Profile

• Time Zone

  Central

  
  
• Organization

  University of South Alabama

  
  
• Role

  Scientist Mentor: I will mentor teams of students online

  
  
• Research Interests (300 words)

  Plant physiological ecology, invasive species ecology, marine botany, submerged aquatic plant ecology, marine biology

  
  
• Profile Question 1

  What is best about being a scientist?

  
  
• Answer the question you selected for profile question 1 here (300 words):

  The best part of being a scientist is that we get to spend our time solving real world problems that can have an impact on quite a large number of people. It is really a blast to be able to come to work every day and work to solve a small problem that can have a large impact on so many. In addition, we get to do experiments! It is very cool to be able to spend my days manipulating one variable at a time to see what leads to a change in the biology of the organism being studied.

  
  
• Profile Question 2

  What is tough about being a scientist?

  
  
• Answer the question you selected for profile question 2 here (300 words):

  Science in often like a roller coaster ride. We tend to spend a lot of time in the "valleys" of those roller coaster rides by testing things over and over and over again and often not getting useful results. This can get very frustrating. However, when good results come in it is as exciting as reaching the top of the roller coaster. And, ultimately, those "roller coaster highs" are what keep me moving forward each day through the frustrating times.

  
  
• Profile Question 3

  What is your favorite plant? Why?

  
  
• Answer the question you selected for profile question 3 here (300 words):

  Hydrilla verticillata. This is one of the invasive species I study. It is a wicked cool plant because it has the capacity to switch between C3 and C4 photosynthesis when environmental conditions change. The plant performs C4 photosynthesis in a much different way than terrestrial or common C4 plants by doing this type of photosynthesis in only a single cell. In addition, this plant has never been seen sexually reproducing in the field. This results in a very effective way to reproduce which has lead to its competitive success in the field. However, it is interesting because it really limits the ability of this species to adapt to change over time.

  
  

Recent Posts

24fbrowncvuhspos project 6 Molly M Miller Nov 7 at 09:43am

Hi Kai,

You are on to something with your hypothesis. Temperature is a really important environmental condition that can greatly influence success of a plant. This is due to the requirement that all of the enzymes found within their cells have…

more

Hi Kai,

You are on to something with your hypothesis. Temperature is a really important environmental condition that can greatly influence success of a plant. This is due to the requirement that all of the enzymes found within their cells have for proper operation. If it gets too hot, the enzymes can't function. If it gets too cold, they can't function. In most cases, plants operate more efficiently at warmer temperatures. However, there is a limit to the temperature at which they do best (it can become too hot for them!). There are some plants that are adapted to perform better at colder temperatures, too. 

If you wanted to explore this temperature question more, you could set up a series of temperature treatments where you determine exactly what temperature you get highest rates of photosynthesis!

Let me know how your experiment turns out.

24fbrowncvuhspos project 6 Molly M Miller Nov 5 at 11:22am

Hi Kai and Steph,

Great ideas! In all honesty, my advice would be to move forward with the temperature experiment. I think it will be a bit more interesting for you to execute (and thereby fun!!). Do you have a hypothesis for what you think will…

more

Hi Kai and Steph,

Great ideas! In all honesty, my advice would be to move forward with the temperature experiment. I think it will be a bit more interesting for you to execute (and thereby fun!!). Do you have a hypothesis for what you think will happen?

24fbrowncvuhspos project 6 Molly M Miller Oct 24 at 10:48am

Hi everyone! Cool update. 

You are pretty close to being correct on your answers to my question. The baking soda cup had carbon present from the addition of baking soda (NaHCO3). When you mix baking soda with water and it dissolves, some of…

more

Hi everyone! Cool update. 

You are pretty close to being correct on your answers to my question. The baking soda cup had carbon present from the addition of baking soda (NaHCO3). When you mix baking soda with water and it dissolves, some of that NaHCO3 turns into CO2 which the plants can use for photosynthesis! The cup with your breath also should have CO2 in it (expelled from your lungs) but the amount of CO2 would be variable, based on how hard you breathed in. If you wanted to re-test that one, I would recommend using a straw to exhale and blow pretty hard into the cup to add enough CO2.

Cool to hear about your 2nd set of experiments with light now added. Were you surprised with the results or were the results what you hypothesized would happen?