Anthers and Stigmas and Styles, Oh My! -Sayra

Anthers and Stigmas and Styles, Oh My!

To begin, fertilization is when the female gamete is in the process of fusion which can be the ovum or egg and then the male gamete made in the pollen tube by the pollen grain. Everything starts of with the pollen and seed cones. The pollen cones are for the males while the seed cones are for the females. Pollen grains are made from the pollen cones. For the female, the seed cones, there are thousands of cells to be found. Pollen goes into the stigma and starts to germinate in order for the sperm to reach the egg. After the tube grows, it reaches the ovule. Lastly, double fertilization occurs and then everything is complete.

This shows the picture of the flower before the petals were taken off in order to dissect it.

The stem looking part is called the filament while the top yellow tips that are at the end of the stalk are called the anthers.

Here we see the carpel with the pointy top called the stigma and that is where the pollen grains get stuck.

This shows the ovary which has one or more ovules where the gametophytes are produced.

Anthers and Stigmas and Styles, Oh My!- Jenny

       How do flowering plants reproduce? Flowering plants reproduce in a similar yet different way to how humans reproduce.

This is a picture of the flower before we dissected it. The full flower was far to large to fit into the small screen of the microscope.

This is the stamen, the male reproductive anatomy of the flower. Specifically the anther and filament. The anther is the yellow curled part near the left of the picture. This is the oval sac where meiosis takes place. During meiosis, haploid male gametophytes are produced- pollen grains (pollen). This part of the flower also releases the pollen grains. The filament is the green stem-like things near the right of the picture. This part of the flower supports the anthers.

This is part of the carpel. The bottom-most shape in the picture is called the stigma. The stigma is where pollen grains frequently land. The pollen adheres to the stigma, meaning it gets stuck to this part of the flower. The stalk of the stigma is called the style.

The left-most part of the picture is the ovary. It is part of the carpel. The ovary contains and produces the female reproductive cells. The ovary also contains the ovule. The ovule stores and carries the female reproductive cells.

The little brown organism on the top-most stalk is an aphid. I found him exploring the flower and decided to take a closer look at him.

The pictures at the top and left are "Fred," our aphid. Fred and the other aphids are insects that suck the juices from plants. Aphids can cause damage to plants because they can transfer diseases into them. So far, this little aphid has not done much, but when there are hundreds of these little insects on one plant, then the plant will start to suffer.














       This is the anatomy of the broccoli flower, and now you will learn how flowering plants like these reproduce.
       A flowering plant is often referred to as an angiosperm. The life-cycle of angiosperms begins once flowers are produced. Every flower contains the anthers and the ovary (as seen in the above pictures), and inside the anthers is where each cell undergoes meiosis. The result of meiosis is four haploid cells. Each cell will become a pollen grain. The pollen grains' nucleus will undergo a mitotic division that will result in two haploid nuclei. Once the pollen grain stops growing, it is released from the anther and is put on a stigma.
       The ovule is where the female gametophyte develops. When a single diploid cell undergoes meiosis, it results in four haploid cells. After this occurs, three of those cells will disintegrate. That one remaining cell will go through mitosis to produce eight nuclei. The embryo sac is then produced, by using the eight nuclei and the surrounding membrane. The embryo sac is the female gametophyte of an angiosperm. One of the eight nuclei that is near the base of the gametophyte, is the egg nucleus. The egg nucleus is the female gamete, and when fertilization occurs, this cell will become the zygote that grows into a new beautiful plant.

Matter of selection- Jacob

1. Which part (anatomy) or characteristic of the Brassica oleracea plants seems to exhibit the most variation (greatest number of different forms)? Kales, cabbages, and Tronchuda cabbages are widely grown in northwestern and some of the forms.
2. Which part or characteristic of the Brassica oleracea plants seems to show the greatest range of variation (biggest difference between one extreme and its opposite)? The sporting part, has the most variations.
3. Using the terms that follow, explain why you think there is so much variability in the domestic forms of Brassica oleracea: traits, selective breeding, artificial selection, genes, descent with modification, natural variations, mutations Traits could be: purple or green outer leaves,  Six main vegetables have been derived from this wild stock through selection,  It has been bred into a wide range of cultivars, including cabbage, broccoli, etc., genes are depending on the plants parents genes, descent with modification can be associated with cabbage, mutations can include: Low linolenic acid; Brassica oleracea; fatty acid desaturase 3 (FAD3)
4. Which part (anatomy) of the Brassica oleracea plants seems to be most consistently the same in all of the examples in our garden, regardless of how extreme the differences between other parts of the same plants may be? Why do think this is so? I haven’t really look at the garden.
5. What would plant breeders have to do in order to get the body part or characteristic you described above (in your response to question #3) to become much different than it is presently? Traits could be: purple or green outer leaves

