Biology: Plants on Earth and in Space

Astrobotany is the study of plant life and plant interactions in space environments. This includes understanding plant response for human spaceflight as well as the possibility of plant life on other planets. Astrobotany is an emerging field.  Explore the site https://astrobotany.com/ to learn more about this exciting field.

 Planting native plants is beneficial on many levels to our Earth environment. These benefits are highlighted by many local organizations that provide hands on opportunities through volunteerism and educational resources to learn about native plants.

 Explore this article about what you should be planting native plants at your house.

 https://www.thespruce.com/native-plants-1403565

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Activity

Select one of the following activities to demonstrate your knowledge of Native Plants to earn credit for this badge. You will need to upload evidence for the project you selected to the futurereadysa.org site.

Option A: Create a “Native Plant Digital Collage” with no less than 5 photos of native plants in your neighborhood complete with plant name. There are several low cost or free apps such as “PlantNet” or “PictureThis” that will help identify plants.

This Collage can be done using Apps like PicCollage or another photo editing App.

-OR-

Option B: Go to astrobotany.com to see if you can find the answers to the following questions throughout the site.  Type your answers on a document and upload.

1-In What year did the first plant flower and produce seeds in space?

2-What is the model research organism that is frequently used in Astrobotany research?

3-Name 3 NASA target candidate crops

4-Why is it impossible to protect plants from ionizing radiation in space?

5-What stressors must plants deal with in a spaceflight environment?