Integrative Plant Science Professional Masters Projects
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Item Response of Water Spinach (Ipomoea Aquatica) Cultivars to Photoperiod and Daily Light Integral in Vertical Hydroponic ProductionYe, Yacheng (2025-08)This study aimed to optimize hydroponic water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) production through seed treatment, hydroponic and substrate cultivation systems comparison, cultivar selection, and photoperiod/daily light integral (DLI) evaluation. Seed treatment enhanced germination speed without significantly affecting the final germination percentage. All water spinach cultivars grown in deep water culture (DWC) systems showed significantly better growth performance compared to soilless substrate cultivation, with significant increases in fresh weight, dry weight, growth index ((height + width)/2), stem width and node number, demonstrating its superior efficiency for water spinach production. In the photoperiod experiment, three cultivars—Big Leaf, Small Leaf, and Super Bud—were exposed to five photoperiods (8, 12, 16, 20 and 24 hours/day) with fixed output light emitting diodes resulting in DLIs of 4.5, 6.7, 8.9, 11.2, and 13.4 mol·m⁻²·d⁻¹ respectively. Photoperiod/DLI had a significant effect on fresh weight, dry weight, and growth index stem width and node number, while cultivar only showed significant impact on node number, and a significant interaction effect on growth index was observed. Big Leaf and Small Leaf performed best under 20 hours/day (DLI=11.2 mol·m⁻²·d⁻¹), while Super Bud achieved its highest growth under 24 hours/day (DLI=13.4 mol·m⁻²·d⁻¹), showing greater light requirements. This study highlights the combined importance of photoperiod, cultivar selection, and seed treatment in optimizing hydroponic water spinach production.Item ASSESSING THE FEASIBILITY OF LOCAL TARPS AS ADDITIONAL POST-CALIBRATION TARGETS FOR FIELD NDVI TIMESERIESTekawade, Omkar (2025-08)The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is a widely used indicator of vegetation vigor, yet its reliability in agricultural time series is limited by atmospheric and radiometric inconsistencies. This study evaluates two local correction methods using pseudo-invariant reference tarps to reduce noise in Planet Scope NDVI measurements for maize fields in Ithaca, New York during the 2023 growing season. The first approach, the Satellite Tarp Residual Method, applied residuals from linear regressions of satellite-derived tarp NDVI to adjust field NDVI. The second approach, the Spectral–Satellite Tarp Correction, predicted spectral tarp NDVI for satellite acquisition dates via linear models, computed correction terms, and applied them to field NDVI. Validation against spectral ground-truth NDVI from Elementary Measurement Areas (EMAs) employed Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) to assess temporal profile similarity. Results indicate that the Satellite Tarp Residual Method provided the smallest DTW distance (0.6064) compared to the uncorrected NDVI (0.6091), with the best performance achieved by subtracting red tarp residuals. The Spectral–Satellite Tarp Correction yielded minimal improvement and, in some cases, degraded temporal agreement due to interpolation errors. Findings suggest that temporally coincident satellite-based reference measurements offer more effective short-term corrections than predicted spectral values when spectral data are temporally sparse. Future work should integrate satellite temporal coverage with spectral spectral precision through hybrid or non-linear correction frameworks to improve NDVI time series reliability for precision agriculture.Item Overexpression of Sorghum sHSP and heat tolerance in Arabidopsis thalianaPatel, Uday (2025-08)Introduction: Climate change is driving shifts in weather patterns, leading to an increased frequency of sudden heat wave events that pose major risks to staple food crops. Understanding the mechanisms plants use in thermal stress mitigation becomes crucial for agricultural sustainability. Plants physiologically adapt to novel stressors primarily through a large family of heat shock proteins (HSPs), which are classified by their approximate molecular weight into Hsp100, Hsp90, Hsp70, Hsp60, and small heat shock proteins (sHSPs, <60 kDa). Small heat shock proteins typically exist as multimeric complexes within plant cells, remaining inactive until external stress triggers their ATP-independent dissociation. Upon activation, the residues of sHSPs bind to exposed hydrophobic regions on misfolded proteins, preventing protein aggregation, while larger chaperones facilitate refolding or degradation. Small heat shock proteins were selected for this study due to their consistent expression in maturing seeds and their protective function during heat stress and desiccation events. This study investigates the transgenic overexpression of the 16.9 kDa sHSP from the highly heat-tolerant staple grain Sorghum bicolor (SsHSP) in the model organism Arabidopsis thaliana. The objective of this study is to understand the impact of SsHSP overexpression on thermotolerance, providing insight into cross-species