Transcript Course Introduction - Jan. 7.

Biol/Envs 160 – Plants
Taught by Stuart Allison
Winter 2013
http://courses.knox.edu/bio160/
What is botany?
Botany is the
branch of biology
concerned with the
study of plants – it
is a very old
science
Theophrastus – 370-285 BCE
Botanic garden at University of Padua
Medical School – 16th Century Illustration
Subfields of Botany
• Plant molecular biology – study of molecular and
submolecular processes carried out by plants – much focus
on photosynthesis as unique to plants
• Plant physiology – study of how plants capture and
transform energy and how they grow and develop
• Plant cytology – study of cell structure, function, and cell
life history
• Plant morphology – study of the form of plants
• Plant anatomy – study of the internal structure of plants
• Plant classification – may also be called taxonomy or
systematics – how plants are evolutionarily classified and
named
Subfields of Botany cont’d
• Plant genetics – study of heredity and variation
• Ecology – study of relationships between organisms and
their environment – plant ecology focuses on relationships
of plants to their environment
• Paleobotany – study of biology and evolution of fossil
plants
• Economic botany – study of the uses of plants by people
• Ethnobotany – study of traditional uses of plants by
various groups of people
• Agronomy – study of soil management and raising crops
Plants are:
• multicellular, eukaryotes
(organisms with a nucleus
and subcellular
organelles), with cellulose
cell walls, almost all
plants are capable of
carrying out
photosynthesis using
chlorophyll b and carotene
pigments
Plants first evolved on land
• Plants originated on
land and many of the
adaptations that make
them plants arose as a
response to life on
land – today we
recognize four main
groups of land plants –
about 280,000 species
Four main groups of land plants
• bryophytes – true mosses, hornworts, and
liverworts
• pteridophytes – ferns, club mosses,
horsetails
• gymnosperms – seed plants with a “naked”
seed – conifers, cycads, ginkgos, and
gnetophytes
• angiosperms – seed plants with a “covered”
or “vessel” seed – the flowering plants
Mosses - Bryophyta
Bracken Fern - Pteridophyte
Sword Fern Sori
Equisetum – Common Horsetail
- Pteridophyte
Lycopodium – Big Club Moss Pteridophyte
Gymnosperm - Ponderosa Pine
Cycad – Sago-Palm Gymnosperm
Gingko biloba - Gymnosperm
Gnetophyta – Ephedra –Mormon
tea - Gymnosperm
Gnetophyta –
Welwitschia - Gymnosperm
Rosa californica – Angiosperm
Columbia Lily – Angiosperm
Plants:
• are the base of food chains for almost all
life on earth
• modify the atmosphere by releasing oxygen
• store tremendous amounts of carbon in their
bodies
• Thus knowledge of plants is essential as we
deal with environmental problems
Plants:
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constitute the structure of our landscapes
help form soils
shelter animals
control local climates
refresh the atmosphere,
and are even capable of cleaning up some
pollutants.
• Plants are able to do all of those things
because they are so fundamentally different
from animals.
“An appreciation of plants is the
sign of a superior intellect.”
Plant generations can cross
thousands of years
Methuselah – a Judean Date Palm
Arctic lupine
Plants have one major limitation
Mycorrhizae – association
between a plant root and fungi
Pollination
Coevolution
• where two or more species evolve in concert with
each other so that as one changes, the other
changes in response to that change
• “In a broad sense, biological coevolution is ‘the
change of a biological object triggered by the
change of a related object’.”
• “Coevolution does not imply mutual dependence.
The host of a parasite, or prey of a predator, does
not depend on its enemy for survival.”
» Quotes from Wikipedia
Human-Dog Coevolution
Human-Dog Coevolution
Apple – desire for sweetness
The sweetest fruit?
Detail from ‘The Fall of Man’ by Goltzius
Tulip – desire for beauty
Cannabis – desire for
intoxication
Potato – desire for control