Info
| Explore |
Work on this next! What do we know about plants from our experiences outside of school? What have we discovered in class and background research? What questions about plants interest us? |
|---|---|
| Research Question | How does acid rain affect the germination and growth of radish seeds? |
| Predictions | -The acid will either cause the seed to germinate faster because it will destroy the outer shell OR the acid will be too strong for the seed to handle and it will kill the seed -If the seed does germinate, we predict that there will be some deformities with the seed such as unusual colour,... |
| Experimental Design | We will ask our question “How does the acidity of precipitation affect the growth rate and speed of germination of a radish seed.” We begin to test our hypothesis “The seeds will germinate faster and the acid will cause the plant to become deformed” We will select radish seeds as our... |
| Conclusion | In conclusion, our experiment was set up to test how the acid rain affects the growth and germination of plants. The results of our experiment suggest that the higher the acidity of a substance being administered to a radish seed will make it germinate faster than average and grow taller than... |
| About this Project |
Updates
Hi again,
I would just like to also take a minute to thank you for all of your help and guidance throughout this project. We all really appreciate how involved you have been. From hearing about the other groups, we know many of the other scientists weren't as involved and didn't go out of there way to make discussion questions. You helped us to push our learning further and think about more questions regarding our topic. I hope your research continues to go well and I wish you the best!
Thanks again!
Kate
Oi,
I am happy that I could be of help. The most important part of these discussions is that you appreciated the different aspects of scientific discovery, which was the goal I wanted to fulfill with our chats. It worked, :).
Thank you all for your effort and dedication.
Regards,
Carlos Jose
Hi Carlos,
Sounds like a fun way to spend some of your summer! It would be nice to be outside rather than inside in the lab.
Unfortunately I don't think we are able to check the pH of the soil. I did some research and found that snails and clams are affected by acid rain as they are only able to withstand acid with a pH level of 6. I wasn't really able to find much information about this topic, especially information that I could understand. Today we are working on writing up our formal lab reports and organizing our data as it is due Monday, and we have a PA day on Friday! We are finished with our plants and will no longer be watering them or giving them acid. We will have a conclusion posted soon under the info section.
Hope everything's going well, if you have any final questions for us or suggestions please let us know. We will probably be wrapping up the project today but I will be sure to check back for a reply.
Thanks!
Ha, that is fair. Scientific articles can be dense and overwhelming. I will give you the answer.
Lichens are sensitive to changes in pH. Since lichens are an association between an algae and a fungus, lichens need an environment that allows for both of its organisms to coexist. If you change the pH of the environment, one of the organisms might not tolerate the new environmental conditions and die, making the lichen association no longer existent. Thus, the lichen is no more. Pollution usually influences acid rain to occur. If an area is polluted with carbon and sulfur, for example, these chemicals facilitate acid rain formation. If there is acid rain, lichen can't grow well. For that reason, lichen abundance in an area, usually on trees, was/is used to monitor pollution.
I am glad that you are finishing up with your work.
Carlos J.
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.
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 Research Gallery Archive anytime (Found under Community>Projects) to view this project in the future. You can search the Archive by key word, team name, topic, or school name.
Good bye for now.
Warm regards,
The PlantingScience team
Ethan,
Terrariums are fun to make. I have made some during my teenage years... you know, when the dinosaurs roamed Earth.
Answering your question, I do enjoy working with one of the oldest groups of plants. Mosses have evolved so many adaptations to live and survive on Earth. Those adaptations are what make me want to study this group of plants and understand how they interact with their environment. Here are three facts...
1. There is a family of mosses called the Splachnaceae that have evolved to produce scent that mimic rotting flesh or poo. This scent attached flies, and the mosses 'use' the flies to disperse their spores to poo or rotting flesh. Then, the mosses grow on the flesh or poo and continue their life cycle. I have collected two species in this family, one was on bear poo and the other one was growing on the flesh and bones of a small mammal.
2. In the family of mosses called the Dicranaceae, some male plants have much smaller sizes than female plants. The male plants are so small that they grow on the leave of the female plants to ensure that reproductions occurs. The most interesting and gross part, these males may be the sons or cousins of the female plants they are growing on. Lol.
