User:Kamel24/sandbox

Article Evaluation

Botany:

Overall, the article feels relatively unbiased. There are some areas, however, that either have few sources or not enough information. The second paragraph of the Introduction does not have any references whatsoever, though they provide many important historical facts. Some sentences are too long and distracting, especially the last sentence of the introduction when they list the applications of Botany. The "the three German fathers of botany" paragraph in the History section was very brief. Its reference was from a National Museum of Wales article, but there was not a lot of information there. A bit more information would benefit this paragraph. The Plant Hormones section includes a general description of each major hormone. More information could be provided, however, they do include a link to the Plant Hormones wiki page.

This article is rated GA-class with high-importance. Its part of the Plants, Biology, and Horticulture and Gardening WikiProjects. The Talk page includes topics such as expanding the etymology section with another article, and fixing/deleting external links.

Plant Physiology:

There are very few references in this article. There are only nine, and none of them are published before the year 2000. They are mostly books, and they are very difficult to find information on online. There is no way to check the credibility of the sources since they're almost impossible to view. There are a few scientific journals and external links provided (mostly to other wiki pages), but that is about it. Each topic has a link to a Main article page which provides more information, but I think more of that information can be applied to this particular article. Many paragraphs need more information, such as the "Plant Disease," "Current Research," and "Economic Applications" sections.

This article is rated B-class with Top-importance. There is only one conversation, and its a person asking what "surface tension" is.

Both articles do not include personal thoughts or opinions. Its quite different in class when we are prompted on our opinion of a definition or idea. In class, we wonder if we should compare plant physiology to other animals, come up with definitions based on others work, etc. These articles are unbiased.

Ideas Draft

Mimosa pudica

A few areas that could be improved in this article are Taxonomy, Habitat, and Cultivation. I could also add information about how Gagliano did an experiment on plant memory.

Example Edit:

To test plant habituation and memory, Mimosa pudica was used in a recent study by Monica Gagliano from the University of Western Australia. She wanted to determine whether plants could habituate to a specific stimuli, and remain that way even after an extended period of time without that stimuli. The experimental design had the Mimosa continuously dropped from the same height until they no longer demonstrated their "shy" reflex. Experimental results show that after a month passed, Mimosa pudica plants were still habituated to dropping. However, there is still some debate in the scientific community on whether habituation is an indication of plant memory.

Nurse Log

This is a stub article. There is very little information provided, so that would be an improvement I could make.

Example Edit:

Evidence of nurse logs was found in a 300 million year old fossilized forest in the Andes Mountains. Small root indentations were found in numerous fossilized logs in the area.

First Draft

I wanted to include some specific research that was done with Mimosa recently, such as Gagliano's research with habituation. I also think more can be said about its  nyctinastic movement involving the phytochrome and its circadian rhythm. Finally, I think that the distribution paragraph needs to be updated, or at least re-cited. The information written in the article and the citation's information do not match.

Draft:

Research with Mimosa pudica

Due to Mimosa's unique response to touch, it became an ideal plant for many experiments regarding plant habituation and memory. Wilhelm Pfeffer, a German botanist during the 17th century, used Mimosa in one of the first experiments testing plant habituation. In 1965, it was discovered that Mimosa could distinguish between two stimuli, a water drop and a finger touch by Holmes and Gruenberg. More recently, Mimosa pudica was used in a 2014 study by Monica Gagliano from the University of Western Australia. She wanted to determine how environmental conditions impacted the rate of habituation to a specific stimuli, and how long this habituated behavior could last. The experiment began with continuously dropping Mimosa plants from the same height until they no longer demonstrated their "shy" reflex. Different light levels were given to each group to test the rate of learning in high light or low light conditions. Once the habituation training was complete, researchers dropped them again after an extended period of time. Experimental results show that after a month had passed, Mimosa pudica plants still had no "shy" response to dropping. However, there is still some debate in the scientific community on whether habituation is an indication of plant memory.

Second Draft

Research with Mimosa pudica

Due to Mimosa's unique response to touch, it became an ideal plant for many experiments regarding plant habituation and memory. Wilhelm Pfeffer, a German botanist during the 17th century, used Mimosa in one of the first experiments testing plant habituation. Further experimentation was done in 1965, when Holmes and Gruenberg discovered that Mimosa could distinguish between two stimuli, a water drop and a finger touch. Their findings also demonstrated that the habituated behavior was not due to fatigue since the leaf-folding response returned when another stimuli was presented.

More recently, Mimosa pudica was used in a 2014 study by Monica Gagliano from the University of Western Australia. She wanted to determine how environmental conditions impacted the rate of habituation to a specific stimuli, and how long this habituated behavior could last. To invoke habituation, Mimosa plants were continuously dropped from the same height until they no longer demonstrated their "shy" reflex. After an extended period of time, researchers dropped them again. Experimental results show that after a month had passed, Mimosa pudica plants were still habituated to dropping.