Date of Project

4-19-2024

Document Type

Honors Thesis

School Name

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Environmental Science

Major Advisor

Dr. Josef Jareczek

Second Advisor

Dr. Martha Carlson Mazur

Abstract

One main area of concern is the use of personal care products and pharmaceuticals in society and their long-term persistence when released into the environment (Chaturvedi et al. 2021). Cucurbits, however, are well-known for taking up pollutants (Namiki et al. 2013, Christou et al. 2019, Komives et al. 2009), so it essential to ensure that these pollutants do not negatively affect growth or productivity of plants. These plants are particularly useful in society because they have many health benefits and are consumed regularly by humans. While much research has been done on how much of the pollutant travels throughout the plant, little research has been done on environmentally relevant concentrations or on the outwardly effect of plant production. In this experiment, cucumber (Cucumis sativus), zucchini (Cucurbita pepo L.), and cantaloupe (Cucumis melo) (Bisognin 2002) are used to determine whether or not ultraviolet (UV) filters, particularly those found in sunscreens, affect the growth of cucurbit plants. Additionally, environmentally relevant concentrations are used to ensure the results can be representative of real-world situations. 90 plants were grown in a greenhouse for 12 weeks while their height, leaf production, flower production, and fruit production were monitored on a weekly basis. While most of the data did not find significant ANOVA results, showing that sunscreen pollutants at these levels do not affect plant production, cucumber showed significant results between control and high concentration treatments for growth and flower production. Both of these factors can lead to decreased crop yield, with higher concentrations amplifying these effects. There were also significant results for t-tests between zucchini plants using tap water as opposed to deionized water (DIW) for leaf and flower production, but it is unclear as to whether the type of water was the cause of this result. These results lead to a need for further research into the uptake of pollutants by cucurbit plants to ensure there is not a negative effect on their growth as pollutants may increase in the future.

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