Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hello! My name is Alayna and I am a biology student in Austin, Texas. This year I am working on an experimental science project that has to do with the effect of light intensity on plant growth, more specifically, the rate of phototropism. Before I can start my experimentation, I have to do the manditory research on my topic. I don’t know more than just the basics on plants so I decided to interview a professional like yourself. I would be honored for you to answer these questions with as much detail as possible.

How exactly does phototropism work?

Does the intensity of light have any effect on the rate of phototropism? (Please explain why or why not.)

Do you know of any good, reliable books that may be able to help me with my research?

Finally, what credentials do you have that qualify you an expert in this field?

(Extra information: My hypothesis is this: if the intensity of light increases, the speed at which phototropism occurs will increase. It was just an educated guess, and I’m hoping it will turn out to be proven correct. What do you think?)

Thank you so much for your time! I really appreciate it. Please get back to me as soon as you can.

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Hi Alayna,

That is a very interesting project idea. While I am not a plant expert, I think you have a good hypothesis there. Usually, the hypothesis is given after the research, so you have more information with which to base your hypothesis (educated guess). While I was doing some background research for your answer, I found these interesting web pages that explain how it works, how it was tested in the past, and why:

http://www.usc.edu/CSSF/History/2004/Projects/J1629.pdf

http://plantsinmotion.bio.indiana.edu/p ... pisms.html

http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultran ... pisms.html

You can also add to the information I have here by doing another websearch using the terms "light intensity phototrophism". What have we learned from the ones above so far? Light does attract the shoots of plants toward it. Do you still think higher intensity light will cause a plant's shoot toturn more? Why or why not?

Hi Alayna,

I am not an expert in botany/plant sciences but here are some links to give you more ideas:

http://www.plantcell.org/cgi/content/full/18/5/1110

http://www.schoelles.com/Science/sciphototropism.htm

https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... p041.shtml

http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/nscort/outreac ... otrop.html

http://cccmkc.edu.hk/~sbj-biology/AL%20 ... riment.htm

Additionally, I think you can address plant pigments and perhaps do an experiment with TLC chromatography as another layer to your phototropism study.