Especialidades JA/Semillas/Respuestas

Semillas
Asociación General Estudio de la naturaleza	Destreza: 1 Año de introducción: 1961

Requisitos

Conexión Logros para la Investidura: Esta especialidad está relacionada con los requisitos de Logros para la Investidura para AMIGO Estudio de la naturaleza que requiere (como una de dos opciones) hacer una colección de 15 diferentes clases de semillas como está escrito en el requisito #9 de esta especialidad. Esta especialidad es una elección popular para la especialidad de la categoría de Estudio de la naturaleza de nivel de destreza 1 requerido para los AMIGOS DE LA NATURALEZA.

1

¿Cuál es el objetivo principal de la semilla?

2

¿Cuáles alimentos fueron dados por primera vez al hombre en el Jardín del Edén?

3

Identificar una semilla o el dibujo y conocer la finalidad de cada una de estas partes de una semilla: tegumento, cotiledón y embrión.

4

Decir de memoria cuatro diferentes métodos con los cuales se esparcen las semillas. Nombrar tres clases de plantas cuyas semillas son esparcidas por cada método.

Encasing seeds in a rounded fruit promotes gravity driven movement away from the parent.

• Pine trees
• Spruce trees
• Fir trees
• Junipers
• Cedars
• Hemlocks

Mechanical dispersal

Numerous species have mechanical means to overcome the tendency of a seed to drop close to its parent. Seedpods are often shaped so that the seeds are flung away from the parent plant with considerable force as the seedpod matures

Examples of fruit with mechanical dispersal mechanisms:

• Yellow wood sorrel and Touch-me-not – as the seed dries, becomes sensitive to disturbance, ejecting tiny seeds in an explosive discharge. Touch-me-not is named for this behavior.
• Maple trees - the seeds of the Maple tree are those little "helicopters" that children love to play with. As the seeds falls, the wings cause it to rotate, slowing its descent, and thus allowing a breeze to carry it farther from the parent. When the seed strikes the ground, it bores into the soil.

Dandelion "clock," showing brown achenes and attached pappuses.

Wind

For non-aquatic, terrestrial plants, the wind is an obvious supplier of energy for movement, and many plants clearly take advantage of this fact. This type of seed dispersal is not efficient, but very effective. Perhaps most familiar are the feather-light fiber parachutes with attached achenes that are produced by a number of species of flowers, a well-known example being the dandelion (see right).

• Milkweed
• Thistles
• Dandelions

Water

Plants that grow in water (aquatic and obligate wetland species) are likely to utilize water to disperse their seeds. For example, all mangroves disperse their offspring by water. In one mechanism, the seedling separates from the fruit, leaving its cotyledons behind, and—floating horizontally on the water surface—is carried away by tidal or river flow. After a month or two, the propagated seed turns vertical in the water. Once it "feels" bottom or strands, roots start to develop and leaves appear at the upper end.

A mechanism commonly seen in coastal plants are those that promote flotation of the fruit, allowing the seed to be carried away on the tide or ocean currents. Examples would be:

• The coconut produces a large, dry, fiber-filled fruit capable of a long survival adrift at sea.
• Alexandrian laurel or kamani produces a globose fruit that is almost cork-like.

Animals

A barbed seed caught in the fur of a cat.

Seeds are often the bane of bushwalkers

A significant aspect of plant-animal cooperation involves plants designed to take advantage of animal abilities to move. Some fruit have prickly burrs or spikes that attach themselves to a passing animal's fur or feathers so that the animal will carry them away. Some seeds are contained within a soft fruit that "invites" animals to consume it. These seeds have a tough protective outer-coating so that while the fruit is digested, the seeds will pass through their host's digestive tract intact, and grow wherever they fall. Some seeds are appealing to rodents (such as squirrels) who hoard them in hidden caches, often beneath the surface of the soil, in order to avoid starving during the winter and early spring. Those seeds that are left uneaten have the chance to germinate and grow into a new plant.

Some animals that disperse may also eat the seed.

• Beggarlice
• Cockle burr
• Apple
• Banana
• Strawberry
• Oak (acorns)

5

Mencionar de memoria 10 clases de semillas que se utilizan para la alimentación.

6

Mencionar de memoria cinco clases de semillas que se utilizan como fuentes de aceite.

7

Mencionar de memoria cinco clases de semillas que se utilizan para las especias.

8

¿Qué condiciones son necesarias para que una semilla brote?

9

Hacer una colección de 30 diferentes clases de semillas, de los cuales sólo 10 se pueden obtener de los paquetes de semillas comerciales, los otros 20 se deben de recolectar por sí mismo. Etiquetar cada clase de la siguiente manera: nombre de la semilla, fecha recolectada, la ubicación donde se recogieron y el nombre del coleccionista.

Adventist Youth Honors Answer Book/Nature/Seeds/Seed collection

References

• Wikipedia articles
  • Seeds
  • Germination
  • Biological dispersion