Plant Diary 2008

Individual Student Project

Plant Physiology

Objectives

• Watch a plant develop

• Identify parts

• Measure growth

• Explain physiology behind development

• Tie what you see with what you know

• Prepare for the final

• Have major points for a project

The Parts

• Seed germination

• Seedling growth

• Location of growth in root, stem, leaf

• Physiology explaining phenomena

• Report turned in at end of semester

1. Germinating Seeds• Grow in petri dishes

with lids on bottom• Corn and beans (3

ea.)• Very wet paper

towel• Keep warm • Oxygen to seeds• Observe daily• Flat first 2 days• Tilted next 3 days

What to Observe

• Color, texture

• Changes in shape & size

• Organ formation & growth

• Anything else you see

• Write this down– Some on paper– Some on image

The Image

• You could draw or take pictures (hard)

• Instead– Observe your seed (choose one)– Match yours with the images provided– Write down the number of the image– Download the image from the class website– Use this image for your report

What to do with the Image

• Label the parts right on the image– Internet or texts to get part names

• Measure what you can– Weight– Height, Width (of parts and whole)– Area of flat things like leaves

• Add your notes next to the image

• Examples in manual, help in lab

2. Seedling Growth• Seedling will be shown live on website

• Save images you want right from web– Probably twice daily right at emergence– Less than daily near end– Use development to decided how often

• Treat images as for seed germination

• Seedlings will grow for 2 weeks

• Help given in lab

3. Location of Growth

• Marks on tissue (see manual)

• Get images on 2 adjacent days

• Compare 2 images

• Germinating seeds for root growth

• Seedlings for stem and leaf growth

The Physiology

• Explain how what you see happened

• Don’t go into biochemical details

• Do cover– Water

The Report

• Use PowerPoint (easiest)

• Print in color (“Handouts”)

• Four “slides” per page

• NO plastic cover

Report Organization

• Tell the story of your plants• Bean & corn stories separate

OR• By time (day 1, both plants)

Each “Slide”

Title Here

Labeled photo or graph here

Description and interpretation of what’s going on here (bullets or not)

Today Start Seeds• Teams of 4 people & choose a name

• Cut out paper towel – Draw circle around smaller petri dish part– Cut 4 layers of towel (layer=thinnest)– 2 on bottom, 2 on top (top is shortened)– Use larger part (lid) on bottom

• Weigh 3 seeds & place in dish– Keep weights separate (L, M, R)

• Look at your seeds and describe

• Take the image provided for time 0

To the Lab

• Lab will be open all week (Room 75)

• Go daily and observe (take notes)

• Weigh seeds (can cooperate) for 2-3 days

• Choose an equivalent image and seed & write down the image number

• Everything else will be explained in lab