Download iSense - Plants iView

Introductions
• Graduate Students in Ecology and
Evolutionary Biology
• Your group
– Introduce yourself to your mentor
iSense
• How do we sense plants?
– Today we are going to touch, taste, see, and smell
plants.
• How do we use plants?
– In your group make a list of all the ways you’ve
interacted with a plant today.
Our interactions with plants:
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Catnip
Medicine
Clothes
Repellant
Ethanol
Food
Oxygen
Paper
House
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Makeup
Dynamite
Hedge rows
Instruments
Toothpaste
Paint/pigment
Scents
Soap
Boats
Seeing Plants
• Plants are responsible for a significant part of
our lives
• Plants are really diverse
Seeing and Smelling Plants
• Can you match the seed, fruit, or spice with
the adult plant?
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Match the mature plant to the fruit your tasting!
Match the spice to the picture of the mature plant – share images!
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http://timsgarden.blogspot.com/2010/08/kiwanomelon.html
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http://mgonline.com/articles/banana.aspx
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http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/Texas/Prickly_Pear_Cactus.html
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http://mylifewiththecritters.blogspot.com/20
09/09/wednesday-walk.html
http://www.floridata.com/ref/f/feijoa.cfm
http://www.sdfarmbureau.org/fuyu/little_fuyu.ht
ml
Plant Senses
• How do plants interact with their
environment?
– Touch
• Light: through chemicals that tell the plant
where light is and collect light for
photosynthesis.
• Does anyone know what photosynthesis is?
Chromatography
• We are going to use chemicals to separate the
different pigments from within a leaf.
• Follow the instructions of your leader.
http://www2.mcdaniel.edu/Biology/botf99/photo/p3igments.html
Enter your Rf data here
Type of plant
Coleus with
green leaves
Coleus with
yellow leaves
Coleus with
purple leaves
Rf of
Chlorophyll b
Rf of
Chlorophyll a
Rf of
Xanthophyll
Rf of Carotene
Hearing Plants
• Listen to how plants sound if we used a
REALLY expensive microphone
– The sound you hear is plants responding to the
people in the room!
http://www.nature-watch.com/multicultural-all-natural-musical-instrument-set-set-of-6-pi-225.html
Answer Key for iSense Plant Matchup
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Banana – note that the seeds are not fertile because all bananas are cloned.
Clove – the flower buds are what is used of the spice and it is an evergreen plant
Poppy – this plant also produces opium which is used in a lot of pain killers
White mustard – it is in the Brassicaceae and it’s closest relatives are broccoli and
cabbage
Turmeric – is in the ginger family and the spice comes from ground rhizomes
(underground stem)
Cumin – carrot family; seeds are harvested by hand!
Dill – carrot family;
Allspice – dried unripe fruit; comes from an evergreen shrub
Cactus pear (prickly pear) – you can find these growing in the wild north of Chicago
Kiwano melon – African horned melon; often considered the ancestor of other
cultivated melons
Asian pear – created from the cultivation of a cross between apples and pears
Feijoa – closely related to guava and is used in some natural products as an exfoliant
Persimmons Fuyu – contain a high level of tannins and this variety is an astringent
persimmons
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All images from Wikipedia