Chapter 1.

The Plant World

BOTANY- Plant Biology

is the scientific study of plants

What is a plant?

Most plants have green leaves, stems, roots and flowers.

Conifers have cones rather than flowers.

Cacti and succulents do not appear to have leaves.

Ferns and mosses. Bryophyes are non-vascular plant such as mosses.

What about these?

All photosynthetic organisms

blue- greens,
red algae, brown algae, green algae Fungi (including water molds)

Also include bacteria

Declaring whether these organisms are plants or not solves nothing: the important thing is to understand the concepts involved and why disagreement exists.

Why are plants important?

Oxygen Primary producers Economically important to humans > agricultural plants > flavoring plants > euphoric/hallucinogenic plants > fiber, wood plants > medicinal plants

Plants are primary producers in a food chain

Agriculture-

became a foundation for human civilization, development of culture, art and government.

Plants are our fundamental source of food.

Many medicines come from plants.

The Cinchona tree and quinine. Quinine is for the treatment of malaria.

Many medicines come from plants.

Many flavors come from plants.

Plants provide fuel, shelter, and paper products.

Green jet fuel made from the Jatropha plant

Conservation Biology is critical area for research.

Biotechnology seeks to develop new plant products. The creation of genetically modified plants.

Biotechnology seeks to develop new plant products. The creation of genetically modified plants.

Using plants to modify animal responses. A study of this animals high tolerance for chilies may yield information that will help humans control pain.

Plant Characteristics and Diversity

CHARACTERISTICS OF A TYPICAL PLANT.

The 5 Kingdom System of Classification

The 4 Groups of Plants

Mosses are bryophytes.

Ferns are the largest group of seedless vascular plants.

Most gymnosperms are conifers.

Angiosperms are the largest group of modern day plants.

Scientific method
A means of analyzing the physical universe Observations are used as the basis for constructing a hypothesis that predicts the outcome of future observations or experiments.

Sir Francis Bacon was a firm believer in the power of experimentation and the scientific method to uncover truth.

Charles Darwins experiment with stems detecting light.

The three principal methods for analyzing and explaining the universe

method Metaphysical system Speculative philosophy

Religious

Religious Method

Universe is assumed to be created by or to contain deities. Important feature is that the actions of gods cannot be studied. Crops might flourish or fail due to gods intervention

In addition to natural forces, there are supernatural , hidden forces that can never be observed or studied. Examples: luck, bad omens, accurate horoscopes, reliable method for picking the winning numbers in a lottery

Metaphysical System

Speculative philosophy

Sought to develop logical explanations for simple observations. Philosophical postulations of atoms by Democritus

Unifying Concepts to understand plants

Plant metabolism is based on the principles of chemistry and physics

2nd Concept
Plants must have means of storing and using information

3rd Concept
Plants reproduce, passing their genes and information on their offspring

4th Concept
Genes, and the information they contain, change

5th Concept
Plants must survive in their own environment

6th Concept
Plants are highly integrated organisms

7th Concept
An individual plant is the temporary result of genes and environment

8th concept
Plants do not have purpose (teleology) or decision-making (anthropomorphism) capacity.

Which of the two statements is correct?

1.

2.

Plants have roots in order to absorb water and minerals. Plants roots absorb water and mineral salts.

What properties are present in living things?

All living beings have the following characteristics; if even one is missing, the material is not alive

1. Metabolism
Exchange of energy and matter with the environment must be present

2. Non-random organization must be present

All organisms are highly structured, and decay is the process of its molecules returning to a random arrangement.

3. Growth
All organisms increase in size from the time they are formed

4. A system of heredity and reproduction

An organism must produce offspring very similar to itself such that when an organism dies, life persists within its progeny

5. A capacity to respond to the environment

When conditions become dry, an organism can respond by becoming dormant, conserving water, or by obtaining water more efficiently

Botany includes many fields of study.

1. Plant systematics evolutionary history of plants.

Carl Linnaeus (17071778)

- Father of Taxonomy - His system for naming, ranking, and classifying organisms is still in wide use today (with many changes).

SPECIES NAME

By convention: first word of binomial name is genus and is always capitalized second word refers to specific epithet and is not capitalized together form scientific name, written in italics a complete scientific name includes the authors name.
Ex. Nepenthes madagascariensis Poir.

The Taxonomic Hierarchy

Species Genus Family Order Class Phylum Kingdom Domain

The Kingdoms of Life

Most biologists use a six-kingdom system.

Animalia Plantae Fungi Protista Archaebacteria Bacteria

Domains - taxonomic level above kingdoms

Classifying Living Organisms

Plant Physiology aspects such as photosynthesis, flowering and hormones Plant anatomy relation of structure to functions

Paleobotany evolutionary relationship of fossil plants to living plants.

Plant morphology plant life cycle, evolution of plants.

Plant ecology plants relate to the environment, human effects to increased rate of plant extinction. Plant genetics transfer of genetic information from one generation to the next.

Botanists also study: Algae ( Phycology) Fungi (Mycology) Disease-causing microorganisms ( Microbiology) Ornamental plants (Horticulture)

Important plant compounds ( Phytochemistry) e.g. papain in papaya momordicin in ampalaya beta carotene in tomato capsaicin in chilies nicotine in tobacco caffeine in coffea ginkgolides in ginkgo resins in pines latex in rubber tree Traditional uses of plants ( Herbal medicine and Ethnobotany)

Forest and products (Forestry) Crops and soil management (Agriculture) Fruit trees (Pomology)

Why makes plant biology confusing?

Can be arbitrary, e.g., classify these:

Plants are fascinating lifeforms in and of themselves, and you must consider yourself to be studying plants as if your life depended on them-which it does

Thank you for listening

End of Introduction
rossdvasquez Prepared for ist semester 2013