1. Chapter 1 Introduction to Plant Biology
Botany
Chapter 1
Introduction to Plant Biology

2. Objective #1
Explain the ecological role of plants with regard to the atmosphere, energy flow, and the structural components of life.

3. Objective #2
List and describe several ways in which plants have contributed to the evolution of human civilization

4. Objective #3
Explain several ways modern human society depends upon plants. Include examples of how biotechnology can be used to enhance the benefit of plants to humanity

5. Objective #4
Describe the distinguishing features of the kingdom Plantae

6. Objective #5 Categorize the major plant taxa, giving examples.
Distinguish bryophytes from the vascular plants
Distinguish between seed plants and seedless vascular plants
Distinguish between flowering and nonflowering vascular plants

7. And now, some video.
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8. Algae Plantlike (autotrophic) protists Unicellular or Colonial
Aquatic (live in water)
The Chlorophytes (green algae) appear to be ancestral to the plants

9. Terrestrial (Land) Plants
The move from aquatic habitat to land creates a number of problems:
Protection against drying
Transport of sperm to egg
Structural support
Plants that have specialized adaptations to solve these problems can live in drier environments, while those that do not are restricted to moist environments

10. Protection against drying
Water loss in plants is called Transpiration
Terrestrial plants are protected against transpiration by:
Epidermis
Waxy “cuticle”
Stomata

11. Transport of sperm to egg
Algae and aquatic plants, since they live in water, have a natural unbroken water pathway for sperm to swim to the egg
Seedless plants can only reproduce sexually under moist conditions. The “gametophyte” is low to the ground and only grows in moist habitats
Seed plants are less restricted because they provide an internal water pathway in a specialized “pollen tube”

12. Structural Support
Algae and aquatic plants are supported by the buoyancy of the water they live in.
Bryophytes, which lack strong supportive tissues, are very small and low to the ground
Tracheophytes, supported by a series of hollow tubes with thickened cell walls, can grow much taller

13. Bryophytes Lack vascular tissue Reproduce with spores Mosses
Liverworts

14. Tracheophytes – Vascular plants
Vascular tissue provides advantages
Efficient transport of water and nutrients
Structural support

15. Vascular Seedless Plants
Ferns and Horsetails
Have vascular tissue
Reproduce with Spores

16. Seed Plants Seeds provide many advantages over spores Stored food
Protection
Mechanisms for dispersal
Flowering Plants – Apple seeds
Conifers – Pine seeds

17. Gymnosperms (Conifers)
Vascular, seed producing plants
“naked seed” – seeds are not completely enclosed by the ripened ovary
Generally have needle-like (pines) or scale-like (cedars) leaves

18. Angiosperms (Flowering Plants)
Vascular seed plants
Have a wide variety of adaptations for transferring pollen
Seeds mature inside of the ripened ovary of the flower, forming “fruit” which protects, nourishes, and aids dispersal of the seeds

19. Objective #6
Identify several subdisciplines within the field of botany
Systematics
Classification and Taxonomy
Physiology
Function
Anatomy
Structure
Morphology
Life Cycles
Ecology
Interactions
Genetics
Heredity

20. Vocabulary List Alkaloids Primary producer Autotroph Heterotroph
Eukaryote
Prokaryote
Indeterminate growth
Determinate growth
Bryophyte
Vascular tissue
Seed
Gymnosperm
Angiosperm