3. There is a moss called Ceratodon purpureus that grows in each of the seven continents.
I agree with Kate and you, The Last of Us is just a great game. I can't wait for the second installment to come out... when, though.
Carlos J.
Hi Carlos, sorry about the delay in getting back to you. Our school was not closed the whole week, however we did have a 4 day weekend. I worked 3 days of the break, but I still was able to spend time with friends and family.
We have been observing our plants for about 2 weeks now. We have been recording how many have germinated each day. Also, we have been recording the height of the stems. Many of our seeds have grown to be quite big, while others didn't germinate. Each day we have been giving the controlled group 5ml of water and the experimental groups 5ml of pH 2 acid and pH 4 acid. We have found that the pH 2 group has had all of the seeds germinate, and most are larger than 2 or 3 cm. Today we are starting our lab report write-ups, but we have decided to continue to grow our seeds to see what happens to them.
The last of us is a fun game, I have it although I have only played it at a friends house. It sounds like your research is moving along. Do you work in a lab? Or out in the environment? Or both?
Anyways, sorry we haven't been communicating well the past few days. Hope everything is going well!
No worries, all in due time.
The experiment is going well, it seems. It is corroborating or contradicting your hypotheses, and why?
Also, is it possible for you to check the pH of the soil to see if it has changed or not as compared with your control? If so, what could that tell you about your germinating plants? If not, that is ok.
My research is done both in the lab. and in the field. For the most part of the year, I am in the lab. identifying species, extracting DNA, and or read/writing. During the summer is when we have our (my mentor, the students, and I) field trips to the study sites, where we go and collect our species and samples. For the last three years, our field work was done in boreal forests of northern Manitoba. This year, we will be doing field work in boreal forests on the west coast of Newfoundland. For me, this is all fascinating as I have never worked with plant and fungi from this region prior to my PhD.
Did you find out the answers for the questions I posted below?
Regards,
Carlos J.
Hello all,
hope all is well.
Do you have school this week? I know that some schools close for the whole week due to Easter, not sure how it works in your case.
I can give you an update on what I have been doing in the last few days:
One of my PhD projects is about understanding how dispersal of moss and lichen parts influence which species is present in the forest. A novel way to do this is by looking at the DNA of mosses and lichens that has been stored in the soil. The DNA amount in the soil tell us which species might be dispersing lots of parts in the forest.
For the last few weeks, I have been in communication with a laboratory in Colorado Spring, Colorado (USA). They have the skills necessary to get the DNA from my soil samples. Once the DNA is extracted, they use a machine, called high through-put sequencing, which will help get as many DNA sequences present in the soils. Once they get the DNA sequences, these DNA sequences are compared with a database to see which species are present and dominating in the forest soil samples. Based on the presence and dominance of DNA sequences, I can get information about moss and lichen dispersal, and how that dispersal is related to the species in the communities above of the soil. Exciting!
Other than that, I have been playing The Last of Us (zombie video game) and hiking all over Corner Brook (Newfoundland) during the weekends.
What have you been up to? How is your research going?
Regards,
Carlos J.
Hello dear friend, Our school only had Friday and Monday off, (sadly) Haha, but in all wellness it is good to be back into the learning environment that we are placed in such as this school and this chat room filled with such compassion for science and life itself. It is truly inspiring knowing that you are surrounded by the people with the same interest as you. And I have an interest in your work that relates to one of my hobbies, and that is making little terrariums. (In case you had no prior knowledge) Terrariums are small glass containers used to house a small ecosystem, such as moss,sapling and such. Tell me, is it fun working with such an old type of life? Well that concludes my little...What ever you call it, but one last thing. I LOVE The Last of Us. Such a beautiful game with a well developed plot.. it's just sooo amazing!
Hi Carlos, probably should of let you know before, we are all working together to answer the questions and work on the project, however we decided it would be easier if I typed everything in one answer. We will get back to you on the questions.
Thank you for the clarification.
I will wait for your response.
TTYL,
Carlos J.
Hi Carlos, we always enjoy weekends! I spent the weekend playing in basketball tournaments. Anyways, on to the questions.
