basic factual info

Question 1

Key issues raised by ‘100 important questions’ paper

Answer 1

1. human food production needs
2. agricultural land protection
3. wilderness land protection
4. role of plants in easing effects of climate change

Question 2

Answer to Darwin’s mystery of rapid rise of the angiosperms

Answer 2

flowers 
seed (food store included)
fruit 
efficient vascular system 
high growth/ reproductive rate 
high colonisation rate 
genome doubling event

Question 3

why some clades have more species than others

Answer 3

different rates of specialisation, genetic variability & extinction

Question 4

Macronutrients

Answer 4

nitrogen, phosphorus,
potassium, calcium,
magnesium, sulphur

Question 5

how do we know the atmospheric CO2 concentrations for the last 800,000 years?

Answer 5

Vostok ice cores

Question 6

what are the uses of seaweed? non-food uses

Answer 6

CaCO3 from coraline algae => bone implants
famine food
ropes
cattle fodder
animal husbandry
fertiliser
iodine extraction
supplement sheep food (in winter)
gelling agents (particularly from brown algae) - e.g. alginate, red seaweed (agar)
eutrophication and waste water remediation (Ibraheem et al.)

Question 7

what is an example of ex situ conservation of plants?

Answer 7

botanical gardens

Question 8

example of medical use of plant

Answer 8

ewe tree bark
good to fight human cancers
particularly breast and ovarian cancer

Question 9

example of a plant used for food (non-crop), unusual

Answer 9

Theobroma cacao -> chocolate

Question 10

example of a seedbank

Answer 10

Doomsday bank - human use plants

on Svalbard

Question 11

Liebig’s law of limiting factors

Answer 11

barrel and planks law

Question 12

what are the uses of seaweed? food uses

Answer 12

colourings (blue smartie colour)
sea lettuce
irish moss
pepper dulse (condiment)

Question 13

eutrophication and waste water remediation

Answer 13

(Ibraheem et al.) - uses excess nutrients and absorbs toxic substances (e.g. metals)

Question 14

A C4 crop plant

Answer 14

corn (maize)

Question 15

challenges facing arable land availability

Answer 15

erosion - over use
water - irrigation/forest felling => flooding
soil fertility - pollution/fertilisers
air/water pollution
restricted range of crops - disease & environment

Question 16

effects of climate change on plants

Answer 16

trees growing better at higher altitudes
pests survive in more northerly latitudes
pathogens attacking plants they do not normally target
some pest and pathogens unable to cope with changing conditions

Question 17

Solutions to the effect of climate change on crops (simple changes)

Answer 17

Many food plants could be cultivated on a wider scale
local foods
seasonal foods
mixed faring systems

Question 18

examples of diseases that will benefit from climate change

Answer 18

yellow dwarf virus (aphid vector)
rice blast (like increased CO2 and temp.)

Question 19

example of a disease set to be hindered by climate change

Answer 19

stripe rust - optimum temp. is 10-13 degrees C

Question 20

Seaweed case study

Answer 20

Shetland

Question 21

monocyclic diseases (with example)

Answer 21

spores produced once a growing season and cause disease (at one time of year)
e.g.) Panama Banana disease

Question 22

polycyclic disease (with example)

Answer 22

multiple generations of the pathogen in each growing season

e.g.) stem rusts, mildews, potato blight

Question 23

edaphic factor

Answer 23

an abiotic factor relating to the physical or chemical composition of the soil found in a particular area

Question 24

epiphytotics

Answer 24

the rapid and widespread development of a disease

Question 25

time factors that effect the spread of disease

Answer 25

number of spores landed
number of spores germinate
number of spores penetrate
number of plants which show visible symptoms of the disease

Question 26

stem rust of wheat resistance

Answer 26

previously bread to be resistant but relies on one gene
transferred resistance gene from tall wheatgrass in 1961 by Knott to common wheat
now UG99 resistant pathogen & TTTTF variant (2016)

Question 27

implications of disease

Answer 27

reduce yield -> economic implications
environmental damage -> biodiversity impacts
social implications -> human health and welfare

Question 28

what can changes in soil pH cause?

Answer 28

emits carbon dioxide

Question 29

Liming materials

Answer 29

carbonates
oxides (not good to store)
hydroxides
silicates

Question 30

key factors with fertiliser choice

Answer 30

nutrient ratio 
salt hazard - make soil more saline 
acid forming tendency
tendency to volatilise
ease of solubility

Question 31

what happens to plant roots with too much water?

Answer 31

all root pores are filled -> hypoxia

Question 32

what happens when water field capacity is reached?

Answer 32

capillary pores are full BUT macropores have air

Question 33

when is the wilt point?

Answer 33

when the films around the soil particles are thin

Question 34

three types of plant soil experiments:

Answer 34

on farm
in a lab/ glasshouse
field experiments

Question 35

three methods of rice genetic improvement

Answer 35

traditional cross-breeding
using genetic mapping to assist breeding
genetic mapping to do gene cloning

Question 36

what to hemi-epiphytes do? (with example)

Answer 36

smother and crush the host tree

e.g. Fig tree

Question 37

two types of climber growth

Answer 37

tendrils

twiners

Question 38

what problems do climbers cause?

Answer 38

shade out
heavy tree load
hinder forest recovery (smother bare patches)
do not absorb much CO2

Question 39

what are non-woody climbers?

Answer 39

vines

Question 40

what are woody climbers?

Answer 40

lianas

Question 41

what are epiphytes? (with example)

Answer 41

grow in canopy

e.g. bromiliads

Question 42

types of organic fertiliser

Answer 42

sewage 
food processing wastes 
wood wastes 
animal manures 
municipal solid wastes

Question 43

what does auxin do?

Answer 43

root/shoots growth

Question 44

what do cytokines do in plants?

Answer 44

cell growth & differentiation

Question 45

what does abscisic acid do?

Answer 45

bud dormancy

Question 46

what does gibberellin do?

Answer 46

seed germination

Question 47

what are aleurone cells?

Answer 47

outside protein layer of seed