Farewell and Best Wishes
As this research project is now in the final stages of wrapping-up, we wish to thank everyone who participated in this inquiry; the students, mentors, teachers and others behind the scenes. We appreciate all of your efforts and contributions to this online learning community.

Scientific exploration is a process of discovery that can be fun! There are many unanswered questions about plants just waiting for new scientists to consider, investigate, and share.

Please come back and visit the PlantingScience Project Gallery anytime to view this project in the future. You can search the Gallery by key word, team name, topic, or school name.

Good bye for now.
Warm regards,
The PlantingScience team

Hi Alex!

We just uploaded our slide onto this website. Thanks for everything!

Madeleine and El Dragon Fruites 

Hi Madeleine,

Great news! I appreciate being able to read through your conclusions in the "Info" section. It seems your experiment worked very well and you should be very proud! If you are able to do so, I would love to see your presentation if you upload it to the files section.

Its been great working with everyone for this project. I hope it was as rewarding for you as it was for me! Please let me know how your presentation goes if you are able!

Best,

Alex

 

Dear Alex,

Sorry for the late response. To wrap up we have created a slideshow with our findings to present to our class, as well as have edited anything needed to be edited on this website. 

Thanks,

Madeleine

Looks like you are in the final stages of your projects.
It’s great to see that teams from your school are wrapping up and posting conclusions. Enjoy the final stages of your project, and feel free to post any final comments or questions you have for your mentors.

Hi Madeleine,

 

Great ideas! Can you give an example of a seed where you would expect the opposite results? What about that species would lead you to make such a prediction?

 

Now that you're done collecting data, what will you be doing to wrap up the project? Will you be sharing your results with the class?

 

Thanks,

Alex

Hi Alex!

Today is the last day of our presentation. We have gathered data, while watching our seeds grow. We do think that this experiment would work if we used a different type of seeds because another group at this school used corn seeds and it worked for them. However, we do not think that the outcome would be the same. They are different seeds, and they will respond to different experiments in different ways.

 

From,

Madeleine

Hi Alex!

We came into class today to see that all three sets of seeds had germinated, and had grown more. All five of the nicked seeds were 3.5 - 5 cm long root wise, and one of them was also .5 cm long stem wise. All five of the sanded down seeds had also germinated, but one of them germinated so little that you could barely tell. 3 of those seeds germinated .5 cm stem wise. Only four of the control seeds had germinated, and none of them had really grown stem wise. With the data that we collected, it looks like the nicked seeds are growing better if you think about the roots. If you consider seeds to be growing better based on the stem part, then the sanded down seeds would be growing better, because while only one of the nicked seeds is growing stem wise, three of the sanded down ones are growing stem wise. We will be done with this experiment by the end of Thursday, so only three more days. At this point we are just measuring the growth part of the seeds because they have all germinated.

Thanks,

Madeleine

We also watered each thing with 15 mL of water.

Hello everyone! 

 

Thanks for the pictures - you have an awesome setup! It also appears that your hypotheses are holding true so far, which is always very exciting to see. How long will you continue monitoring for germination and growth? What are your plans once all seeds have germinated?

Go to files to see pictures of the germinated seeds.

Hi Alex!

Today we noticed that both the nicked and sanded down seeds had grown more. Two of the sanded down and nicked seeds had sprouts about 3 centimeters long. The undamaged seeds started growing as well, but they are not as long as the nicked and sanded down seeds. There was also a sanded down seed that had been split, however had not started germinating yet. 

Thanks,

Madeleine

Hi Alex!

Today we came into class to find three sanded down seeds that had germinated, and one nicked seed that had germinated. The water that we had given it yesterday hadn't been soaked up all the way yet, but we realized that a wet towel might not provide enough water to both sides of the seed, so we poured 2 mL of water over the top of the CD case (the water hit the seeds more directly). 

Thanks,

Madeleine

 

I apologize for the lighting. I had to take this picture with my chromebook. Btw this is from yesterday.

That the embryo sprouts from the inside and starts to germinate. The radicle is the part that grows into roots. The cotyledon grows into leaves which are used for food storage. The epicotyl is the part of the stem above the cotyledon, and the hypocotyl is the part of the stem below the cotyledon. Flowering plants are classified as monocotyledons (monocots) or dicotyledons (dicots) based on how many cotyledons they have. Dicots have two, monocots have 1. This is a note for Madeleine!

Hi Madeleine! Thank you for the update - you have a very interested setup! I would love to see a picture if you are able to take one and put it here. Will your seeds be exposed to light at all? How will you be monitoring for their germination success?

Hi Alex,

To set up our experiment we used CD cases with little box graphs, and put our five nicked ones in one, our five sanded down in another, and the five control in another. We put the seeds on the top line of the fourth box, and we folded the top of the napkin five times to make it thick enough to keep the seeds in place. The end of the napkin was hanging out so that it could suck up the water. We then put each CD case in a separate stand, and put those into little plastic bins that we filled with 10 mL of water each. Thanks!

Hi Madeleine, 

That sounds great! Could you share with me at all the details of your procedure? I'm excited to see how this works out!

 

Hi Alex! We're just about to get started with the experiment. We have finished a worksheet about our hypothesis, which is that the sanded down seed will grow the best, as well as the procedure for our project. Talk to you soon!

