William Starsiak
Observer effect on plant observation in the field.
BSES Senior Research Project 2008

Abstract

This experiment is an attempt to provide further evidence as to the extent of the observer effect on plants. There has recently been interest in this area, Cahill et al., 2001, Cahill et al., 2002, Bradley et al., 2003, and many more. However, there is not a general consensus as to how significant the observer effect is and what functional groups of plants respond to the effect most. My experiment focuses on how significant the observer effect is and if having mechanical protection is related to the degree that a plant is effected by an observer.