1. We know that acid rain affects plant growth in the natural environment. However, we don't exactly know what it does. So, we are doing this experiment because we are curious to see what happens to the radish seeds. We expect that the seeds will either germinate faster, because the acid will break open the outer shell. Or, they won't grow at all because the acid will kill them. We also predict that if they do grow they will be deformed in some way.
Methodology:
1. We will measure germination by the duration of time it takes for a sprout to be visible from the seed.
2. We will have 10 seeds in each growth chamber.
3. We are going to have 3 beakers as growth chambers. One controlled group that will receive regular sunlight and water, and two experimental groups will receive acid with different pH levels along with sunlight and water.
4. The seeds will be growing for about 2 weeks.
Acid Rain
1. The pH levels of acid will be 4.5 and 2.
2. We will be using sulfuric acid.
3. Morgan researched the pH level of acid rain so we will have one solution that is 4.5 and another that is 2.
Growth Settings:
1. The temperature will be around 20 degrees celcius. The seeds will be kept in front of a window in a classroom.
2. The temperature will fluctuate by a few degrees sometimes.
Data Analysis
1. We will arrange our data in a chart. Later on once we have collected all of our data we may create a graph possibly a scatter plot, or a double bar graph. We will probably decide what suits our data best later on. If you have a suggestion as to how we should analyze/record data we would be pleased to hear it.
Anyways, sorry that was so long. Hopefully I have covered everything. I have a problem with writing too much. Let us know what you think when you get a chance!
Excellent, your experiment have been well thought.
Here are some suggestions for when you do the experiment:
When watering (with or without acid) your seeds, water them with the same volume every day or every other day (100 ml). This will help your experiment to be consistent.
For the data analyses, you can use a bar graph to display germinated seed (y-axis) vs the treatments (x-axis; control, pH 4.5, pH 2). This will help see if there are difference between the treatments. Google how to construct a bar graph in excel, if you do not know.
Also, if you want to get a bit more technical, you might do some simple statistics one your data. A X^2 (Chi-square) analyses should help you corroborate if there are difference between the treatments. Here is a video that shows you how to do a X^2 test:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPawNLQOv-8.
The factors in the video can be changed to look more like what you have in your experiment. For example, male and female can be changed to germination and no germination. In addition, not at all, somewhat, and very can be changed to control, pH 2, and pH 4.5. The data inside the cell wold be what you get in your experiments.
Here are some questions for you...
Since you have read about acid rain, what group of organisms is highly affect by it, and have been used to monitor the effects of acid rain in an area? How does the acid rain affect the group of organisms?
Hint: it is one of the organisms that I study.
Wessex, Ethan, and Morgan I would like for you to do some research on this in your spare time.
Keep it up!
Regards,
Carlos J.
Hi Carlos, we have decided to base our experiment on how acid rain effects the germination and growth of radish seeds. We are planning on making growth chambers using water bottles. We will have 3 separate growth chambers. One controlled group that will receive water, and 2 experimental groups that will receive two different levels of diluted acid. Let us know if you have any suggestions or questions.
Oi Kate,
Sounds good. Heading the right way!
I do have a few questions:
I. What is your rationale behind this experiment?
What do you expect to see?
II. Questions about the methodology.
Germination: How will you measure germination? How many seeds per pot? How many pots for each growth chambers? How much time will you let the plants grow to get the germination data?
Acid rain: What are the levels of acid and what acid will be used? Are you basing you acid levels on some article you have read on acid rain?
Growth settings: What light and temperature settings will be used on the seed radishes? Will these factors be constant or will they change over time?
Data analyses: How will you analyze and graph your data?
Lots of questions, sorry. Take your time to think about theses questions and see how you can answer these to improve your experiments.
Last question, how was your weekend? I spent it essentially sleeping and also did my taxes. Boring, I know. :D
Carlos J.
Hello! My name is Ethan and I am also interested in learning about germination and climate change. There is not that much about me that is interesting, If you do have any questions about me I would happily answer, I like food and video games. I don't know too much about this part of the science study and that is why I am interested in learning about it. I look forward to talking with you and learning.
Hola Ethan,
Good to know that you want to learn about such an important topic. The change in climate is completely linked with plant survival and germination. If climate conditions are too harsh, then seeds might germinate or not. Some species will benefits from climate change and grow, while other species will not and die.
