Plants, like animals, respond to environmental factors. Light seems to be the most influential external factor on the planet (omitting the anomaly of hydrothermal vent life of oceanic trenches). Light is key to plant life for synthesis of usable sugars, as well as reproduction. Floral initiation, in Arabidopsis can occur through a number of pathways, given that Arabidopsis is a facultative, long day plant. This means that is favorable for Arabidopsis to flower when day lengths stretch into 16 hours of light and 8 hours of darkness, per 24-hour period. Alternative floral initiation pathways can be triggered if this light regiment is not met. An alternate pathway group is influenced by temperature acting as the environmental factor. Vernalization, autonomous, and ambient floral initiation pathways are triggered by variable temperature exposure. A pathway independent of environmental factors would be the Gibberellic Acid pathway. This is a plant hormone that is known to positively regulate seed germination, floral initiation, and many other physiological and developmental processes.
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