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Introduction

In the summer of 2013, a biota survey was taken in a deciduous forest in Baltimore, Maryland. Results from the biota survey showed that there were unusual levels of ferric iron, and manganese in a low flatland within the forest.  These results sparked the initial interest in an experiment involving ferric iron and manganese.

 

Plants use the micronutrient iron to produce chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is used in the process to create carbohydrates which are used for immediate energy. Manganese, another micronutrient, is used to break down carbohydrates to release this immedite energy. Because of this antagonistic relationship, we suspected that there was an inverse relationship between the two micronutrients, iron and manganese in the plants and soil in the low flatland. We believe that it is formed because if one is present and is producing enough energy then the other isn't needed and vise versa for the plants in the opposite area. Plants in direct sunlight need more chlorophyll to produce carbohydrates and to perform the process of photosynthesis. Therefore plants that are in direct sunlight would need to have high levels of iron in them but not necassarily high levels of manganese. The soil under these plants would have low levels of iron and high levels of manganese because the iron is being absorbed into the plant but the manganese is not. Plants that are shaded by tree canopy would have higher amounts of manganese and lower amounts of iron because they are not using the iron for chlorophyll since there is not enough sunlight for photosynthesis but they would need the manganese to convert the carbohydrates for energy. Therefore we hypothesized the soil under the plants under the canopy would have high amounts of iron and low amounts of chlorophyll.

 The unusual results and the inverse relationship between iron and manganese created the inspiration for this experiment. To conduct the experiment, soil and plant samples were collected. The samples collected originated from five different sites. Each of the five sites has different amounts of sun exposure because one potential factor that can influence the iron and manganese’s inverse relationship is the amount of sun exposure.

 

For more information related to performing the experiment see Procedure page.

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