Abstract Amy Muehlen Back to Seminar Schedule Biology Dept Hamline University Effects of the Timing of Environmental stress on the Growth of Thalaspi arvense by Amy Muehlen Morphological characteristics can be important indicators of fitness in plant populations. These characteristics vary among and between populations for a number of reasons, including genetic and environmental factors.
Environmental heterogeneity is one way variability is increased in plant populations.
Environmental variation is most often thought of in spatial terms. Less research has been conducted on the timing of environmental variation. In this study we investigated the affects environmental heterogeneity on morphological characteristics by varying the timing of environmental stress. Thlaspi arvense, field pennycress, a persistent weed known to respond to temperature change was used as the experimental organism. T. arvense plants from 5 populations, collected throughout the Twin Cities and surrounding areas, were grown in growth chambers, varying only the timing of a ten-day low temperature.