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Julie Ketner
The study of invasive plants has become an important issue in our current society due to the environmental and economic effects of invasions. It is important to identify exotic species that could possibly become invasive as well as identify differing types of environments that are susceptible to invasion. Both Nicotiana longiflora and Nicotiana plumbaginifolia, native to Central and South America, have been documented in populations throughout the continental United States. N. plumbaginifolia has been cited to have occurred exotically in Maryland while N. longiflora is more widespread within the United States occurring exotically in more than eleven states including Missouri, Texas, and Maryland (see Natureserve.org and USDA PLANTS database). I am interested in finding out more about these populations within the US and also to study some of the traits that both species possess which could contribute to their invasiveness. I’m focusing in on a few important life history traits of these two species. Last spring I implemented a large factorial greenhouse experiment in which I manipulated density, fertilizer and water then measured several traits related to life history. I am interested to see how the two different species respond to these simulated different environments. |
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Here are two photos of the experiment in progress from the spring of 2005. As you can see there were a lot of plants to take care of! |