A Matter of Selection- Sayra

     The leaves are what show the most variation in the brassica oleracea family.  Even though the stems are pretty much similar, the shape and size of the leaves are what make it different.  Collard greens and Cauliflower have the same leaf shape and have a ration of about 20:22 and 11:14. Kale and cauliflower  are different because the kale's leaves are long and thin while the leaves of the cauliflower are wide and very curved. The leaves of Kale are 24cm long and 12cm wide.
     Artificial selection and selective breeding is when a person's natural curiosity makes them mix and match with a discovery of something like brassica oleracea. Different species were created by crossbreeding different plants to experiment. Modification occurs when organisms reproduce. This means that whenever a new generation is created the traits in the plants are mutated or adapted. Natural variations occur when plants mutate by themselves or die because of a new factor in its community.
     The plants have stems that are a purple and green color and also have large leaves. Some of its traits work and can adapt to the environment so there is no point of changing the color. Cauliflower and kohlrabi have yellow blossoms. Those are what attract bees and bugs are responsible for pollinating them. Since that works, no change is needed for the plant.
     If changing a characteristic is needed, plant breeders would need to find plants with the trait they want and breed it with other plants. A problem would be if the trait didn't yet exist, the plants would have to be genetically modified in order to be given the genes they want.

A Matter of Selection- Jenny

       All of the Brassica Oleracea plants in the WGHS GOLD Main Garden are different. The topic that I decided to focus on was leaf shape. After studying all the plants, I could see a variation between many of the plants that live there.
       The characteristics that are most similar between these plants are the leaf color and leaf shape. They all have a greenish quality to leaves and all have similar qualities in shape. The characteristic that are different are the shape of the plant. Each plant has a different shape to it and some are bigger than others.

 The plant to the left has oval shaped leaves. These leaves have curled edges and are a forest green color. These are simple leaves, which means that the plant only has one leaf per stem. The leaves are corrugated, and wrinkly as well.

This plant is very different yet very similar to the plant above.  These leaves (instead of being all green) are tinted with purple and green. These leaves could be considered Caerulescent, meaning that they are blue tinted.

These leaves are very different from the other leaves. These leaves are also wrinkly, but they have lots of frills. Each individual leaf has lots of parts coming out. It has a greenish purplish color, and has purple roots.

These leaves are a fuscous color. This means that it has a grayish blue color. These leaves are bumpy and narrow. The stems of this plants are a citreous color, meaning that it is yellowish. The leaves have a very bumpy texture, and are very different and similar to the platens above. 














       Because of the data collected above, you can tell that these plants are very alike and very different. This is because of many things. One of the things that changes these plants is adaptation. Adaptation is when an organism changes in order to survive in a certain environment. These plants might have also been artificially changed to be more desirable. Mutations will also affect these plants. Mutations are when the genes are changed and could result in a harmful or non-harmful way. 
       The characteristic that is the most similar is the color of the plants. All the plants have a similar color. The pictures below are all the plants in the garden. As you can see, all of the plants have a green color to them. Even though the color may be a different shade of green, they all have the same quality to them.

       In order for scientists to genetically modify the plants to get the color they want them to be, they have to breed a large population of plants. If you breed enough plants together, you will eventually end up with the desired traits that you were looking for. Because you have a large population and the right traits to breed, you can create the kind of plant or animal you want. 

Blog Post #8 "Matthew's Seed Story"- Jacob

I interviewed Matthew from another Story of the Seed team. 

What have you learned from this project?
Matt learned planting is a fun experiment.

What surprised or amazed you?
Matt was surprised by the how the plant actually grew.

What made you laugh during this semester's work on the project?
Matt laughed about how it took him forever to make the blog posts.

What made you pause and think deeper?
Matt paused and thought deeper during blog post number four.

What was your favorite part of the project?
Matt liked watching the plants grow.

What was your least favorite part of the project?
Matt HATED making the blog posts.

