2018
Abstract
A wetland plant’s ability to tolerate flooding is important to determining where that plant can grow. Previous studies have shown the optimal flood tolerance of Mimulus ringens is between -2cm and -6cm (Fraser & Karnezis, 2005). This experiment expands on these previous experiments by testing variation in water levels instead of maintaining the water levels at one height throughout the experiment. The hypothesis of the experiment is that Mimulus ringens that have variation in water levels will show signs of better growth than plants with a constant water level. Contrary to predictions, the results showed the final height, number of total flowers produced, and above ground mass of varied water plants were significantly smaller than plants experiencing constant water levels. This is the opposite of field observations in which plants in areas of wetlands that experienced variation in their water levels had better overall growth in terms of height. Which suggests that the method of water level variation in this experiment maybe different than the variation that occurred in the previously observed wetlands.
Research Sponsor
Dr. Randy Mitchell
First Reader
Dr. Francisco Moore
Second Reader
Dr. Anne Wiley
Recommended Citation
Stiles, Sara, "Varying Water Stress in Mimulus ringens" (2018). Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects. 790.
https://ideaexchange.uakron.edu/honors_research_projects/790