enhancement of heat stress resilience in plants.Item Effects of Tree Seedling Diversity on Above- and Belowground TraitsParkhouse, Bailey (2025-08)Understanding how adolescent tree species influence belowground carbon dynamics is essential for predicting forest responses to changing climate conditions. One such example includes root exudation (the process by which roots release carbon compounds into the surrounding environment). This plays a key role in mycorrhizal associations and tree survival, particularly during the vulnerable seedling stage (<6 months old). In this study, we measured total organic carbon (TOC) root exudation in six tree species native to the Northeastern United States. These species were selected for their varied mycorrhizal associations (arbuscular vs. ectomycorrhizal) and drought tolerance to assess the influence of functional traits and species mixing on belowground carbon allocation. Seedlings were assessed in monoculture and mixed-species assemblages under controlled greenhouse conditions. Our findings reveal species-specific differences in TOC exudation and suggest that interspecies interactions may influence carbon exudation rates, providing evidence for belowground synergistic effects. These results offer insights into future climate-resilient reforestation models.Item Colombia in Bloom: Insights from a Week in the World’s Cut Flower PowerhouseMao, Xinghao (2025-08)Introduction: Colombia is a global powerhouse in the cut flower industry, ranking as the world’s second-largest exporter of fresh-cut flowers. With its ideal climate, high-elevation farms, and robust infrastructure, the country supplies billions of stems annually to markets across North America, Europe, and beyond. In April 2025, a class of students from Cornell University had the unique opportunity to travel to Bogotá, Colombia and explore this thriving sector firsthand. Over the course of one week, we visited leading companies across the floral supply chain, from breeding and propagation specialists to vertically integrated post-harvest facilities with cold rooms and bouquet assembly lines. This paper highlights key insights from our journey and reflects on Colombia’s strengths, innovations, and challenges as a global floral leader.Item Cannabis sativa seed germination, callus generation, and indirect organogenesis in vitroLay, Corbin (2025-08)Introduction: Tissue culture is a vital tool in plant biotechnology, enabling the rapid propagation, genetic modification, and breeding of valuable crop species. In Cannabis sativa L., understanding and developing effective tissue culture protocols is important due to the plant's high demand, the need for pathogen free propagation, the potential to speed up breeding programs, and the race to understand the plant’s biology. This project focused on establishing protocols and analysis of seedling germination of a wide range of cultivars of C. sativa in vitro, callus culture from cotyledons, hypocotyls, and other organs, and indirect organogenesis from callus. Data were analyzed to make recommendations for future researchers looking for cultivars that perform well in aseptic conditions. A total of 37 accessions were introduced to tissue culture as seeds. Of those, 34 were also germinated in greenhouse conditions. Thirty varieties successfully germinated in vitro, and explants were transferred to callus induction media. Of those, 21 had data collected on callus development. All varieties produced callus, including green callus. Callus from each were transferred to shoot induction media, but data were not collected on shoot induction because shoots did not develop from hypocotyl or cotyledon explants.Item Modelling Leaf Out Phenology in New York City Using PlanetScope NDVI and Gridded Temperature DataHo, Ging-Yan (2025-08)Phenological models are essential for predicting the timing of key life cycle events in plants, yet most applications rely on coarse‐resolution remote sensing products and focus on broad vegetation types. These approaches, often based on satellite-derived vegetation indices are effective at large spatial scales but lack the resolution needed to resolve individual tree responses. Such limitations are especially important in urban areas, where species composition, land cover, and local microclimates vary dramatically across short distances. As a result, there is a need for finer-scale phenological data and models that can capture species-specific and site-level variation in phenology within cities. High-resolution remote sensing-based observations of phenological events at the individual tree level could be used to parameterize phenological models, which would enable more accurate predictions and deeper insights into how different species respond to local environmental conditions. Here, we integrate high‐resolution PlanetScope NDVI (3 m) and XIS-temperature data (90 m) to parameterize phenological models for predicting leaf out timing of four oak species (Quercus alba, Q. rubra, Q. robur, and Q. velutina) at the individual tree level across New York City. Using the estimated date of green up for individual trees from 2018 to 2023, we evaluated six commonly used phenology