Students uncover the impact of flooding on plant life

The impact of water logging on plant survival was brought to the surface by two St Bricin’s students during the BT Young Scientist Competition.

Nina Nawrocka and Ellie May McGovern created a project called ‘Navigating the flood: Assessing the Effects of Water Stress Priming on Plant Stress Tolerance’ in the Biological & Ecological section.

Explaining the project to The Anglo-Celt during the exhibition, Ellie May said: “It’s about how plants respond to flooding.”

“So basically, plants face many abiotic stressors, which are environmental factors or conditions that can negatively impact on plants.

“One of the main abiotic stressors in Ireland today would be excessive rainfall since we get a lot of rain. Waterlogging occurs when soil becomes saturated with water, which then means there is no room for air in the soil, which the plant roots need to grow properly.”