Plant BiologyBy Ryan JahansoozAssisted by Hunter Wolfbear Drobenaire, Tyler Voss, and Zac FosterBio 001 Lab Section 16 12/11/13Abstract: This lab was an experiment involving the dissection of several floras ranging from strawberries to green beans to dragon tongues, as well as the study of several slides of plant matter. By performing this lab, we learned a great deal about how plants work and reproduce. By the end, we had seen the parts of a flower that produce and receive pollen, as well as how different fruits and vegetables reproduce. It is important that we learned about plant biology because the way that plants live and reproduce is reliant on the intervention of other living organisms that spread the plants seeds. Introduction:The anatomy of flowers is interesting because it differs so much from that of any organism not part of the kingdom Plantae. Flowers use a system involving anthers and pistils to generate reproductive material, and rely on phenotypes such as color or flavor to spread them. The anthers each have four pollen sacs which create and store male haploid spores. These spores undergo mitosis to form a two-cell structure before being coated with a protective shell and released into the world. These “pollen grains” disperse and are carried by both biotic and abiotic factors until they land on the stigma of another plant. The pollen grain then germinates and produces a long, slender structure called a pollen tube which provides penetrates the host plant’s style. One of the cells in the pollen grain will then divide into two sperm, which travel down the tube to fertilize any eggs in the ovary. The fertilized egg becomes a zygote, divides by mitosis, and becomes a seed. This seed is what grows into a new flower.The next part of the lab showed us how plants have adapted to disperse their seeds effectively. Plants will often devote tons of time and energy to surround their seeds with fruit. The fruit aids the seeds by providing them with protective flesh, as well as tricking animals into swallowing the seeds and transporting them far away. Fruits are defined as matured ovaries, so any edible substance that comes from a plants ovary can be considered a fruit. This includes nuts, berries, tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash, but does not include vegetables, which originate from other parts of the plant such as the roots or stem. Fruits can also be split into three classes: simple, aggregate, and multiple. What determines a fruits class is how many plants or ovaries were involved in the fruits production. A simple fruit comes from a single ovary. An aggregate fruit comes from several ovaries. Multiple fruits come from the combined ovaries of several flowers. Once a seed is planted and begins to grow, the plant begins to rely on newly grown vegetative parts to gather energy and resources. A plant’s vegetative organs are its roots, stem, and leaves, which each have a role in providing resources to each part of the plant. Compared to animals, these organs are relatively simple. This simplicity allows us to determine the organsof a plant by its morphology. Each organ is covered in dermal tissue, has a vascular transportation tissue, and a supportive tissue. But even though plants are so similar, they still have categories with extreme differences.To illustrate this, we examined sample organs from two categories of flowering plants: monocotyledons and dicotyledons. A cotyledon is a leave that is formed within the seed, and monocotyledons have one while dicotyledons have two. This is the simplest difference among many. We believe that the similarities between plants that allowed them to develop such a sophisticated method of growth and reproduction while still permitting such huge disparities between species led to plants being as successful as they are today. Methods and Materials:The experimental procedures for this lab were adapted from a previously supplied protocol.Any errors in this lab were due to the unique traits in the plants studied which may have led us to an unexpected conclusion.Results:Section One: Plant Anatomy:While studying the anatomy of a dissected dragon tongue flower, we made several interesting observations. By comparing the size and color of the petals and sepals on each flower we determined that the number and size are the same, but the color varies from plant toplant. Each plant had one sepal and one petal, though the petal was split into two large, different halves. Each plant also have five anthers and a similar pistil structure, which is likely due to the fact that both flowers were from the same species, so they share similar traits. We then switched over to the light microscope to examine various sets of prepared plantanther slides. Through the microscope, we were able to see cells in different stages of mitosis in the pollen sacs, which appeared to be full of pollen grains. We then examined a stamen and were able to locate where it might rupture to release pollen grains.After cleaning up the light microscope, we dissected a flower pistil. By observing the pistil separate from the flower, we were able to identify its structures such as the stigma and style. Some pistils were made of more than one carpel (set of ovary, stigma, and style), but werestill able to be separated individually. We also located the small hairs around the stigma that theplant uses to trap pollen grains. Before dissecting the ovary, we measured the length of the styles and determined the average distance travelled by the sperm to be an inch. We concluded this part of the lab by splitting an ovary in half to locate the ovules, which were surprisingly similar in appearance to human female’s ovaries.Section Two: Fruit MorphologyIn this section of the lab, we dissected and examined several varieties of fruits from eachclass; an apple, sunflower, and pea pod for simples, a strawberry for aggregate, and a pineapple for multiple. By cutting the apple in half, we were able to count multiple seeds and carpals in its center. The sunflower was full of seeds sealed within shells attached to the head of the sunflower by a pollen tube protruding from the pointy end of the seed. The pea pod contained six seeds, each attached to the ovary wall in the same manner and direction. The strawberry consisted of a single carpel, but sported over one hundred and thirty seeds. It was attached to the plant by a green structure called a “hull” located at the fat end of the fruit. At last,