Plant Diary 2008
Individual Student Project
Plant Physiology
Objectives
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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