Bio Sci II, Spring 2018

Lab 7: Experimental Evolution (Artificial Selection, continued)

& Biological Diversity (Part I)
In this lab, we will divide our time between two main activities:
• First, we will plant the seeds produced by our ‘fast plants’. After these seeds germinate and the
new plants grow, we will examine their trichomes after spring break!
• Second, you will review prokaryotes by viewing materials at stations around the lab and
completing an in-class worksheet.

A. Artificial selection in “Fast plants”

The plants we examined during Lab 3, assigned either to a “Control” or “Experimental” treatment
(depending on lab section), and cross-pollinated accordingly, have now produced seeds that we
can plant to begin the next generation in our artificial selection experiment.
We will begin by harvesting the seeds from the plants in our lab section.
• Take one quad back to your seat.
• Examine each plant in the quad one-at-a-time. Each plant has a label with an ID number.
• Harvest the seeds from one plant at a time – your lab instructor will explain how! (The seeds
are tiny and we need as many as possible, so… be careful! ).
• For each plant, be sure to write down how many total seeds you harvested from that plant:
 If a plant has no seeds, record it as “0” (zero)
 If a plant has more than one seed pod, you don’t need to keep track of the number of
seeds in each of its different seed pods – just the total number of seeds.

Here is some space to record your data as you work:

Plant ID # Total number of seeds (tally)

Next, add your data to the spreadsheet at the front of the lab. We will use these data to
determine how many seeds to place in each cell of the planting quads.

 Decision: plant ______ seeds in each cell

The next step is to plant the seeds for the next generation:

Each person in the lab should take two clean “quads” to plant.
(If there are additional quads left over when you finish with those,
you will need to do more!)

Reminder: Each “quad” has four distinct cells.

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The steps involved in planting the seeds are:

1. Place a diamond wick in each cell, such that the tip extends ~2 cm out of the hole in the
bottom. (The wicks help ensure that the soil in the cells will not dry out).

2. Fill each cell hallway with the slightly moistened potting mix.

3. Add 2 fertilizer pellets to each quad cell.

4. Fill each cell to the top with the potting mix.

5. Make a shallow depression on top of each cell (but don’t press hard
enough to compact the potting mix).

6. Drop the determined number of seeds for your lab in each

depression.

7. Sprinkle enough potting mix in each cell to cover the seeds.

8. Water very gently with a pipet until water drips from each
wick. Be careful not to wash seeds out of the cells!

9. Place each quad back on top of one of the water mats.

(No labels are needed)

The quads will be placed under 24-hour/day fluorescent lighting until our next lab.

B. Prokaryotes – worksheet This will be distributed in class! Review your lecture

notes on prokaryotes before your lab.
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