INVESTIGATING PHOTOTROPISM AND

GEOTROPISM IN PLANTS : AN
EXPERIMENT TO STUDY THE GROWTH
RESPONSES OF PLANTS TO LIGHT AND
GRAVITY

Anand Bharadwaj – Year 11 Biology

Period during which the experiment was conducted: 27.4.2015 – 14.5.2015

Date the report was submitted: 15.5.2015

List of partners: Marcus Cusinato, Zac Bunston

Aim: To investigate phototropic and geotropic growth responses in plants and analyse the
way in which plants respond to light and gravity and also assess how tropisms occur with
respect to different orientation of placement of the plants.

Background theory, experimental plan and hypotheses: Plants are known to exhibit
directional growth responses to various directional stimuli they encounter, known as tropisms.
These growth responses represent integral survival behaviours in plants, allowing them to
react appropriately to various stimuli, including light, gravity, the presence of chemicals and
the directional rays of the sun. Over the years, numerous studies have been carried out to
investigate the chemical and physical processes involved in causing these tropic responses
and the nature of these tropisms under different orientations.

In an investigation of growing seedlings, known as coleoptiles, the eminent biologist Charles

Darwin (1809-1882) discovered that phototropism (the growth responses of plants to a light
stimulus) can be inhibited by cutting or covering the tips of coleoptiles. He concluded that the
coleoptile undergoes chemical processes in its tip that receives signals from the light stimulus.
It is now known that auxin, a key plant hormone in tropic responses, is produced in the tips of
growing coleoptile and is the main facilitator of these growth responses. Auxin imbalances in
the two sides of a coleoptile cause uneven elongation and the bending of shoots towards the
light. Moreover, auxin plays a key role in the geotropic responses of plants, as it causes the
downward elongation of roots (positive geotropism in the direction of gravity) and the
upward elongation of shoots (negative geotropism away from gravity). Further analysis of
these chemical processes will be provided in the discussion section.

In this study, we collected qualitative data pertaining to the direction of growth in coleoptile
samples of a variety of seed types. To investigate phototropism, we initially used two samples:
one that had a trimmed tip and another that served as a control, with the tip left untrimmed. It

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was hypothesised that the shoot in the control sample would bend towards the light, while the
coleoptile sample with trimmed tip would grow directly upwards, independent of the light
direction. For the purpose of increasing the validity of our results, however, we checked the
direction of bending in a third untrimmed sample that was oriented at a different angle with
respect to the light. In our study of geotropism, we again set up two samples: one that was
oriented sideways and another that was oriented vertically, serving as our control. It was
hypothesised that regardless of its initial orientation, the plant’s shoots would always grow
directly upwards (exhibiting negative geotropism) and the roots would always grow directly
downwards (exhibiting positive geotropism).

Materials:

 Plastic pots
 Potting mix
 Seed samples: oat, radish, wheat, etc…
 Water
 Pen and paper to record results

Method:

1. Begin by setting up control samples of each seed type in potting mix at normal vertical
orientation and with appropriate exposure to light.
2. Once seeds have germinated, reorient one or two samples for each seed type on a
horizontal orientation, thus facilitating the investigation of geotropism.
3. Furthermore, place one or two samples in a direction away from the light to investigate
phototropic responses in the plants.
4. Further samples of the germinated plants must be set up for the phototropism section
of this experiment with the tops of the samples cut off or covered and placed along
with the two samples away from the light.
5. Tabulate results and analyse for correlation between dependent variables and
independent variables and discuss the results.

Experimental Plan:

In this experiment, the independent variables were the initial vertical/horizontal orientation of
the plants and the orientation of the plants with respect to the solar light source. Results were
recorded qualitatively: for the phototropism investigation, we considered whether or not the
plant was growing directly erect and for the geotropism investigation, we verified the final
orientation of the plant and recorded whether or not the shoots were growing directly
upwards and the roots were growing directly downwards. To ensure a fair test, we ran the two
sets of investigations independently and carefully controlled for all non-experimental
variables in order to obtain valid final results.

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Results:
Unfortunately, due to time constraints, only the oat seed samples had germinated, thus
disallowing the possibility of experimental comparison being made across a variety of plant
species. Results for the two sets of experimental investigations are shown below:

Plant Sample Observations

Mature oat seedling with coleoptile tip
trimmed
Mature oat seedling with coleoptile tip
untrimmed, oriented to the left of the
experimental setup countertop:
CONTROL
Mature oat seedling with coleoptile tip
untrimmed, oriented to the right of the
experimental setup countertop:
CONTROL
Very minor levels of tilting evident: growth
was approximately parallel to the vertical
axis
Clear tilting observable in the direction of
sunlight
Clear tilting observable in the direction of
sunlight

