Science & Technology   

 




Research  

 

We aim to understand how pollution and environmental stressors affect ecosystem function through their direct effects on plants. We use laboratory and field experiments to understand the linkage between environmental conditions, plant function, and molecular response mechanisms. Among the techniques we use are: seagrass andsediment sampling, field fertilization experiments to simulate eutrophication,imaging of seagrasses and their epiphytes, DNA extraction and PCR, rDNA fingerprinting by DGGE , DNA sequencing and genomic comparisons, cloning, gene expression assays, and biochemical analyses. Click on the links below for more detailed descriptionsof some of our projects.

  • Epiphyte Imaging

  • Molecular Finger Printing

  • Stress Genes

  • Mercury Bio Availability

  • Rapid Assistant

  • Arsenic Toxicity

  • Seagrass Epiphyte Imaging By Fluorescence Scanning – Effects Of Nutrients

     

    Quantify & characterize algal epiphytes on seagrasses, in response to eutrophication, with a novel fluorescence imaging technique.

     

     

     

     

    Molecular Fingerprinting Of Bacterial And Algal Seagrass Epiphyte Communities

     

    rDNA fingerprinting of microbial communities on seagrasses, as indicators of environmental conditions, using PCR-DGGE

     

     

     

     

    Seagrass Stress Response Genes And Mechanisms As Indicators

     

    Clone, sequence and develop expression assays for stress-response genes in seagrasses to serve as leading indicators of seagrass loss

     

     

     

     

    Detection Of Mercury-Resistant Bacteria As Indicators Of Bioavailable Mercury

     

    Use PCR of mercury metabolism genes to assay for presence and expression to indicate bioavailable mercury

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Rapid Assessment Tools To Monitor Seagrass And Ecosystem Condition

     

    Develop fluorescence and scanning imaging techniques into high throughput rapid assessment techniques suitable for seagrass monitoring tools

     

     

     

     

    Arsenic Toxicity And Phytoremediation In Sunflowers

     

    Explore arsenic tolerance mechanisms by modifying arsenic toxicity to sunflowers by foliar application of biochemicals

     

     

     

     

    “Plants are primary, all else is secondary and derivative”    S. D. Kung