My child is planning a science fair project studying the consumption of carbon dioxide by plants. We started a prototype experiment where we put a spider plant in a sealed transparent plastic storage box along with a sensor that measures CO2 concentration in ppm. The box-enclosed plant has a couple grow lights around it that are on during daytime.

co2 sensor: https://aranet.com/en/home/products/aranet4-home
box is similar to: https://www.containerstore.com/s/storage/plastic-bins-baskets/clear-weathertight-totes/12d?productId=10026213

The box probably reduces the effectiveness of the grow lights, and even though the box is snapped shut, it's might not be perfectly airtight. Still, we expected that we'd see a noticeable decrease in co2 levels over time due to photosynthesis. Instead, we are actually seeing the opposite! CO2 levels are rising. This sheet shows the general upward trend over the last 6 days: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1exq2X8S-f7GsDuO3k2xLGthhq1Sq1elY1QWuqjCzh20/edit?usp=sharing

Any theories on what is going on here and whether we'd expect to observe co2 levels falling in the box? Could the box or soil be giving off co2 at a faster rate than the plant consumes it? Thanks!

https://preview.redd.it/se54mam1thzd1.png?width=916&format=png&auto=webp&s=23aeb4c0e421343ee5dec22eb94ee1584221fbfa

The photo above is a picture I took of the Evolutionary Tree of Life chart by UsefulCharts. I took a photo of it because of a question I asked my science teacher and wanted to show the photo to him in the future to try to make him understand what I'm asking about. (I will provide more context on what I'm talking about in the text below)

Today, I was in my science class when I asked my teacher about red algae, since we were on the topic of plants and chloroplasts. I asked him, "Are red algae plants? They have plastids, but they're not chloroplasts." (I did slip up a bit there. Red algae do have chloroplasts, which I found out after a quick Google search.) But the thing that interests me the most is my teacher then replied, "Red algae have a mix of plant and animal features. You're not to that level yet." (Note: I am in Year 9) I know what he meant when he said "a mix of plant and animal features"- he meant some basal eukaryotes (used to be classified as "Protista"). Since he told me that he thinks my knowledge isn't to that level yet, I think he probably wouldn't explain much if I asked him again. So, I have come to this subreddit for answers on where the Plantae kingdom starts. I know it's a controversial topic. Some place it at embryophytes, some at chloroplastids, and some consider the entire Archaeplastida all "plants".

Howdy,

I am curious if anyone has a good idea to preserve twigs with the buds on them. I am in a forestry program and we are working on winter tree identification. I would like to be able to keep these for a long time and put them in a display case. I think it would also be a great way to present them to my instructor.

Thanks in advance for any input!

I'm aware that the term "primitive" doesn't fit and that no plant is any more or less evolved than the rest, but I'm curious over which ones, on a visual level, have changed the least, or changed and regressed back to that "original" state.

What are the oldest species of trees, (trees in the sense that they are woody plants that would be considered a ‘tree’ by the general public such as birches, pines or elms) on each of the continents? With the Americas being divided in two and Antarctica not included as the region isn’t host to complex plant-life outside lichen and mosses. I know the Wollemia would likely be the contender for Oceania, and the Ginko for Asia, but what about Europe, Africa and the Americas? Thanks for the help

Bit of an odd request! I live in Atlanta and I study various languages of the Ancient Near East. I'm currently learning how to read and write Hieratic Egyptian, but it's difficult to write in Hieratic these days because Egyptian pens were very different from a pen you can go out and buy. Their pens were made of two species of rushes, Juncus maritimus AKA the "sea rush", and Juncus acutus AKA the "spiny rush". As luck would have it, a subspecies of Juncus acutus called "Leopold's rush" happens to be native to my home state of Georgia!

I want to go out on a little nature excursion to gather some Juncus acutus so that I can turn them into a few authentic Egyptian rush pens. Where in Georgia would I go to find some spiny rushes? I know that they grow near coastlines and saline marshes, but nothing more than that. Any help would be appreciated! And if anyone knows of any other subreddits that might be able to answer a question like this, please let me know.

