BIOL 108: Biology of Plants The course is designed for Pre-Pharmacy, Agriculture and certain options in Allied Health. Professor:Dr. George Mourad (Lecture) Dr. Michael Bosela (Lab) Text Book:Introductory Plant Biology Edition Nine, Copyright 2003 Kingsley R. Stern, Shelley Jansky, James Bidlack

On your computer, bookmark the following web site “ Under Student Resources, you can link to every chapter in the book and obtain very helpful information on: - key terms and concepts - chapter summary - Chapter web links - flashcards (very useful for studying) - Chapter quiz

All the power point presentations I will be showing in class will be available by chapter number in my web site for you to download on your desktop or disc and use for studying. My web site: You cannot open any of my files for BIOL 108 from my web page but if you follow my instructions at the top of my web page you will be able to copy a file to your desktop or disc. If you choose to copy a file to a desktop please make sure to delete it (from the desktop) after you printed it.

Chapter 1 What is Plant Biology? I. Introduction: Plants are living organisms and different species vary tremendously in size. Plants not only provide us with food but with a variety of other products. Plants can determine gravity by displaying positive (roots) and negative gravitropic responses (shoots). Plants constitute more than 98% of the total biomass (collective dry weight of all living organisms) of earth. Humans and animals are totally dependent on plants. In the absence of plants that continually replenish oxygen, animal life on earth will suffocate in 11 years because all oxygen will be consumed.

II. The relationship of humans to their environment A. Human and Animal Dependence on plants - Oxygen production - Food products - Lumber, paper, clothing - Coal, oil - Methane gas from decomposed plants and animal manure - Gasohol

B. Plants and the future - Cultivation of food plants - Use of plants in cleaning polluted water - Algae and space exploration (closed system) - Identification and preservation of medicinal plants

II. Botany as a science A. Botany - Study of plants, called botany - Scientific method a. Observations and testing hypothesis b. Principles and theories B. Microscopes - Anton van Leeuwenhoek ( ) developed primitive microscopes that magnify up to 200 times - Modern microscopes can magnify more than 200,000 times which led to major discoveries in plant biology

III. Diversification of plant study A. Botanical Disciplines: 1- Plant Anatomy (internal structure of plants) a. Marcello Malpighi ( ) discovered various tissues in stems and roots. b. Nehemiah Grew ( ) described the structure of wood. 2- Plant Physiology (plant function) a. The Flemish physician/chemist J.B. van Helmont ( ) using willow plants he demonstrated that plant add biomass just by taking up water.

3. Plant Taxonomy or Plant Systematics (identifying, naming, and classifying plants) - Carolus Linnaeus developed the binomial means of naming and classifying plants and in 1753 published his book Species Plantarum 4. Plant Geography (how and why plants are distributed, 19th Century) - Charles Darwin 5. Plant Ecology (interactions of plants with one another and with their environment) - Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring (1962) in which she increased public awareness of ecology 6. Plant Morphology (form and external structure of plants, 19th Century)

B. Other Related Sciences: 1. Genetics 2. Cell Biology 3. Electron Microscopy