Botany Supplemental Readings
- Page ID
- 232960
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Here you will find a selection of botany readings for Biology 221 at the College of San Mateo. The text examines principles of plant biology with emphasis on structure/function, physiology, evolution, comparative diversity, reproduction and ecology.
- 1: Introduction to Botany
- Botany is the study of plants, and there are many applied aspects for how scientists explore the plant world. Botanists study plant structure, growth, reproduction, metabolism, development, and evolutionary history. The scientific method is an important part for how a botanist conducts scientific plant exploration.
- 2: Cells and Tissues
- A cell is the smallest unit of a living thing. Organisms can be unicellular or multicellular. Thus, cells are the basic building blocks of all organisms. Several plant cells of one kind that interconnect with each other and perform a shared function form tissues.
- 3: Roots
- Roots are an important plant organ. They anchor the plant, transport water, minerals, and sugars, and store excess nutrients.
- 4: Stems
- The stem is an organ of the shoot system that functions in support, conduction, photosynthesis, and storage.
- 5: Leaves
- Leaves are the organs of the shoot system adapted for photosynthesis. They often consist of a petiole and a blade. Leaves differ with respect to their arrangement on the venation, and shape. Internally, leaves consist of three main tissues: epidermis, mesophyll, and vascular bundles. Some leaves are modified for other functions such as defense, storage, or attachment.
- 6: Flowers and Fruits
- Flowers are specialized reproductive structures produced by angiosperms. These structures are composed of highly modified leaves in distinct whorls. The sterile whorls, the calyx and corolla, comprise the perianth. Pollen is produced by the androecium and ovules are produced in the gynoecium. Floral formulas are used to describe the composition and morphology of these whorls. An inflorescence involves the production of multiple florets in place of a flower.
- 7: Photosynthesis and Respiration
- Photosynthesis is the process by which plants, algae, and photosynthetic bacteria capture carbon dioxide and synthesize sugars using light energy. Oxygen is released as a byproduct in this process. There are two steps of photosynthesis: the light-dependent reactions and the light-independent reactions. Sugars are commonly broken down to release usable energy through the process of aerobic cellular respiration.
- 8: Water Relations
- The structure of plant roots, stems, and leaves facilitates the transport of water, nutrients, and photosynthates throughout the plant. The phloem and xylem are the main tissues responsible for this movement. Water potential, evapotranspiration, and stomatal regulation influence how water and nutrients are transported in plants. To understand how these processes work, we must first understand the energetics of water potential.
- 9: Plant Growth and Regulation
- Animals can respond to environmental factors by moving to a new location. Plants, however, are rooted in place and must respond to the surrounding environmental factors. Plants have sophisticated systems to detect and respond to light, gravity, temperature, and physical touch. Receptors sense environmental factors and relay the information to effector systems—often through intermediate chemical messengers—to bring about plant responses.
- 10: Systematics
- By following pathways of similarities and changes—both visible and genetic—scientists seek to map the evolutionary past of how life developed from single-celled organisms to the tremendous collection of creatures that have germinated, crawled, floated, swam, flown, and walked on this planet.
- 11: Early-Diverging Land Plants
- Bryophytes were the first group of plants to evolve on land, followed by the seedless vascular plants. These early plants, accompanied by their fungal mutualists and other microbes, transformed the rocky terrestrial landscape into an ecosystem with stratified soils and complex biotic communities. Synapomorphies of bryophytes derive from the challenges of life on land, while those of seedless vascular plants relate to increases in height and opportunities for meiosis (i.e. competition).
- 12: Seed Plants
- Seeds represent one of the most important innovations in plant evolution: a protected, nutrient-supplied embryo with the ability to await appropriate conditions for germination. Seeds and pollen allowed plants to limit their reliance on water for completion of their life cycle. The first plants to evolve seeds were the gymnosperms, which grew wider and taller with secondary growth. Angiosperms then improved upon seed dispersal and pollination strategies with the evolution of fruits and flowers.
- 13: Photosynthetic Protista
- Photosynthetic protists have derived their chloroplasts from multiple endosymbiotic events. Dinoflagellates, brown algae, and diatoms derived their chloroplasts from the secondary endosymbiosis of a red alga. Red algae, green algae, and plants derived their chloroplasts from the primary endosymbiosis of a cyanobacterium.
- 14: Fungi
- Kingdom Fungi includes an enormous variety of living organisms. While scientists have identified about 150,000 species of fungi, this is only a fraction of the several million species of fungi likely present on Earth. Organisms in this group are heterotrophic eukaryotes that eat by external digestion, then absorption. Fungi can be unicellular (yeasts) or composed of filamentous cells called hyphae, which taken together form a thallus called the mycelium.
- 15: Ecology and Conservation
- Ecology is the study of organisms and their interactions with the living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic) environment. Plant ecologists study life in a variety of biomes. They ask questions about populations, communities, or ecosystems. Conservation biologist are concerned about the health of an ecosystem and the protection of organisms on earth.