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Floral Morphological Comparison of Two Closely Related HawaiianVioletsKrystal T. Piotrowski* and John C. HavranCampbell UniversityViola chamissoniana and Viola tracheliifolia are two closely related violets endemic to Hawaii. Violachamissoniana is endemic to the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Viola tracheliifolia is native to the islands of Kauai,Oahu, Maui, and Molokai. Viola tracheliifolia is paraphyletic with respect to Viola chamissoniana. The goalof this research was to compare the floral morphological similarities between the different populations of thetwo species throughout the Hawaiian Islands. Flowers of Viola chamissoniana were collected in the summerof 2010 from a shade house which contained representations of four different populations from the Waianaeand Koolau Mountain Ranges. The flowers of Viola tracheliifolia were collected from Kauai and Oahu in thesummer of 2010 while the flowers from Maui were collected in the fall of 2010. The floral specimens weredissected, mounted, and measured. Differences between populations and species were investigated with CanonicalVariates and Hierarchical Clustering analyses. Both the canonical variates analysis and the UPGMA dendrogramshow a separation between the two species except for several individuals of Viola chamissoniana collected frompopulations where both violets are found. The canonical variates analysis shows that the posterior petal lengthscontribute to the separation of Viola tracheliifolia and Viola chamissoniana. Convergence in morphologies couldhave arisen due to hybridization in areas where these two violet species grow close together.Cross-County Comparison of Ozone and NOx Concentrations in thePiedmont of North CarolinaJuliana Porter*, Alexandra Buckley and Cindy DeForest HauserDavidson CollegeThe American Lung Association has ranked the Charlotte-Gastonia-Salisbury metropolitan district as the eighthand tenth worst city in the United States for smog in 2009 and 2010, while Rowan County has been ranked17th worst. As monitors are not present in surrounding counties, there is little comparative data available forresidents in the region interested in the quality of their air. In this eight week study, we measured averagedweekly concentrations of ozone and nitrogen oxides in seven counties around Charlotte including: York, Gaston,Mecklenburg, Iredell, Cabarrus, Rowan, and Davidson. The results of this study indicate that on average, ozoneconcentrations in the surrounding counties are comparable to those found in the Charlotte-Gaston-Salisburymetro region and Rowan County.Randomness/non-randomness in gene base sequencesRobert K. ReidMeredith CollegeUsing the base sequence of an actual gene and of a computer-generated random base sequence, a computerprogram was devised to count the number of the four mononucleotides, sixteen dinucleotides and sixty-fourtrinucleotides in the whole gene, the exons-only (introns removed), and the introns-only (exons removed). Mono-, di- and trinucleotide values were tested (e.g., Chi-square) for randomness/nonrandomness using introns-only,exons-only and whole-gene base sequence for each of the actual and random genes. Comparisons were madebetween real and randomly-generated whole gene sequences, real and randomly generated exons-only sequences,etc. Since introns are not used to make the final protein, they might be expected to have accumulated the greatestdegree of randomness through mutations. The exons, which are used to make the final protein, might be expectedto show the least randomness as they are subject to the two opposing forces of mutation and natural selection.Thus, the randomness value of the whole gene sequence should be between that of the exons-only and the introns-Campbell University - 63