Plant Photo Journal: Local Plants

Mosses:

 

      Mosses are very primitive plants with limited growth and a lack of complexity. This is because they are one of the first descendants of sea-dwelling algae. As a result, the moss have evolved without the more complex vascular tissue meaning that they cannot grow any taller with such a lack of structure. Since the mosses have no xylem and phloem veins that transport water, they have to absorb it directly, mosses inhabit cool, shady areas where there is plenty of water to go around. The reproduction of mosses is dependent on the presence of water (like the areas where these moss pictures were taken) because moss has swimming sperm that need the water to get to the female egg of the moss. Rocks are able to grow on rocks because of their rhizoids, which are root-like structures that can anchor them onto the surface.

Ferns:

      Like mosses, ferns are also found in moist environments. This fern was pound not too far from the little creek that runs behind our school. The moist environment is important in fern reproduction as well because ferns also have swimming sperm on the prothallus (structure formed after a spore fully geminates) that need to swim from the ferns male reproductive parts to the female parts. Contrary to the plant structure of mosses, ferns have vascular tissues and veins called xylem and phloem that transfer water and nutrients throughout the plant. In addition, the vascular tissues support the plant allow it to grow taller. Ferns need to grow in the soil because they need somewhere for their roots to burrow down absorbing water and nutrients, and to anchor the growing fern firmly so it can grow and its height can be supported.

Gymnosperms:

Photos on the left: female

Photos on the right: male

      

      Gymnosperm traits that allow them to live in various environments include the fact that they have needles instead of leaves and the fact that they have seed and pollen cones instead of swimming sperm. Needles are great whereas they are watertight, windproof and can last throughout the winter without shedding entirely. Gymnosperms have seed cones and pollen cones which are more secure. Gymnosperms reproduce starting with a process called pollination, when a pollen cone releases its pollen grains into the environment where they soon find themselves stuck in the sticky sap withing the female seed cone. Fertilization is what happens when the pollen stuck in the sticky residue of the female cone grows pollen tubes reach the egg cell where the sperm is to be released creating a diploid conifer zygote.

Angiosperms:

Monocot: Tulips.

Dicot: That plant.

      Angiosperms are very well adapted because they have an array of strategies that they use to reproduce and disperse their seeds. For example, flowers can reproduce through pollination; their pollen travelling by wind or by insects/animals, sometimes from the flower or instead of a flower a plant produces a fruit which can be eaten by an animal and pooped (Ha.) elsewhere. The purpose of the fruit is to act as a protective layer between the elements and the seed but similarly, the fruit acts as a lure. Attractive and tempting to animals so that the seed can be dispersed.

"Simple Animals" The Not-So-Musical Harp Sponge

The Harp Sponge: Phylum Porifera

      The harp sponge is a carnivorous sponge that gets its name from its very distinct harp-like, or more so candelabra shape. Rather than filtering water for food like a majority of sponges, the harp sponge ensnares its pray with its velcro-like barbs on its limbs. Recently discovered, it really is a cool subject to look into! For more information click here!

"Chondrocladia Iyra" or "Harp Sponge"

Let's destroy a flower because SCIENCE.

It's been a while, I know...

Last week we had the opportunity to dissect a pretty flower,through this dissection we learned about it's general plant structure.

This flower has a total of six pretty pink petals (although only five are shown) which indicates that this angiosperm is a monocot.  

Here's another a close up of the petal just because.

These are the stigmas, six in total which also indicate that this plant is a monocot. The fuzzy-looking tips of these are called the anthers, and the stem attached to the anther is called a filament. The anthers hold pollen indicating that they are of the male parts of the flower.

This is a close up of the pollen that we have managed to scrape off the anthers.

Now the photo below is a photo of the flowers female structure, the pistil. From the left to right, the parts include the stigma, the style, and the ovary. The stigma is the small tip, the style is the stem in the middle, and the ovary is the larger end on the right which has been cut open to expose the ovules inside.

Close up of some ovules.

