Unit 6

Plant structure and function

The importance of plants:-

Ecological:
• Provide O2
• Absorb CO2
• Base of all food chains
• Make solar energy
• Provide shelter (habitat) for other organisms
• Help soil, atmosphere retain (moderate temperature)

Economical:
• Fibers - clothes
• Paper - lumber
• Farming - food and product
• Aesthetics - make up
• Landscaping
• Pharmaceuticals
 Plant Structure

Three main structures of vascular plant are:

Root, Stem, Leaves
Roots-
• Absorb water from the soil
• Anchors (holds in place) the plant
• Store nutrients (carrots, potatoes)
• Store minerals, oils etc

Types of roots-
• Fibrous roots –
 Absorbs water quickly
 Arid climates (Plains)
 Smaller in diameter and not as high

• Tap roots –
 Goes deep to absorb water deeper
 Can support a taller plant
 Ex. Dandelion, carrot, turnip

• Adventitious –
 Tufts to allow plant to grow tall
(balance)
 Develop in a part of a plant other then
the root
 Reaction of Environmental Change

A change in the environment is called a stimulus. A

reaction is the response.

The response is for survival in short term (example

fight or flight response in animals).

Long term behaviors, hibernation, migrations,

building shelters mating, encourage the survival of
the individual and species.

Plants: Do not have bones, muscles, or nerves

systems to respond to stimuli; however they do
respond to stimuli by growing

Plants respond to their environment by growing to

words or away from stimuli, this is called Tropism.

Stimuli Response + or -
Sun/Phototropism Stem shoot +
Root towards +
Gravity/Geotropism gravity (down)

Root towards -
Water/Hydrotropism water

Touch/Thigmotropism Stem/tendrils +
The Tropisms are influenced by plant
hormones:

Auxins - Any of various hormones or similar substances

that promote and regulate the growth and development of
plants. Auxins are produced in the meristem of shoot tips
and move down the plant, causing various effects. Auxins
cause the cells below the shoot apex to expand or elongate,
and this (rather than cell division) are what causes the plant
to increase in height. In woody plants, auxins also stimulate
cell division in the cambium, which produces vascular tissue.
Auxins inhibit the growth of lateral buds so that the plant
grows upwards more than outwards. They can be produced
artificially in laboratories for such purposes as speeding
plant growth and regulating how fast fruit will ripen.

Gibberellins - Any of numerous plant hormones,

especially gibberellic acid, that promotes stem elongation.
The seeds, young shoots, and roots of plants contain
gibberellins, and they are also found in fungi.

Cytokines - Any of several regulatory proteins, such as

the interleukins and lymphokines that are released by cells
of the immune system and act as intercellular mediators in
the generation of an immune response.

Ethylene - Plays a significant role in fruit ripening, it also

interacts with a number of the other growth regulators. Color
change and softening of the tissue of ripening fruit is also
related to ethylene.
How does water get to the top of a tree?

Two possibilities:
1. Pushed – bottom osmotic
2. Pulled – suction

Water enters the roots by osmotic pressure the

concentration of the water in the roots is lower than the
concentration outside, therefore water moves into the roots
by osmosis caused by the osmotic pressure.

The greatest force is the suction caused by the transpiration

of water from the leaves at the stomata.

Transpiration: as the water molecules evaporate from the

stomata another molecule is pulled up to take its place,
creating a constant column of the moving water up the
xylem to the leaves.

Properties of water conductive to transpiration: (allows water

to do this)

1. Polar – make chain

2. Collusion – stick together
3. Adhesion – stick to the side of the xylem

Transport in plants

Translation or “Pressure Flow” theory

Pressure slow or mass-flow theory of transport relies on
osmosis and pressure dynamics -