Opportunity Details

Details about the opportunity you selected and the mentor are shown below. It is your responsibility to contact the mentor to discuss collaborating with them this summer. If your mentor invites you to submit an application, you can access that from the front page of this site. Upon completion of the application, it will be sent to the mentor for approval before being passed on to the Summer Scholar Selection Committee, which will make the decisions.

Faculty Information

Francie Chew

fchew@tufts.edu

Professor of Biology

P: (617) 627-3189

F: (617) 627-3805

Address:

Dept. of Biology
Tufts University

Medford, MA 02155

Affiliated Institutions:

Arts and Sciences

Associated Departments:

Biology

American Studies

Web Sites:

http://ase.tufts.edu/biology/faculty/chew/

Opportunity:
	Ecology: Latent Effects of Nutrient Stress on Plant Reproduction and Defense
Summary:
	Plants are highly plastic organisms whose growth is initially supported by seed provisions, but ultimately depends on availability of resources including sunlight, water, and mineral nutrients. This project aims to investigate consequences for plant fitness of chronological heterogeneity in availability of mineral nutrient resources; of particular interest are latent effects that are delayed results of earlier environmental events on later development. Using several species/varieties of canola (an agricultural oilseed plant), including some with rapid-cycling traits (fast-development: about 40 days seed-to-seed), this project will experimentally manipulate the timing of plant access to key mineral nutrients including sulfur and nitrogen. Plant growth and fitness (reproduction) will be measured. In addition, potential latent effects of nutritional manipulations on seed chemical defenses (especially rich in sulfur and nitrogen) will be assayed. A potential side-project will be the development of a correlative assay for the seed defenses, that can be used in a classroom laboratory context.
Contact Via:
	E-mail
What is the timeframe for this research opportunity?
	late May-early August 2009
Prerequisities for students?
	prefer rising junior or senior biology major with coursework in plant biology, or more general background and enthusiasm for work with plants
Responsibilities for students?
	Design and overall day-to-day implementation of research plans, evaluation of results, and interpretation of findings, oral presentation and writing first draft of project for publication