Pollination:

      Pollination is the transfer of pollen grains in plants from stamen to pistil. It is required for fertilization which is important for the formation of a seed to occur. The pollen is transferred from anther to stigma by means of wind, or by insects or birds. The pollen easily sticks to the sticky surface of the pistil and from then on, the process of fertilization occurs. There are two types of pollination; self-pollination, and cross-pollination. Self pollination is when the flower pollinates itself, this is considered advantageous because it is quick and allows the plant to keep its traits, but there is no variation of species. This is the advantage of cross-pollination, the exchange of traits from one plant to another. This allows for more variation and chance of survival.

Classification: Monocot

      Adding to the evidence of the six petals and the six anthers, we also have the evidence of the parallel veins on the leaves. 

mkay that's it for now folks! Bye.

The Majestic Moon Flower!

I came across this amazing, and extreme plant while surfing the internet and decided to share my findings with the rest of you beautiful creatures!

The moon flower or Ipomoea alba is a species of morning glory native to the subtropical regions from Argentina to mexico. They grow on vines that reach lengths of around 5 to 30 metres, and the flowers themselves. These flowers are called moon flowers because they are nocturnal and only bloom during the evening and night . In addition, the flower opens up to be round in shape resembling the moon. The moon flower remains open the entire night, just until the sun comes up.

Another strange, yet alluring characteristic that this plant possesses is that it has a very pleasant fragrance is only exposed when the flower is opened. 

I couldn't find a good enough video, but I think these GIFS are a good compromise:

I found this fact really interesting because it reminded me of the time I was in the Philippines in my grandparents village and while I was walking during the late evening, I could smell something really nice and fragrant. When i asked my parent what it was, They told me it was a special flower that only bloomed during the night. I think that this flower and the moon flower may be really close in relation, although occupying areas on completely different parts of the world, and that's just really cool.

Gymnosperms Microscope Lab!

Magnification: Low Power

Magnification: Medium Power

Pine Cones and Acorns

 There are many that think that pine cones and acorns are very similar in a sense that they are both seeds of a tress and that they are an important part in the reproduction of their corresponding tree but this is only only partly true.

Pine cones are produced by coniferous trees as a part of their reproductive cycle. The pine cone is not a seed but it has scales that each contain two ovules that when fertilized, will develop into seeds. They are then released into the environment, their cone may have dropped from the tree, or displaced by the wind with the help of a little wing attached to the seed making it more aerodynamic.

      Unlike the pine cone, the acorn is the seed itself. The acorn is the fruit of an oak tree and has similar qualities to nuts  from other deciduous trees such as the chestnut from a chestnut tree both with smooth, brown surfaces. In comparison to the pine cone, acorns are dispersed in a similar matter; dropped onto the ground and left to be spread around by the surrounding environment.

 A couple days ago when our biology class went on a nature walk to gather our "materials" I witnessed a few things such as the fact that the pine cones were still attached to the tree and the acorns had already fallen off onto the ground. Just an observation. Anyways I came back with a branch, berries, leaves, and other goodies. 

So what do we make of these beautiful tree babies? How about a little winter themed, construction-paper-clad, sparrow bird thing from a single pine cone and a single acorn? Isn't it just great how you can take something from nature and change them so that they look like another nature thing? 

Head: Acorn
Body: Pine Cone

HA. But seriously this craft was really fun and easy to do, felt like good old times in elementary school!

A Close-Up on Vascular Plants

Roots:

Roots are branched underground structures that serve two major purposes; anchoring the plant to the ground, and aiding in the transport of water and nutrients. The roots have little structures called root hairs that have ability to absorb the water and nutrients from the soil which are then transported to the vascular tissues (xylem and phloem) to be distributed throughout the entire plant.

Magnification: Medium Power

 Stems:

Stems are important in providing the support for the plant, if the stem is not sturdy then that may affect the plants growth. Now, there are two types of stems; woody stems and herbaceous stems. Woody stems contain wood and as the years go by the layers of wood add up, strengthening the stem altogether. In addition, the extra strength and the presence of bark allow the plant to survive and grow as the seasons pass. Herbaceous plants have a limited life span only living up to a point where they have flowered/ fruited, and up until then the stem would have died to ground level only to return the next growing season.  Looking at the labelled slide below,  you can see that this is a cross-section of a herbaceous stem.

