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Course: Biodiversity | California Academy of Sciences > Unit 4
Lesson 2: Biodiversity analyses and unknowns- Studying biodiversity in the lab
- How much biodiversity do we really know?
- The Journey of Mr. Sand Dollar: Systematics 101
- Test your knowledge: biodiversity analyses and unknowns
- Exploration questions: biodiversity analyses and unknowns
- Activity: biodiversity analyses and unknowns
- Glossary: biodiversity analyses and unknowns
- Selected references: biodiversity analyses and unknowns
- Answers to exploration questions: biodiversity analyses and unknowns
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Activity: biodiversity analyses and unknowns
Hint: the background information that will help you complete this activity is found in the videos and article.
In the lab, scientists have access to technology that allows them to take a closer look at the preserved specimens that have come back from the field. Microscopes enable scientists to see greatly magnified detail that in turn helps them determine if the specimens belong to one species or several different species. To see how magnification makes a difference, take a look at the two images of the same collection of plant pollen. They are images captured with a scanning electron microscope, using a magnification of 500x. The images are of the same collection of pollen, however the second one is color-coded to allow the viewer to notice more easily the differences in the pollen grains.
Answer the following questions based on what you observe in the two photos:
a) What features do you see in the magnified pollen grains that might help a scientist differentiate between the different pollen grains? List as many as you can.
b) What kinds of questions occurred to you while looking at these highly magnified images?
c) Did you find one of the images more helpful than the other? Why?
d) If you could use a scanning electron microscope, what is one thing from nature that you would like to observe more closely? Why?
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a) What features do you see in the magnified pollen grains that might help a scientist differentiate between the different pollen grains? List as many as you can.
Features I see in the magnified pollen grains that might help a scientist differentiate between the different pollen grains, are…
1. Difference in shape and size in each different type of grain
2. Color difference (pink, yellow, red, light green, lime, dark green)
3. Structure
4. The number count of each type of grain (pink and light green have more then yellow and dark green)
b) What kinds of questions occurred to you while looking at these highly magnified images?
How many red grains are there? We only see one in the photo when the microscopes are at 500x, so would we see more red if we zoomed in closer like at 700x or 900x? Where did these pollen grains come from? From flowers? If so, what type?
c) Did you find one of the images more helpful than the other? Why?
I obviously found the colored image to be more helpful. I was able to see more details, ‘cause if I only relied on the black ‘n white image, I wouldn’t be able to tell the color. I might’ve assumed they were all the same color.
d) If you could use a scanning electron microscope, what is one thing from nature that you would like to observe more closely? Why?
I’d like to use it on bats (the type that was believed to have started covid), what exactly caused the outbreak of covid? And why do bats have so many diseases? I think looking at bats closely (more specifically the saliva) would allow me to see so much stuff!(2 votes)