Activity 2: The Virtual Field
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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. And, just like in the Virtual Greenhouse, the plants that are healthy will have flowers. In this activity those flowers will go on to produce seeds.

You will start by figuring out where plants grow best in the Virtual Field. You will use new tools to examine the plants more closely. You will also have the chance to speed up time and see how plants grow over many generations -- something you can't do in real life!

Get started by clicking the blue arrow below.
The Virtual Field: Growing seeds in a field
Let's grow 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 seeds where you think they will grow best. To plant a seed, click one of the plant 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 plants and start over.

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

When you have all three Mystery Plants growing and making flowers in the field, take a picture using the picture button. If you notice anything interesting about the plants, write it in your Lab Book.






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The Virtual Field: Differences in Mystery Plants
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. The flower drops seeds before the winter and new plants grow during the following season.

Do you have any new clues about whether or not the Mystery Plants are the same or different species? Remember that a group of plants or animals that can have babies together, share similar features, and live in the same environment is a species.






1. What differences do you notice about the plants? 2. Do you think the three Mystery Plants are the same species? Yes No Not sure
Variations: Animals
When you grew the plants, their babies all looked like the parent plants. The seeds from the large leaf plants all grew into plants that looked exactly like the original one. The same thing happened with the thin leaf plants and the medium leaf plants -- all the baby plants of a given kind looked exactly alike.

But in the real world that doesn't always happen. For instance, 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.


3. Describe some of the ways these puppies are different from one another.
Variations: Plants
Plant babies are not much different from puppies -- the babies don't always look exactly the same as their parents. These differences are called variations. People use the natural variations in dogs to make different breeds. People do the same thing with plants.

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. They are all the same species. Some species of lettuce grow better in different climates. Most like cooler climates, but some lettuce plants can grow well in hot places.

You may be wondering: In nature, when do variations in a plant or animal get so different that they become a new species? Think about this question as you run the next model.
The Virtual Greenhouse
You are back in the Virtual Greenhouse for more experiments. Notice that there are only three flower boxes this time and you have only one seed!

Instructions

1. Plant the seed by clicking on the plant button and then clicking inside a flower box. Click the Play button to start growing the plant.

2. If the plant is healthy, it will grow a flower, produce seeds, and then new baby plants will grow! Once you get baby plants, click the Information button then click on a plant to read more about it. Are all the babies the same?

3. If any of the baby plants are wilted and don't flower, you can move them to a new flower box! Click the Carry button , then click on the wilted plant. Carry the plant to a different flower box and see if it grows a flower.

When all the baby plants have grown a flower, take a picture for your Lab Book.







4. How are the baby plants different from the parent plant?
Adaptations: Plants
The Mystery Plants with large leaves live in places where there isn't much light. They need big leaves to gather as much of the light as they can. We say these plants are adapted to low light. Many of the plants in the rainforest have large leaves because they live under the shade of the tall trees. The plants with thin leaves are adapted to an environment where there is a lot of sunlight. They can survive with thin leaves because there is so much light. The medium plants have medium leaves and are adapted to mixed light conditions.

Look around your school and your home for different types of plant leaves. What do you notice? Leaves are adapted to their environments. Plant leaves can have many different kinds of adaptations. Cactus plants live in the dry desert. They have thick leaves that store water. They also have spines, which are an adaptation to keep animals away. Venus Fly Traps, which live in swamps where there are lots of bugs, have leaves that close when a bug lands on them. Venus Fly Traps eat bugs!

Cactus

Venus Fly Trap


Adaptations: Animals

Charles Darwin observed many birds, called finches, on the Galapagos Islands. On each of the ten different islands, the finches' beaks were shaped differently and the foods they ate were different, too. He studied the birds closely and found that the large beak birds were able to crush bigger seeds and nuts. Other birds had pointy beaks, adapted for eating cactus plants, or smaller beaks, adapted for pulling berries off branches. Each species of bird had a beak that was adapted to eat the food available in its environment.

Mr. Darwin guessed that one species of bird flew over to the islands thousands of years ago. Depending on which island they landed on, different food was available. The birds developed a diet of different foods. Over a long, long time, the birds evolved into different species.

Finches

Variation: Some babies can survive in different environments
You are back in the Virtual Field! The medium leaf plant still grows best in the middle of the field. The medium plant has Size 6 leaves on the bar graph, but remember, it can have babies with different types of leaves.

Instructions

1. Plant seeds by clicking on the plant button and then clicking inside the field. Click the Play button to start growing the plants. Healthy plants will grow a flower, produce seeds, and then new baby plants!

2. Watch how the plants in the field change as many seasons go by. You can use the slider to speed up time.

Take a picture when your field is full of plants. Explain in your Lab Book how the plants grew all over the field.






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Conclusion
Because of variation in the plant babies, some plant babies were able to survive under a different amount of sunlight than the parent plant. It took a while for lots of different plants to grow. Over time, these variations can lead to a different species of plant! When the environment changes, variations in one species can help the plant to adapt to a different environment.







You have completed Activity 2. Good job! Click the X at the top of this window to close the activity and save your work.
5. What might explain how it is possible for plants to grow all over the field? All the seedlings are not exactly the same as the parents. The ones that vary can live in slightly different regions of the field. As the plants grow they change so they can live in a different part of the field. Seedlings that are different fall only in the area where they can grow the best. a. All the seedlings are not exactly the same as the parents. The ones that vary can live in slightly different regions of the field. 6. Lots of different plants grew, even though you planted only one type. How did that happen? The offspring of the original plants varied and could survive under different amounts of sunlight. Their baby plants also varied and could survive in different regions of the field. After many, many generations, plants grew all over the field.