Thank you all!

Juncus acutus

So, every plant has alternation. Of generation. Here, plants go through gametophyte (haploid) phase, formed by spores(haploid, produced by meiosis) from sporophytic (diploid) phase, which itself is formed by fusion of two haploid gamers.

Now, for a mango tree (as example), which is gametophytic phase, the haploid gamers pollen and ova meet and form diploid seed, which takes place of the spores in the cycle. However, there is no sporophytic phase in this cycle because the seed(spores) itself makes a gametophytic tree. Please explain me where the sporophytic phase is.

Edit, trees are the sporophyte phase, i reversed the phases, sorry. Newly learning the term, sorry for my mistake again.

I want to get stuck in and enjoy myself, but I had a really negative experience a few months ago involving a friend who is a 'Real Botanist' with a science degree. She really made me feel very small and stupid, and now I'm too frightened to start again.

I feel I need to learn more, so some recommendations for reading and activites would be helpful. And I want to find a supportive community where I can feel at ease enough to gradually build up my knowledge.

Hello, I'm looking for advices about microscopes. I found a Wild M3 for sale for 350€ (380$), in good state. Is it a good deal, or should I look for something more recent? Thanks, and sorry if I made english mistakes!

Ficus microcarpa from Moraceae family and Ginseng from Araliaceae family.

How can a botanist make the world a better place? Improve human health? Help others? Make others happy? Etc? Share your passion for the field and why it's important! What would you say to someone who thinks botany is less useful than other sciences (ie: medical)? :D

Family member is a professional gardener / botanist. What's the most profoundly awesome, must-have book on botany?

Sorry for the stupid question, I just started taking botany. I can't seem to find an illustration of a gymnosperm seed with a funiculus. I'm trying to identify the differences between gymnosperm and angiosperm seeds in terms of structure and parts.

I'm interested in growing prickly pears for both the pads and the fruits. I'd like to avoid dealing with the spines if possible.

I see a couple spineless varieties online, but there is never much info on if the fruits are spineless, only the pads. I also read a post in this sub where someone claims to have touched a spineless plant and got a ton of spines in their hand.

Anyone have direct experience here?

I heard about the upcoming closure a few months ago, but nothing since.

Are there any work from home jobs in Botany? or jobs that don’t require much standing or heavy lifting?

I have a B.S. in Botany. I mostly have professional experience with laborious jobs within Botany and Horticulture in greenhouses. I also have university level experience in tissue culture labs and have volunteered at a herbarium. I am open to returning to school or any other kind of training.

I want to try and stick within my field, I just can’t physically do outdoor labor jobs anymore.

Hello! So I'm very new to the botany community. I found a love for plants about 2 years ago during my freshman year of college. I used to be an art major, so I had zero experience in science. Then I realized I didn't really like art that much, and I had much more fun researching and learning about plants. So I switched my major to Biology with an emphasis in ecology/environmental science. I've been in it for a year, and I managed to keep up with everything, and I even managed to get an internship with my school to do research over the summer, in this internship I worked with my botany professor and a team collecting data on plants (flowers) at a nature reserve, specifically studying pollination and climate change affects. I was tasked to do research on the wild rose (Rosa setigera) and come up with a concept to research it on and eventually present my work at a botany conference in May for schools to potentially scout me to hopefully work in their labs and continue doing research after I graduate.       

It may sound like I'm on a good track but I have no idea what I'm doing. My school is a nursing school, and biology isn't a major focus. I'm like the only botany major here... I got really lucky there was even a botany professor with experience and connections. I love plants, and they make me feel so fulfilled, but I'm so scared to continue doing this with no previous experience, and I have no idea what career I want in botany. I like greenhouses and research, and I like working in a lab with a team. But I have no idea what steps to take or what to strive for during my junior year right now. If it's a pipe dream to expect to get into a PhD program with average grades in science. Any advice would be very appreciated. :)