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Activity 2: The Virtual Field
Introduction: Studying plants in a field
Scientists do experiments in labs like the Virtual Greenhouse and outside in the field. In this activity, you will grow Mystery Plants in the Virtual Field.



Mystery Plants can only live where the environment is right for them. Just like in the Virtual Greenhouse, a healthy plant will grow a flower. In this activity those flowers will go on to produce seeds.

First, find out where each type of Mystery Plant grows best in the Virtual Field. Get started by clicking the blue arrow below.
The Virtual Field: Growing seeds in a field
Let's grow the Mystery Plants outside! The top of the Virtual Field doesn't get much light and the bottom gets a lot of light. The rest of the field is somewhere in the middle.

Instructions

1. Plant the three types of seeds where you think they will grow best. To plant a seed, click one of the seed packet buttons and then click anywhere in the field.

2. Click the Play button to start growing the plants. Experiment until you have figured out which seeds grow best in which location. To run the model again, click the Reset button to clear the field and start over.

3. The graph keeps track of the number of flowering plants of each type. Watch it change as the flowers grow.

Your challenge: When all three types of plants are growing and making flowers, use the button to find out more about the differences between the three Mystery Plants. Then, take a picture of the field.






fall Plants http://otrunk.concord.org/examples/EvolutionReadiness/models/species/images/plants/varied-plants/flower10cropped.png http://otrunk.concord.org/examples/EvolutionReadiness/models/species/images/plants/varied-plants/flower5cropped.png http://otrunk.concord.org/examples/EvolutionReadiness/models/species/images/plants/varied-plants/flower1cropped.png
Variations: Plants
The Mystery Plants are annual plants. When the Mystery Plants are planted in the best place for them, they grow and produce a flower. The flower drops seeds, and the parent plant dies, before the winter. Offspring plants grow during the following season.

Mystery Plant Life Cycle

Seed
Seedling
Adult Plant
Flower
New Seeds




1. Describe the life cycle of the Mystery Plants in the field. 2. What happens to the parent plant during the winter? The parent plant lives through the winter. The parent plant dies and it grows back in the spring. The parent plant dies but its offspring grow in the spring.
Variations: Plants
Look at the picture in your Lab Book. The three types of Mystery Plants look different. Did you also notice that they grow in different places on the field? When the Mystery Plants are planted in the best place for them, they produce a flower.

Leaf Size 9 Leaf Size 5 Leaf Size 1
When the baby plants grew, they all looked like the parent plants. The seeds from the large leaf plants, called Leaf Size 9 plants, all grew into plants that looked like the original one. Leaf size is a trait that is passed from a parent to its offspring. Traits that are passed down from parent to offspring are called inherited traits. The same thing happened with the Leaf Size 5 and 1 plants -- all the offspring looked like the parent.









3. What kind of leaves do Leaf Size 1 plants have? Big, wide leaves. Medium size leaves. Small, skinny leaves. 4. Where in the field did the Leaf Size 9 plants grow best? In the sunny part of the field. In the shady part of the field. All over the field. 5. Is the purple flower on the Leaf Size 5 plant an example of an inherited trait? Why or why not?
Variations: Animals
In the Virtual Lab experiment, baby plants looked exactly like the parents. When plants or animals have babies in the real world, the babies do not look exactly the same. In the real world, different babies inherit different traits from their parents. One brother might inherit blue eyes from his father while another brother might inherit brown eyes from his mother. Take a look at these puppies:

They're cute, aren't they? But did you notice something else? Even though these puppies had the same mother and father, they look different.




6. Describe some of the ways these puppies are different from one another.
Variations: Plants
In the real world, plant offspring are not much different from puppies -- the offspring don't always look the same as their parents. These differences are called variations.

Over long periods of time, farmers grew plants, looked at the baby plants and kept the ones with the features they liked. You can imagine that one farmer noticed that some of the leaves on his lettuce plants were redder than others. He really liked the red lettuce, so each time one of his lettuce plants was red, he saved the seeds and grew them. This is how red leaf lettuce was bred.




There are many varieties of lettuce. Their leaves have different sizes, shapes, and colors. Some varieties of lettuce grow better in different climates. Most like cooler climates, but some lettuce plants can grow well in hot places.

The Virtual Greenhouse
Let's look at variation in our Mystery Plants. We'll go back to the Virtual Greenhouse for more experiments. There are only three flower boxes this time and you have only one seed in your packet!

Instructions

1. Plant the seed by clicking on the seed packet button and then clicking inside a flower box.

2. Click the Play button to start growing the plant. If the plant is healthy, it will grow a flower, produce seeds, and then new baby plants will grow!
3. Use the Information Tool to find out more about the baby plants. Are all the babies the same?
4. Move wilted baby plants to a better flower box with the button.

Your challenge: Plant the seed in a flower box where it will flower. Take a picture when all the baby plants have grown a flower.



Conclusion
In real life, babies are not exactly the same as their parents. The offspring of Mystery Plants are not all the same as their parent plant. Because of variation in the plant's offspring, some of the offspring were able to survive under a different amount of sunlight than the parent plant.







You have completed Activity 2. Good job! Click the X at the top of this window to close the activity and save your work.
7. Check your Lab Book to see the picture of your last experiment in the Virtual Lab. Were all the Mystery Plant offspring the same as their parents? Yes No I don't know. 8. How were some of the offspring Mystery Plants different than their parents? They have slightly different size leaves and different color flowers.