Greetings everyone!

How is the project coming along?  You have some great ideas about your pea seeds and I can't wait to see the results!

Hi Alex, and thanks for responding! We have chosen peas for our seed scarification experiment. We think seed scarification would benefit peas because they have a hard outer shell, and it would make it softer so that the embryo can break through easier. We think that peas have hard outer shells because they grow in an environment with animals and other natural things like all seeds, and they're also edible and not a bad source of energy, which would make them more desirable for animals. The hard shell makes it harder for animals to eat, and protects the embryo. It also stops things like insects, and objects that would otherwise easily break the shell.

Hello El Dragon Fruities!

So excited to hear from you and learn your project is off to a good start!

To answer a few of Madeleine's questions - I love dragon fruit! I live by a very cool Asian market that carries them every so often and it is always a nice surprise when they do. I have always had a fascination for plants, but it was not until college that I realized I could study them as a job! I owe a lot to my professors and mentors in helping me figure out what interested me and how to pursue that professionally, so in a way that has made me want to help others figure out what they are passionate about through mentoring and interacting with young scientists. I chose to focus on forest ecology specifically because it requires you to think about how organisms interact with each other (the ecology part), and I am absolutely in love with trees (the forest part). There is something about how big and powerful they are that made me want to surround myself with them and study them.

 

As for your seed project, I actually do know a bit about scarification. Many species, particularly those with large seeds (many trees, for example) require scarification in order to germinate. This could be due to many factors, but a common one is that plants that produce fruits are often eaten by animals with teeth or grinding digestive tracts that would kill the seed if it was small. In response, plants produce seeds that are thick and hard in order to survive this process, and the mechanical action of being eaten allows germination to take place after the seed has exited the digestive tract. This process is known to scientists as endozoochory.

 

One example that I have direct experience in is with the baobab tree common in Africa, Madagascar and Australia. The seeds of the baobab are often eaten by elephants, and that action of eating softens the seed coats to allow them to germinate. I grew a few baobab trees at home, and in order to emulate an elephant eating the seed, I used a file to chisel away some of the seed coat to expose the embryo inside. I am attached some pictures of what baobab seeds and adults look like, as well as my own baobab babies! They are about 9 months right now.

Seeds: https://i.imgur.com/YhGvtC6.jpg

Adults: https://i.imgur.com/bSzHM8T.jpg

My baobab babies: https://i.imgur.com/LymW1nI.jpg

What types of seeds will you be trying to germinate? Can you think of any reasons why scarification might be beneficial to those species? Think of the way the seeds are dispersed or the environmental conditions that the plants face that might require having hardier seeds.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Best,

Alex

Hi Alex! Today in class, we focused on fully developing our topic for research, and how we were going to experiment that thing. We decided on seed scarification. One seed will be rubbed down with sandpaper, one will have holes put in it, and one will be unscarred. Our goal is to figure out whether or not scarring affects the rate of germination for the seed, and the growth. We were wondering if you knew anything about seed scarification. Have you tried it before in experiments? Thanks!!!

Hello Alex, my name is Madeleine. We were wondering, how did you become interested in forest ecology? Did you know that you wanted to be a scientist early on in your life, or was it something that you decided you wanted to do later? What is your favorite food? Do you like dragon fruit? How do you feel about mentoring kids that are in middle school? Are you excited, and if so, what part are you most excited about? Thanks!!!!

Hi everyone

 

Hi everyone

 

Hi everyone!

My name is Alex, and I will be your Planting Science mentor on this project team! I am currently a graduate student at the University of Denver working on a masters in ecology and evolutionary biology. My emphasis is in forest ecology, specifically working on understanding how dominant trees species are capable of handling long periods without rainfall (drought). Since drought is expected to increase in frequency and intensity as the climate continues to warm, tree species (especially at high elevations like here in the Rocky Mountains) are at an increased risk of mortality associated with drought. My work will help identify which trees are at risk and where, and what are their traits associated with drought tolerance.

Previously, I’ve worked as a horticulture researcher in Washington State studying fruit orchards and how to increase yield and fruit quality in apple, pear, and cherry fruits. 

Anyways, I am eager to hear about your personal interests as well as what you hope to learn from our Planting Science activities!

Looking forward to working with you.

Best,

Alex

Welcome to your PlantingScience project page!

Welcome to this community of plant researchers. As your team plans and conducts your own research project, you will be mentored by a scientist. The mentor's role is to encourage and guide you through the process of scientific discovery. The more you share your ideas and research information online, the more your mentor can help. You can also find out more about your mentor. What is their research about? Why did they go into science? What do they like to do when they are not working?

You may also hear from this classroom’s assigned scientist liaison. Liaisons work with several mentors and help make sure the conversations are going strong. They may also offer some extra advice or encouragement.

Two resources can help you get started:

• Student Roadmap
• Plant Investigation Toolkit

Best wishes as you start this scientific journey. We are all pleased to share this experience with you. Have fun!

To set up your project page:

• Choose your project team name. Need inspiration? Visit the project gallery to see other student teams.
• Upload a photo or avatar for your team.
• Introduce yourselves to your scientist mentor and get the conversation started!