Blog Post #8 "Jenny's Seed Story" - Sayra

I interviewed Jenny to ask about her experience with The Story of the Seed Project.

-What have you learned?

She learned that it takes a lot of maintenance to make sure the plant does not die.

-What surprised you or amazed you?

How quickly the plants revived after they were almost dead.

-What made you laugh?

“Our teammates were funny.”

-What made you pause and think a little deeper?

“How the experiments would be set up, like I didn’t know how to work that out in the beginning of the year.”

My Questions:

-Did you like doing the project? Why or why not?

She liked and didn’t like it because it was fun to do it but the time that was given for everything was too short.

-How was it like working in the garden?

On the days it did not rain, she said it was fun. She liked how she got to see how the plant changed throughout the weeks.

Blog Post #8 "Sayra's Seed Story- Jenny

I am interviewing Sayra, one of my teammates, about her experience with the Story of the Seed Project.

What have you learned from this project?
I learned how to take care of plants and how difficult it is to take care of a garden.

What surprised or amazed you?
I think what surprised me was how small our plant actually was. I expected it to be bigger.

What made you laugh during this semester's work on the project?
When we went to go check on our plants in the garden, the other teams would throw things at each other and just do stupid things. I don't know why but the other teams made me laugh.

What made you pause and think deeper?
 When we put the plants back in the garden after they had died, they miraculously survived. This made me think about how that happens. How did the plant "come back to life" after it had died?

What was your favorite part of the project?
My favorite part was checking in on the plants in the garden. I liked seeing how much the plant had grown and changed.

What was your least favorite part of the project?
Having to write on the blog was the hardest. It was hard to find time to complete all of the blogposts.

Blog Post #7 - Jacob

Me and the team/ squad are experimenting with a plant call Brassica Oleracea. "Brassica oleracea is the species of plant that includes many common foods as cultivars, including cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, brussels sprouts, collard greens, savoy, kohlrabi and Chinese kale. Forming a stout rosette of large leaves in the first year, the leaves being fleshier and thicker than those of other species of Brassica, adaptations to store water and nutrients in its difficult growing environment. In its second year, the stored nutrients are used to produce a flower spike 1 to 2 meters (3–7 ft) tall bearing numerous yellow flowers. Canary Islands where the frost is minimal and plants are thus freed from seasonality." I could predict it's chance of different offspring if I know their parents gene or traits. Kinda, because are plant isn't a flower.

 

How will your plant pass its genetic information on to the next generation? ^ Answer 

      Picture creds to Jenny
The big quote was for Wiki.

Student Blog Post #7 - Sayra

     We are experimenting with Brassica Oleracea. It has waxy,round leaves and is grown in north temperate regions. The plants need a cool growing season and lots of moisture if you want them to grow. It originated from western and southern Europe. Some of the plants in these species are cauliflower, broccoli, kale, cabbage, and kohlrabi.

(The pictures are the same ones that Jenny and Jacob posted)

     Here are some pictures of how our our plant looks right now. You can see that they are starting to die since other plants are kind of taking over it.
     If we want to predict what traits our plants have, we have to know what traits they have. For example, if our plant has heterozygous yellow stem genes it would have Pp (example letters.) If its pollen mixes with a homozygous recessive green stem plant, it would have pp genes. When they make offspring, it will have different options for traits. A punnet square will help you predict the traits that the offspring will have.
     The plants will have an offspring that can be 50% heterozygous yellow stems, and another 50% chance of having homozygous recessive green stems. It is a mixture of both the parents genes which means that it is possible but very unlikely that it will look like one of its parent plants.
     This is a picture of kohlrabi. The way it looks has been changed over the years. It has changed by generations of itself growing. This is like how offspring don't always look like their parents. Kohlrabi does not look exactly like the way it did before.

Blog Post #7- Jenny

       The plant that we are experimenting with is called Brassica Oleracea. This plant stout herbaceous annual, biennial, to occasionally perennial. Generally, this plant has waxy, rounded leaves, and is usually grown in north temperate regions. This is because the plants need a cool growing season and lots of moisture to grow. This species originated from western and southern Europe. Some of these plants in these species are cabbage, broccoli, kale, cauliflower, and kohlrabi.

