Plant DiversityC9L1

Botany: the study of plants

What is a plant? Living organisms which are

eukaryotic and multicellular Have organized tissues Have plastids (such as chloroplasts -

convert light energy to chemical energy)

Have cell walls containing cellulose - provides support and protection

A mature plant cell has one or two vacuoles that store a watery liquid called sap.

Characteristics of Plants (cont.)

Some plants are microscopic, while others are some of the largest organisms on Earth.

Characteristics of Plants (cont.)

Plants are producers—organisms that use an outside energy source, such as the Sun, to make their own food.

Characteristics of Plants (cont.)

producerfrom Latin producer, means “lead or bring forth, draw out”

Characteristics of Plants (cont.)

Plants make their own food, a simple sugar called glucose, during a process called photosynthesis.

One reason the study of botany is so important to man is …

Because all the food eaten by man comes directly or indirectly from green plants. About 2/3 of the food we eat comes directly from plants and 1/3 comes from animals which eat plants.

Ways Plants are Beneficial:

Provide most of man's food Release O2 needed by man and animals

Plants are raw materials for many manufactured goods

Plants are a source of beauty

Misconceptions:

All green things are plants. All plants

are green. All plants

are

autotrophic.

Evolutionists hypothesize that present-day land plants and green algae evolved from a common ancestor.

The first land plants probably lived in moist areas.

As land plants became more abundant, the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere increased because oxygen is a product of photosynthesis.

Plant Adaptations and Creation

Evolutionists explain adaptation as the process where organisms become better suited for their environment or in other words if an organism lives in a cold environment they may grow fur or a thick layer of blubber to combat the cooler temperatures. Therefore, from this view the organisms that are better able to survive in a specific environment will have offspring better able to survive in that environment

Plant Adaptations and Creation

and those that are not as well adapted to that environment will have offspring that will be out competed or selected against leaving less of their genes in the next generation. This view explains that each proceeding generation is bigger and better and will eventually evolve and take the place of the less suitable organisms. Those that did not develop these characteristics would freeze to death.

Plant Adaptations and Creation

From a purely scientific standpoint, adaptations are features that suit an organism or species for its niche and habitat. However, from a creationist’s viewpoint we see adaptation as the natural God given variation that was designed by him to allow organisms to function effectively in a differing array of environments. This means that the creature was designed with plan and purpose to

Plant Adaptations and Creation

function within the given environment. Creatures that live in cold environments have fur and blubber because that was part of God’s plan. From the Biblical view, all organisms were created with the genetic variability, to produce all the diversity seen within created kinds. Post-Flood events that isolated these creatures in a given environment caused specific traits to be more prominent due to death of creatures

Plant Adaptations and Creation

lacking the God given characteristics to live in that environment. This is the very reason why we see creatures all over the world that are similar, but live in different niches of a given habitat.

Plant Adaptations and Creation

Many plants have a waxy, protective layer on their leaves, stems, and flowers called the cuticle.

The cuticle slows the evaporation of water from a plant’s surface and provides some protection from insects.

Plant Diversities/Variations

A rigid cell wall made of cellulose surrounds the cell membrane in a plant cell.

Plant Diversities/Variations (cont.)

Cellulose is an organic compound made of chains of glucose molecules.

Many land plants also produce a chemical compound called lignin which strengthens cellulose and makes it more rigid.

Plant Diversities/Variations (cont.)

In some plants such as mosses, water and nutrients can move from cell to cell by the processes of osmosis and diffusion.

Plant Diversities/Variations (cont.)

Other plants such as grasses and trees have specialized tissues called vascular tissue.

Vascular tissue is composed of tubelike cells that transport water and nutrients in some plants.

Plant Diversities/Variations (cont.)

Brand X Pictures/PunchStock

Water carries the reproductive cells of aquatic plants from plant to plant.

Some plants have water-resistant seeds or spores that are part of their reproductive process.

Seeds and spores move through environments in different ways, including animals and environmental factors such as wind and water.

Plant Diversities/Variations (cont.)

Members of the plant kingdom are organized into groups called divisions.

Like all organisms, each plant has a two-word scientific name.

Plant Classification

Sugar MapleMagnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)

Acer saccharum

imagebroker/A

lamy

Plant Classification

One of the traits used in classifying plants is the presence or absence of

vascular tissue. Xylem and phloem are the most familiar,

but there are others.

Vascular plants: plants that have vascular tissue.

Nonvascular plants: plants that do not have vascular tissue.

Do you think that plants without vascular tissues are tall or short?

Why?

Another important trait used to classify plants is whether they

produce seeds. Nonvascular plants – seedless and reproduce by producing gametes in one stage of their life cycle and spores.

Vascular plants – some reproduce by gametes and spores & others by gametes and seeds.

Seedless plants do not have flowers.

Some seed plants have flowers that produce fruit with one or more seeds, but others, such as pine trees, produce their seeds in cones.

Plant Classification (cont.)

The 3 Major categories of plants

Non-vasuclarM oss

L ive rw ortsh orn w orts

Vascular w ithout Seedsfe rn s

w isk fe rn sg rou n d p in e

Vascular w ith Seedscon ife rs

m on oco tsd ico ts

P lan t D ivis ion s