A presentation of a citizen science project going into its 5th year, investigating the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) which underpins the sunflower’s ability to track the sun across the sky and reset every 24 hours. The presentation summarises primarily the work undertaken in 2020 and including heliotropism, details of the leaf movement and the effects of the external environment. It concludes that the sunflower can be described as a complex biological system comprised of sensors, continually reporting to a command system which drives and controls a locomotion system. The imposition of the external environment means this has to operate and react over surprising range of short and long term timescales to maintain control.
Name: Dr Peter Morgan
Email: petercmorgan@live.co.uk
Phone +447902079960
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