Plant Physiology - ESO 4 Biology and Geology

Basic Information

In this section - Some relevant information that you should learn.

Print - Click to open the printable version of this section.

Mind map: Events after fertilisation

[Source]

What to Learn

In this section - Summary of contents for the current topic.

Plant nutrition: absorption and transport of nutrients, transpiration, photosynthesis, respiration.
Plant reproduction: the flower, pollination, fertilization, seed dispersal, germination.
Plant interaction: plant hormones and growth.

External Links

In this section - External links to Internet resources selected by the author of this website.

Plant Nutrition

Plant nutrition.To understand plant nutrition, with particular attention given to the role of photosynthesis. You can print the lesson text and read a glossary. Interactive lesson at Skoool.co.uk. (N.B.: In case your browser freezes, use Firefox and click on "Block Script" when asked).

Photosynthesis in green plants.Great presentation on plant cells, chloroplasts, the chemical process of photosynthesis, its limiting factors and more.

The world of plants: photosynthesis.Plants use chloroplasts to capture photons and use the energy to make glucose and oxygen from carbon dioxide and water.

Starch in leaf test.Step by step test for starch produced by photosynthesis in a leave.

Transpiration.Very detailed interactive animation showing how transpiration takes place in plants and which are the factors that have an influence on it. You can also read the lesson text.

Wikipedia: potometer.Learn how to make a potometer and to use it to measure plant transpiration.

Plant transport.To understand how plants absorb water and minerals, and how they transport these substances. You can print the lesson text and read a glossary. Interactive lesson at Skoool.co.uk. (N.B.: In case your browser freezes, use Firefox and click on "Block Script" when asked).

Xylem transport (I).Very comprehensive animation showing how xylem sap is pumped from the roots to the leaves of a plant.

Xylem transport (II).Another great animation on the water movement up the xylem.

Plant Reproduction

Plant biology: making eggs.The life cycle of flowering plants begins with the production of eggs; when fertilized, these eggs will develop into seeds that will eventually become a new plant.

Plant biology: making pollen.Anther cells produce four haploid microspores, which divide to eventually form the haploid pollen cells.

Plant biology: pollination and fertilization.Insects usually assist in the fertilization of flowering plants. Fertilization occurs when one sperm nucleus fuses with the egg nucleus. Other sperms form the endosperm by fusing with egg cells.

Seed dispersal.Flowering plants reproduce themselves by producing seeds, which provide the plants with a way to spread out and grow in new places, sometimes a long way from the parent. Learn how.

Plant biology: germination and growth.During germination, the embryo of the seed starts to grow. Roots form first, followed by the pushing up of leaves.

Flower structures, plant breeding, cross pollination, making crosses.This animations illustrates the structures of a flower, plant breeding, cross pollination and making crosses.

Plant Adaptations

The new science of fall colors.The secrets of why leaves of trees change yellow or red in the autumn are slowly being revealed.

Movies, Animations and Audios

In this section - Movies, animations and audio files collected from the Internet.

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Plant Nutrition

Zoom into a leaf.

Watch the surface and the inside of a leaf progressively magnified by an electron microscope.

Photosynthesis.

Learn how photosynthesis is performed inside the chloroplasts.

Produced by Britannica.com

Respiration.

Learn if and when a plant respires, absorbing CO₂ and producing O₂.

Produced by Britannica.com

Plant Reproduction

Plant fertilization.

Learn how male and female gametes fuse in plants and what happens afterwards.

Produced by Britannica.com

Double fertilization in flowering plants.

Detailed view of the process of fertilization in plants.

Reproduction of the pine tree.

Learn the specificities of the reproduction process in the gymnosperms.

Produced by Britannica.com

Plant Interaction and Growth

Plant hormones and growth.

Learn how plant hormones control their growth towards the light.

Produced by Britannica.com

Leaves maintain a constant temperature.

A 60-second Science podcast.

Streamed from Scientific American

Images

In this section - Collections of photos and pictures.

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Plant Nutrition

Leaf anatomy

Leaf anatomy and stoma

Cross section of a leaf (I)

Cross section of a leaf (II)

Cross section of a leaf (III)

Internal root anatomy

Cross section of a root

Internal stem anatomy

Vascular bundles of the stem

Cross section of a celery stalk[Taken from the Wikipedia]

Cross section of a stem

Xylem

Phloem

Water movement in plants

Plant Reproduction

Pine pollen grain

Fruit diagram [Taken from the Wikipedia]

Plant Interaction and Growth

Types of buds[Taken from the Wikipedia]

Activities

In this section - Expand and assess your knowledge with different activities to do in a class or at home.

