NAME________________________ DATE_____ HOUR_____

MOSS ACTIVITY

ALGAE/MOSS/FERNS-4

PURPOSE: To observe local moss plants and to determine if we can tell the male plants from the female plants!

MATERIALS NEEDED: Moss, forceps, slides, coverslips, microscope, dissecting scope, light source, specimen dishes, droppers and small beakers

PROCEDURE: MAKE ALL OF YOUR SKETCHES ON THIS PAPER!

  1. Obtain the needed materials
  2. Rinse the soil from the Rhizomes
  3. Observe the sample under the dissecting scope.
  4. Sketch a small patch of Gametophytes and the Rhizoids connected to them. (Sketch 5 of the little moss plants.)
  5. Make a wet mount of just one Gametophyte!
  6. Observe the wet mount under low power!
  7. Sketch what is seen!
  8. Compare what you see with pictures of an antheridium and an archegonium!
  9. Is what you are looking at a male or a female plant?
  10. Swap wet mounts with someone else who has a moss plant of the opposite sex.
  11. Observe that plant
  12. Sketch what can be seen!

SMALL PATCH OF GAMETOPHYTES UNDER THE DISSECTING SCOPE

WET MOUNT OF THE GAMETOPHYTE UNDER LOW POWER

ANTHERIDIUM UNDER LOW POWER

ARCHEGONIUM UNDER LOW POWER

 

CONCLUSIONS:

  1. Were there any sporophyte stalks evident in your sample?

    2.  

     

     

     

  2. Do the Rhizomes seem to be connected to just one plant, or do they seem to connect one plant to another?

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  3. Was your first wet mount a male or a female? How could you tell?

    4.  

     

     

  4. What is the function of each of the structures that were observed in the male plant?

    5.  

     

     

     

  5. What is the function of each of the structures that were observed it the female plant?

    6.  

     

     

     

  6. What is the relationship between the shape of the structure and its function?

    7.  

     

     

     

     

  7. Which stage in the moss life cycle do these plants represent?

    8.  

     

     

     

     

  8. Sketch a moss plant that includes the gametophyte and the sporophyte. Label all of the parts.