       These are some of the recent picture our plants. They are starting to wither and die because they are being overrun with weeds and other plants. We hope that they will survive though.
       To predict the kind of traits that our plants will have, we have to know what traits our own plant has. When A bee pollinates a plant, some of the pollen rubber off of the plant and onto the bee. Then the plant pollinates another plant and the pollen from the bee falls off and into the other plant. Suppose our plant has heterozygous purple stem genes. That would mean that it would have Ss ( I used random letters these are not actual results of an experiment. My data could be flawed). If the pollen from the first plant mixes with a homozygous recessive green stem plant, then it would have ss genes. When these two plants make offspring, the new plant would have different chances for traits. When you use a Punnet Square, you can predict what traits the offspring will have.
    You can predict that the offspring will have a 50% chance to have heterozygous purple stems, and a 50% chance that the offspring will have homozygous recessive green stems. There are only small chances that the offspring will look exactly like only one of the parent plants. This is because the offering is a mixture of both the parent's genes.
      (The blog won't let me upload a picture of wild Kohlrabi). Kohlrabi,  before it was used for food, looks different from the version the we eat today, because it has been changed by generations. The new Kohlrabi has been changed by generations of itself growing. Like I said before, offspring doesn't always look like their parents. This means that the new Kohlrabi would not look like the old Kohlrabi.
     

Student Blog Post Assignment #6 - Sayra

     In the garden, our plants are gaining and growing biomass and that is because of the processes. One of them is called cell division (mitosis.) It is where cells go and get bigger. It occurs where the chromosomes in the nucleus separate into two different pairs. After that, they separate into two different cells and have one nucleus each. The cells also go through photosynthesis which happens when the plants absorb sunlight. Then, the sunlight is transferred through the plant until it gets to the chlorophyll. That is the part of the plant that finishes off photosynthesis.

Student Blog Assignment 6- Jenny

       Our plants are constantly growing and gaining biomass. This is because of many processes. One of these processes is called cell division. Cell division (or Mitosis), is the process that the cells go through to get bigger. Mitosis occurs the chromosomes in the nucleus separate into two different pairs. The two sets then separate into two different cells with a nucleus each. Our cells also grow through photosynthesis. This process occurs when plants absorb sunlight. The sunlight is transferred through the plant until it reaches the chlorophyll. The chlorophyll is the part of the plant that completes photosynthesis.

Blog Post #5- Jacob

Are plant isn't with us any more since (when i realize it was dead) 12\5. They change since they were seedlings by growing a little probably for 2 month then die

Student Blog Post Assignment #5 - Sayra

     Our plant has grown since the first time we were helping it grow. At the beginning, our plant seemed to barely go a tiny bit. Then, it slowly began to grow bit by bit. The other plants that we were planting died but we managed to keep one alive. It is in the garden and is increasing in size. Compared to the plants around it, it is quite small. Its size seems to be normal because kohlrabi plants don't grow as big as other plants.

Student Blog Assignment 5 Jenny

     Our plants have been doing fine since we have last seen them. Although, they have been seen with almost all of their leaves eaten by something. The leaves are being eaten by some kind of caterpillar or butterfly. These plants are also smaller in size then the other plants, because they are a different type of plant and some of them had to be replanted. The color of the plants have also changed. They used to be a solid bright green color. They are now a darker green, and they have purple stems. The plants have been surviving and thriving since we last saw them.

Blog Post #4 - Jacob

1) Some abiotic factors on which mine and teams plants depends for its survival the sun or any kind of light, water, soil, and so much more. Biotic factors that affect mine and teams plants are insects and animals (including humans). Some of these factors are the insects eating the plant, human can step on them, animal can do what do their business on the plants.

2) I know my  plants are engaged in competition by telling how tall they get and how health that are. Mine and teams plants are competing for light, water, space for it's roots to grow and much more. Mine and teams plants are competing against the other plants around them.

3) The "winners" are the plants still surviving bright colors, tall, and wide and the "loses" are the ones that dying short, one color, and skinny. Most of the time, it clear.

4) Weather.

