Date of Project
3-28-2025
Document Type
Honors Thesis
School Name
College of Arts and Sciences
Department
Biology
Major Advisor
Dr. Roberta Challener
Abstract
Exposure to ultraviolet radiation (UVR) can have negative impacts on organisms that are exposed to it. The sea urchin Lytechinus variegatus is an organism that resides in shallow waters which can experience exposure to UVR. One negative impact that can occur from UVR is an increase in production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) due to cell stress. In this experiment, two treatments were performed on L. variegatus in the adult state. The first included an exposure to UV-B radiation for 8 hours, and the second was an 8-hour UV-B exposure with temperatures at 30 °C to replicate environmental conditions in line with warming. Cell stress was assessed by looking at the activity of the antioxidant enzyme catalase in external tissues (tube feet) and internal tissues (gut). No significant difference in catalase activity was observed between the experimental or control groups for either treatment. However, there was a significant difference observed between the catalase activity of the tube feet tissue and the gut tissue. The current study explores the effect that stress can have on the enzymatic activity of L. variegatus, but future research needs to be done to determine what about each tissue type leads to the differences in enzymatic activity.
Recommended Citation
Heinzmann, Ellerie C., "The Effects of Exposure to Ultraviolet Light on the Activity of Catalase in Internal and External Tissues of the Sea Urchin Lytechinus variegatus" (2025). Undergraduate Theses. 168.
https://scholarworks.bellarmine.edu/ugrad_theses/168