This annotated slideshow adapted from KET's Electronic Field Trip to the Forest illustrates how blight decimated the American chestnut tree and the methods scientists use to identify and pollinate the remaining trees to create blight-resistant trees.
In this visually dazzling talk, Jonathan Drori shows the extraordinary ways flowering plants -- over a quarter million species -- have evolved to attract insects to spread their pollen: growing 'landing-strips' to guide the insects in, shining in ultraviolet, building elaborate traps, and even mimicking other insects in heat. Jonathan Drori commissioned the BBC's very first websites, one highlight in a long career devoted to online culture and educational media -- and understanding how we learn. A quiz, thought provoking question, and links for further study are provided to create a lesson around the 14-minute video. Educators may use the platform to easily "Flip" or create their own lesson for use with their students of any age or level.
Bees are an extremely vital part of life on this planet. In this video segment from QUEST, explore the huge impact these small insects have on our civilization.
This BioBulletin Web site takes a close look at chocolate and why yields from cacao plants around the world are falling. The site includes text, videos, photographs, and interviews with key scientists.
This online article, from Biodiversity Counts, offers insight into how plants interact with arthropods. It has: an explanation of the difference between detrimental and mutually beneficial relationships; some of the chemical and mechanical modifications plants have made to attract helpful arthropods and fend off harmful ones; a detailed overview of pollination, with descriptions of seven common pollination syndromes; a detailed overview of plant defense mechanisms; and a series of questions students can ask when they see an arthropod on a plant in order to learn more about how the two are interacting.
This plant evolution exercise endeavors to move away from a purely observational approach to one of investigation. Students investigate the increasing use of air and animals for gamete and population dispersal that aided plant development on land. The first part of this chapter deals with a common woodland fern of the order Filicales. Students examine sporophyte and gametophyte plants, and experiment with air-borne spore release. The second part of this chapter has two main objectives dealing with the reproductive structures of angiosperms. First, students learn to recognize flower structures and variation in structural patterns. Second, students observe how floral structure and pollen size differ with two agents of pollination, wind and insects.
This video segment from Kentucky Life describes how scientists control pollination of one of the few remaining American chestnut trees to develop blight resistant trees.
In this activity students will grow "AstroPlants," a special fast-growing plant used in Space Shuttle microgravity experiments. They will become familiar with the growth process and life cycle of the plants and investigate the effects of gravity and light on plant orientation and guidance. Grades 5-12.
Students explore pollination using two exercises: an ant- and a butterfly-activity. In the ant-exercise, students generate hypotheses for why reports of ant pollination are rare, test one or more hypothesis, and present their findings. In addition to this open-ended inquiry investigation, instructions are also provided for a structured activity in which students germinate pollen and test whether ant-secretions inhibit pollen growth as has been proposed in the scientific literature. In the butterfly-exercise, students test whether butterflies can learn to associate certain color cues with a sugar reward.
This exercise uses ants (considered by some to be the "scoundrels in the pollination drama!") to test questions about the morphological and behavioral features that permit insects to be good pollinators. Students are presented with the fact that ants are abundant insects, but fewer than 20 plant species worldwide have been documented as ant-pollinated. Students generate specific hypotheses for the rarity of ant pollination, and design experiments to test their hypotheses. This exercise has both a field and indoor component so that it can be successful even if it is raining, and ants are inactive outdoors.
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