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Plant Sciences – Undergraduate Research
- Phylogenetic diversity in plant communities (Maribeth Latvis – Natural Resource Management). Phylogenies—hypotheses of evolutionary relationships—provide a robust framework with which hypotheses about the assembly and maintenance of biodiversity and character evolution within plant communities can be evaluated. We generate and analyze genomic data to characterize relationships among flowering plants at multiple scales. At the community scale, these data have been used to assess patterns of phylogenetic diversity and community assembly in imperiled tallgrass prairie remnants in eastern South Dakota. This is especially important in the Northern Great Plains, as rampant land conversion has led to a loss of plant biodiversity and has impacted ecosystem services (e.g. erosion control, pollinator availability). REU participants will collect and analyze biomass and genetic data for a plant community at Cottonwood Field Station to estimate phylogenetic diversity metrics for transects across differing management and grazing regimes. Students will become familiar with bioinformatic pipelines and programming in R to process and analyze data.
- Soil microbial activity and greenhouse gas emissions (Sandeep Kumar – Agronomy, Horticulture and Plant Science Department). A major question in the management of the bioenergy crop switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) are optimal nitrogen (N) application rates, because excessive N fertilization results in adverse environmental and economic effects. Goal of the student projects is to assess the impact of different N rates on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and soil microbial activities. The students will extract soil samples during the summer and monitor GHG fluxes from established switchgrass fields. In addition, the REU students will measure soil enzymatic activities (urease and dehydrogenase), microbial biomass carbon and N, and will analyze the arbuscular mycorrhizal colonization of the plants. The students will integrate these data into models to predict the effect of different management practices on GHG emissions.
- Invasive and native grass species (Xu Lan – Natural Resource Management Department). Plant competition is a primary ecological process limiting grassland restoration success. Our hypothesis is that increased nitrogen availability in grassland ecosystems can alter the outcomes of competition through bud production and tiller recruitment between invasive and native species. The students will work on two model species: the native grass Pascopyrum smithii (western wheatgrass) and the invasive grass species Bromus inermis (smooth bromegrass) and examine intro- and interspecific seedling competition in bud production, tiller recruitment and biomass production under different nutrient levels. Students will be trained to develop their research project hypotheses, experimental designand will execute the experiment, including data collection, analysisand interpretation.
- Characterizing resistance of sunflower genotypes (Febina Mathew – Agronomy, Horticulture and Plant Science Department). Phom*opsis stem canker is a priority disease of sunflower (Helianthus annuus) in the U.S. Currently, options to manage this disease are limited and breeding efforts have the goal to develop sunflower cultivars with resistance to Diaporthe helianthi, the causal agent of Phom*opsis stem canker. The REU students will select sunflower genotypes based on their susceptibility to D. helianthi and will test the pathogenicity of different D. helianthi isolates in greenhouse experiments. The students will assess the plants for disease severity and will use quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) to measure the relative pathogen biomass. The REU students will be trained in molecular techniques (DNA extraction, qPCR) and plant pathology.
Maribeth Latvis
Adjunct Faculty / Associate Graduate Faculty
Department of Natural Resource Management
Herbarium
Telephone number: 605-688-4912Email
Lan Xu
Professor
Department of Natural Resource Management
Telephone number: 605-688-5060Email
Febina Mathew
Adjunct Associate Professor and Field Crops Pathologist
Department of Agronomy, Horticulture and Plant Science
Telephone number: 605-688-5660Email
