Plant Growth and Acid Rain

In this lesson, students investigate how acid rain can disrupt a plant’s life cycle by damaging its external structures.

• Plants get what they need from the environment to survive. A plant’s structures are important for helping it survive, so anything that affects the ability of the plant’s structures to develop or function will affect the overall plant’s ability to survive. 
• Acid rain is any form of precipitation that has high levels of nitric and sulfuric acids. It is caused primarily by the burning of fossil fuels, such as gas, oil, and coal. A small amount of acid rain comes from natural causes, including volcanic emissions and forest fires. 
• Pollution such as acid rain can interfere with a plant’s ability to get the materials it needs to grow and develop. Pollution is any substance that has harmful effects on the environment. 
• The damage to a plant’s structures affects its ability to complete its life cycle—the series of developmental stages an organism passes through on its way from birth to death.
• All organisms have a life cycle, which is predictable and continuous because it describes how an organism is born, grows, and reproduces, producing a new organism that will go through the same series of developmental stages.
  
  

• How do a plant’s leaves interact with the environment to support the process of photosynthesis?
• Why do plants have roots?
• What causes acid rain? Why is acid rain harmful to plants?
• How does acid rain’s effects on a plant’s leaves affect the plant’s overall ability to survive?
• How does acid rain affect the food web of the ecosystem where the plant lives?
• Why is reproduction an important part of a life cycle?
• Why do the main stages of all life cycles always follow the same direction: birth, growth, and reproduction?
• What would happen if an organism dies before it is able to reproduce?
• How does acid rain affect a flowering plant’s ability to reproduce?
• How else can acid rain affect a plant’s life cycle?
  
  

Misconception: The environment is static and unchanging.

Fact: Environments change all the time, from both natural and human causes.

Acid Rain : any form of precipitation that has high levels of nitric and sulfuric acids

Change : to make something different from what it is now

Life Cycle :  the series of developmental stages an organism passes through on its way from birth to death

Pollution :  any substance that has harmful effects on the environment

Reproduction :  the ability of a mature organism to have offspring

Studying Acid Rain

Every year, Sarah Nelson joins a group of scientists to travel around six states in the northeastern United States. They take samples of water from 74 different lakes, from the crowded suburbs of Boston to the top of remote mountains in Maine.

Studying acid rain is important because too much acidity in the water harms many different living things. Acid rain is a form of pollution—any substance that has harmful effects on the environment.

These scientists are measuring the amount of acid rain present in the water. Acid rain is any form of precipitation that has high levels of nitric and sulfuric acids. It is caused primarily by the burning of fossil fuels, such as gas, oil, and coal. A small amount of acid rain also comes from natural causes, including volcanic emissions and forest fires.

Acid Rain Harms Plants

Acid rain generally doesn’t kill plants directly. Instead, it damages their external structures. This makes it harder for them to grow and develop.

For example, plants use their roots to anchor themselves in place and take nutrients and water from the soil. Scientists know that acidic water dissolves the nutrients and minerals in the soil and then washes them away before trees and other plants can use them to grow. Acid rain can also slow down or reduce root growth.

Acid rain can also damage a plant’s leaves. It can cause them to look spotted or to drop earlier than normal. This causes the plant to become weak because leaves have most of the plant’s chloroplasts. When a plant’s leaves are damaged by acid rain, they can no longer photosynthesize as well. Remember that leaves collect sunlight and convert it into energy the plant can use to grow and develop through photosynthesis.

Acid Rain and a Plant’s Life Cycle

When the structures of a plant are damaged by acid rain, they are less able to complete their life cycle. A life cycle is the series of developmental stages an organism passes through on its way from birth to death.

There is a pattern to the changes that all living things go through as they grow and develop. All life cycles include birth, growth, reproduction, and death. The seed is the first step in a flowering plant’s life cycle. The seed protects the plant in a protective coat as it travels from its parent to a new location.

With enough light and warmth from the sun, the seed will start to grow. During this step, the plant breaks out of its seed coat and begins to sprout. This is called germination. It grows roots, stems, and leaves. With leaves, it can capture energy from sunlight.

Students develop an experiment to figure out how much increasing levels of acid rain in water affects the external structures of aquatic plants. Students collect data over a a short period of time to analyze the connection between an environmental change and an organism’s ability to survive.