May 15, 2015
Friday 120 min
2:00 - 4:00
AP Biology book (eighth edition), chapter 10; Herbarium Lab.
Today we conducted a field lab project. We ventured into the nature reserve and collected different types of leaves. Keaton was shown exotic plants, invasive plants, along with naturally occurring plants. We discussed the natural habitat of south Florida, which is a Pine forest with a palmetto understory. This type of habitat requires occasional fires, and the reserve has not experienced a fire in many years. This situation results in a pine forest with coppice understory, complete with some invasive plants thriving and the decline of others. We witnessed the plant known locally as the ‘love vine’ dominating over an acacia tree, and palmetto plants being strangled out by more bushy plants. We also visited the vegetable garden, and collected sample leave for his herbarium. We collected leaves and brought them to the lab. I showed Keaton how to identify and categorize the samples: Simple vs. Complex, Palmate, Netted and Parallel venation patterns. We used the plant press on his examples. We also pressed some wild flowers for the herbarium.