Lesson 11: Plant Growth

Question 1

what can plant growth be affected by?

Answer 1

• the type of seed or species of plant
• the quality of the soil
• the amount of water present (dehydration then die)
• the amount of light (impacts photosynthetis process)

Question 2

what do cells in plants need to do in order to produce new roots?

Answer 2

must undergo both growth and differentiation

Question 3

plant growth?

Answer 3

process of increasing in size

Question 4

plant differentiation

Answer 4

process by which a cell becomes specialized to perform a specific function

Question 5

what are the types of plant growth

Answer 5

primary and secondary

Question 6

what are apical meristems

Answer 6

regions of actively dividing cells found at the tips of plants (ex: tips of their buds, stems, and roots)

Question 7

primary growth?

Answer 7

all growth from the apical meristems are called primary growth
- primary growth only affects the height of plant (not its width)

Question 8

secondary growth

Answer 8

growth that arises from lateral meristems

Question 9

lateral meristems

Answer 9

areas of actively dividing tissue in the stems and roots

Question 10

When does primary growth begin?

Answer 10

as the cells of the apical meristems divide by mitosis (this increases the number of cells)

Question 11

what happens when cell division occurs

Answer 11

each cell grows longer and begins to specialize (specialize to perform a certain function) –> allows us to have different cell types

Question 12

what cell types are there?

Answer 12

parenchyma (round tissue; most abundant type of ground tissue), epidermal, or vascular cell types

Question 13

what does the shoot apical meristem produce?

Answer 13

produces the tissues that form stems, leaves, and organs responsible for sexual reproduction (ex: flowers in angiosperms)

Question 14

what does the root apical meristem produce?

Answer 14

produces the cells of the root cap and all other cell types in the root

Question 15

all tissues from apical meristems are called

Answer 15

primary tissues (ex: xylem and phloem that arise from apical meristem are called primary xlyem and primary phloem)

Question 16

secondary growth info

Answer 16

–> usually primary growth only happens in woody species until after the plant’s first year of life; secondary growth arises from a lateral meristem and all tissues that are formed by it are called secondary tissues
- lateral meristems are never found at the apex of the shoot or root
- ex: vascular cambium (lateral maristem)
–> after the first year of growth, primary and secondary growth happen simultaneously
- woody species continue primary growth and increase in length (height) and they also increase in diameter through secondary growth from the two lateral meristems (the cork cambium will produce the cells that will form new bark of the trees; vascular cambium will produce the xylem and phloem)

Question 17

what environmental factors affects plant growth

Answer 17

• light (seasonal chages in light, photoperiodism; ex: winter is darker quicker)
• water
• temperature (specific temp range that plants enjoy and can be better for their cellular processes to occur)
• nutrient availability (ex: soil composition/pH, macronutrients vs micronutrients)