I, like many photographers, have lots of pictures of sunflowers. Some of my personal favorites were taken on a road trip in Russia. What encourages this focus on this plant?
I am guessing it is because a) we like the face of the sunflower and often pose human faces among the sunflower faces, and b) the systematic way in which sunflowers face in the same direction is interesting
Do sunflowers follow the sun? I always thought so, but there seems to be disagreement among the online sources I sampled. Recently, I heard a local newsperson offer what were supposed to be the current thought. One explanation concluded that it is the heat that the flowers seek. Heat evidently attracts more insects which encourage more successful pollination which of course results in a better seed crop.
If students have access some of these ideas might be interesting to investigate. How would you collect data in a reliable fashion? How would you test the hypothesis that sunflowers follow the sun? Is there a difference on a sunny and cloudy day?
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