Lab Report Biology

Introduction (Laila)
We investigated the effects of sunlight exposure on leaf stomata density. Our hypothesis stated that stomata density in the leaves with more sunlight exposure should be greater because in the leaves exposed to sunlight appeared to be healthier than the leaves in the shade. Our hypothesis was rejected, and the leaves with little to no sunlight exposure had a greater stomata density.

Methods (Beth)
For this lab, we collected leaves based on the amount of sunlight projected onto each given area. We extracted the leaves that received little to no sunlight in front of the HUB building, and we extracted the leaves that received large amounts of sunlight in front of the main doors of Exploratory Hall.
To compare the two groups,

It was expected that the leaves with more sun exposure would have greater stomata density than leaves with less sunlight exposure because bright light causes stomata to open. There may be other potential factors, that we don't understand, which strongly affected the stomata density, such as temperature, wind speed, and soil type.
A few details, in particular, that may have affected the stomata density on the leaves we extracted include, the moisture level of the soil and building coverage from high wind speeds and extreme temperatures. The leafs extracted from an area with high sun exposure were surrounded by mulch, a dry form of soil, which could have contributed to the lack of open stomata. It should also be factored in that the campus of George Mason is constructed of many buildings, leaving parts of the ground either shaded or completely exposed to sunlight. The leaves from an area of low sun exposure would not be susceptible to overheating, whereas the leave from an area of high sun exposure would be susceptible, which could affect the number of stomata. Furthermore, wind speeds would vary between the two types of areas because of building coverage, which is another factor that could have interfered with the number of stomata recorded and the overall stomata