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Plants and Pollinators Why do plants and pollinators need each other?

Name:____________________________

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Before you start… What do you know about pollinators and plants?

Why do plants make seeds? _____________________________________________________________

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Why do plants have pollen? _____________________________________________________________

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What is a pollinator? _____________________________________________________________

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Draw and label a flower _____________________________________________________________

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How many types of bees are there in New Mexico? _____________________________________________________________

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What are two things you can do to help pollinators in your yard? 1.___________________________________________________________

2. ___________________________________________________________

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Plants

Introduction to Plants

Plants are all around us. Some plants are small.

Some plants are large. We use plants in many ways.

Plants make the oxygen we breathe. Plants also make

the food that people eat. Plants are important to people

and to animals. What are three foods that plants make?

______________ _______________ ______________

Where do plants come from?

Plants grow and change over time. Many plants start as small seeds.

They then grow larger. The large tree in the picture above is called a

sequoia. They can grow to be almost 300 feet tall. If a second grader is

about three feet tall, the sequoia is as tall as __________ second graders.

The seed of the sequoia is only this big. Even tiny seeds can grow large

plants. Sometimes large seeds grow small plants.

What do seeds and plants need to grow?

Seeds and plants need help to grow from the world around them. Seeds

will not grow unless they have the right conditions. Conditions include

sunlight, water, and soil. Different plants and seeds need different amounts

of sunlight and water. For example, __________________ need a lot of

water. ___________________ do not need very much water to grow.

Extension: How could you test what conditions different seeds need to grow?

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What is in a seed?

How can you learn what is in a seed?

To learn what is in a seed I will ____________________________________

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This is what I see on the outside of a seed.

The seed is _______________inches long and ________________cm long.

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This is what I see inside a seed.

Seed Anatomy

These are drawings of the parts of the seed I dissected. Seed Coat

Cotyledon

Embryo

Unidentified

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Plant Germination and Lifecycle Draw each stage of plant development

A seed is planted and watered.

The seed grows its first root. The

radicle becomes the root.

The root grows. The epicotyl

pushes above the ground. The first

leaves grow.

The plant grows flowers. The flowers are pollinated.

The pollinated flower develops new seeds. The seeds

ripen.

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Relationships between Organisms

Living things, or organisms, often

need each other to survive.

Sometimes plants or animals help

each other. Sometimes they hurt

each other. These are some

examples of different relationships

that organisms have.

Predator-Prey In your classroom…

In the wild…

Human-Chicken Coyote-Rabbit

Yum! This chicken sandwich is good!

A coyote eats a rabbit.

Mutualism In your classroom…

In the wild…

Human-Human Flower-Bee

Parasitism In your classroom…

In the wild…

Human-Human Juniper-Mistletoe

Competition

In your classroom…

In the wild…

Human-Human Elk-Elk

Commensalism In your classroom…

In the wild…

Human-Human Tree-Bird

This bird lives in an old knot in a tree. The bird gets a home and the tree is not hurt.

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Learning at the Botanical Garden Specialized Flowers and Pollinators

Help us! We need scientists to do research on our pollinators and flowers. There are many different shapes of flowers in the Botanical Garden. We want to learn which pollinators visit which flowers. You will then enter the data you collect on our website. This will help us learn about what pollinators prefer each variety of flower. I studied the flower of the _____________________________.

(Name of Plant) The time is:__________ The weather is:_________________________________________________ Use tally marks to keep track of how many pollinators visit your flower.

Bee Butterfly Moth Ant Fly Humming-bird

Other _______

Total:___

Total:___

Total:___

Total:___

Total:___

Total:___

Total:___

Which pollinator visited your flower the most?___________________ Why do you think that happened? Look at the shape of the insect and the shape of the flower. _____________________________________________________________

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What else should we study about these flowers and pollinators? _____________________________________________________________

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Learning at the Botanical Garden

How Seeds Travel

Draw and label your three seeds

How do you think each seed travels?

What tests did you do to prove that is true?

1.

1. 1.

2.

2. 2.

3.

3. 3.

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Learning at the Botanical Garden Bees

Did you know…

• There are over 1,100 different varieties of bees in New Mexico.

• Many native bees live alone, not in hives.

• Honeybees are from Europe.

• Some bees live in wood and dead trees.

• Other bees live in holes in the ground.

Draw your bee habitat.

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Flower Anatomy

Word Bank: Petals – Surround seed making organs, often work as an advertisement for

pollinators Sepals – Leaf-like structures below petals

Nectary – Where nectar is made and stored

Stigma – Sticky organ that receives pollen

Style – Tube that connects stigma and ovary

Stamen – Anther and filament

Anther – Pollen covered part of stamen

Filament – Holds up the anther

Ovary – Where ovum and pollen meet to make a seed

Stalk – Attaches flower to plant

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Take what you learned and… Dissect a Flower

This is what the flower looks like on the outside.

When the flower is cut in half it looks like this.

These are all of the parts of the flower, after I took it apart. Each part is labeled with its name.

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Take what you learned and… Invent a Pollinator and Flower

Now you know what a pollinator does and the parts of a flower. Can you design a specialist pollinator and flower, which evolved together. The name of my pollinator is ______________________________________

The name of my flower is _________________________________________

The way the flower helps the pollinator is ____________________________

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The way the pollinator helps the flower is ____________________________

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You should also know____________________________________________

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This is a picture of my flower with all its parts labeled.

Word Bank

Pistil Pollen Stamen Sepal Petal Ovary Stalk

This is a picture of my pollinator.

This is a picture of the pollinator pollinating the flower

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What do you know about pollinators and plants now?

Why do plants make seeds? _____________________________________________________________

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Why do plants have pollen? _____________________________________________________________

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What is a pollinator? _____________________________________________________________

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Draw and label a flower _____________________________________________________________

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How many types of bees are there in New Mexico? _____________________________________________________________

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What are two things you can do to help pollinators in your yard? 1.___________________________________________________________

2. ___________________________________________________________

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Glossary

Commensalism_________________________________________________

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Competition____________________________________________________

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Conditions_____________________________________________________

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Epicotyl_______________________________________________________

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Mutualism_____________________________________________________

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Organisms_____________________________________________________

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Ovary_________________________________________________________

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Oxygen_______________________________________________________

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Parasitism_____________________________________________________

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Petal_________________________________________________________

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Pistil__________________________________________________________

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Pollen________________________________________________________

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Pollinate______________________________________________________

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Pollinator______________________________________________________

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Predator______________________________________________________

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Prey__________________________________________________________

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Radicle_______________________________________________________

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Sepal_________________________________________________________

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Sequoia_______________________________________________________

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Stalk_________________________________________________________

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Stamen_______________________________________________________

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