Observations

Observations

Marika Criss

Observations

This experiment is a collection of observations of changes taking place in different plants, under different conditions in Tallahassee, Florida, March – April 2009

1. Trees growing their leaves in sunlight, and shade2. Color changes in grass3.How long can tulips survive in virtually no sunlight, one in water, one without water, and one in salt solution

March 5, 2009Tallahassee, FL

This deciduous tree has dropped its leaves for the winter. In the fall, growth-inhibiting hormones build up at the base of the leaves, the abscission layer, making the cells soft, and eventually so soft that the leaves fall off.


Trees, like other plants, have three growth promoter hormones, and two growth-inhibitors.

The hormone levels depend on the day length and the temperature. Thus, in the spring the longer days and higher temperatures make the trees produce more growth-promoting hormones, and the shorter and colder days in the fall and winter promote the producing of growth-inhibiting hormones.

Sunlight vs ShadeBegins March 6, 2009

Exposed to sun most of the day In the shade


After the days got longer, and after just a few warmer days, buds can clearly be observed.

The buds are actually covered in protective scales, which expand as the leaves inside start to grow.


The trees here are shaded by the bigger trees, and have not been exposed to as much light, and the temperature in the shade is surely lower as well, and thus the budding has not advanced as far.

The plants around the little trees are mostly plants that did not drop their leaves for the winter, or grow better in the shade.


Some of the buds have turned into flowers. Interestingly, this seems to happen on the lower, and side branches of the tree, instead of the top. So, I hypothesized that either the lower branches get more nutrients, or that the top parts in fact get too much light, or wind, and the early leaves are sensitive to those factors.


The tree here in the shade, although hard to spot, right in the middle of the picture, has yet to even show clear budding.


Blooming flowers Still just a skeleton


Experienced some cold weather, and it seems as though the progress has slowed down a little bit. However, now the entire tree is covered in flowers.


The trees in the shade have yet to make progress, and are probably also affected by the cold weather.

March 18, 2009

Sunlight Shade


The bottom parts have now turned into green leaves. How this transition from flowers to leaves happens is unclear. However, following a trend here, the bottom parts have developed earlier. Which is interesting, because later on one would think that they have a disadvantage being on the lower branches, and shaded by the higher ones.


Although not clear from the picture, the skeleton of a tree is finally showing some buds. They are small, but they are there.


Today I finally realized, that the trees in the sunlight and shade were not the same trees at all. Which almost defeats the purpose of comparing them. What fooled me, was that without the leaves, they looked almost identical. But then I noticed a tree nearby, and realized the trees I had been recording did in fact have slight differences in coloration.

This tree is the same as in the shade. Which made me conclude that whatever type tree this is, is not meant to grow in the shade, because the difference between this and the one in the shade is enormous.


The coloration looks more like what it would be in the fall

The shade trees are starting to grow leaves. This tree does not grow flowers first.

Tallahassee, FLAfter a few days of rain, overnight, it seemed, the trees blossomed.

March 25 April 3

Tallahassee, FL

March 25 April 3Not as clear here, but a difference can be seen

TREES

ObservationsGRASS

• The grass in the area where observed is not in any way taken care of, it is just let to grow. However, it does suffer from damage caused by the many animals, such as dogs and cats, living in the area.

• This lawn grass is most likely a warm season grass, since its peak growth occurred after some days of a temperature of approximately 25°C, and due to lack of enough warm days, it has yet to have grown to its full potential

GRASS

March 7, 2009 April 3, 2009

GRASS

TULIPS

• These tulips were purchased from Walmart, as sale items, and thus they had probably already been sitting there for a while before the experiment

• The tulips were placed in low light, in water, salt solution, and no water• Hypothesis:

-Salt solution tulip dies first, because although plants do need some salt, they need more than just sodium chloride, and the amount in the water is much more than they would need. Also, after the salt gets sucked up, the plant may use the water inside and around it, but the crystals of salt will remain inside or on top of the plant causing damage. -Second goes the one without water, because without water there is no transportation within the plant. Also, photosynthesis needs water, and since there is also very little light no energy is acquired.

• The pictures were taken within 36h of placing the tulips in their respective jars.

TULIPS

TULIPS

• Indeed, the results this time seem to suggest the hypothesis is accurate. Nevertheless the reasons may be different than what I had thought

Interesting

After filming, I let the tulips in the salt solution sit for another few days.

The salt buildup on the leaves goes along the lines of what I had predicted.

The cloudy water suggests the plant has started to decompose.

Notes

• Due to rainy days some days went unrecorded (trees and grass), and thus the results are not as good as hoped

Observations

Technology

fl trees

fl blooming flowers

sunlight shade

early leaves

green leaves

little trees

bigger trees

flthe trees