Duckweed Pilot Data: Some background info
| The species: The two species of duckweed that you will examine are Lemna valdiviana and Lemna turionifera. Note that this is different than the species names that I initially gave you on the handout. Have a look at each species by clicking on their names. |
| Duckweed biology. Duckweeds reproduce both sexually and asexually, but asexual (vegetative) reproduction is the more common form. You can safely assume that your plants will not reproduce sexually during the course of experiments. Duckweeds are composed of one or more thalli (singular: thallus, also called a frond), and roots. Duckweeds reproduce asexually by "budding off" a new thallus from the mother thallus. This new thallus may remain attached for some time to the mother thallus. For more information on duckweed biology click here. |
| Measuring duckweed growth. This is trickier than you might think. There are a lot of potential measures of both duckweed size and number. You will need to come to grips with what constitutes a new plant: each thallus, or each connected cluster of thalli? Look at this web page (click here) . |
Duckweed growth medium. We will be using a commercial plant food called Plant Prod Plus (by Plant Products Co., Brampton, Ontario). The composition, by mass, is given below. Duckweed will be placed in a growth chamber. For information on growing duckweed click here Total nitrogen........20% Available phosphoric acid......20% Soluble potash.......................20% Boron....................................0.02% Copper.................................0.05% Iron.......................................0.15% Manganese............................0.05% Molybdenum.........................0.0005% Zinc.......................................0.05% EDTA (chelating agent)..........1.0% DTPA (chelating agent)...........0.3% |
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Duckweed supplier: wootton@hawaiianbotanicals.com |