Mike Carroll Sword Fern Sori

The reproduction of ferns is an amazing process, spores are launched from adult ferns at outstanding speeds, (speeds have been recorded at more than 10 meters per second.) ** Ferns have a unique potential to propagate the far off distances of Earth’s vast terrain via wind. Spores have the ability to disperse themselves thousands of miles from their ejection origin. By drifting their haploid vessels on the gentle zephyrs that deliver a perfected life force to their final destination ferns evolved to populate the planet with over 12,000 known species. The curiosity arises within the contemplation of the sporangium mechanism. The idea is to understand the power behind these tiny catapult-like structures. We chose to research fern spores because we wanted to understand more about the native flora out our backdoor. Ferns are one of the most prevalent fixtures in the forests of Washington State, our project will bring us greater understanding for the reproductive process used by this incredible order of plants. In our research we set out to capture spore ejection of either a Polypodium glycyrrhiza (Licorice fern) or a Polystichum munitum (Sword fern). We hope to determine the acceleration with which fern spores are ejected and the various distances the spores reach at initial ejection under negligible wind conditions. We will measure the ejection with a high speed camera in order to better analyze our findings. With this research, we also hope look at how the heating climate will affect the release of fern spores.) We will be using motion calculations to help determine different accelerations of ejection. We believe this research is relevant because of the changing heat conditions in the PNW.

d) We chose to research fern spores because we wanted to understand more about the native flora out our backdoors. Ferns are one of the most prevalent fixtures in the forests of Washington State, our project will bring us greater understanding for the reproductive process used by this incredible order of plants. We will be using motion calculations to help determine different accelerations of ejection. We believe this research is relevant because of the changing heat conditions in the PNW.

e)Our methods will include heating fern sori to a temperature that triggers spore ejection. We hope to track the speed and trajectory of the spores using a high speed camera, set to 1200 frames per second. We then plan to use LoggerPro to analyze our gathered data and apply physics motion calculations to better understand acceleration. This week (may 9th – 14th), We ultimately found successful, and usable data after many failed trial tests. One of the first things that we noticed was that this late in the season, many of the ferns had already ejected their spores. This coincided with the fact that this year, spring came early, and the dry heat was set upon the ferns, which  triggered their reproductive tendency. We were able to overcome this by locating some ferns that were kept specially in a greenhouse on campus, which we were graciously allowed to use.  The next hurdle that we came across was a few problems with our equipment, such as the camera not being able to focus, or the videos not having enough fps. Finally, after getting the equipment working, the apparatus set up, and started collecting data, we had a video product. This product, however, was useless in terms of data collection, because the fern spores flew straight at the camera, and therefore the velocity could not be accurately measured. We could overcome this by rigging a piece of paper and the leaf of a fern so that the sori were angled outward at an ~90 degree angle. This contraption went under a microscope, and we were able to film it and come out with a useful video to do measurements with.

Ferns have a unique potential to propagate the far off distances of Earth’s vast terrain via wind. Spores have the ability to disperse themselves thousands of miles from their ejection origin. By drifting their haploid vessels on the gentle zephyrs that deliver a perfected life force to their final destination ferns evolved to populate the planet with over 12,000 known species.  The curiosity arises within the contemplation of the sporangium mechanism. The idea is to understand the power behind these tiny catapult-like structures.

 f) Our research will culminate in graphs of Acceleration vs. time and Acceleration vs. heat, and a high speed video of three species of fern ejecting their spores at various heat levels. This data, once accumulated, will be used to infer whether or not global warming will have an effect on the fern spore ejections using current warming trends. The evolutionary aspects of existence will be tested in the upcoming years and the intention is to stay ahead of the curve, to decipher the patterns of plant propagation and to activate the knowledge within. What aspects of these ancient beings will compete with the surrounding life as the warmth engulfs the planet? How will this knowledge affect the future? After all, science is the art of prediction.

g) Morphology, development, and systematic relevance of pollen and spores M. Hesse; Friedrich Ehrendorfer; International Botanical Congress (14th : 1987 : Berlin, Germany)

-Peter H. Hovenkamp , Raymond W. J. M. Van Der Ham , Gerda A. Van Uffelen , Martin Van Hecke , Joshua A. Dijksman & Wim Star (2009) Spore movement driven by the spore wall in an eusporangiate fern, Grana, 48:2, 122-127, DOI: 10.1080/00173130902804331

-Poppinga S, Haushahn T, Warnke M, Masselter T, Speck T (2015) Sporangium Exposure and Spore Release in the Peruvian Maidenhair Fern (Adiantum peruvianum, Pteridaceae). PLoS ONE 10(10): e0138495. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0138495

-Noblin, N. O. Rojas, J. Westbrook, C. Llornes, M. Argentina, J. Dumais The fern sporangium: a unique catapult. Science. 335. DOI: 10.1126/science.1215985 (2012) <http://science.sciencemag.org/content/335/6074/1322>.

-J Lacey spore dispersal – its role in ecology and disease: the British contribution to fungal aerobiology. Centenary Review. Vol. 100 pages 641-660. (1996) <http://ac.els-cdn.com/S0953756296801948/1-s2.0-S0953756296801948-main.pdf?_tid=c499db88-1bb7-11e6-b42d-00000aacb35f&acdnat=1463438857_fc67c6ebdf28a08c3dc230f38d86b97e>.

–M. Hesse, F. Ehrendorfer Morphology Development, and systematic relevance of pollen and spores. International Botanical Congress 14th edition. (1987)

-P. G. Wolf, H. Schneider, T. A. Ranker Geographic distributions of homosporous ferns: does dispersal obscure evidence of vicariance?. Journal of Biogeography. Volume 28, Issue 2, pages 263–270. (2002) <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1046/j.1365-2699.2001.00531.x/full>.

-D. S. Barrington Ecological and historical factors in fern biogeography. Journal of biogeography. Volume 20, issue 3, pages 275-279. DOI: 10.2307/2845635 (1993) <http://www.jstor.org/stable/2845635?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents>