Table of Contents
Introduction
Photosynthesis is the most important process for plants, where all aerobic specimens are also beneficiaries. Without photosynthesis, there will be no CO2 and O2 exchange, and we will suffer catastrophic consequences as anaerobic bacteria when O2 was introduced. We will suffer from too much CO2 in the atmosphere. An important mechanism of Photosynthesis is Stoma and Stomata in plural, it comes from the Greek vocabulary and it means mouth. Stomata is important to the plant because of the gas and H2O exchange, a process known as transpiration where stomata open and closes. (Hamlyn G. Jones, 1997). This process is affected by many environmental factors. In this experiment, we performed to find out the relationship between stomata density and an environment (exposure of sun).
Method
This experiment had performed on September 19 at William Paterson University. The temperature was around 75-78 ºF, and humid. In order to gather 2 different specimens, we chose the bushes, which is named Forsythia. We collected 10 leaves from top of the bush (more exposed from sun) and other 10 leaves from beneath of the bush (less exposed from sun). After collecting samplings, we observed and counted 20 leaves’ stomata through microscope.
Before counting stomata, each leaf was coated with nail polish and let it dry. For getting impression of the leaves, we used scotch tape and put it on a slide. A microscope was used to magnify the impressions to 400x. The stomata were visualized and were counted for 10 leaves of each sun and shade. This was done for both specimens.
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Result
All of groups collected their data and calculated an average of stomata density for sun and shade. We observed that depending on the light exposure, the stomata density was affected. Comparing the sun and shade environment, the leaves which were located closer to the light had resulted in higher density of stomata than the ones in the shade. Therefore, when the light exposure increased, the stomata density also increased. They are proportional.
We got 0.00022773 for T-test by 11 groups who participated. The data indicated, lower p value is corresponding to safe to reject the null. And all groups got result in higher average of stomata density in sun than shade, as a result the mean also got higher rate in the sun than the shade.
Discussion
In conclusion, the leaves which had more exposure to the sun had higher stomata density than the leaves which were less exposed to the sun. Our hypothesis was that the higher sun exposure causes result in higher stomata density. And we predicted that when increasing the stomata density, reaction of photosynthesis will be more active. Based on all of our data, the results proved our hypothesis and prediction. In biological, higher rate of stomata density has beneficially to photosynthesis and evaporate cooling, but it causes higher dehydration at the same time. However, lower stomata density has less dehydration, but it decreases reaction of photosynthesis.
According to all of the result, we got positive result. However, there are some potential experimental errors that could occur during the experiment. For instance, if we collected the specimen in the night time or during a cloudy weather, we may get unpredictable result. Another factor that error could be occurred by systematic error. If we set up wrong magnification on microscope or count wrong, the result will be negative.
Works Cited
- Hamlyn G. JonesJournal of Experimental Botany Vol. 49, SPECIAL ISSUE: STOMATAL BIOLOGY (MARCH 1998), pp. 387-398.