Table 1: Observations for the three different phototropic

experimental setups

Plant Sample Observations

Mature oat seedling oriented horizontal
(parallel to the x axis)
Mature oat seedling oriented vertically
(parallel to the y axis): CONTROL
Clear growth of roots evident in the negative
direction of the vertical axis and elongation
of shoots in the positive direction of the
vertical axis
Clear growth of roots apparent in the
negative direction of the vertical axis and
elongation of shoots in the positive direction
of the vertical axis

Table 2: Observations for the two different geotropic

experimental setups

Figure 1: An example of positive Figure 2: Classic experimental setups in

phototropism in plant shoots phototropism investigations (modified3 in this
observed in an investigation of investigation due to limited resources and
tropisms time constraints)
 Figure 3: A basic experimental setup for
experiments investigating geotropic
responses in plants
Discussion:

The purpose of this study was to investigate the growth responses of plants to a range of
stimuli, known as tropisms. We collected data for two sub-investigations, for the study of
phototropic and geotropic responses respectively. Results were recorded qualitatively by
analysing the direction of plant growth in each of the samples that were set up; however, due
to time constraints, we were unable to collect meaningful data for various plant species as
only oat seeds had successfully germinated during the period of our experimental
investigation. Initially, after conducting some preliminary reading, it was hypothesised that
coleoptile samples with trimmed tips would grow directly upwards regardless of starting
configuration and other coleoptile samples left in normal condition would bend in the
direction of the light. Moreover, it was proposed that regardless of the orientation of
coleoptile samples, the shoots would grow upwards, exhibiting negative geotropism and the
roots would grow downwards, exhibiting positive geotropism.

The data collected generally supported our hypotheses, with minor fluctuations naturally
evident due to standard experimental variance. We will begin by discussing the results
obtained in the investigation of phototropism. Following experiments by the revolutionary
biologist Charles Darwin, it was found that the plant hormone auxin exhibits, which is
produced in the tips of growing coleoptiles (shoots), exerts a significant influence of the
growth responses of plants with respect to various stimuli, including light, gravity and the
presence of chemicals. Receptors in the tip produce changes in growth patterns in the
growing region below the tip (the effector). The reason plants with normal tips bend towards
the light, as observed in our experimental setup, is that auxin migrates to the side of plants
which have minimum exposure to light. As auxin promotes growth in shoots, the cells in this
side grow more quickly than the cells in the direct path of the light, resulting in a

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configuration with greater elongation on the side away from the light source. Hence, it is
evident that the coleoptile exhibits bending towards the light (i.e. the shoots are exhibiting
positive phototropism).

Auxin also plays an integral role in regulating the geotropic responses of growing coleoptiles.
Auxin imbalances in the side of roots and shoots cause uneven elongation and thus,
directional growth responses occur with respect to gravity. Auxin production occurs in
coleoptiles in both roots and shoots. It must be noted that auxin is an inhibitory hormone to
plant growth in roots, but facilitates the growth of shoots. Due to gravity, auxin gathers in the
lower sides of a horizontally oriented coleoptile’s shoots and roots. This uneven distribution
of auxin causes the cells along the lower horizontal part of the shoot and upper horizontal part
of the root to grow at a faster rate, hence causing the root to turn downwards in the direction
of gravity and the shoot to turn upwards in the direction away from gravity. In this geotropic
response, shoots exhibit negative geotropism and roots exhibit positive geotropism.

The limitations of this study included the following: (i) Unpredictability in the growth of the
plant samples, resulting in a low percentage of usable samples. (ii) Lack and inexperience at
using sophisticated equipment for reconfiguring the orientations of plant samples. iii) The
short time frame to complete this experiment resulted in some data being incomplete.
Improvements in i) would have allowed us to verify our results across a range of plant species,
thus increasing their validity in a wider biological context. In repeating this experiment, we
would endeavour to repeat it over a larger time frame, facilitating more significant growth in
our plant samples and use more sophisticated apparatus to ameliorate human error in
trimming and orienting coleoptiles.

Conclusion:

In this experiment, we investigated the tropic responses of plant samples to light and gravity
and results were obtained that corroborated our hypotheses that the auxin in the tip of a
coleoptile plays an integral role in regulating directional growth in plants. Indeed, when these
tips were trimmed, the plants did not respond to light, instead growing directly upwards
regardless of the direction of the light source. In other cases, however, the plant bended, as
expected, towards the light, with the shoots exhibiting positive phototropism. Moreover,
regardless of the orientation of the plant (vertical or horizontal), the plant’s shoots grew
directly upwards, showing negative geotropism and the roots grew directly downwards,
exhibiting positive geotropism. Despite an insufficient time frame to fully verify our results
and test them across a range of plant species, this experiment was certainly successful in
enhancing our knowledge about tropic behaviours in plants.

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Bibliography:

Text Resources:

 Kinnear, J. (2012, September). Nature of Biology 1. John Wiley & Sons Australia. Ltd.
 http://plantsinmotion.bio.indiana.edu/plantmotion/movements/tropism/tropisms.html
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Image Resources:

 http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/add_gateway_pre_2011/living/con
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[Accessed May 8 2015]
 http://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-
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