Week 2: stationarity

Question 1

Explain why seeds are a way to cope with stationarity

Answer 1

coat offers protection and a food source, and could be reduced in size.

Flowering plants: vessel seeds (ovary is the vessel, which is the gametophyte)

Naked seeds of cones: gametes are not protected.

Question 2

Ways that plants cope with being stationary

Answer 2

cuticle

seeds (embryo)

alternation of generations

vascular tissue (water mining)

they have a food source that doesn’t require foraging

Question 3

embryophytes have _____, not chiton.

Answer 3

cellulose

Question 4

What are the consequences of autotrophy? (resource availability)

Answer 4

omnipotent food source

dilute food source (small % of atmosphere is CO2)

nutrients needed are inorganic from the soil water, minerals, gases

Question 5

Compare the form, concentration, and distribution of plant nutrition vs. animal.

Answer 5

Plant:

form: inorganic H20, CO2, minerals.

Concentration: dilute (CO2 <3%)

Distribution: omnipotent

Animal:

Form: organic matter

Concentration: concentrated

Distribution: patchy

Question 6

Name the consequences associated with stationarity

Answer 6

1. exhaust nutrients in an area.
2. foul area with your own wastes
3. difficulties with predation
4. finding a mate is hard
5. how to care for your young?

Question 7

What sealed the “no movement” deal?

Answer 7

roots

Question 8

There’s a way plants can grow.. it’s..

Answer 8

through growth outward

Question 9

Describe plant growth

Answer 9

indeterminant (they don’t have a maximum or optimum growth like animals)

Architectural or modular growth patterns

Self-repeating, functional at many scales and circumstances

-allows plasticity and responsiveness through growth

Makes use of all its space (dendritic; high surface area)

-opposite of animals that need to keep their body inside

Question 10

Describe foraging

Answer 10

some plants can send out runners to stretch out their range

also called a ramet or stolon

Allows clonal growth

Question 11

Describe the differences of foraging between a high light and nutrient environment with a low light high nutrient environment

Answer 11

the all aroun dhigh environment had TONS of ramets, but they didn’t go very far.

The plant in bad light sent runners very far out even though it only had a few (it was trying to find a better habitat.)

Question 12

What is heterophylly? How does it apply to the adaptive circumstances of immobile plants?

Answer 12

Plants can’t move.

heterophylly is their ability to change the expression of their genes based on their environment

The example shows a lot of different blade colorings, sizes, and textures in different environments.

Question 13

Stationary plants have to respond to their environment. how do they do this?

Answer 13

They must sense the environment accurately.

Pregermination: sense gravity and location.

• light sensitivity
• sensitive to long term temperature
• germinating plant senses direction

Long-term environmental cues

-seasonal differences in activity like losing leaves.

Question 14

How do plants respond to a quick disaster?

Answer 14

usually just lose their leaves and go dormant, like in fires and floods.

Leaves are too expensive to keep up.

Question 15

What is a way that plants respond to the predation threat of the environment?

Answer 15

spikes, or immitation of spikes, movement to drop grasshopers, poisons