Skip to main content

Illinois IGB

Gallery

Art of Science Gallery 05

aos05_19
Light and Shade
Zeiss Lightsheet Z.1; Imaris 3D Visualization Package

Aleel K. Grennan
Donald R. Ort Laboratory

Funded by the DOE

This collage of images shows microscope structures within moss collected in Urbana, Illinois, as part of a study to examine light movement through moss. Mosses are small, non-flowering plants. They are typically found in shaded, damp places and on the sides of trees. Like all plants, they rely on photosynthesis to make energy from sunlight. However, unlike leaves of most other plants, moss leaves typically are a single layer of cells. This anatomical difference greatly alters the way light moves through the leaf and canopy.