Congratulations guys. You're all incredible. I didn't have to do anything! Good luck with your potential future careers in science. I highly recommend considering UC Berkeley. It's a top 5 school with tons of research opportunities. I don't know if they close this, but feel free to post here if you have any career/college/science questions you want advice on. 

-Ian

Hey Ian. I just wanted to give you a huge thanks for all of your support and help that you have our team throughout this project. I know it must've been as much of a commitment as we made, always having to be there for guidance and support. So thank you so much for your help to our project. We all really appreciated it.

Hi Ian,
Happy Thanksgiving! Our team just submitted our final research paper and I want to thank you for all of your help. I learned a lot about the research process which I will be able to apply to other projects in the future. You helped a lot with many of the decisions we made. Thank you so much for all of your help!
 

Hi, Ian! With our project finished, I would like to thank you for helping us as a mentor. I know you must have a busy schedule yourself, so the fact that you were willing to take time out of your days to help us means a lot. Conducting this experiment was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot of new things. I hope you have a great Thanksgiving! :)

Hi Ian! Thank you so much for being our mentor. I can imagine how busy you must be, so it means so much to me that you took time out to work on this and lead us through our project. Conducting this experiment gave me some really valuable experience, and I will always keep in mind the advice you gave us. Thank you so much for all your guidance! Have a great Thanksgiving!

We just wanted to let you know that our experiment has ended and we are currently working on our research paper. 

We recently used a scale insect guide from  https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/insect-and-related-pests-of-flowers-and-foliage-plants/scale-insects-in-the-greenhouse" data-sanitized="https://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fcontent.ces.ncsu.edu%2Finsect-and-related-pests-of-flowers-and-foliage-plants%2Fscale-insects-in-the-greenhouse&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNFxnU0zUKPGxw_60Poo5Axpw6-kWA" dir="ltr" href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fcontent.ces.ncsu.edu%2Finsect-and-related-pests-of-flowers-and-foliage-plants%2Fscale-insects-in-the-greenhouse&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNFxnU0zUKPGxw_60Poo5Axpw6-kWA" rel="nofollow noreferrer" tabindex="-1" target="_blank">https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/insect-and-related-pests-of-flowers-and-foliage-plants/scale-insects-in-the-greenhouse to better identify what type of scale insect was on our plant. The plant is infested with brown soft scale insects. We looked at some under the microscope on Monday. As soon as we get the phone attachment for the microscope, we will take pictures and upload them for you to see.

Well, it wasn't just the alcohol apparently: Unfortunately, the other leaf with the horticultural oil also has died. We suspect that, due to the rising heat inside the building and the lack of humidity, the plant is dying from the leaf up due to its surroundings. However, we were using 70% alcohol and using cotton swabs to apply it to the leaf. We don't have an exact quantity of how much alcohol we used each time, but we used enough to cover the half of the leaf in its entirety.

Update: It seems that the leaf we used for the alcohol treatment has died. The entire plant is fine, it is just that one leaf that has died. Pictures will be uploaded later.

For your reference, I have uploaded the most recent data table. I also wanted to add that last week we taped down the leaf to the stem to make sure it moves less so that we can get accurate results. In addition, we will have to delay our next data collection by a few days since we are not in school on Friday, the day we usually take measurements.

After today's measurements, we have found some interesting data. Both the oiled leaf and the alcohol control leaf have not produced any honeydew since last week's measurements. The oil control leaf has produced 0.01 grams of honeydew, and the alcohol seems to be doing worse than the controls, and has produced 0.02 grams of honeydew since last week. The alcohol and oil control leaves have had the same amount of change since last week's change, and the oil and alcohol control have both had less change.

We realized that remaking the alcohol solution every week was both wasteful and could possibly cause error in the % of alcohol. This week we created one batch and then stored it in a glass bottle. This should be enough to use for the rest of the experiment. We are not able to do this with the horticultural oil because the bottle says that it should be used almost immediately after is it combined with the water.  

We collected data last Thursday about how much the mass of each tray increased. Interestingly, the mass of both of the trays under the side with a remedy increased by 0.02 grams which the control trays with no remedy increased by only 0.01 grams. I have attached the data table we have so far.

This week, we collected the data from the experiment we set up last week. Suhani will explain more about the results. We made another batch of the remedies (horticultural oil and alcohol) and applied them to the plant. After applying the solution to the front side of the horticultural leaf, we realized that there were also scale insects on the back of the leaf, so we applied the solution to the back as well. We repeated this for the alcohol. 

