Thinking Green in Extreme Weather Conditions

Dr. John Hogan and Dr. Robert Bowman were given the opportunity to conduct a small trial of the Ames developed dwarf Arabidopsis plants this season at Devon Island where scientists are working on the Haughton-Mars Project. Devon Island, located at an extreme northern latitude, is viewed as a terrestrial analog for Mars. Last week the team sent experiment trays to Devon Island.

A member of the Haughton-Mars Project team will run the experiment. The actual work is simple: just add water and photograph daily. The plants will be grown outside at the peak of the “summer” season where they will be exposed to continuous light and obviously cool temperatures. The intent of the Arabidopsis experiment is to see how the plants will perform in such harsh environments.