Plant Responses Flashcards
What is a stimulus?
Anything that causes a reaction in an organism or any of its parts.
What is a response?
An activity of an organism or cell due to a stimulus.
What is a tropism?
A plant growth response to a stimulus.
Can be positive or negative.
When the growth response is towards the stimulus it is positive.
When the growth response is away from the stimulus it is negative.
What are the tropic responses?
Phototropism. Geotropism. Chemotropism. Hydrotropism. Thigmotropism.
What is phototropism?
A change in plant growth in response to unidirectional light.
Stems grow towards light and are positively phototropic.
Roots grow away from light and are negatively phototropic.
What is geotropism?
A change in plant growth in response to gravity.
Roots are positively geotropic as they grow down towards the pull of gravity in search of water and minerals and anchor the roots.
Stems are negatively geotropic as they grow up and away from the pull of gravity.
What is chemotropism?
A change in plant growth in response to chemicals.
In flowering plants, following pollination, the pollen tube grows down towards the ovule which produces chemicals making it positively chemotropic.
Roots are negatively chemotropic to lead and zinc.
What is hydrotropism?
A change in plant growth in response to water.
Roots are positively hydrotropic as they grow through the soil in search of water.
What is thigmotropism?
A change in plant growth in response to touch.
Plants like ivy grow around any object they touch by forming tendrils, to provide a secure surface for herbaceous plants.
What are the advantages of tropism?
Allow the plant to obtain more favourable growing conditions.
Stems are positively phototropic allowing for increased photosynthesis.
Roots are positively geotropic allowing for increased soil water and better anchorage of roots.
Name two plant minerals and their roles.
Calcium- forms the middle lamella which cements the plant cells together.
Magnesium- is used for the production of chlorophyll.
What is a meristem?
A region of the plant where cells are actively dividing by mitosis, to produce more cells for growth.
Where is the apical meristem located?
In root tips and shoot tips.
What are the functions of the apical meristem?
Responsible for growth in plant length.
Responsible for the formation of leaves and axillary buds.
Where are the lateral meristems located?
Around the edge of plant stems or branches.