Write 3 short summary paragraphs about 3 projects

Mammalian herbivores: Birds are a pepper’s best friend because they don’t have teeth to destroy the seed and they can fly a long way before dropping the seed in their feces (unscathed), effectively dispersing the seed away from its parents. Herbivorous mammals, however, grind up pepper seeds with their molars, rendering them incapable of germinating. Researchers have hypothesized that the first pepper plants to synthesize capsaicin received a tremendous benefit in the form of reduced mammalian herbivory – mammals have receptors for capsaicin and ‘feel the burn’ (1). Birds do not have these receptors and can eat as many peppers as they want without any ill effects (1)! We have been conducting experiments testing the efficacy capsaicin in deterring small mammals. We have found evidence that capsaicin may reduce rates of songbird nest depredation (by squirrells). Here’s our poster from the National Conference on Undergraduate Research in Spokane, April 2015: Capsaicin Poster Final_4 2 2015

Anti-microbial properties: Peppers take a very long time to germinate (1-4 months compared to 1-10 days for tomatoes). This long period of dormancy is common to many plants, and in general is thought to have evolved to maximize the chances that the seed will germinate in ideal conditions (2). In other words, if we get a week of warm weather in February followed by a week of freezing conditions, pepper seeds will be fine because they won’t have germinated. Tomato seeds, on the other hand, may have germinated and then been killed by the freezing weather. A potential negative consequence of this long germination time is prolonged exposure to bacterial and fungal pathogens in the soil. These pathogens would love to have access to the starches in the pepper seed! Some researchers have hypothesized that the first peppers to synthesize capsaicin received a tremendous benefit in the form of decreased seed mortality and increased germination success (1,3). We have been conducting experiments on the ability of capsaicin to inhibit the growth of bacteria and fungi. Although our results are preliminary, we have found that capsaicin appears to speed the growth of yeast! We have yet to find any inhibition of the growth of bacteria.