Using a multidisciplinary approach with undergraduate students to study the grass endophyte system

Authors

  • T.L. Bultman
  • T.J. Sullivan
  • D. Swarthout
  • K. Brown
  • T. Pennings

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33584/rps.13.2006.3086

Abstract

We have been collaborating on a multidisciplinary research programme with undergraduate (baccalaureate) students for the past 3 years, funded by the National Science Foundation in the USA. The project focuses on the ecological interaction between endophytic fungi and the grasses they inhabit and involves students (10-15 annually) and faculty (5 and 1 post-doc) from the departments of Biology, Chemistry and Mathematics. We briefly present some of our results from ongoing projects on stomatal conductance and photosynthetic rates in tall fescue, wound-induced responses at the molecular level, and modelling tri-trophic level interactions. We also discuss how we came together to initiate the project; challenges, pitfalls, and advantages of doing multidisciplinary, multi-investigator research with undergraduates. We will present our assessment results, which are focused on how students feel their involvement in multidisciplinary research differs from what it would be in disciplinary research. Keywords: Neotyphodium coenophialum, tall fescue, woundinduced response, tri-trophic interactions, water use efficicency, stomatal conductance, photosynthesis

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Published

2007-01-01

How to Cite

Bultman, T., Sullivan, T., Swarthout, D., Brown, K., & Pennings, T. (2007). Using a multidisciplinary approach with undergraduate students to study the grass endophyte system. NZGA: Research and Practice Series, 13, 59–62. https://doi.org/10.33584/rps.13.2006.3086

Issue

Vol. 13 (2007): 6th International Symposium on Fungal Endophytes of Grasses

Section

Past volumes

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Copyright

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Rights granted to the New Zealand Grassland Association through this agreement are non-exclusive. You are free to publish the work(s) elsewhere and no ownership is assumed by the NZGA when storing or curating an electronic version of the work(s). The author(s) will receive no monetary return from the Association for the use of material contained in the manuscript. If I am one of several co-authors, I hereby confirm that I am authorized by my co-authors to grant this Licence as their agent on their behalf. For the avoidance of doubt, this includes the rights to supply the article in electronic and online forms and systems.