Docsity
Docsity

Prepare for your exams
Prepare for your exams

Study with the several resources on Docsity


Earn points to download
Earn points to download

Earn points by helping other students or get them with a premium plan


Guidelines and tips
Guidelines and tips

Introduction to Plant Biology - Introduction to Biology - Lab Handout, Exercises of Biology

These are the lab handouts of Introduction to Biology. Key important points are: Introduction to Plant Biology, Plant Diversity, Plant Form and Function, Plant Survival and Human Use, Terrestrial Plant Types, Plant Identification, Flowering Plants, Plant Organs

Typology: Exercises

2012/2013

Uploaded on 01/18/2013

shalini_141
shalini_141 🇮🇳

4.2

(16)

75 documents

1 / 7

Toggle sidebar

This page cannot be seen from the preview

Don't miss anything!

bg1
Materials for lab
Bring a digital camera if you have one available
Teaching Objectives
Plant diversity: Applications and importance
Plant form and function: Plant survival and human use
Local and global examples of terrestrial plant types
Student Learning Objectives
(1) View the plant diversity on campus
(2) Know how to access information regarding plant identification
(3) Be aware of differences between mosses, ferns, and flowering plants
INTRODUCTION
Plants are the producers in a food web. Solar energy is stored in the chemical bonds of
the sugars produced by plant photosynthesis, the biochemical process by which plants
utilize light energy from the sun to produce sugar from carbon dioxide and water.
Consumers in a food web derive their energy by breaking down these bonds during
respiration, which releases the stored energy. Energy flowing within the food web
therefore enters it by way of plant photosynthesis.
The importance of plants to the survival of humans and other animals cannot be over-
emphasized. Our basic needs of oxygen, food, shelter, and clothing are provided,
directly or indirectly, by plants.
Because plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen in photosynthesis, they may
be a significant factor in reducing the
"greenhouse effect", which is caused by human activities that increase the carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere. Deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels (oil, coal, and
gas) are two examples of such activities.
There are about 235,000 species of flowering plants in existence today. Approximately
a third of these are native to temperate regions, and the remainder are found in the
tropics. A vast number of tropical plants are in danger of extinction in the wild within the
next hundred years because the human populations of most tropical countries continue
to double every 20 to 25 years, and because the forests are rapidly being cleared for
wood and cultivation. More than half of the world's tropical forests have already been
cleared, and experts predict that most of what is left will be gone in less than 50 years.
With them will vanish a quarter of all life-forms including, perhaps, a plant that could
provide a cure for cancer or help end world hunger.
Plant Biology
Lab
Docsity.com
pf3
pf4
pf5

Partial preview of the text

Download Introduction to Plant Biology - Introduction to Biology - Lab Handout and more Exercises Biology in PDF only on Docsity!

Materials for lab Bring a digital camera if you have one available

Teaching Objectives Plant diversity: Applications and importance Plant form and function: Plant survival and human use Local and global examples of terrestrial plant types

Student Learning Objectives (1) View the plant diversity on campus (2) Know how to access information regarding plant identification (3) Be aware of differences between mosses, ferns, and flowering plants

INTRODUCTION Plants are the producers in a food web. Solar energy is stored in the chemical bonds of the sugars produced by plant photosynthesis, the biochemical process by which plants utilize light energy from the sun to produce sugar from carbon dioxide and water. Consumers in a food web derive their energy by breaking down these bonds during respiration, which releases the stored energy. Energy flowing within the food web therefore enters it by way of plant photosynthesis.

The importance of plants to the survival of humans and other animals cannot be over- emphasized. Our basic needs of oxygen, food, shelter, and clothing are provided, directly or indirectly, by plants. Because plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen in photosynthesis, they may be a significant factor in reducing the "greenhouse effect", which is caused by human activities that increase the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels (oil, coal, and gas) are two examples of such activities.

There are about 235,000 species of flowering plants in existence today. Approximately a third of these are native to temperate regions, and the remainder are found in the tropics. A vast number of tropical plants are in danger of extinction in the wild within the next hundred years because the human populations of most tropical countries continue to double every 20 to 25 years, and because the forests are rapidly being cleared for wood and cultivation. More than half of the world's tropical forests have already been cleared, and experts predict that most of what is left will be gone in less than 50 years. With them will vanish a quarter of all life-forms including, perhaps, a plant that could provide a cure for cancer or help end world hunger.

Plant Biology

Lab

So little is known of the plants of the tropics that many have not even been given scientific names. Preserved samples of these plants may well be all that are passed on to our descendants in the 21St^ century and beyond. The useful properties these plants possess can certainly be determined better today, when species are still in existence, than at any point in the future.

This week's lab is designed to introduce you to the incredible diversity within the plant kingdom, to note some of the purposes for which plants have been utilized by humans, and to help you appreciate the forms into which they have been modified and shaped by evolution.

We will look at examples of several types of terrestrial plants: ferns, conifers, and flowering plants. The emphasis will be on form and function, from the perspective of both plant survival and human utility.

PLANT DIVERSITY Terrestrial (land-dwelling) plants can be separated into four major groups based on their anatomy, reproduction, and life cycle. These four groups are mosses, ferns, gymnosperms, and flowering plants.

Mosses are non-flowering terrestrial plants that reproduce by spores. Mosses don't have vascular tissue (analogous to human veins) to distribute water within their bodies. Instead, they absorb water through pores located on all parts of the plant body. Since mosses lack veins, they are small in size and close to the ground where moisture is readily available.

Ferns are non-flowering plants that also reproduce by spores but that have vascular tissue to distribute nutrients and water to all portions of the plant body. Since ferns have veins, they can grow taller than mosses.

Gymnosperms are non-flowering plants that reproduce new plants with seeds. You probably remember from your previous work on seed germination that a seed contains the embryo of a young plant, in addition to nutritive tissue and a protective outer tissue called the seed coat. The largest group of gymnosperms, called conifers, produce their seeds in cones.

Flowering plants, more technically called angiosperms , are the most successful, diverse, and widespread of the land plant groups. Flowering plants range in size from tiny duckweed, a few millimeters in size, to Eucalyptus trees more than 100 meters ( ft.) in height. There are even flowering plants that have invaded the oceans where they produce flowers underwater.

Leaf

Shoot System

Root System

Roots

All roots are responsible for:

  • anchoring the plant to the ground
  • extracting water and minerals from the soil

In a typical root we can distinguish the following parts:

  1. Primary root - the thickest. It grows downwards.
  2. Secondary roots - arise from the primary root. They are not as thick as the primary one. They go sidewards.
  3. Root cap - is a kind of protection the roots end with. It is designed to drill the soil and it is able to guide the root growth by perceiving gravity.
  4. Root hairs - are minute filaments roots are covered with. They absorb water and nutrients from the soil.

Leaves

All leaves are responsible for:

  • absorbing the sun's rays
  • the majority of photosynthetic production (which can take place in any green part of a plant),
  • taking in carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen and water vapor (breathing)
  • removing waste products from the plant
  • using osmotic pressure to draw water up from the roots

Parts of a leaf

tip the terminal point of the leaf

blade or lamina the flattened, green, expanded portion of a leaf.

margin edge of a leaf.

midrib the most prominent central vein in a leaf.

lateral veins secondary veins in a leaf.

petiole the leaf stalk (connects blade to stem).

stipules leaf-like appendages (at the base of petiole of some leaves).