One of our remedies was created using horticultural oil. In order to properly create the solution, we had to dilute the oil with water… a lot of water. The proportions given on the bottle were difficult to use, so we simplified them to 0.5 mL of oil:50 mL of water. We put this amount of each substance into a spray bottle, mixed, then applied to the right half of a leaf (spraying generously).

On Friday, 10/20, we began the experiment. We first “created” the horticultural oil solution and put it into a spray bottle. We sprayed an even amount of the solution onto the right side of one of the leaves, while covering the other side with paper. After mixing the the rubbing alcohol, we applied it to onto the right half of the other leaf with cotton swabs.

For the rubbing alcohol, we wanted a 70% solution, but we only had an 80%, so we diluted it with water. We used approximately 43.75 milliliters of alcohol and 6.25 milliliters of water to form the final solution. The solution was applied to the right half of the leaf, as Isaac stated.

The leaf we applied rubbing alcohol to was very low and was touching the table. This did not give us any space to put the plastic tray underneath. To solve this, we knotted multiple rubber bands together and then tied the branch the leaf was on to a higher branch. This lifted the leaf up enough for us to get the trays under it.
 

One major problem was that we will be losing some of the honeydew that we are going to measure. This is because the area of the leaf converges into a point at the tip of the leaf, and honeydew from both sides of the leaf would end up at the tip because of the surface tension. This means that measuring the honeydew dripping from the tip (Which would be the bulk of the honeydew) would be inaccurate because we would be unsure of which side of the leaf that it came from. Our temporary solution of this was to just let the honeydew from the tip go, and we only measure honeydew dripping from what we are sure is from that side of the leaf, but if you have any suggestions on this issue please let us know.
 

To calculate our results, we will be measuring both the size of the leaf and the mass of the honeydew produced. Once we find these measurements, we are likely going to put them into ratios of mass:area (or vice versa). This proportion will ensure that the honeydew production measurements will be equal no matter what size each leaf is.

Because the results of the tissue paper and filter paper showed that it couldn't be too consistent, we have are most likely going to use a flat, glass tray that could cover most of the area that the honeydew would be dripping into. This way, humidity wouldn't affect the mass because it wouldn't be absorbed into the glass. We are still going through the same procedure that we did with the tissue paper. We're going to measure the mass of the glass plate before using it, and then again once we are done collecting the honeydew, and seeing how much we have collected by finding the difference in mass.

Since we are doing both a control and a test side for each remedy, we will need two trays for each leaf. The two trays will be placed next to each other, one under each side of the leaf. There will be a small gap in between the two trays so that the border between the control and test sides can be more defined.
 

Hi Ian,

We are assuming that the quantity of parasites and the amount of honeydew that they produce is equal on both sides. We are also assuming that the weight of the honeydew is an accurate way of measuring the quantity of parasites. Even if the honeydew is not an accurate measure of the current parasites present on the leaf, it would mean that the parasites would spread more to other leaves. The goal of a remedy is not only to make sure that the current parasites die but to minimize the spread of them. Finally, we are assuming the remedies do not have an effect on the growth of the plant.

Hi! We let the tissues and the filter paper sit for a week. Last week, we measured the mass of the materials. Originally, the tissue that was collecting the honeydew was 2.06 grams. Within a week, it increased to 2.11 grams. The tissue that was supposed to be our control actually went down from 2.05 to 2.04 grams. We measured the mass of the filter paper but we realized that experiment was invalid because during the week, the filter paper fell off the beaker we had placed on and was therefore no longer directly under the leaf.

Hi Ian. We started a preliminary experiment to test whether filter paper or tissues will give us a clearer result. We first weighed two unused tissues and there was a slight variation in their weights. We then weighed the filter paper and there was no variation. We will record the filter paper/tissue’s weight before we put it underneath the leaves so the variation in starting weights is not that important. After waiting a few days we will record how much the mass of the paper increased. We also want to make sure that the honeydew will not seep through either material. This experiment also confirms that the honeydew’s weight  is significant enough to be measurable.

Hi Ian! We were brainstorming what experiments to do that involved the plant parasites in our school. After quite a lot of debate and rejected suggestions, we picked one that we liked the best. Two leaves on the dieffenbachia plant in our biology classroom are heavily infected with the parasites that we believe are soft scale insects. We wanted to test how effective two popular and easily accessible home remedies are at killing the insects. On one half of the leaf, we would apply a home remedy, and the other half would be a control. We will do this on two leaves, one leaf for each home remedy. The main difficulty we faced when trying to think of an experiment to conduct was how to measure whether the amount of scale insects decreased. We decided to either use filter paper or tissues and suspend them in the air under each side. The tissue or filter paper would capture the honeydew given off by the insects. We would compare the mass of the tissue or paper before and after putting it under the leaf. One of the questions we wanted to ask you was if it would be better to coat the control side in water or leave it uncoated. In addition to that answer, we would be happy to hear any advice you have on how to make our experiment better.

