Author Archives: Tamara Hernandez-Verdeja

Fascination of Plants Day Lancaster

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Fascination of Plants Day 2024 is around the corner!

We will be in Lancaster Charter Market this Saturday 18th of May, from 10am to 4pm, doing activities for everyone to discover the fascinating world of plants. Come and join us to learn more about our work in plant research at Lancaster University, why we love to work with plants and learn all the cool things they can do, and why they are so important for our future.

On top of the activities we have created a map with a trail to visit some of the beautiful parks and woodlands in Lancaster. So, fingers crossed for a spring sunny day, put on your comfortable shoes and enjoy Fascination of Plants Day in Lancaster.  

For more information, past events, and upcoming events in your area you can visit Fascination of Plants Day official site (click here) or visit our Fascination of Plants for more information (click here).

Tamara

Exhibition in Lancaster Universty Library

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Our first event for Fascination of Plants Day 2024 will be an exhibition in Lancaster University  Library.

We will celebrate Plant and Crop Science research in Lancaster through history and imagine the future. 

 

Image of a tree in a library

The exhibition will be open form the 10th to the 20th of May.

For more information, past events, and upcoming events in your area you can visit Fascination of Plants Day official site (click here) or visit out web activities from 2022 (click here).

Tamara

Fascination of Plants Day 2024

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Good news! This year is Fascination of Plants Day Year! 

From tiny seeds, to huge trees, from land to water plants, from decorative to substantial crops. Plant biologist around the world celebrate the amazing plant diversity and show how improtant they are to our society and the enviroment.

snowdrop plant with flowers surrounded by fallen leaves

Plant scientist working at Lancaster University are starting to prepare activities to celebrate Fascination of Plants Day, May 18th, in Lancaster.

For more information, past events, and upcoming events in your area you can visit Fascination of Plants Day official site (click here) or visit out web activities from 2022 (click here).

Tamara

Light Up Lancaster success!

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First of all thanks to all of you who visited us during the fesival. It was great to share  what we do at LEC, and how important sunlight & photosynthesis are for all life on Earth.

Plant growth depends on light imput. Photosynthesis allows plants to use sunlight energy to transform carbon dioxide and water into sugars, releasing oxygen as a waste product. To show how much plants need light to grow we had with us tomato and cowpea plants that have been grown in shade or under optimal light conditions. Can you see the differences in the image? 

4 plants in pots. The two plants on the left grown in shade are smaller compared with the plants on the right that were grown in full light. As part of our hands-on activities visitors measured photosynthesis and chlorophylls on plants grown in different conditions using a photosynQ. This portable equipment allows to measure plant photosynthetic efficiency so we can compare different plant varieties or growth conditions and select the best to improve crop production. 

We regularly see plants in a big variety of greens, due to the presence of chlorophyll, the most important photosynthetic pigment. But plants have other pigments and colours that become visible in decidous plants during Autumn as you can see in the image below. Image shows several leaves collected in Autum, with different colours: one green, one yellow, and a dark red and one with the different colours on the background. There are 8 twubes in pairs with small pieces of the different leaves in pairs. One tube just with the leaves and the other with the leaves and liquid that has the same colour as the leaves.

Doing a simple extraction and separation in filter paper visitors could see the different pigments present in the leaves.

Pieze of paper with bands of different colours (purple, yellow, green, and purple-blue) corresponding to plant pigments

To do photosynthesis plants need to exchange gases (carbon dioxide, water vapour, and oxygen) with the atmosphere. Using a microscope visitors were able to see the stomata, the tiny pores in the surface of the leaves that plants use to do this exchange. Stomata is the greek for mouth and you can see in the image why scientist that saw them for the first time give them this name.Microscope image of leaf surface showing stomata that look like little mouths.

We hope that you liked it and had fun with our activities. 

Tamara

 

Join us at Light Up Lancaster

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Days are getting shorter, but don’t worry! Light Up Lancaster festival is happening in less than two weeks to fill Lancaster with warm light and joy after sunset. There’ll be art installations, music, performances, and activities for everyone. You can find the full program here.

Art and installations take place on Friday 4th of November, from 5pm to 10pm, and Saturday 5th of November, from 5pm to 7:30pm (or 7pm in the Castle zone venue). The festival wraps up Saturday at 8pm with a spectacular finale: The Fireworks from the Lancaster Castle. If you can see the castle, you can see the fireworks!

Come and join us at the installation Photosynthesis – Turning Light Into Life !! We’ll be at the lovely The Herbarium (click here for more information).

See you there!

Tamara

 

Plant Science at Light Up Lancaster

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Team is assembling to run activities around photosynthesis and plants at Light Up Lancaster (click here for more information). The festival takes place the first weekend of November, transforming Lancaster city centre into a family-friendly magic trail of discovery, with activities, performances, music, light projections and ending with the fireworks.

Five leaves with different colours in Autumn, from green, light green, yellow, orange and red

During the two days of the festival we will be showing how photosynthesis, using light energy from the Sun, has transformed the planet, is essential for life on Earth, and how we work to understand and make it better to face climate change and a growing population.

More information soon!

Tamara

Welcome to Fascination of Plants Day 2022

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Plant and Crop Science scientist at Lancaster University are preparing online activities sharing our enthusiasm about plants and our research work. All content will be available here online from 18th May 2022 and for people to enjoy in their own time.

To celebrate Fascination of Plants Day we at LEC are running a special seminar where two of our researchers, Dr Samuel Taylor and Catherine Walsh, will share their love for plants. The seminar “My fascination with plants” will be held live and you all are very welcome to join us! It is an open public online question and answer session. Submit questions in advance on social media using #LECSeminarFoPD.  More information and how to join the seminar is available here.

Fascination of Plants is a worldwide event to celebrate and increase visibility of plants. You can find more activities and information about Fascination of Plants Day here.