Conclusions I found that a cycle does exist in the Russian Giant Sunflower. I cannot be certain that the cycle repeats every 24 hours because exudation ended after one day; however, the evidence that I gathered points to a daily cycle. If no circadian rhythm was present, the plants would exude a high amount of drops right after the cutting and gradually decrease. The data shows that this was not the case: the drops did not come in full force until around 9:00 AM, even though they were cut at 12:00 AM. The high concentration of drops around midday is indicative of a daily cycle in the plants, oriented towards the middle of the day. Basically, the plants were more active at day than at night. This is particularly fascinating because the cycle was independent of environmental cues: I kept the light on my plants 24 hours a day, the temperature constant, and utilized an irregular watering cycle. The plants were deprived of all environmental stimuli. Next time, I could grow the plants for a longer period. As a result, they might be able to sustain exudation for more than one day.
References Cited
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