Date of Award

2021

Degree Name

Biological Sciences

College

College of Science

Type of Degree

M.S.

Document Type

Thesis

First Advisor

Dr. Anne Axel, Committee Chairperson

Second Advisor

Dr. Philippe Georgel

Third Advisor

Dr. Laura Adkins

Abstract

Endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) are a diverse group of chemicals which can have a detrimental effect on human health, affecting any physiological body system sensitive to hormonal changes. Human exposure to EDCs is inevitable due to their prevalence in modern living; EDCs are integral compounds found in everyday items with which humans interact and ingest. These, along with other indirect avenues leading to EDC exposure, pose a threat to both human health and to the health of wildlife and agricultural environments. Studies on the effects of EDCs on plants can be substantially informative and necessary for progress towards solving the numerous problems associated with EDCs, and a meta-analysis on the effects of EDCs on plants can help address these problems. A literature review of relevant journal articles citing research on effects of various EDCs on plants was conducted in order to assess utility for meta-analysis. Out of 55 selected papers, 22 were found to contain data directly relating an effect of the selected EDCs on plants which were collected and analyzed. A random-effects meta-analysis of 325 collected data points was performed with means and standard deviations using free-source meta-analysis software OpenMEE and the free-source data analysis software R. Results of the main meta-analysis indicate that the tested EDCs have significant negative effects on plants (g=- 0.94±0.136, k=325, p

Subject(s)

Endocrine disrupting chemicals -- Research.

Health risk assessment -- Research.

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