Brassica Rapa Essay

Sarah Boozer

4/28/2014

BSC111LH sec. H001

T. A. Aaron Holbrook

The Effects of CO2 on Brassica rapa Growth

Introduction

Brassica rapa is a mustard plant that can be found throughout North America, and is common in areas undergoing extreme change, such as changes in climate. There is an important relationship between the ecological and genetic factors that influence the growth of Brassica rapa (Mitchell-Olds 1996). So, the environmental elements, as well as the genetic information, are essential to the growth rate and survival of Brassica rapa. This plant is capable of reproducing quickly, and the root systems are usually quite small, although some Brassica rapa have developed larger root systems (Mitchell-Olds 1996). This plant is commonly used in experiments because of its ability to germinate rapidly. Brassica rapa is capable of sprouting within a stage of about two weeks, and this trait allows scientists to perform experiments in a short period of time.

Carbon dioxide is necessary for plants to carry out the process of photosynthesis, which is an important process because it allows plants to produce glucose, as well as oxygen. Based on evidence from previous experiments, the growth of the plant will reflect the amount of CO2 gas that is present in the environment (O’Leary and Knecht 1986). This means that the plant growth relies on the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in order to be successful. Therefore, in several cases, it has been noted that when the concentration of CO2 is doubled, the plant growth will similarly increase (Carter et al. 1997). So, it can be concluded that by raising the amount of carbon dioxide in an environment, the surrounding plants will experience an increase in growth.

The purpose of this experimen...

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...e been beneficial to the experiment. An error may have occurred due to the fact that measurements were taken by different individuals, so the calculations could have been inconsistent.

Literature Cited

Carter, E., Theodorou, M., and Morris, P. 1997. Responses of lotus corniculatus to environmental Change I. effects of elevated CO2, temperature and drought on growth and plant development. New Phytologist. 136: 245-253.

Mitchell-Olds, T. 1996. Pleiotropy causes long-term genetic constraints on life-history evolution in Brassica rapa. Evolution. 50: 1849-1858.

O’Leary, J., and Knecht, G. 1986. Elevated CO2 concentration increases stomate numbers in Phaseolus vulgaris leaves. Botanical Gazette. 142: 438-441.

Poorter, H, and Navas, M. 2003. Plant growth and competition at elevated CO2: on winners, losers and functional groups. New Phytologist. 157: 175-198.