5)  Primary succession the weeds can be an example of that

Student blog Post Assignment #4- Jenny

       There is an abundance of abiotic factors that affect our plants. An abiotic factor is a non-living thing that affects the experiment. Some of the factors that we experienced were the sun, rain, soil, air quality, and many more. The weather affects our plants because they cannot grow very well in pouring rain or extreme heat (drought). The soil also has an affect on our plants because they if the soil is very dry or too damp, the platens won't grow.There are also many biotic factors that affect our plants. A few of these are predators, competitors, prey, and humans. Predation has a very large affect on our plants, because today we found that almost all of our leaves have been eaten by some animal. Competition is also present in the environment around our plants, because we also saw many different plants growing around ours. All in all, there are many factors that affect our plants growth.
       As said before, our plants participate in competition. The weeds and plants that grow around our plants compete for resources. These resources are soil, water, food, and others. The weeds and other plants want the same resources that our plants want, so they try to grow in the same area. We can tell that competition is present in the environment around our plants, because there are weeds growing around our plants in the space that our plants need to grow.
     The "winners" and "losers" are determined in this competition by whoever survives. At the end of the day, which ever plant is still standing and surviving, that is the "winner." The "winner" in this competition is usually the plant that is taller, because it while get more sunlight and nutrients. This competition is sometimes difficult, because sometimes both plants have similar qualities and have a very intense competition. When the competition is difficult, it means that both plants are at similar heights and strengths.
       There are many other interactions that our plants participate in. Some of these interactions are predation, mutualism, and parasitism. The predation that is taking place occurs when our plant is being eaten and when our plants are taking nutrients from the Earth. Mutualism is when one both organisms benefit from the interaction. Parasitism is when one organism is hurt or killed by the interaction. Both of these interactions take place occur in our plant's environment.
       In the garden, there isn't really any signs of succession. The only signs the are there are little seedlings beginning to grow on a bare patch of dirt. This type of succession is called secondary succession. Secondary succession starts out with dirt, whereas primary succession starts without it. The little seedlings that have started to grow, mean that soon there will be a bunch of plants growing there in a year or so (maybe even less time).
     

Student Blog Post Assignment #4 -Sayra

     An abiotic factor is a non-living thing that can affect the experiment. Some of them were rain, soil, sun, air quality, and other things. The soil has a huge impact on the plants because if a slight thing goes wrong with it, the plant will not grow. The weather can also affect the plant because they will not grow if there is too much heat or if there is too much rain. There are also biotic factors that affect it. Some are predators, prey, humans, and competitors.  Competition is clearly seen where our plant is because we can tell that other plants fight for the amount of space that our plant has. The weeds and plants that surround it compete for some resources which are soil, food, water, and others. Predation also affects it because there are animals that eat part of our plant.
     Since our plants participate in competition, the weeds and plants that grow around it compete for the sources that it has. Some of them are water, food, soil, etc. It is noticeable that there is competition because in the garden, you can see weeds growing around our plant which takes over the space that it needs to grow.
     In order to see who will take up the space you need to compare the plants. Whoever is the tallest plant will usually take over since it is the one that gets nutrients and sunlight. Sometimes it is not always easy to tell which plant will get the space because both can be very similar. If it is difficult, it is because they are very similar in strength and height.
     Our plant also participates in predation, parasitism, and mutualism. You can tell that predation is occurring when our plant is being eaten or when it's taking nutrients from Earth. Parasitism happens if the organism is hurt or killed during the interaction. Mutualism takes place when one or both organism can be benefited by the interaction. They both take place in the environment of our plant.
     Not many succession is seen in the garden so the only thing that you can really see are little seedlings that start to grown on bare patches of dirt. That is called secondary succession. It starts out with dirt, and primary succession does not start with it. The seedling that start to grow mean that there will soon be plants that will start to grown there.

Student Blog Post Assignment #3 -Sayra

     This week I noticed that the plant has grown more from the last time we saw it which was when we planted it on the garden. It got a little bit taller but our plant is not supposed to be as tall as the other ones. Compared to the other plants, this one does not take up that much space. It does seem to be growing properly and it looks very healthy. For now it does look like its growing well since it is receiving what its supposed to.
     Our plant is collecting the water from the ground which means that it does participate in the movement of water in the water cycle.  The plant keeps the water with it and some distributes itself to the leaves. With that it transfers to the atmosphere by evaporation or transpiration. Everything repeats itself when there is rain. Our plants seem to have been in the water cycle because of the water that can be seen in the leaves.
      They also take part in the carbon cycle. It is also filtered in the plants. They breath in and out the carbon dioxide and oxygen.  We breathe oxygen and exhale carbon. All of that goes through our plants and then it goes to the atmosphere.
       It also takes part in the nitrogen cycle. Nitrogen also goes to the atmosphere. If a plant dies it can be broken down to nitrogen or other things. The nitrogen goes to the ground and then goes back to the air.