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To Bee or Not to Bee
Fast Plants are pollinated by many insects, including Pieris rapae and
bees. What is the role of pollination in a plant life cycle? What
happens if flowers aren’t pollinated? Try this with the plants being
used in the Brassica & Butterfly system life
cycle activity to find
out!
Materials Needed
Instructions
- Just before
flowers begin to open (about day 12), use small squares
of plastic wrap and twist ties to loosely enclose 3 – 4 groups
of flowers on different Brassica plants. Do not disturb these flowers
any further.
- Using your Bee Stick, transfer pollen gently
from flowers on one plant to flowers on another. Do this with
as many flowers as you can.
- Continue
to observe each plant until the end of its life
cycle (about
day 40).
- Describe what you see in both groups of flowers, and make a
sampling of sketches as you do.
Activity Questions:
- What is the role of a flower in a plant life cycle?
- What parts of the flower
are most important to completing the life cycle? Make a sketch
of these parts and their relationship to one another.
- Describe specifically
what you did to pollinate the flowers.
- Describe what happens to
the flowers after you pollinate.
- What forms from the flowers?
- Make a sketch to compare the differences between
what happens to flowers that were pollinated and those that
were not.
- What can you conclude about the importance of insects,
like bees, to the pollination of Fast Plants?
- In the absence of insects, what else
might help ensure pollination?
SHARE YOUR RESULTS: To Bee or Not to Bee
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