Samara dispersal in boxelder: An exercise in hypothesis testing.

 

Peter V. Minorsky and R. Paul Willing

Tested Studies in Laboratory Teaching, 1999, Volume 20

Abstract

We present here a fun, inexpensive, and pedagogically useful laboratory exercise which involves indoor studies of the dispersal properties of the winged fruits (samaras) of boxelder (Acer negundo L.) trees. The exercise engages students in the processes of hypothesis testing, experimental design, and data analysis, as well as introducing them to some important concepts relating to functional ecology, succession, and plant reproductive biology.

Keywords:  plant reproduction

Florida State University (1998)