Jisoo Kim Block G 2/24/12

BIOZONE pg 342: Support in Plants

4) a. Lignin: strengthens cells which gives support to stems in all vascular plants (particularly important in woody herbaceous plants) b. Turgor pressure: provides a strong inflating force that pushes against the epidermal layer and thus keeps the plant upright c. Vascular bundles: comprised of xylem and phloem, it enhances the ability of herbaceous stems to resist tension and compression d. Secondary xylem: consisting of massed xylem vessels and fibers, makes up the bulk of the stem as wood, providing considerable strength

BIOZONE pg 343: Leaf Structure

2) a. The waxy cuticle that coats the leaf surface protects against water loss and insect invasion. b. The leaf epidermis is transparent so as to allow light to pass through to the cells in the palisade and spongy mesophyll where photosynthesis takes place. c. Leaves are usually broad and flat so as to have the greatest surface area to absorb light and have photosynthesis to take place. 3) a. The palisade mesophyll of a dicot leaf is where most chloroplasts are found. They are densely packed together, in the upper portion of the leaf. b. Photosynthesis occurs in chloroplasts. 4) a. The air spaces in the leaf tissue provide gas exchange surfaces b. Gases enter and leave the leaf tissue through the stomata or stomatal pores that occur on the bottom surface of leaves which also allow oxygen and carbon dioxide exchange. Specialized cells called guard cells control the opening and closing of the stomata.

BIOZONE pg 348: Root Structure

1) Root hairs increase the surface area over which water and mineral ions may be absorbed by a factor of nearly three. 2) The root tip is covered by a cap of cells called the root cap which protects the dividing cells of the tip and aids the roots movement through the soil. 3) a. The endodermis is very prominent and heavily thickened in monocot roots, unlike in dicot roots. b. There is a central pith inside the vascular tissue of monocot roots that is absent in dicot roots. 4) Both monocot and dicot roots have a large cortex.

Jisoo Kim Block G 2/24/12 5) The parenchyma cells of the cortex store starch and other substances.

BIOZONE pg 357-358: Modifications in Plants

1) a. Bulb: Leaves are modified for food storage in the dormant plant. The leaf bases are fleshy and tightly packed together on a shortened stem. Example: onion, garlic, tulip, lily. b. Corm: Corms are underground stems that are modified and thickened to store food. They are internally structured with a mass of solid homogenous tissue. Example: taro, crocus, gladiolus. c. Bud scales: Leaves are modified to protect the buds of woody plants over the winter. Tough, waterproof leaves overlap each other to protect the buds. Example: hickory. d. Tendrils: It is a thread-like structure leaf modification that helps a plant to climb over other plants or objects to gain access to light. Example: strawberry. e. Venus flytrap trap: Leaves are modified and the spines that line the edge of the leaf create a cage when the leaf folds together. When the spring-like hinge of thin-walled cells down each leafs midrib is triggered, the cells rapidly lose water causing the two halves of the leaf to close together and trap the insect that touched the trigger hairs on the leaf surface. Example: Venus fly trap. 2) Aerial roots in the banyan tree provide support in the thin tropical soils. Black mangroves that grow in habitats that have waterlogged soil are enabled to breathe air by specialized aerial roots called pneumatophores. Aerial roots in the mistletoe become cemented to the host plant via a sticky attachment disc before intruding into the tissues of the host.

BIOZONE pg 359-360: Adaptations of Xerophytes

1) The purpose of xeromorphic adaptations is for plants to adapt to dry conditions (scarcity of obtainable water and high transpiration losses); these adaptations include structural and physiological adaptions for water conservation. 2) a. Thick, waxy cuticle to stems and leaves to reduce water loss b. Leaves reduced to scales, stem photosynthetic or curled, rolled, or folded when flaccid to reduce water loss c. Deep root system below the water table 3) A group of mostly desert plants called CAM plants e.g. American aloe, pineapple, Yucca open their stomata at night when water evaporates more slowly from leaves and fix carbon dioxide and store the products in large vacuoles. The following day, during the light, the plants close their stomata and release the carbon dioxide fixed the previous night. 4) If a moist microenvironment is created around the areas of water loss, the humidity in the air

Jisoo Kim Block G 2/24/12 will saturate the leaves of the plants even during light hours, thus there would be less water vapor loss and transpiration rates will be reduced. 5) Seashore plants (halophytes) exhibit many desert-dwelling adaptations as they must have adaptations to obtain water from their saline environment while still maintaining their osmotic balance. In addition, the shoreline is often a windy environment, so seashore plants frequently show xeromorphic adaptations that enable them to reduce transpiration water losses.

PEARSON pg 246: Plant Structure and Growth

1) Girdling, the removal of bark and vascular cambium in a narrow ring all the way around a tree, will remove the phloem which lies between the bark and vascular cambium. This means the organic nutrients that the phloem transports throughout the plant no longer gets to the roots. The roots will die and the tree will die as well.