Info
Explore | We know basic parts of a plant, some names of plants, and their purposes. In class, we learned the parts of the plant, how they reproduce, and examples of different types of flowers. Interesting questions we want to know are: Why can't they pollinate with other types of plants? How do they get... |
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Research Question | We are going to study pollen, grow pollen tubes, and observe pollinators. |
Predictions | 1. Pollen- We predicted that the pollen would look the same for the same species. 2. Pollen tubes- We thought the sugar would produce better pollen tubes than boric acid and distilled water. 3. Pollinators- We thought the brighter flowers, the red ones, would attract more pollinators. |
Experimental Design | 1. Pollen- Observe various types of pollen at 400x mag. 2. Pollen tubes- Put pollen in humidity chambers overnight. 3. Pollinators- Observe pollinators outside on specific flowers for 10 minutes. |
Conclusion | 1. Pollen- The pollen was different for different species, but with similar characteristics for the same species. 2. Pollen tubes- We found out that our hypothesis was correct and the sugar water showed more pollen tubes. 3. Pollinators- The red flowers did attract more pollinators than the... |
About this Project |
Updates
Thank you for all your help with learning pollination and guiding us through our observations. We are finished with our project now.
We are not sure what type of lab we could do inside without access to pollinators or flowers.
Hello Team! I see you've summarized your pollinator observations in your report. You hypothesized that the red flowers would see more visits than the pink flowers by pollinators and you observed that more pollinators visited the red flowers. Can you think of another experiment you could do to determine how pollinators select flowers to visit (based on color) in the lab instead of outside?
We think the sugar water worked the best because the sweetness of the water acts like the nectar in the flower.
It is great to hear that your experiment worked! Why do you think the sugar water was the best solution for the pollen tube?
10-27-16, we observed the pollen tubes with sugar water, boric acid, and distilled water. We saw that the sugar water grew pollen tubes the best overall. The snapdragons with sugar water grew the most and actually produced tubes. They didn't change with boric acid or regular water. Cosmos had buds with spikes in the sugar water and boric acid, and had little buds with water.
Today, we started to grow pollen tubes. Our microscope slides are sitting in humidity chambers for 24 hours. We will look for pollen tubes tomorrow. We hypothesize that the one with sugar water will be the most effective.
Pollen Tube Lab
Hypothesis: We think the sugar water solution will work better than a mineral and water one.
Procedure:
- Make + label humidity chambers.
- Sprinkle pollen on 3 microscope slides for the 2 types of pollen each tested.
- For each pollen tested add 1-2 drops of water on one slide, 1-2 drops of sugar water + 1-2 drops of boric acid on separate slides.
- Place slides in humidity chambers. Check for pollen tubes growth after 24 hours
All of our pollen samples had a yellow color in them like we predicted, but the size range was smaller than what we guessed. Not all of the slides looked the same, but ones of similar species (new and older) had similar characteristics.
We think our original hypotheses fit our observations because the hypotheses were pretty close to what we observed and discovered in the pollen.
Hello Team! I see you have uploaded an excel file with your pollen observation results as well as a written doc. You state your hypotheses, but how do your observations fit, or not fit with your your original hypotheses?
Our lab report data has been uploaded so you can check out our observations and conclusions.
My hypotheses are:
1. What does pollen look like?
I think pollen looks like small yellow grains or yellow fuzz on the top of a flower.
2. What is the size range of pollen grains?
I think the size range of pollen is from a fine piece of dust or dirt to a piece of fuzz.
3. Does all pollen look the same or different?
I don't think that all pollen looks the same, and might depend on the plant.
4. If pollen looks different, does the pollen of similar species look the same?
Pollen of the same or similar species probably looks similar because the plants look the same.