models with 7,186 oak trees. The Thermal Time (TT) and Alternating (AT) models showed the best overall performance across species, with RMSE values of 5.39 (TT) for Q. rubra and 5.05 (AT) for Q. velutina. RMSE differences among the four best‐performing models were small (~2 days), and all models outperformed both the null and linear (LIN) models. Across species, Q. rubra and Q. velutina also showed the highest prediction accuracy, with values closely aligning to the 1:1 line. Spatially, leaf out occurred earlier in Manhattan and western Queens and later in the Bronx and eastern Queen, consistent with local temperature patterns. These results demonstrate the feasibility of combining high‐resolution satellite‐derived phenology with fine‐scale climate data to produce species‐specific predictions in heterogeneous urban environments. This approach has the potential to advance urban forestry planning, allergenic pollen forecasting, and assessments of climate change impacts on urban ecosystems.Item An Analysis of Ascophyllum nodosum Extract on Yield and Cannabinoid Quality of Greenhouse Grown Cannabis sativa L.Gannon, Adam (2025-08)This study investigates the effects of Ascophyllum nodosum extract (ANE) on two high cannabinoid Cannabis sativa cultivars, CBD dominant ‘TJ’s CBD’ and ‘Wild Bourbon’. The experiment examined varying concentration levels, different application methods, and multiple application durations of ANE to assess impact on plant growth, yield, and cannabinoid concentrations. No prior research had been conducted on this specific area of study and results indicated significant effects in two parameters. Ratio of THC:CBD between the control and 2 ml/L drench application in cv. ‘TJ’s CBD’, and Average Flower Weight between 1 ml/L and 2 ml/L drench treatments for cv. ‘TJ’s CBD’. It is difficult to determine if ANE substantially influences cannabinoid responses due to the diverse combination of organic compounds found in ANE and the complex metabolic pathways of Cannabis secondary metabolites. Future research may explore different concentrations, treatment frequencies, and durations to better understand and optimize ANE in high cannabinoid cultivation of the Cannabis plant.Item From the tree to the table: Boosting Export Potential for Small-Scale Guatemalan Mango GrowersEspana, Elisa (2025-08)Guatemala has favorable conditions and a strategic location for exporting agricultural products to the United States. In this context, mango stands out as a crop with growing international demand. However, small producers face multiple constraints to participate in these markets, including lack of technical knowledge, economic constraints, logistical challenges and compliance with phytosanitary regulations. This document brings together key information on sustainable production and postharvest management practices aimed at improving yield and fruit quality. It also describes the export process to the United States, including mandatory treatments and required documentation. In addition, a financial analysis comparing net income under different export levels is presented. The results show that although all the scenarios analyzed generate positive net income and exporting allows higher income per unit of product, the profit margin varies significantly depending on the level of exporting. In some cases, higher margins are achieved even with lower export volumes, which shows that exporting more does not always mean higher profitability. This highlights the fact that exporting entails greater economic risks, especially for small producers with limited resources. Therefore, strategies such as cooperation among farmers, the shared use of containers and integration into consolidated commercial networks are highlighted as key mechanisms for reducing costs, mitigating risks and improving economic viability. In conclusion, the integration of good agronomic practices with strategic and financial planning is fundamental for the successful and sustainable participation of small producers in export markets.Item The Spatial and Temporal Distribution of Urban Vegetation Phenology by Local Climate Zone and Urbanization LevelLiu, Ruihan (2025-05)This report is for a capstone project for Cornell MPS, concentration Geospatial Applications, to illustrate mastery of a complex geospatial analysis. It used a wide variety of techniques and tools. The project investigated an important topic in the context of the urban environment under climate variability: the spatial-temporal distribution of vegetation phenology in Beijing, focusing on the impacts of local climate zones (LCZ) and urbanization levels. Using MODIS MCD12Q2 data, we analyzed the start of season (SOS), end of season (EOS), and length of season (LOS) across different urbanization gradients and LCZs. Results reveal that urbanized regions exhibit earlier SOS and longer LOS, while natural areas have a later EOS and shorter LOS. LCZs with lower density buildings tend to have a more extended growing season. These findings underscore the significance of urbanization and LCZ in shaping vegetation phenology, providing valuable insights into climate change adaptation and urban ecological management.