As for your reaction to my introduction, I enjoy being busy; it’s really fun for me. I have not yet calculated my golf handicap, but the next time I play on the course, I will make sure to calculate it and let you know! :)

Everybody else is probably going to start their posts with “Hi Ian”, so I will greet you slightly more formally: Hello Ian! The final question of the four-question strategy is “how can we measure the response to the change?” We have learned that these parasites produce a substance called honeydew, which leaks off of the leaves onto the surface below them. Since our experiment will involve trying to find a home remedy to rid of the parasites, we need to somehow figure out how to “count” the amount of parasites still alive on the plant. Even if we do count them one by one, it will be basically impossible to tell if they are alive or dead, as either way they would probably still be on the plant. So to measure the amount of parasites still affecting the plant, we plan on measuring the honeydew that they produce. We are going to put some sort of tissue or filter paper under both treated and untreated leaves, and by measuring the mass of both papers filled with honeydew we will find out whether our remedies have worked or not. 

Hi, Ian! As Suhani already explained, we are planning to test and compare two different home remedies. The two remedies we are planning to use are rubbing alcohol and horticultural oil. We were originally planning to potentially also do a test with insecticidal soap, but it turns out that we aren’t allowed to use any insecticides in school. One question I have is if you have any suggestions on how to coat the leaves with the horticultural oil and rubbing alcohol.

Regarding your reply, what fieldwork do they do in French Polynesia? It sounds like an interesting experience, and based of images of the place (from Google), the scenery looks absolutely stunning.
 

Hi Ian, I'm here to answer the 3rd question to the 4 question strategy. This would be "How can we change the set of materials we have to affect the actions of the parasites?" We will be changing the set of remedies for so that we can have the most effective remedy for killing the parasites. We have thought of using different household substances like rubbing alcohol or dish soap. Hopefully one of these remedies will kill the scale insects without killing the plant. We can measure if they are dead or not by the amount of honeydew produced.

Hey guys,

What's going on with your project? 

Ian

Hey guys,

What's going on with your project? 

Ian

Hey guys,

What's going on with your project? 

Ian

Hey guys,

What's going on with your project? 

Ian

How do parasites act?

• A parasite is an organism that benefits at the expense of another organism, which is a non-mutual relationship.

• Parasites usually reside within their host organism, and are able to do things that modify the host’s behavior.

• There are six evolutionary strategies within parasitism:

  • parasitic castrator

  • directly transmitted parasite

  • trophically transmitted parasite

  • vector-transmitted parasite

  • parasitoid (which eventually kills the host)

  • micropredator

• An obligate parasite is fully dependent on the host to complete its life cycle.

• A facultative parasite is not fully dependent.

• A direct parasite has a single host.

• An indirect parasite has multiple hosts.

• An epiparasite feeds on other parasites (also called hyperparasitism).

• Social parasites take advantage of interactions between other social (like ants or bees).

Oops there were more introductions I didn't see! 

Hi (Again) Isaac! Computer science is a great choice. Have you already started programming anything? There are a lot of great resources online to build some really incredible things with almost no knowledge! Let me know if you want me to point you in that direction. 

Hi Dragon! 

What games do you play? 

Hi Suhani!

Oh my gosh, you sound busy! What is your golf handicap? 

Hi Sophia! 

Fieldwork is the best. If you ever want to go out west -UC Berkeley(but all of the University Of California campuses can access it,) has this amazing program where you can go to French Polynesia for the summer doing fieldwork. I've heard it's a life changing experience. 

Oops there were more introductions I didn't see! 

Hi (Again) Isaac! Computer science is a great choice. Have you already started programming anything? There are a lot of great resources online to build some really incredible things with almost no knowledge! Let me know if you want me to point you in that direction. 

Hi Dragon! 

What games do you play? 

Hi Suhani!

Oh my gosh, you sound busy! What is your golf handicap? 

Hi Sophia! 

Fieldwork is the best. If you ever want to go out west -UC Berkeley(but all of the University Of California campuses can access it,) has this amazing program where you can go to French Polynesia for the summer doing fieldwork. I've heard it's a life changing experience. 

Oops there were more introductions I didn't see! 

Hi (Again) Isaac! Computer science is a great choice. Have you already started programming anything? There are a lot of great resources online to build some really incredible things with almost no knowledge! Let me know if you want me to point you in that direction. 

Hi Dragon! 

What games do you play? 

Hi Suhani!

Oh my gosh, you sound busy! What is your golf handicap? 

