The Effects of Ammonium Nitrate on Fern C Spore Germination Introduction: Organisms need their own set of nutrients. These nutrients are what help the cell survive so that the entire organism can survive. Organisms have their own set of nutrients. There are three domains of life on earth. These domains are Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya (Brooker et al. 2013). Most of the cells that are searched for and examined are cells in the Eukarya domain because cells in this domain usually exist in a multicellular complex. In the domain Eukarya, the genus examined in this laboratory was Ceratopteris, also called c-fern; this plant is used in research to see how plant growth is affected by various changes that affect plant growth. (Lloyd, 1973) The reason why fern c is used for research is because of its development process. The reason their life cycle is so unique is because it has a biphasic life cycle that has two independent diploid and haploid generations. (Hickok et al., 1995) This is useful because you can isolate the haploid and diploid, which will provide information on how each variable affects each different stage during each life cycle. (Hickok et al., 1995) another advantage of why C ferns are used in research is due to their short life cycle. After inoculation, germination occurs within the next 3-4 days and full sexual maturity occurs within 6-8 days after germination. After a week or two, roots and leaves begin to appear on the diploid sporophyte. (Hickok et al., 1995) these are the main reasons why ferns were chosen to see the effects of nitrogen on plants. All plants, including ferns, need nitrogen to function properly. These plants need nitrogen because it is a com... middle of paper ......statistical analysis was used to understand the data collected. The f-test was the first statistical analysis used to know if the next step would use Welch's approximate t-test. Work Cited: Brooker R, Widmaier EP, Grahm LE, Stiling PD. 2013. Biology. 3rd edition.Hickok LG, Warne TR, Freiburg RS. 1995. International Journal of Plant Sciences. Vol156: 332-345 Lloyd RM. 1974. Systematics of the genus Ceratopteris Brongn. (Parkerianceae) II.Taxonomy. Brittonia 26:139-160Melan MA, Whittier DP. 1990. Effects of inorganic nitrogen sources on spore germination and gametophyte growth in Botrychium dissectum. Plant, Cell and Environment 13: 477-482. Nachurs. (n.d.). Nitrogen: an essential element in agricultural production. Retrieved from http://www.nachurs.com/nitrogen.html