The Maple Syrup Mystery
This is the specific type of tree that produces the sap used to make maple syrup.
Sugar Maple
These are the three primary "inputs" a plant needs to perform photosynthesis.
sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide
This law states that matter (like carbon) cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed.
Law of Conservation of Mass
This is the original source of energy for almost all life in the maple forest.
The Sun
These structures anchor the tree and absorb water from the ground.
roots
Producers typically wait for this specific weather pattern—freezing nights and thawed days—to begin the "run."
fluctuating temperatures (or the freeze-thaw cycle)
This green pigment in the leaves is responsible for capturing light energy.
chlorophyll
This is the specific molecule that provides the "carbon" source for the sugar in a maple tree.
carbon dioxide
Photosynthesis converts light energy into this type of stored energy.
chemical energy
This tissue acts like a "straw," transporting water from the roots up to the leaves.
xylem
To make one gallon of maple syrup, it takes approximately this many gallons of raw sap.
40 gallons
This is the primary sugar (food) produced during photosynthesis.
glucose
When a tree drops its leaves, these organisms break them down and return nutrients to the soil.
decomposers
In a food web, these organisms must eat other organisms to gain energy.
consumers (or heterotrophs)
This tissue transports the sugar (food) made in the leaves down to the rest of the tree.
phloem
This process is used to remove water from the sap to increase the sugar concentration.
evaporation (or boiling)
Aside from sugar, this gas is the primary "output" or byproduct released by the plant.
oxygen
This process is the "opposite" of photosynthesis, where plants and animals break down sugar to release energy.
cellular respiration
This is the term for a diagram that shows the complex, overlapping feeding relationships in an ecosystem.
food web
Trees store excess sugar during the winter in this form, which is a complex carbohydrate.
starch
n the "Syrup Storyline," this is the main question students investigate regarding where the sap's sweetness comes from.
How do maple trees get the food (sugar) they need to grow
Unlike animals, plants are called this because they can make their own food.
producers (or autotrophs)
Carbon moves from the atmosphere into the plant through these tiny openings on the underside of leaves.
stomata
Only about this percentage of energy is transferred from one level of a food chain to the next.
10%
This is the name for the process of water evaporating from a plant's leaves, which helps "pull" water up from the roots.
transpiration