Ask A Scientist Botany Archive

name         Cory
status       student
age          12

Question -   To whom it may concern,
I am doing a science fair progect and my research question is: "are
hibernating trees alive" and I am using the four criteria for life to
help me. I took a Red Oak limb and put a drop of sap onto a slide and
looked through a microscope. It is hard to describe what I saw but it
looked like a substance made of fibers with a black dot in the center. I
was wondering what that was, I have a theory that it was either a cell or
a central vacuole. Could you help me?
-----------------
Two different questions.
For the tree sap, the following might be helpful:
http://waynesword.palomar.edu/ecoph13.htm
For the question whether dormant trees are alive, 
the following might be useful:
http://www.gardengal.net/page103.html
http://www.stolaf.edu/depts/biology/mnps/papers/Bezanso1992112.html
http://pss.uvm.edu/ppp/articles/forcew.htm

Anthony Brach  Ph.D.
=====================================================