BIOL 114: The Effect of fertilizer on Arabidopsis thaliana Growth and Development
Location
Turner Gymnasium
Access Type
Campus Access Only
Presentation Type
Printed poster
Entry Number
10
Start Date
4-16-2026 12:00 PM
End Date
4-16-2026 1:15 PM
School
School of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Department
Biology
Keywords
Arabidopsis
Abstract
Several studies on Arabidopsis thaliana have shown that nutrient availability significantly affects the plant’s biomass production, leaf development, and flowering time (Kant et al., 2011).Due to this information, it was hypothesized that the Arabidopsis thaliana plants ( wild type and unknown mutant type), will exhibit greater growth compared to Arabidopsis thaliana plants grown without fertilizer. Studies have also reported adverse effects due to excess fertilization, such as chemical burns, dehydration and stunted growth. It is unknown how fertilizer will affect the mutant groups. Two sets of each type of Arabidopsis thaliana were grouped into a control (without fertilizer) and an experimental group of each type (watered with fertilizer concentration) at same room temperature and LED light. They were watered the same amount each week while rotating a fertilizer concentration every other week. The plants were measured and monitored each week for 10 weeks. The data presents the conclusion that the control wild type had the largest rosette diameters among the other plant groups. The fertilizer-treated wild type had smaller rosette diameters than the control wild type, but was larger than both mutant groups. The mutant fertilizer and mutant control rosette diameters were similar in size. This shows that the mutant has a high tolerance for environmental stressors. The mutant had evolved to be able to withstand high nutrient soils such as surrounding agricultural land that has been polluted from excess nutrient runoff.
Primary Faculty Mentor(s)
Dr. Erin Friedman
Primary Faculty Mentor(s) Department
Biology
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BIOL 114: The Effect of fertilizer on Arabidopsis thaliana Growth and Development
Turner Gymnasium
Several studies on Arabidopsis thaliana have shown that nutrient availability significantly affects the plant’s biomass production, leaf development, and flowering time (Kant et al., 2011).Due to this information, it was hypothesized that the Arabidopsis thaliana plants ( wild type and unknown mutant type), will exhibit greater growth compared to Arabidopsis thaliana plants grown without fertilizer. Studies have also reported adverse effects due to excess fertilization, such as chemical burns, dehydration and stunted growth. It is unknown how fertilizer will affect the mutant groups. Two sets of each type of Arabidopsis thaliana were grouped into a control (without fertilizer) and an experimental group of each type (watered with fertilizer concentration) at same room temperature and LED light. They were watered the same amount each week while rotating a fertilizer concentration every other week. The plants were measured and monitored each week for 10 weeks. The data presents the conclusion that the control wild type had the largest rosette diameters among the other plant groups. The fertilizer-treated wild type had smaller rosette diameters than the control wild type, but was larger than both mutant groups. The mutant fertilizer and mutant control rosette diameters were similar in size. This shows that the mutant has a high tolerance for environmental stressors. The mutant had evolved to be able to withstand high nutrient soils such as surrounding agricultural land that has been polluted from excess nutrient runoff.