Hi Sophia! 

Fieldwork is the best. If you ever want to go out west -UC Berkeley(but all of the University Of California campuses can access it,) has this amazing program where you can go to French Polynesia for the summer doing fieldwork. I've heard it's a life changing experience. 

Hi Everyone! Please, call me Ian.

Hi Stephen! There are a lot of awesome things you can do programming related that relate directly to biology. There are several  pure computer science majors in many biology labs. With how important computers are to our everyday life, you can do a lot of programming in any scientific field. It's SUPER exciting. 

Hi Isaac! Sounds really cool. Are you planning to infest multiple different plant species with this parasite? 

Hi Sophia & Suhani! 

Sounds like you guys have a lot of good materials and study parameters going. What experiments are you guys planning to run? 

Question 1: What materials are readily available for conducting experiments on parasites?

• infested spider plants
• healthy spider plants
• natural light
• an enclosed courtyard
• infested dieffenbachia plant 
• infested yucca plants
• healthy dieffenbachia plant
• water
• fertilizer
• rock wool
• several types of potting soil
• compound microscopes
• concavity slides
• coverslips
• slides
• dissecting scope
• rubbing alcohol 
• cotton swabs 
• soap
• toothbrush
• humidity domes
• scissors
• computers for research
• UV lights
• fluorescent lights
• LED lights
• planting trays
• heat lamp
• infrared LED lights
• camera
• pots and containers
• refrigerator
• microwave

The 4 Question Strategy

The 4 Question Strategy is a way to brainstorm a possible project. The first question is “what materials are readily available for conducting experiments on _____?” In our case, the “blank” is plant parasites. This question allows us to list potential materials for the experiment as well as giving us an idea of what experiments we cannot do due to a lack of available materials. The second question, “how do ____ act?” gives us an idea of what responses we may want to elicit from the subject. The answers for the first and second questions can fill in the blanks in the third question, “how can we change the set of ___ materials to affect the ____ action?” This is essentially the hypothesis to an experiment. The final question is “how can we measure the response to the change?”, and the answer to the question can be used to help in recording data from the experiment. The following few posts will be our answers to the questions and the start of our brainstorming process.

Scale Insects - We think the parasites infesting our plants are scale insects. These insects latch onto the plants and feed off juices from the plant’s vascular system. The parasite also leaves honeydew on the plants, which is a bigger problem than the feeding of the plant itself. This sticky, sweet residue attracts more pests or possibly mold. The infected plants that we examined have many little dots around the veins of the plant. This means that the parasites are likely scale insects because they are feeding off of the water and nutrients that the plant is transporting to the leaves. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yH5Pb9IFMp0/UOnCXCmss-I/AAAAAAAAImE/s9mmt-Lghsk/s640/scaleIMGP5914.jpg ← This is very similar to what we saw under a microscope

Hello Mr. Anderson, our school does not have enough Wisconsin Fast Plants for every group to do an experiment on them. Our group was the group that was selected out of our class to choose a different test subject. We decided that we would do an experiment on parasites that we have found on plants around our school. The parasites are producing eggs and spreading. We are hoping we can find a solution that would be useful in helping to prevent parasites from killing the plants.

Hi Mr. Anderson! I'm looking forward to working with you on this project. I personally am interested in anything computer or programming related, but also love science as a whole. In my free time I enjoy marching band and have played tennis on and off for a few years. I hope you're as excited as I am for this project!

Hello team! Please remember NOT to post your last names or email addresses in your posts here. Have a great session!

Hello Mr. Anderson and fellow prognosticators! I am interested in computer programming and engineering. In free time I love to go on bike rides and explore the nature. I love learning new things so I'm looking forward to discovering more about parasites and hope to find a solution that can help others.

Hey, I'm Dragon. I play Football and Lacrosse, and sometimes basketball. Most of the time though, I spend my time on the internet and playing video games. I usually use Youtube to learn new skills, both useful and not useful at all. I'm always down to learn something new so I'm pretty excited for this parasite project in the coming months!

Hello, my name is Suhani. I play two instruments, sing, do Indian classical dance, participate in public speaking competitions, and am going to play golf for Marlboro in the spring. In my free time, I enjoy reading, drawing, and playing MarioKart with my friends. My favorite fields of science are robotics, biomedicine, and computer science. I'm excited to develop a project about parasite remedies throughout the next two months!

Hi, I'm Sophia. I'm a figure skater, dancer, and pianist, and I like KPOP, singing in choir, organizing things, reading, and the color black. My favorite part of science is doing field work, though my favorite subject is math. Overall, I'm a (somewhat?) sociable person, and hopefully, we can soon get to know each other.