Abstract:
The transition from vegetative to reproductive growth represents a crucial change in a plant's lifecycle and many plants have evolved various endogenous mechanisms for interpreting environmental input in order to initiate this transition optimally. In this experiment three different strains of Arabidopsis thaliana were grown under treatments of high and low light intensity and water availability. A commonly used wild type strain, Columbia (Columbia, Missouri, United States, Col-0), a North African ecotype, Martuba (Martuba, Libya, Mt-1), and a European ecotype, Basel (Basel, Switzerland, Bs-5) were monitored over six weeks for changes in rosette diameter, rosette leaf number, and appearance of inflorescence. We hypothesize that Mt-1, due to its origin from an equatorial climate; will be better equipped to deal with high light and low water conditions.
