GRADUATE POSTER PRESENTATIONS AGRO-SCIENCES Investigating the Relationships Between Physical Water Quality Parameters and Chloro-Phyll-A in Rehoboth Bay, Delaware Emily Andrade, Robert Allison, Aaron Bland, Mohana Gadde, Memory Nakazwe, and Gulnihal Ozbay, Ph.D. Delaware State University, Department of Agriculture & Natural Resources Oyster aquaculture returned to the Delaware Inland Bays with the issuing of shellfish leasing areas in 2018, bolstering local economies, improving water quality, and providing structured habitat for fish and invertebrates. Additionally, the Delaware Center for Inland Bays established three pilot artificial oyster reefs beginning in 2019 to restore the native oyster population and further improve the Inland Bay environment. Successful management of oyster farming and restoration efforts depends on continuous monitoring of oyster growing conditions. A pilot water quality monitoring program was established in Rehoboth Bay, Delaware, which included multiparameter continuous water quality instruments (sondes) deployed at sites of oyster aquaculture (Salley's Cove) and artificial oyster reefs (Camp Arrowhead and Big Bacon Island) from summer through late fall in the 2020 and 2021 field seasons. Trends in water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, pH, turbidity, total suspended solids, calcium hardness, and chlorophyll-a were examined with respect to oyster growing conditions. Sustained warmer temperatures likely pro-mote oyster growth and survival. Turbidity readings were in general high; large quantities of suspended matter dilute organic matter available for oyster consumption, reducing growth potential. These preliminary findings are expected to inform the management of Delaware oyster aquaculture and restoration efforts and shape the direction of future monitoring efforts. Funder Acknowledgment: NOAA LMRCSC, NSF DE EPSCOR
Regulated Drought-Responsive Transcription Factor Genes in Sugar Maple Miss Oluwatomi Jacobs, O.E Jacobs, A.R. Vennapusa, K. Krishnanand, K. Melmaiee, and S. Elavarthi Sugar maple (Acer saccharum Marshall.), a tree species native to the Northeastern part of the United States and Canada, is economically important for its hardwood, sugar syrup, and fall foliage tourism. Sugar maple is reported to be highly sensitive to drought stress, but the absence of genome-level studies has hindered understanding the mechanisms underlying their adaptation to stress at the molecular level. Next-generation sequencing has emerged as an advanced tool for mining genes involved in stress responses. Among the gene families, transcription factors (TFs) as molecular switches regulate several pathways upon stress adaptations. Identification of such TF families is crucial for understanding the molecular mechanisms and for developing the drought stress tolerance in sugar maple. With this, we identified several TF genes involved in stress response from the transcriptome data of sugar maple plants subjected to drought stress for 7, 14, and 21 days under greenhouse conditions. Our analysis revealed the significantly induced transcripts encoding the different types of TFs such as NAC, HSF, ERF, WRKY, and basic leucine zipper (bZIP). A few TFs showed differential expression commonly at all the drought stress periods (7, 14, and 21 days): a higher number of differentially expressed transcription factor genes were found in sugar maple ex-posed to 21 days of drought stress. In conclusion, our study offers the finding of novel TFs responsible for drought stress tolerance in sugar maple. Further understanding of the target molecules and validation provides the potential gene candidates for genetic improvement of the drought tolerance in sugar maple. Funder Acknowledgment: USDA, NIFA-McIntire Stennis Cooperative Forestry Research Program and the Stennis Award
FIFTH ANNUAL DELAWARE STATE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH DAY | APRIL 13, 2022
PAGE 21
