Plants Flashcards
Heterotroph
respirates, but does not fix carbon eg. humans
Autotroph
self feeders eg. plants
Length of time ago plants formed
> 3.5 million years ago
Stromatolites
structures built from cyanobacteria
Banded iron
formed from free oxygen reacting with free iron in water
Consequences of oxygen accumulating in the environment
- anaerobic organisms unable to survive
- reacts with methane, creates CO2, cools Earth, causes Huronian Ice age
- ozone created by oxygen rising high in the atmosphere and being hit by UV radiation
oxygen-breathing organisms are able to form
Chloroplasts
type of plastid containing chlorophyll, where photosynthesis takes place
Endosymbiosis
cyanobacteria engulfed by amoeba-like eukaryote, kept alive, plastids transferred to host
Evidence of endosymbiosis
- plastids have double membrane
- plastids have own DNA
- plastid DNA is ring structure, not chromosomes
plastids have similar structures to cyanobacteria (thylakoids = membrane structures containing chlorophyll) - plastid DNA related to cyanobacteria DNA
Why genes are lost
- not needed
- transferred to host nucleus
- redundancy as host has same gene
Photosynthetic eukaryote originating from different event
Paulinella chromatophora
Accessory pigments
absorb different wavelength of light to chlorophyll, so provide energy to algae in deep water
Kleptoplast
stolen plastid through secondary endosymbiosis
Mixotroph
feed through both predation and photosynthesis eg. Euglena
Secondary endosymbiosis
photosynthetic eukaryote with primary plastids is engulfed
Evidence of secondary endosymbiosis
- plastids have 4 membranes
- in some cases original nucleus of eukaryote is still present reduced form of nucleomorph
- relationships based on plastid DNA show brown seaweed is directly related to red algae
Lost photosynthesis
Once gained, photosynthesis can be lost eg. common in Alveolata
Tertiary endosymbiosis
occurs in lineages where photosynthesis was lost eg. Dinoflagellates
Dinoflagellates
responsible for algal blooms
Emiliana huxleyana
Haptophyte, ocean organism that produces blooms
Effect of E.hux on climate
- increases reflectivity of ocean
- promotes cloud formation my excreting dimethyl sulfoxide
- body made from calcium carbonate, create geological formation
Diatom
photosynthetic organism with silica shell
Plasmodium
malaria causing parasite, recent photosynthetic ancestor, plastids contain genes for survival due to transfer
Green algae
green photosynthetic organisms, daughter cells stay attached through binary fission
Colonial lifestyle
- filamentous or spherical
- all cells are equal
- not usually attached to substrate
- cells can survive alone as metabolically independent
- all cells can have sex
prone to being swept away
Multicellular lifestyle
- cells are not all equal
- cells are specialised
- not all cells are metabolically independent
- usually attached to substrate
reinforced bottom structure, cannot be swept away - simultaneous occupation of multiple environments
- not all calls can have sex
Problems of plants moving to land
- Hydration
- Support
- Water for metabolism
- Nutrient uptake
- Temperature variation
- Damaging light levels
- High oxygen concentration
- Sex cell dispersal
- Dessication of gametes
Advantages of plants moving to land
- No filter on useful light
- High O2 concentration
- Escape competition
- Escape predation
Lichen
producers, association of fungi with single cell algae
- fungus provides structure and inorganic nutrients
- Algae photosynthesises
Haplo-diplont
all land plants, have a sporophyte and gametophyte generation
Early land plants
- spores covered in sporopollenin
- gametes produced in gametangia
- eggs retained on mother plant
- zygote retained and supported by mother plant
- sporophytes dependent on mother
- spores produced in sporangium and released
Apical meristem
responsible for building plant as it grows