In this three week lab, students use the technique of making clear nail polish impressions of leaf stomata to generate and test an hypothesis of their choice about how leaf stomata density might vary ...

Plants breathe through stomata Plant leaves are protected from drying out by an airtight wax layer. They breathe and release water through microscopic pores called stomata. Every year 40% of ...

Brassinosteroids, a class of plant hormones, play an important role in determining the number of leaf stomata, but the underlying mechanism was until now not well understood. Brassinosteroids are ...

Plants constantly make trade-offs in their decisions: more light means more opportunity for photosynthesis, but then hot temperatures and dry air makes wilting more likely. Stomata - microscopic ...

As global temperatures rise and regions become exposed to increasingly extreme conditions such as droughts, the need for hardy, water-efficient crops grows. Through the study of leaf stomata, research ...

correlation and causation: Many students do not understand the fundamental difference between correlation and causation. In this lab, stomata density variation likely results from interacting ...

Scientists with two disparate sets of expertise -- in plant biology and protein structural chemistry -- have unraveled the atomic basis of how optimal numbers of stomata are made in leaves. Plants ...