User:Alexas27/sandbox

First Draft:

Second Draft (for peer review)

Would be under new section titled "Results of Experiments":

Several experiments have been focused on how plant growth and distribution compares in anti-gravity, space conditions versus Earth conditions. This enables scientists to explore whether certain plant growth patterns are innate or environmentally driven. For instance, Allan H. Brown tested seedling movements aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia in 1983. Sunflower seedling movements were recorded while in orbit. They observed that the seedlings still experienced rotational growth and circumnation despite lack of gravity, showing these behaviors are built-in.

Other experiments have found that plants have the ability exhibit gravitropism, even in low-gravity conditions. For instance, the ESA's European Modular Cultivation System enables experimentation with plant growth; acting as a miniature greenhouse, scientists aboard the International Space Station can investigate how plants react in variable-gravity conditions.The Gravi-1 experiment (2008) utilized the EMCS to study lentil seedling growth and amyloplast movement on the calcium-dependent pathways. The results of this experiment found that the plants were able to sense the direction of gravity even at very low levels. A later experiment with the EMCS placed 768 lentil seedlings in a centrifuge to stimulate various gravitational changes; this experiment, Gravi-2 (2014), displayed that plants change calcium signalling towards root growth while being grown in a several gravity levels.

Many experiments have a more generalized approach in observing overall plant growth patterns as opposed to one specific growth behavior. One such experiment from the Canadian Space Agency, for example, found that white spruce seedlings grew differently in the anti-gravity space environment compared with Earth-bound seedlings; the space seedlings exhibited enhanced growth from the shoots and needles, and also had randomized amyloplast distribution compared with the Earth-bound control group.

Citations

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Initial First Draft (not for peer review though)

Sources:

Chamovitz, Daniel (2013). What A Plant Knows. New York: Scientific American. pp. 109–110. ISBN 978-0-374-28873-0. https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/resources/highschool/chemmatters/past-issues/2016-2017/april-2017/growing-green-on-the-red-planet.html https://www.nasa.gov/feature/can-plants-grow-with-mars-soil http://publications.gc.ca/collections/collection_2013/rncan-nrcan/Fo147-1-15-2013-eng.pdf Advanced Plant Experiment - Canadian Space Agency 2|url=https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/70.html%7Cwebsite=www.nasa.gov http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221455241500005X https://phys.org/news/2016-07-decade-biology-space.html https://lensesinspace.wordpress.com/objectives-of-the-gravi-experiment-2/

I want to specifically add a section of "results of experiments," or at least add details about the specific experiments (there's only a list of experiments currently). This would show results in how seedings/plants have responded to low-gravity conditions, and its effect on growth. Possible topics/additions:

• Allan H. Brown tested seedling movements aboard the Columbia space shuttle in 1983. Sunflower seedling movements were recorded while in orbit. They observed that the seedlings still experienced rotational growth and circumnation despite lack of gravity.
• Several experiments are focused on how plant growth and distribution compares in space (without gravity) versus Earth conditions. One such experiment from the Canadian Space Agency, for example, found that white spruce seedlings grew differently in the anti-gravity space environment compared with Earth-bound seedlings;the space seedlings exhibited enhanced growth from the shoots and needles, along with and also had randomized amyloplast distribution compared with the Earth-bound control group.
• Other experiments have found that plants have the ability exhibit gravitropism, even in low-gravity conditions. For instance, the ESA's European Modular Cultivation System enables experimentation with plant growth; acting as a miniature greenhouse, scientists aboard the international space station can investigate how plants react in variable-gravity conditions.The Gravi-1 experiment(2008)showed that plants sense the direction of gravity even at very low levels. A later experiment with the EMCS, Gravi-2, in 2014, displayed that plants change calcium signalling towards root growth while being grown in a several gravity levels.

Further addition to intro?-want to ask peer group if this addition would be too off topic or would still be relevant enough...

Old (end of inttro/definition paragraph): NASA plans to grow plants in space to help feed astronauts, and to provide psychological benefits for long-term space flight.r long-term space flight.

New Addition NASA plans to grow plants in space to help feed astronauts, and to provide psychological benefits for long-term space flight.r long-term space flight. Furthermore, exploring how plants react under anti gravity and non-Earth conditions could be relevant to extraterrestrial farming or plant cultivation. Mars shows potential for harboring plant life, as the soil has been found to contain the nutrients necessary for plant survival- though not necessarily in the proper concentrations. There are current experiments investigating how plants react, develop, and grow in Mars-like conditions.

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Ideas Draft due 4/24/2017:

Plants in space:

• Start class
• However, information is very limited
• it generally talks about applications, but doesn't go into specifics
• I would want to talk more in depth over experiments and results, and possible relationships (to gravity, to future mars colonization/edibility, etc).
• New addition: Many experiments are focused on how plant growth and distribution compares in space (without gravity) versus Earth conditions. One such experiment from the Canadian Space Agency, for example, found that white spruce seedlings grew differently in the anti-gravity space environment compared with Earth-bound seedlings; the space seedlings exhibited enhanced growth from the shoots and needles, along with and also had randomized amyloplast distribution compared with the Earth-bound control group.

Citations

Photoreceptor protein

• Start class, so room for improvement
• Could talk more about history/scientific discovery of certain plant photoreceptors
• photoreceptor mechanical pathways could be added
• could talk about how photoreceptors work together, ie cryptochrome plus phytochrome
• New sentence (I want to edit/reword a previous sentence to make it more detailed): Photoreceptors are flexible in their ability to change unde certain light conditions. Specifically, phytochrome exists in two different (inactive and active) forms depending on exposure to certain light wavelengths. Red light converts it to the active form called Pfr, while far-red light exposure converts it to the inactive form called Pr.

Citations

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Article Evaluations due 4/16:

1. Evaluation of Botany page:

• listed as level 3 vital article,rated GA (great article). Part of Bio wikipedia project
• has about 500 pages of review history (good sign), meaning many contributors/fact checking/citations
• has a great, all-encompassing definition, thought slightly too long in my opinion
• I didn't find anything really biased, language is neutral, scientific, and relevant. It provided multiple subcategories where botany is relevant, plus it was well rounded in a variety of applications (mentioned historical info, ecology, relevance, all the way up to biochemistry and plant morphology).
• Has a long list of citations, most of the links work. Though most of the sources seem to be from the 90's to early 2000's, perhaps more recent citations would be appreciated.

2. Evaluation of Plant physiology page:

• Is B-Class and part of WikiProject Plants
• Needs a lot more sources (in comparison to the Botany page)
• While it has a range of material covered, some seems a little irrelevant or run-on ish. Some information could be elaborated on in more detail, while more irrelevant topics should be removed.
• Certain categories could use more clarification/expansion, such as under "current research"
• On the talk page, the only real question was relevant to surface tension; could be elaborated/added to the article, but only if relevant to physiological plant processes
• only one page of editing history
• while it maintains a fairly neutral tone, a lot of info isn't cited or is not very relevant