Germinating fern spores / fern life cycle

The fern petri dishes need to be put in a sunny location inside or under a desk lamp. In you decide to put the dishes in a window, partial sun is ideal, but they can handle full sun if inside. Full outdoor sun is too hot and bright.

Each dish should be placed with the lid side up up (the lid is wider than the base). With this orientation that agar will be in the bottom of the dish and the fern gametophytes will be sitting on top of the agar.

Put a sticker somewhere on the lid of your dish, but aim for part of the dish with few green spots directly beneath, as we don't want to shade the growing growing gametophytes.

Once you have placed the dishes right-side-up in a suitable location with a sticker, photograph the dishes and upload it to this linked fern Padlet page. This will let me know that you have received the dish and found it a suitable home. Show the dish(es) either in a window or under a lamp.

We will monitor the growth the the fern gametophytes throughout the rest of the semester.

Note to instructors

This is a traditional fern spore germination activity. I buy Fern Spores, living (Item # 156860), Difco Bacto-agar, C-FERN Basic Powdered Medium Item # 156782 and small petri dishes from Carolina Biological. I mix and pour the plates, spead the spores, seal the dishes with Parafilm, put two dishes in a snack-size ziploc, and mail these to the students as part of their supply kit at the start of the semester. They situate it as explained above (in the bags). There is always some contamination - spores are apparently not surface-sterilized from Carolina - but students typically have success anyway.

Without a microscope at home, students can see gametophytes with naked eye, but not detailed structure. So, I supplement with images I take of the developing gametophytes/sporopytes throughout the semester.

I include in the students' supply kit a 2" square plastic pot with potting soil; students may transplant sporophytes to pot at end of semester; I don't require this because some students do not have any survivors, but it's a fun addition.