User:Richard A. Acevedo/Notebook/Biology 210 at AU

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    Exercise IV - Plantae and Fungi

Purpose: The purpose of this lab is to give examples of the unique characteristics that plants evolved throughout evolution, to explain how different definitive characteristics of fungi are compared to plants, give specific examples of angiosperms and bryophytes, list differences between angiosperms and bryophytes, and identifying the function of the reproductive parts of a flower and their structure. “Due to plants and fungi being a critically important as decomposers and autotrophs, having their diversity is very important and astounding.”(Lab Manual: Biology 210)

Materials and methods: In this lab, six procedures were conducted that dealt with both plants and fungi which were the most important in exercise four. Two zip lock bags were obtained, and you had to go to your transect. In the first bag, dead leaves had to be out inside of it with a little bit of crumbly soft soil. About 500g of leaf litter was placed into one bag. This would end up being used to set up the Berlese funnel for collecting invertebrates for next week’s lab. Next, the representative samples from five plants in a way that is minimally damaging were taken. We then chose a diversity of plants. For trees, a photo of an entire tree was taken; old branches and leaves were then taken to be able to identify the genus. Seeds, pinecones, and flowers from the plants within the transect were picked up and brought back to the lab. Mnuim, the moss, was then observed and then compared to the height of the lily plant stem. Once that was done, the cross section slide of the lily stem was examined and the xylem and phloem layers needed to be found. Upon examining the layers, the leaves of the moss were examined using a dissection scope or a low magnification compound scope. You then had to examine the moss, Polytrichum, and had to identify the male and female gametophytes and sporophyte. When observing a lily flower you had to dissect and identify the part. From picking your plants, the lab seeds and seeds from the transect had to be dissected, and the parts of the lab seeds as listed in the handout had to be identified. Once that occurred, we prepared for next weeks lab by Pouring 25 mL of the 50:50 ethanol/water solution into the 50 mL conical tube. We then fitted a piece of the screening material into the bottom of the funnel opening, and the taped the sides of the screen if necessary, so the leaf litter would not fall into the preservative with the ethanol and water. The leaf litter sample was carefully put in the top of the funnel. The funnel was then set up on a ring stand so that it is held into the tube with the ethanol. Parafilm covered the base of the funnel and the tube so the ethanol will not evaporate. We the proceeded at Placing a lighted 40-watt lamp above the funnel with the incandescent bulb about 1-2 inches from the top of the leaf litter. We then covered everything with foil and Left the Berlese Funnel on the lab bench until the next lab period.

Data and observations: Procedure 1: On the table which will posted below Procedure 2: On the table which will posted below

Procedure 3: Briefly describe the shape, size, and cluster arrangement of the leaves from the transect plants. If there are no leaves, examine the attachment sites or evidence of leaves in the area (leaf litter). • the leaves were a bout half a palm size or at least the size of a palm of a human hand. They were mostly a teardrop shape and when dealing with the cluster of the leaves, they were mostly stuck together and brown. While compared to the plants, they were mostly alive and separate but close to each other.

Procedure 4: On the table Procedure 5:

Procedure 6: Next weeks lab procedure Here is the table that has most details!

The rest of the pictures are plants and mosses used for our transect for our lab. Each picture shows an importance to the lab especially to some parts to a plant but also fungi and moss.

Conclusions and future directions: In conclusions, plants that you wouldn’t expect to have seeds do have seeds. Also when conducting this experiment having the exact amount of materials from your transect is very important especially when you need to use it in your experiment. This includes the quality, diversity, and quantity of your plants and object that you need rom you transect to be able to conduct your lab.

Procedure 1. · The smell of the transect was very earthy and its appearance looked very dark, looks like fungi or algae made a home but it was darker as you went from the top to bottom ·There were sings of mold or green shoots that developed in the top of the transect ·The two organisms we found were a fungi and an organism protist called Chlamydomonas. The fungi is not phtosynthesizing but the Chlamydomonas is. ·The fungi was non-motile while the toher was motile. ·The fungi measured about 10 to 15 μM and the Chlamydomonas was about 3 μM ·The chlamydomonasmeets all the needs by being motile, having a good amount of food but being in the carrying capacity of the populaion. This meaning it will have enough for living. ·If the infusion grew for another 2 months, i believe the amount of organisms would increase but that would cause selective pressures on the carrying capacity of the organisms because then they would have to compete to meet their life needs