Magnification: Medium Power

Leaves:

Plant leaves serve the sole purpose of capturing sunlight and converting that into energy. This is done through a natural biochemical process that we all know as photosynthesis. The chemical reaction for this process is shown in this chemical formula: 6CO₂ + 6H₂O (+ light energy)  C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6O_2. 

The stomata on the surface of the leaves are responsible for the exchange of gases between the leafs interior and the atmosphere. This is important as the exchange of gases regulates the amount of carbon dioxide and oxygen that we have in the air which is very very substantial to every living thing that lives breathing oxygen (us).

- Midterm Evaluation -

Here's a cluster of things that I felt I did well during the term:

Classification and Taxonomy:
One of the assignments that I did well on for this topic is the classification quiz which I got full marks on! 

YAAAAAY!

In addition to that, I also feel that my partner, Jessica and I did well with the Classification poster in which we had to create new species and classify them based on their traits. Not only did I think we did well on this project, but we had fun creating such creatures...like god must have felt. JK this is biology class.

#FAVE

Evolution:
It was interesting learning  about how animals branch out into species based on the premises on so many things in their environments. One assignment that I felt I did well on was another partner assignment where we had to organize these imaginary animals into an evolution flowchart which took a lot of modification and thought. A great learning experience.

The next assignment that I have learned from is the blog post where we had to pose a question on how an animal had evolved to how it is the way it is. For a link to how the Galapagos Iguana has adapted to life as a semi-aquatic reptile click here.

The final assignment that I want to acknowledge is the lab that the class did on variation where we had to measure our arm spans, heights, foot length, hand spans, and eye widths. I got full marks on this assignment as well.

Viruses:
I learned plenty about viruses just researching for these blog posts.
The next assignment is the virus quiz where I got 19/20, almost perfect but I now know what I missed in one of my answers that prevented me from getting a 20/20 which is something I wont miss for next time.

Bacteria and Protist:
I learned a lot about the bacteria by just looking at them through the microscope and glowing them, shown in a few of my blog posts this including post on the play-doh models that we had to make. 

And on the Bacteria and Protist quiz I got 20/21.

So...What about my grade?

      Being in biology 11 has been quite the journey! I've learned so much that I can apply to my learning to times when I'm just walking in the neighborhood and admiring all the peculiar sights that nature has to offer! The most interesting learning experience that I found really memorable was when as a class we learned how slugs reproduce! Call me gross, but it was fascinating because we see slugs all the time in nature but never in such a way how we saw them dangling from a tree like an ornament. It just lead me to think about how something about everything can be weird when you think about it, and take a closer look. Overall, I think that my learning has been reflected well throughout the term through my assignments and quizzes. I have to admit that I can get behind on my work and blog posts but by now I'm up to date. For a letter grade I think that I deserve an A, specifically a 93% or higher like a 94% or like a 95% maybe a little higher ... now I'm just pushing it, but like yeah I'd be content with a 93%, whatever the marks add up to in the end. 

Stephen Colbert's Bugs!

     Okay so not everyone is familiar with the comedian, Stephen Colbert but you will soon after you read this fabulous article on how a spider and a beetle adopted the names Aptostichus stephencolberti and Agaporomorphus colberti. Both named after Stephen Colbert as a result of the content of his show. After hearing about Neil young and Angelina Jolie getting spiders named after them, he launched a campaign on his show to get these fab creatures named in honor of himself also. 

 The Aptostichus stephencolberti is a type of trapdoor spider that stalks the coastlines of California, discovered in 2007. 

 Agaporomorphus colberti is a type of Venezuelan diving beetle.

The Goblin Shark!

This devilish aquatic monster inhabits the depths of the bottom of the ocean, where it should stay.

See, the thing is, that this creature may look like a regular shark at first glance...

Pretty normal right?

Well, it can also change form to look a little LIKE THIS:

OMG NO.

The goblin shark has jaws that can outstretch and detach from the sharks body in order to pursue and trap its prey. The quick expansion of the sharks mouth is said to create a vacuum effect that sucks the prey into its mouth with ease.

HOW TERRIFYING IS THAT???

FOR MORE INFORMATION, OR JUST FOR THE SAKE OF CURIOSITY, WATCH THIS VIDEO .