Other+Experimentation

Past Studies of Leaf Galls   2007 Study by Chris, Lilah, Sylu:

Similar to our study Chris, Lilah, and Sylu    decided to study which kinds of galls are specific to which species of trees and what the differing characteristics of the galls are. They also collected sample galls and dissected them. However, they focused on the Northern Red Oak Tree and the Alder Tree and applied their knowledge on to a greater scale.

They concluded their study by reviewing their collected data and research about the Northern Red Oak trees and the Alder Trees. They discovered how, although these two species of plants inhabit the same environment, the species of leaf galls as well as the amount induced on each plant, are very different. They assumed that one of the main reasons why leaf galls on these trees differ from each other, regardless of their same habitat, was because they greatly vary in height, with the oak tree being significantly taller and its leaves much farther from the ground. For more information visit their webpage: http://w3.d-e.org/inside_d-e/us/tech/tech11/watershed/07watershed/loc/index.html

2007 Study by Becca, Elyssa, Arabella:

Their study on leaf galls were based on questions that they used to investigate. Their questions were: how do the characteristics of galls differ on Oak and Cherry Trees and what environmental conditions affect the growth of galls? Having done some background research they hypothesized that different locations would have varying amounts of leaves with galls. Although they didn't focus on dissecting the galls, they studied the affects of the galls on Oak and Cherry trees. With their collected data they were able to compare and contrast the differences between the environmental affects that affect the growth of galls.

For more information visit their webpage: http://w3.d-e.org/inside_d-e/us/tech/tech11/watershed/07watershed/boskir/index.html

2005 Study by Mahvish, Simi, Evan:

They decided to focus their study on the effect that temperature has on the number of leaf and stem galls. Their main hypothesis question was: does the temperature of the day affect the number of stem and/or leaf galls? With this hypothesis they predicted that there would be more galls on warmer days, and less on colder days, and there would also be more leaf galls than stem galls on any given day, because there is more surface area for insects to form galls on the leaf than on the stem. Their independent variable in our study is the temperature because it will vary from day to day. Their dependent variable is the number of stem and leaf galls, because they depend on the temperature.

They concluded that insects usually lay eggs during early Autumn on a leaf. The leaf then helps protect the eggs by producing the gall. Now the insect hibernates in the gall for the cold seasons. During their hibernation they start construction a passageway for them to escape through. They start forming in to pupa/larva, ultimately an insect is hatched. (They figured out leaf galls contained larva because they had dissected them as well).

For more information visit their website: http://w3.d-e.org/inside_d-e/us/tech/tech11/watershed/05watershed/mahvish/watershed.html

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