Plant Nutrition Flashcards
What does autotrophic mean?
Describes organisms able to produce their own food by using small molecules from environment to build large organic molecules—— produce their own food
What is photosynthesis?
Process by which plants manufacture carbohydrates from raw materials using energy from light
Photosynthesis word equation
Carbon dioxide + water (chlorophyll) -------------> (Light energy) Glucose + oxygen
Photosynthesis chemical equation
6CO(2)+ 6H(2) —–> C(6)H(12)O(6) + 6O(6)
Where does the light energy used in photosynthesis go after glucose and oxygen have been made?
In the glucose molecules as chemical energy
When is the light energy from photosynthesis released again from the glucose?
When the glucose are later broken up in respiration
Where do plants store their starch?
First in their chloroplasts but then often in their stems and roots too
Glucose use in a cell
Energy release in respiration
Conversion to starch & used as an energy store
Conversion into cellulose to make cell walls
W. Addition of mineral ions, conversion into proteins
Conversion into fats
Leaves function
Absorb carbon dioxide from air
Absorb sunlight energy which is trapped by chlorophyll
Manufactures carbohydrates
Release waste products & oxygen
Which part of plants absorb water from soil
Roots
Why is sunlight so important in plants
Sunlight so provides the energy necessary to combine carbon dioxide and water to form carbohydrates. That light energy becomes locked away within the carbohydrate molecule as chemical energy which gets released in respiration
What type of energy change takes place in photosynthesis
Light energy is converted into chemical energy
Why is glucose changed into starch
Glucose are soluble, affecting concentration so also enzyme action and osmosis within a cell therefore usually converted to insoluble carbohydrates, starch
Where is starch stored?
In chloroplasts within cells that are photosynthesising
What are glucose first turned into before starch?
Sucrose
What does chlorophyll do?
Transfers light energy to chemical energy in molecules for the synthesis of carbohydrates
Define the term limiting factor
Something present in environment in such short supply that it restricts life process
What is carbon dioxide enrichment
When concentration of carbon dioxide is artificially raised to grow crops
Describe the cuticle of the leaf
It is a waxy non-cellular covering to the leaf it is
Water proof
Transparent to allow light to enter
Provides some protection from mechanical forces
Describe upper epidermis
Is a single layer of cells that secretes the cuticle and has no chloroplast so allows light to reach cells beneath
Palisade cells
A layer or two of closely packed elongated cells w. Water film coating their walls
Are first to receive light
Have greatest concentration of chloroplasts
Chloroplasts
Contain chlorophyll for photosynthesis
Provide large surface area for uptake of carbon dioxide
Where photosynthesis takes place in cell
Usually convert glucose to starch and store it temporarily
Spongy cells -(spongy mesophyll)
Have fewer chloroplasts than palisade cells.
Loosely packed w. Many air (intercellular) spaces between them
Their walls are coated w. a water firm
Carry out some photosynthesis
Allow gases to freely diffuse throughout leaf
Which cells are the photosynthesising cells?
Palisade and spongy mesophyll
What are the photosynthesising cells also often referred to as?
Mesophyll cells
What element do plants need to convert carbohydrates into amino acids
Nitrogen