Through this trip to the Melbourne Museum, I gained a good insight into plant life and its importance toward the ecosystem and how some plants are crucial for our life and the life of other animals. The first exhibition we saw looked at prehistoric life, and a lot of the objects on display where fossilized plant life, and it was astonishing how similar they looked to some of the plants that we have today. The fossils of the leaves also showed, in good detail, the structures of the leaf, and again this structure has not changed. The best thing I saw from this exhibition was one of the fossilized coral that was on display. The way it was set out on the plaque was like a mini herbarium, with the scientific name, information and drawing of the plant displayed with the fossils.
After this we walked through the Forest Gallery. This had all plants and wildlife that are native to Victoria. Walking through this exhibit allowed for me to look at how all the plants and wildlife interact and rely on each other for survival. The 3 plants that I found the most interesting where the Giant Moss because of its leaves, Shiny Nematolepis for its seeds and blooming flowers and the Forest Nightshade for the spikes that protrude from everywhere. It was nice to see how all these different plants can live together and create such stunning environments.
If I was able to add something to the exhibit I would put in a lookout area so you could see the entire forest from a up near the tops of the trees, giving a better view of how everything is cohesive in the ecosystem that they have created.
Looking at the plants and animals displayed in the Discovery Center was an interesting view at how they preserve all these so that they can be studied and how much care is put into displaying them.
Also the coffee was nice.