Plant Structures and their Functions Flashcards
What are plant tropisms?
The growth of a plant to in response to a stimulus
What is positive tropism?
The growth of a plant towards a stimulus
What is negative tropism?
The growth of a plant away from a stimulus
What are the two main types of plants tropism?
Phototropism and Gravitropism
What is phototropism?
A plants growth response to light
What is gravitropism?
A plants growth response to gravity
What are auxins?
A group of plant hormones involved in plant tropisms and control growth in plant roots and shoot tips
Compare the effect of auxins in plant shoots and roots
Auxins stimulate growth in plant shoots and auxins inhibit growth in plant roots
Where are auxins produced?
Root and shoot tips
How do auxins move through a plant?
They diffuse through the plant in solution
Are plant shoots positively or negatively phototropic? How does this affect shoot growth?
Positively phototropic and plant shoots grow towards the light
Why do plant shoots are positively phototropic?
Shoot tip exposed to light, on the shaded side of the shoot, auxin accumulates, elongation of cells on the shaded side and shoot tip bends towards the light
Are plant shoots positively or negatively gravitropic? How does this affect shoot growth?
Negatively gravitropic and plant shoots grow upwards, away from gravity
Why are plant shoots are negatively gravitropic?
Shoot placed horizontally, due to gravity, auxin accumulates on the lower side of the shoot, elongation of cells on the lower side and shoot bends upwards growing away from gravity
Are plant roots positively or negatively phototropic? How does this affect roots growth?
Negatively phototropic and plant roots grows away from the light
Why are plant roots negatively phototropic?
Root exposed to light, on the shaded side of the root, auxin accumulates, inhibition of cell growth on the shaded side and root grows away from the light
Are plant roots positively or negatively gravitropic? How does this affect root growth?
Positively gravitropic and plant roots grow downwards, towards gravity
Why are plant roots are positively gravitropic?
Root placed horizontally, due to gravity, auxin accumulates on the lower side of the root, inhibiting of cell growth on the lower side and root bends downwards growing towards gravity
How are plant tropisms increase the chance of survival?
They enable plants to respond to the environment, shoot growth towards the light maximises light absorption, root growth downwards increases the uptake, of water and minerals from the soil and enables anchorage of the plant body to the ground
What is the role of auxins in commercial plant cultivation?
Rooting powders contain auxins that stimulate the growth of roots in cutting, enables rapid plant cloning and used in selective weedkillers that target and alter growth patterns in broad-leaved plants, killing them
What are gibberellins?
Plant hormones that control germination and flowering
What is the role of gibberellins in commercial plant cultivation?
Initiate germination in seeds at times of the year when they naturally wouldn’t, ensure all seeds in a batch germinate, trigger flowering in plants under irregular conditions, also increase fruit size by reducing the number of flowers produced by plants and produce seedless fruits by stimulating the growth of fruit from unpollinated flowers
How do gibberellins trigger germinations?
In the presence of water, gibberellins break seed dormancy, initiating germination
Why is Ethan important in commercial plant cultivation?
Ethane stimulates enzymes that control fruit ripening and enables fruit to be picked while they are unripe and less easily damage, they can be stimulated to ripen during transportation to shops
What is photosynthesis?
A chemical reaction that takes place inside photosynthetic organisms converting light energy into chemical energy
What is the word equation for photosynthesis?
Carbon dioxide + water -> glucose + oxygen
What is the symbol equation for photosynthesis?
6CO2 + 6H20 -> C6H12O6 + 6O2
Why is photosynthesis important?
It produces glucose which has a wide range of uses such as used in respiration to release energy, converted to starch and stored - broken down to glucose when the plant requires energy and used to make complex organic molecules which are used for growth, making up an organisms biomass