Other Resources

C-Fern Educational Kits

	C-Fern Educational Materials are available from Carolina Biological Supply Company. For information please contact Carolina Biological at http://www.carolina.com or call: 800-334-5551 fax 800-222-7112.

• Meet The C-Fern
  
  
• Sex in a Dish: The C-Fern Life Cycle Kit
  
  
• The Pressures of Life - Population Density and C-Fern Development Kit
  
  
• More Pressures of Life Kit
  
  
• Genetics in Action - Mendelian Genetics Kit
  
  
• Battle of the Sexes - C-Fern Sexual Differentiation Kit
  
  
• Chemical Attraction: C-Fern Sperm Chemotaxis Accessory Kit

C-Fern kits are designed for classroom use by 30 students working individually or in groups, depending upon the exercise used. All kits come complete with spores, petri dishes, C-Fern media, detailed directions for students and instructors. For predictable results in C-Fern gametophyte development, adequate lighting is necessary and can be provided by a simple fluorescent lighting fixture. A stereomicroscope  and/or compound microscope is necessary for viewing the stages.

Spores in all kits are provided pre-sterilized and pre-weighed in graduated vials. Students just add water, inoculate petri dishes containing C-Fern agar and maintain the dishes in Culture Domes that are a part of every kit. Cultures are grown under continuous lighting at a temperature close to 28 C inside the Culture Dome.

Spore germination and gametophyte development to sexual maturity, sexual reproduction and early embryo development all take place within 14 days. Continued development of the sporophyte and the meiotic production of spores takes place within 3 months. Because each culture dish contains hundreds of individuals, large population studies of genetic segregation, competition and other plant-plant interactions are accomplished easily.