Effects of Smokewater Germination on Little Bluestem Development

Presenter

Maxwell William Bollous

Campus

Fitchburg State University

Sponsor

George LoCascio, Department of Environmental Conservation, Fitchburg State University

Schedule

Session 4, 2:30 PM - 3:15 PM [Schedule by Time][Poster Grid for Time/Location]

Location

Poster Board A52, Campus Center Auditorium, Row 3 (A41-A60) [Poster Location Map]

Abstract

Fire has shown to be important in the life cycle of certain plants. Periodic fire exposure is necessary for seed release and germination in some species. While the heat from fire is known to be a major component in some species for seed release and germination; smoke by itself has shown to increase plant reproductive and germination success. To investigate smoke exposure on native New England plants, Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) was selected as a target taxa due to the habitat of living in fire prone plant communities.

Smoke was isolated by burning 100 grams of plant material and pumping the smoke through 300 mL of distilled water to collect water soluble compounds. Then the smoke water was diluted to the concentrations of 1%, 10%, and 20% smokewater/distilled water. Little Bluestem seeds were germinated using these concentrations on petri dishes after a 24 hour soak and then plated. Seedlings that sprouted were transplanted into an outdoor plot in Gardner MA (USA), where height and presence or absence of flowering was recorded.

Results showed that at lower concentrations of smoke (1%), there was an average decrease in height of 56.7% (p=0.002). At 10%, there was no significance, and at 20% there was a 56.3% average increase in height (p=0.001). Each treatment had increased flowering success, with the 20% treatments displaying approximately twice the amount of flowering individuals. This has implications that periodic fire exposure on New England grasslands may be an effective land management strategy to conserve native plants. 

Keywords

Botany, Fire Ecology, Native Plant Conservation, Phenology

Research Area

Biological Organisms

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