Testing the Effects of Nitrogen on the Interaction of M. persicae and A. thaliana
Keywords:
A. thaliana, M. persicae, aphid, nitrogen, soil, fertilizer, resource allocation, plant-animal interactionsAbstract
Natural elements serve as the building blocks of ecosystems, and cycle through the biosphere. One of the most important elements is nitrogen, which is beneficial for plant growth. To further increase plant growth, nitrogen is artificially added to ecosystems as fertilizer, though it may put nearby organisms at risk. The impact of fertilizer runoff affects many environments and the organisms that inhabit them. For these reasons, it is important to understand the effects of increased amounts of nitrogen on plant-animal interactions. To do so, we studied the effect of varying ammonium nitrate (AN) concentrations, a compound commonly found in fertilizer, on the interaction between Arabidopsis thaliana and Myzus persicae. The control group A. thaliana plants were treated with distilled water, while low and high dose groups were treated with 60 ppm and 300 ppm aqueous solutions of AN respectively. We counted the number of M. persicae present on each A. thaliana plant throughout the study period. The low dose group begins to plateau after the sixth day, while the control and high dose groups grew. These results suggest that soil nitrogen content affects plant-animal interactions. The optimal treatment was a low dose of AN, as population growth of M. persicae plateaued, limiting herbivory and potentially benefiting A. thaliana.References
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