Pollen producing

plants

Gymnosperms

Have long thin needle like leaves to conserve water.

Largest group are the conifers Christmas trees

Are evergreens retain their leaves all year long.

Seeds are on the cone exposed, not protected.

Have male and female cones.

Female cones contain ovules

Male cones produce pollen, in large quantities

Pollen is dispersed by the wind

Why do you think these plants produce such a

LARGE amount of pollen??

Angiosperms

Develop flowers for the purpose of

reproduction

This is an evolutionary advantage

because flowers attract insects which
can then transport pollen from one
flower to another

Can produce less pollen

There is an ovary in each flower that

protects the seed

After pollination, the ovary develops

into a fruit which protects the seed and
aids in its dispersal.

In comparison with Gymnosperms,

where is the effort placed in
angiosperms? (Flower? Pollen? Fruit?)

World global diet

What percent of the global

diet comes from plants?

Hint: you may need to

add some pies slices
together here.

What about the 13.5% that

is not plant based is it
also dependent upon
plants in any way?

Pollination vs
Fertilization

Whats the difference?

Seed dispersal

Seeds can be dispersed by wind, water, animals

Bacillus anthracis (anthrax)

Spore producers

Fungi

Algae

Ferns

Spores

Understanding spore production and the different

organisms that produce spores can help create a
spore profile for an area.
Spore producers include protists (algae), fungi, and
plants.
Bacteria produce endospores. Endospores are not
used in reproduction, they are a dormant capsule of
the bacteria.

Some endospores cause disease Anthrax & botulism

are examples.

Spores are dispersed by wind or water.

Spores have widespread coverage in certain
geographic areas, just like pollen.
Spores are able to be grown to identify the species

Pollen and Spore

Identification

The hard outer layer of a pollen grain and spore is

called the exine.
Exines have a unique structure when viewed under a
microscope.

Size, shape, wall thickness, & surface texture

Wind dispersed pollen grains have thinner walls

Animal dispersed pollen are larger, stickier, and
thick-walled.
Spores are much smaller than pollen grains and
produced in greater quantities.
Spores are more difficult to identify than pollen, but
they can be grown into a full sized organism for
identification.

Pollen and Spores in

Forensics

If the pollen or spores found on the victim are not

native to the crime scene, it may indicate the body
was moved.

Pollen and spores are difficult to remove and/or get

rid of.

Pollen and spores are drought resistant and are very

hardy.

Pollen and spores can give investigators a timeline

for the crime.

Criminals may pick up pollen or spores on their

clothing from a crime scene without knowing or
thinking of it.

Pollen and Spores in

Forensics

Collecting Pollen and Spores

Control and evidence samples must be collected.

Contamination is a major problem with collection and

a good defense lawyer will target this to look for
holes in the prosecutions case.

Pollen and spores can be found everywhere, some

areas to look are:

Hair, fur, rope, feathers, clothing, mucus membranes,

& sticky surfaces

When collecting samples:

Wear clean gloves

Place samples in a sterile container

Use clean or new sampling instruments

Analyzing Pollen and

Spore Samples

Pollen and spores are chemically extracted

from samples in a lab
Tools specialists use to examine and identify
include:

compound light microscope

scanning electron microscope (SEM)
reference collections
(photos, illustrations, dried specimens)

Pollen and spore evidencecollected,

analyzed, and interpretedcan be
presented in court

Making a wet mount

Materials

Microscope slide
Cover slip
Water
Dropper
Specimen
Stain (if required)

Procedure

Place a drop of water on the center of a clean dry slide (if the specimen you
plan to observe is already in a liquid environment, you can skip this step).
Next, place your specimen in the middle ofthe drop.
Carefully place one edge of the cover slip next to the water, holding the
cover slip at a 45 degree angle to the microscope slide.
Slowly lower the cover slip onto the water, trying to minimize the number of
air bubbles that can form under the cover slip.
Lastly, you may want to use a paper towel, placed at the edge of the cover
slip, to draw out some of the extra water.
If using a stain, place a drop of stain at one side of the cover slip while
holding a paper towel at the other side. This will draw the stain across the
specimen.

Calculating size of an object

in micrometers

Determine the size of the field of view in millimeters

using a ruler at 100x (thats your medium power).

Now convert to micrometers: 1mm = 1000m.

You now know what the size of your field of view is in

m.

Estimate the size of your pollen (or cell, hair, fiber,

etc.) with respect to how many can fit across the
field of view.

Field of view (in m)

= size of object

Then
calculate
the size of the object:
Number of
objects
across field