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Biol_1404
Botany
November 11, 2015
Molly Miller
Genee M. Snider- partner
Catalpa Trees and the Causes of Asymmetry as Seen by Leaves
Abstract
By looking at the lengths of Catalpa leaves from the left and right of the
midrib to see if there is a difference between the symmetry of leaves from Catalpa
trees in a heavily polluted area, the superfund of Pitcher Oklahoma, versus an area
that has remained uncontaminated. The expected result is that the catalpa trees
from the polluted superfund area will have little to no symmetry whereas the leaves
picked from the less polluted farmstead will be more symmetrical. However the
results in the experiment were skewed by weather predicaments.
Introduction
When first getting the specifics of the experiment, my immediate hypothesis
was that the area with more pollution, Pitcher Oklahoma, would produce more
asymmetric leaves. However this idea was mostly based on the general idea drilled
in my mind that pollution is the only thing that can affect plants, needless to say my
hypothesis was challenged throughout the experiment.

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According to Franiel leaf asymmetry is a sign of stress on an organism. By
looking at the leaf symmetry of a plant we can check the environmental stability of
the area, however stress can be caused by multiple reasons, not just pollution.
Drought lack of minerals, and predation can also cause stress to a plant.
The EPA noted that an over saturation of heavy metals such as zinc and lead
are what pollute the area of Pitcher Oklahoma. And looking back at franiels
findings, hard metals were one of the biggest culprits of plant asymmetry. With this
in mind, an area such as Pitcher Oklahoma should have more asymmetric leaves
than an area with less heavy metal pollution. However while measuring the leaves it
was noted that control group also showed increased asymmetry even though they
were not in an area of increased pollution. It was later found that the leaves were
picked in a time of low rainfall which is another of the major causes of leaf
asymmetry.
Methods and Materials
Starting from Tulsa we made the drive to pitcher Oklahoma till we made it to
20 road in pitcher. From there we gathered leaves in groups of two from various
trees in the area, 20 Rd in Pitcher Oklahoma and 540 Rd Pitcher Oklahoma. Leaves
were gathered by either pulling the leaves off the branches via the petiole, or the
branches themselves were clipped from the trees using tree clippers. The leaves on
the branches would then be removed, again by the petiole, to be ready for the next
step.
After gathering enough leaves, the leaves were taken to a leaf press, which
consisted of a several sheets of press paper and cardboard, both the card board and
the press paper were the same size one piece of press paper was placed over a

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piece of card board, then one to two pages of newspaper were placed upon the
press paper. Here the date and names of the gatherers, the date and place, either
20 Rd. or 540. Rd, were written in the margins of the newspaper. The gathered
leaves were then placed in the newspaper flatly; all pieces would be left within the
newspaper so that when the press was closed no petiole would be sticking out. The
leaves also did not overlap one another. After filling the newspaper with leaves it
would be folded over the leaves along the newspapers natural crease. After folding
the newspaper another press paper was placed over the newspaper and another
cardboard was placed over the press paper. If leaves were still left over, the process
would repeat, by putting a new press paper over the cardboard and so on until
either the press ran out of space, or time ran out.
After either filling up the press or running out of time a wooden crisscrossed
planks were placed on either side of the cardboards that held all the leaves and
pressing paper, these planks were then strapped down and tightened till tightening
was no longer possible, the presses were then brought back to the metro campus
lab where they were placed over an air vent next to a sunny window to help
accelerate drying. After approximately two weeks later the presses were removed
for the next step.
Once removing the presses, the leaves were separated via area, either 20 Rd
or 540 Rd, and then, once back in our groups of two, the leaves would be measured
and their measurements recorded. In our groups one person recorded the lengths
by putting a line down the center of the paper and labeling the left side left and the
right side left, the measuring partner would then measure the leaves from the
midrib and stating the lengths of the left and right sides of the leaves to the partner
who records the lengths. Again, the leaves were separated on the paper by area.

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Once all the recordings were taken, the information was then put into a T-chart and
was measured against a set of Catalpa leaves procured by the professor from a
farmstead and 36th/Hudson under BA expressway, Tulsa and measured and
recorded by a different student. The charts were compared to see if any difference
in the amount of symmetry was noticeable.

Results
When first looking at figure 1 one will notice that both Pitcher Oklahoma sites
(B and C) both held a large difference between the lengths of the left and right sides
of the leaf, however it is important to notice that the control data picked from areas
with less potential for pollution also showed asymmetric tendencies. According to
Franiel the large amounts of heavy metals should stress out the plants, producing
asymmetric leaves which was supported by the measurments found in figure 1,
however as previously noted, more things than pollution can affect plant symmetry,
drought can be a heavily affect plant growth. The control groups were picked
between August 31st and September 3rd of 2014; when looking at the site for
National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office, I looked directly at august 2014
rainfall amount to see that it was, in comparison to other months and years, rather
dry only having a 0.98 inches of rain for the month.
In the end it is likley that the pitcher Oklahoma plants showed asymmetry
due to pollution of hard metals, such as zinc and lead. However it is also quite likely

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that the asymmetry of the control groups was due to a lack of rain fall in the time
before collection.
Data on next page.

Discussion
The results show that different factors can affect asymmetry however it
unfortunately doesnt show how common asymmetry is in healthy Catalpa trees,
however it is still valuable in that it explains the initial confusion from the lack of
difference between the Pitcher leaves and the control group leaves. The control
group leaves were collapsed into one group, due to the lack of knowledge of their
originations when making the t chart in figure 1. In general the only flaws in the
experiment would have been human error, however efforts to avoid such were
made by making the same person take the data and the other to write it down.

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Work cited

"EPA Superfund Program: TAR CREEK (OTTAWA COUNTY), OTTAWA COUNTY, OK."
Superfund Site Profile. Enviromental Protection Agency, 10 Nov. 2015. Web.
29 Nov. 2015. <http://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/cursites/csitinfo.cfm?
id=0601269>.
Franiel, Isabella. "Fluctuating Asymmetry of Betula Pendula Roth Leaves- An Index of
Environment Quality." Http://www.brc.amu.edu.pl/. BRC, Oct. 2008. Web. 29
Nov. 2015. <https://www.google.com/url?
sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKE
wiSscHq1bbJAhWJNSYKHZ4QDcEQFgg9MAQ&url=http%3A%2F
%2Fwww.brc.amu.edu.pl%2Farticle.php%3Fv%3D9-10%26a
%3D7&usg=AFQjCNFWODZvxsoO7V45CDvpoPkp7df4w&sig2=Wl6Rl7PIgCGOvOVlp9T9Pg&bvm=bv.108194040%
2Cd.eWE>.
"Tulsa, Oklahoma Total Monthly and Yearly Rainfall." National Weather Service
Weather Forecast Office, 2015. Web. 29 Nov. 2015.
<http://www.srh.noaa.gov/tsa/?n=climo_tulyearrain>