3rd

Quarter                                                                    

  

                                                                                   

 

I. Title: Living Mysteries II. Problem: How can you create a taxonomic key to help identify tree leaves? III. Materials: 1. A variety of leaves, 2. hand lens, 3. metric ruler IV. Procedure: Find five different tree leaves. Examine the leaves and look for

unique characteristics. Use your observations to create a taxonomic key for the leaves. While making the taxonomic key add other characteristics. Exchange your key with a partner and see if he can identify your leaves.

V. Data: Taxonomic Key

Step1 1a Is(mostly)red Gotostep2

1b Isgreen Gotostep3Step2 2a Hasyellowontip Leaf4

2b Doesn’thaveyellowontip Leaf5Step3 3a Islong Leaf3

3b Iswide Gotostep4Step4 4a Differentshadecoloronbothsides Leaf2

4b Sameshadecoloronbothsides Leaf1

VI. AnalyzeandConclude1. Howareyourleavessimilarordifferentfromoneanother?

Answer:Somearethesamecolorandsomearenot.Mostofthemaresmall.Eachleafhasitsownshape.

2. Howdidyoudecidewhichcharacteristicstouseinyourtaxonomickey?Answer:Idecidedbyfindingacharacteristicthatidentifieslessleaveseachtimeandbyidentifyingeachleafwithacharacteristiconlyithas.

3. Chooseoneofyourleavesandlookbackoverthelistofcharacteristicsyouusedtoclassifyit.Doyouthinkeverysingleleafofthesametypewouldsharethosecharacteristics?Explain.Answer:Yesbecauseitcamefromthesametypeofplantandwouldbecloselyrelatedtotheotherleaves.

4. Explaininyourownwordswhyataxonomickeyishelpful.Includeinyourexplanationwhyitisimportantthatthepairedstatementsinataxonomickeybecontrastingstatements.Answer:Ataxonomickeyishelpfulbecauseithelpsidentifyaspecifictypeofsomethingandgivesyouinformationaboutit.Alsoitisimportantthatthestatementsarecontrastingbecausethatwayyouslowlydetermineaspecificleaf.