Questions: Plant Nutrition

[Source lesson]

What features of the leaves make them ideal for photosynthesis?
Why are leaves green?
Which is the leave tissue with the lowest amount of chloroplasts?
Why does the palisade mesophyll contain a greater amount of chloroplasts than the spongy mesophyll?
What is the waxy cuticle that covers the leaves meant for?
Why do holm oaks contain a thicker waxy cuticle than the deciduous oaks?
Describe the structure of a vascular bundle and the function of each of its tissues.
Write the formula of photosynthesis.
Why should you place a plant in the dark prior to a starch test?
Why should you choose a leaf from a variegated plant in a starch test?
Why should you cover a part of the leaf with a piece of foil during a starch test?
What do you demonstrate by putting a leave inside a flask containing KOH during a starch test? Why?
Draw a diagram showing the uses a plant may give to glucose.
Which is the functionally equivalent polysaccharide to starch in animals? Why?
What is a limiting factor? Give an example.
How can you test for the effect of (only) light in photosynthesis?
Why does not the rate of photosynthesis increase indefinitely with the light intensity?
What does the action of an enzyme depend on? Why an increase of temperature above the optimum will decrease the rate of photosynthesis? How do you call the process that takes place under those conditions?
When in a day is the compensation point between CO₂ released by respiration and CO₂ absorbed by photosynthesis reached? Why?

Questions: Plant Transpiration

[Source lesson]

Which are the two physical processes that allow the loss of water in the leaves?
"If a plant wants to obtain water, it has to lose water". Is this assertion true? Why?
Why is it good for a plant to lose water by transpiration?
Why is it bad for a plant to lose water by transpiration?
Why is transpiration important to keep a plant upright?
How does transpiration make the replication of DNA possible?
Where is the boundary layer thicker: around the leaves of a cactus or around the leaves of a poplar? Why?
How does the rate of transpiration change when you take a plant from inside a house to a garden? Why?
How does the rate of transpiration change when you start boiling water in the same room where you have a plant? Why?

Questions: Plant Transport

[Source lesson]

What main kinds of things can you find in a soil?
What are the main functions of water in a plant?
What is the main adaptation of a plant to increase the absorption of water?
What does each root hair consist of? Which is the main organelle in them?
Why and how is the water absorbed into the root hairs?
Why and how does the water pass from the root hairs to the inside of the root?
What tissue transports the water up the plant?
Why and how do the soil's minerals pass to the inside of the roots?
Under what conditions is a plant likely to release minerals to the soil? Why doesn't this happen? What is the main requirement to prevent loss of minerals from the roots?
What are the main uses of sugar in a plant?
What are the main chemical elements that a plant must take from the soil? Which are the main mineral ions that provide them?
What are the main uses of nitrogen in a plant? What are the main symptoms of its deficiency?
What are the main uses of phosphorus in a plant? What are the main symptoms of its deficiency?
What are the main uses of potassium in a plant? What are the main symptoms of its deficiency?
What are the main uses of magnesium in a plant? What are the main symptoms of its deficiency?
What kind of experiment can you perform to test the effects of the absence of a mineral?
What is xylem meant for? What does it consist of? Where is it located in a plant?
What is phloem meant for? What does it consist of? Where is it located in a plant?
What happens when a peripheral ring of tissue is removed from the stem of a plant? Why?
How is it possible the transport of water up the plant through the xylem?
What is the structure of the xylem vessels? What special chemical do they contain? What are the functions of this chemical?
What can you find in a leaf vein?
What is the role of the water in holding a plant upright?
What environmental conditions favour the transpiration of water? Why?
Why is transpiration faster during daytime?
Draw the cross-section of a leaf, labelling its structures and tissues.
Why do leaves need to be covered by a waxy cuticle?
What is the structure of a stoma? Why and under what conditions are stomata open? And closed?
What is a potometer meant for? How does it work?
Name some adaptations of dry environment plants to reduce water loss.

Questions: Plant Reproduction

There are two ways in which a plant can be hermaphrodite. Which ones?
What is the minimum composition of a male flower?
The anthers of grasses are very big and dangle out of the flower. Do you expect these flowers to have a colourful big corolla? Why?
Which one of the three main parts of a pistil is the least necessary? Why?
How many nuclei does each pollen grain have when it is fully developed?
What is the mission of the tube nucleus of a pollen grain?
There is one egg-cell inside each _______________. One ovary can contain one or several _______________.
When fertilized, the ovules develop into _______________ and the ovaries that contain them develop into _______________.
What is the micropyle?
Why is plant fertilization called "double fertilization"?
What are the main components of a seed? What is the function of each?
How can a fleshy fruit help the dispersal of its seeds?