Ten Botany courses in the Biology curriculum share a common need for environmental growth chambers where factors of light, temperature, and relative humidity can be regulated to observe their effects on plant growth and behavior. The wide range of biological phenomena being investigated using the two new PT-80 Percival Growth Chambers include the initiation of the sexual phase in algae and bryophytes, the study of physiological processes in various groups of plants, developmental differentiation in plant organs and in callus tissue, and the effects of environmental factors on growth, survival and competition in populations of native plants. The growth chambers also are being utilized in the study of ectomycorrhizae by General Mycology students, and in conducting tissue culture experiments in Plant Growth and Development and Biotechnology courses.
