MRI: Development of a Phytotron Facility for Vassar College Biological and Environmental Sciences

瓦萨学院的A·马歇尔·普雷格纳尔博士在生物系开发了一个人工气候室设施，以加强生物学和环境科学方面的教员研究和学生研究培训。通过购置7个新的受控环境室，生物系的生长室容量将从5个增加到12个，这将扩大并行研究项目的数量，并改善海草和藻类生理生态、植物-菌根相互作用和植物繁殖生态的受控环境实验的处理复制。此外，生物系将能够保持数量遗传学学生研究的长期选拔线，更好地控制植物生理学学生实验的条件，并加强对生物和环境科学方面的高年级学生的研究培训。普雷格纳尔博士将在几个研究项目中使用人工气候室设备。生长室将被用来确定季节和环境线索，以调节海草Zostera marina对无机氮的同化。普雷格纳尔博士将创建一个光周期-温度-硝酸盐浓度增加处理的矩阵，以分离冬季和夏季光照和温度条件以及不同的氮素供应条件的离散和交互影响。Pregnall博士还将通过控制温度、曝气和沉积物的存在来测量沿海大型藻类对脉冲缺氧和缺氧的耐受性和生理反应。此外，他还将评估水柱和沉积物微生物硝化作用对流域无机氮循环的贡献。玛格丽特·隆斯海姆博士将在她的研究中使用人工气候室，研究植物基因型、菌根协会和土壤病原体之间的相互作用对洋葱繁殖分配和成功的影响。马克·施莱斯曼博士将利用快速循环的油菜进行与最佳植株大小和开花时间相关的假设的实验测试。此外，本科生将利用人工气候室进行生物学和环境科学200级和300级课程的研究项目，独立荣誉项目，以及在暑期与个别教员进行研究实习。在每一项研究中，学生将利用分裂图、析因、重复测量ANOVA进行实验设计和统计分析，从而在评估初始和交互效应以及时间反应对初始条件的依赖性方面获得重要经验。瓦萨学院人工气候室设施的开发将极大地扩展生理生态学、植物繁殖生态学和环境科学方面的教职员工和学生的研究，允许进行统计上强大的实验设计，同时支持长期操作和受控条件下的生物生长。对多个生长室中的温度、湿度、日长和光照强度进行精确控制，将使实验能够考虑不止一个因素及其可能的相互作用，因为随着时间的推移，有机体对不同的处理做出反应。由于生物体和生态系统的反应通常对多种因素敏感，教职员工和学生使用人工气候室将允许进行更复杂、更现实的实验，并具有足够的重复性，以实现对假设的有效验证。

A grant has been awarded to Dr. A. Marshall Pregnall at Vassar College develop a phytotron facility in the Biology Department in order to enhance faculty research and student research training in biology and environmental science. By acquiring seven new controlled environment chambers, the Biology Department will increase its growth chamber capacity from five to 12, which will expand the number of concurrent research projects and improve treatment replication for controlled-environment experiments on seagrass and algal physiological ecology, plant-mycorrhizal interactions, and plant reproductive ecology. Moreover, the Biology Department will be able to maintain long-term selection lines for student research on quantitative genetics, better control conditions for student experiments in plant physiology, and enhance research training for upperclassmen in biological and environmental sciences. Dr. Pregnall will utilize the phytotron facility in several research projects. Growth chambers will be used to determine seasonal and environmental cues that regulate inorganic nitrogen assimilation by the seagrass Zostera marina. Dr. Pregnall will create a matrix of photoperiod-times- temperature-times- nitrate enrichment treatments to isolate the discrete and interactive effects of winter vs. summer conditions of light and temperature along with variable nitrogen availability. Dr. Pregnall will also measure the tolerance and physiological responses of coastal macroalgae to pulsed episodes of hypoxia and anoxia by manipulating temperature, aeration and the presence of sediments. Additionally, he will assess the contribution of water-column and sediment microbial nitrification to the inorganic nitrogen cycling in a watershed. Dr. Margaret Ronsheim will use the phytotron in her studies of the interactions between plant genotype, mycorrhizal associations, and soil pathogens on reproductive allocation and success in Allium vineale. Dr. Mark Schlessman will perform experimental tests of hypotheses relating optimal plant size and flowering time using rapid-cycling Brassica rapa. Additionally, undergraduate students will utilize the phytotron facility for research projects in 200- and 300-level courses in Biology and Environmental Science, for independent honors projects and during summer research internships with individual faculty. In each of these studies, students would work with experimental designs and statistical analyses utilizing split-plot, factorial, repeated measures ANOVA, thus gaining important experience with assessing primary and interaction effects and dependence of time responses on initial conditions. The development of the phytotron facility at Vassar College will greatly expand faculty and student research in physiological ecology, plant reproductive ecology and environmental sciences by permitting statistically powerful experimental designs while simultaneously supporting long-term manipulations and organism growth in controlled conditions. Precise control of temperature, humidity, daylength, and light intensity in multiple growth chambers will allow experiments to consider more than one factor and their possible interactions as the organisms respond through time to the different treatments. Since organism and ecosystem responses are usually sensitive to multiple factors, use of the phytotron by faculty and students will allow more complex, realistic experiments with sufficient replication to achieve valid testing of hypotheses.