Farms, Fungi, and Climate: Drivers of Pathogenic Fungi Abundance in Corn Seeds

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dc.contributor.authorJaffe, Catherine Mackenzie
dc.date.accessioned2017-10-11T22:41:19Z
dc.date.available2017-10-11T22:41:19Z
dc.date.issued2017
dc.description44 pages. A thesis presented to the Departments of Biology and Environmental Science and the Clark Honors College of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for degree of Bachelor of Science, Spring 2017
dc.description.abstractSeedborne pathogenic fungi in the genus Fusarium are prevalent in corn populations and pose human health risks due to their production of carcinogenic mycotoxins. Although much is known about the large scale effects on domestic maize agriculture, less is understood about the impacts of agricultural management and climate on the distribution of microbes such as Fusarium that live in and around these plants. Our research aims to better understand how crop management and regional climate affect the abundance and distribution of seedborne fungi, specifically fungi in the genus Fusarium. We gathered samples through a citizen science based initiative in which seed savers from a variety of locations in the United States sent us their corn seeds. We used Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR) to amplify and quantify the abundance of Fusarium in theses samples. Using multivariate statistics, we generated a model that explained the relative contribution of factors such as seed type, climate, and agricultural practices to variation in seedborne Fusarium abundance. The results of our research may have wide reaching implications due to the ubiquity of Fusarium, the potential to impact methods of sustainable agriculture, and the consequences of a rapidly changing climate.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1794/22859
dc.language.isoen_US
dc.publisherUniversity of Oregon
dc.rightsCreative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0-US
dc.subjectMicrobial ecologyen_US
dc.subjectCitizen scienceen_US
dc.subjectAgricultureen_US
dc.subjectMaizeen_US
dc.subjectFungien_US
dc.subjectFusariumen_US
dc.titleFarms, Fungi, and Climate: Drivers of Pathogenic Fungi Abundance in Corn Seeds
dc.typeThesis/Dissertation

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