I like food and video games too. I enjoy cooking, mostly dishes made with pasta or noodles (lasagna, spaghetti and sauce, stir fry). The videos games of my preference are RPGs, currently playing Final Fantasy 15. Used to play lots of Super Smash with friends as an undergrad.
What foods and video games do you like?
Carlos J.
Oh, nice to see that you do to like video games and food! I like computer games and Xbox games. I usually play TeamFortress 2 through the Steam franchise. I also play Battlefield 4 & Hardline. I play Rocket League on Xbox.
And I love Lasagna and spaghetti too! What a small world!
Hi my name is Wessex I am interested in learning how climate change effects seed germination. I took a quick look at your profile and my favorite plant is marijuana because I find its medical uses for things like cancer, parkinsons, arthritis etc fascinating. I was also wondering what its like to be in university from day to day. I look forward to learning about the topic.
Hey Wessex,
Indeed, marijuana is a fascinating plant. Lots of research is being done to see how it may benefit people with chronic pain.
My day-to-day at university varies. Today, I met up with an undergrad, and we spent the morning doing a dispersal experiment. It was a very simple experiment, too. We took plants, ground them, and put the ground material in front of a fan. The fan-made winds moved the material, and some got stuck on tape that we placed in front of the fan. This experiment was done on a few moss and lichen species. With this experiment, we are looking to see if the ground material (propagules) of moss and lichen species have particular characteristic that allow them to move farther distances. Later in the day, spent some time writing emails and reading. Tomorrow, I will meet with my advisor to make sure that I am keeping up with my projects. Also, I will identify some plants and lichen that were collected last summer.
As an undergrad, I would take classes, participated in associations, and do research. It was very similar to what your are probably doing right now. However, at university, you are a bit more free to choose what you want to study and do during the day.
Carlos J.
Hello Carlos, I looked over your profile, it seems you are very passionate about your research, personally I found it to be very scientific and complicated. My name is Morgan, I am in high school. I play the trombone in the school's intermediate concert band and intermediate jazz band, both of which are preforming at the national level. I also play softball on a local team in the summer. Academic wise, my favourite subjects are French and English. Thank you for taking time to mentor our group, we are all thrilled to be working with you! Our group is interested in inquiring on the effects of climate change on germinating seeds.
Oi Morgan,
As I wrote to Kate, it is complicated. It takes years of reading and discussing the topic to get a somewhat good grasp about what is happening with a process in nature. The beauty of doing research in my topic or any other topic is that there is something new to discover. You will find about that experience with your experiments on seed germination.
You seem to have an interest for languages. My mother tongue is Spanish, English is my second language, and I am learning Portuguese. If you want to learn more languages, you can try the app Duolingo, it is free.
Carlos J.
Hi Carlos, your research sounds very complicated and scientific. I live in Ontario. I am very involved in extra-curriculars in and out of school. I enjoy playing the saxophone in multiple bands, and I play competitive basketball, among other sports, which take up most of my spare time and weekends. I also enjoy volunteer work and coaching younger kids. For our project, we are interested in possibly exploring the effects that acid rain, climate change, or possibly fertilizer have on the germination of seeds. Thank you for taking the time to mentor us, we can't wait to get started on this project!
Oi Kate,
Haha, it is a bit complicated, but someone has to do it (:)). If I were to resume the research I do in a sentence, this would be it: I study how moss and lichen species in a community survive, maintain, and form new populations using asexual propagules. Love what I do.
Nice hobbies. I am not that good at sports, am a bit clumsy, but I do like exercise. Tried capoeira (Brazilian dance-martial arts) for a few months, it was fun. Music wise, I enjoy electronic music (Trance, House, and Drum & Base)
Wow, you are looking at a lot of factors that influence seed germination, and it sounds great. Now you have to think about how to design an experiment that will let you reach your goal. I look forward to reading about it!
Carlos J.
Hi my name is Wessex I am interested in learning how climate change effects seed germination. I took a quick look at your profile and my favorite plant is marijuana because I find its medical uses for things like cancer, parkinsons, arthritis etc fascinating. I was also wondering what its like to be in university from day to day. I look forward to learning about the topic.