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Plants and the Environment. Osamah Hindi 8A. Introduction. The structure of a plant is a complicated thing, a well-oiled machine with the goal of surviving. Each part of the plant has a purpose, and everything carries its fair share of weight.
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Plants and the Environment Osamah Hindi 8A
Introduction • The structure of a plant is a complicated thing, a well-oiled machine with the goal of surviving. • Each part of the plant has a purpose,and everything carries its fair share of weight. • Plants undergo some serious stages, such as Photosynthesis, a stage that nourishes the plant.
Background Knowledge • Primary Consumer – An organism that consumes the plant directly • Food Web: This is many food chains intermingled. • Top Predator: Something not eaten alive and is highest on the food web. • Secondary Predator: Eats and is eaten as well • Predator: an animal/organism that targets its prey and eats it • Food Chain shows: Who eats what? Flow of energy in the ecosystem • Decomposer: Bacteria and Fungi that “eat away” dead material, cleans the earth of dead material and recycles materials. • Scavenger: An animal that feeds on dead carcasses • Primary Consumer: Direct consumer of the producer (plant) • Producers Primary Consumer (herbivore) Secondary Consumer (carnivore or omnivore)
How are plants producers? • Plants use sunlight and water, in a process called photosynthesis, to create food (glucose), which is then converted into starch.
Food Web? • Rather than being called a food chain, it is called a food web, since there is not a precise order of power, and some animals have different preferences. For example, look at the game rock paper scissors. Rock beats scissors, but not paper, and scissors beats paper but not rock, this being a web, not a chain.
Human Activities that affect the food web • Hunting: • Hunting of animals could reduce a particular species, which would then upset food chain. For example, the hunting of deer or birds reduces the food of predators and therefore their numbers. • Pollution: • Water pollution – example of oil spills and garbage thrown in the water bodies can kill small animals/plants/algae thus affecting the food chain. • Air Pollution/Acid rain – could harm/kill organism • Soil Pollution: in relation to acid rain/water pollution could affect plant growth • Deforestation: • Trees/Plants start of a food chain • Habitat destruction • More Co2 less 02 • Global Warming • Trees cut, carbon dioxide increases, temperature of earth increases, flooding, etc.
Plant Adaptations • Different plants have adapted different forms to suit their surroundings, just like animals. For example: Desert Plants: • Thick stems to store water • No leaves or small leaves so less transpiration • Long roots to go deeper in the soil to suck more water • Desert Plant is adapted to it’s environment, temperature is high, less available water.
Plant Adaptations Tropical Rain forest: • Some plants grow on other plants to reach the sunlight • Some plants climb on others to reach the sunlight • Smooth bark and smooth or waxy flowers speed the run off of water • Plants have shallow roots to help capture nutrients from the top level of soil.
Plant Adaptations Tundra: • Plants are dark in color; some are even red this helps absorb sun light/ solar heat. • Some plants are covered with hair, which helps them keep warm. • Tundra plants are small (usually less than 12 inches tall) and low-growing due to lack of nutrients, because being close to the ground helps keep the plants from freezing, and because the roots cannot penetrate the permafrost. • Some plants grow in clomps and groups to protect one another from the wind and cold.
Plant Adaptations Aquatic (In Water): • Underwater leaves and stems are flexible to move with water currents • Some Plants produce seeds that can float • Some plants have air spaces in their stems to help hold the plant up in the water • Some Plants have leaves that float on top of the water exposing themselves to the sunlight.
Global Warming • Global warming is the process of the heating of the earth, and slowly changing the worlds temperature, even by a mere degree or two, have a large impact. The more Co2 (carbon dioxide), in the air, the more the Ozone layer is damaged. The Ozone layer protects us from the hot rays of the sun, and we are burning holes in it, melting ice, causing floods, killing animals, and so on. We can stop global warming by reducing the amount of Carbon Dioxide we emit, meaning looking for different alternatives for energy such as solar energy.
Types of Soil • Sandy • Silt • Clay • Loam • Peat
Description of Soils • Sandy soil has large particles, and cannot carry water through it, plants in sandy soil do not receive as much nutrients as plants in other soils. • Silty Soil is much smoother than sandy soil because of its small particles, when it is wet, it is very slippery. It is considered ideal for gardens, and so on.
Description of Soils • Clay is like sand, and is used to make pottery most of the time, and so is not used for planting. • Loam clay is all gardeners favorite. It’s a mixture of silt, sand and clay, and is especially known to help plants absorb the nutrients from it.
Description of Soils • Peat is a unique soil, that can be used as a fuel when burned. It is in some parts of the world, including Ireland and Finland. Peat soil is not used for planting considering that it bad for planting.
pH levels of soil • Measuring the pH level of soil is very easy, as you must pour the universal indicator on it, then look at the color and compare to the color check for the level on the pH scale.
Conditions necessary for plant growth • Sunlight/Light • Water • Minerals • Air (carbon dioxide for photosynthesis, oxygen for energy) • Soil – Type, pH of soil
How does the water go up? • Inside of the stem of the plant, there are two tubes that lie by each other, however do not touch. The Xylem tube and the Phloem tube. The Phloem tube carries up food, sugars, and so on to grow. The Xylem tube takes water and minerals up to the leaves in the transpiration stream. These two tubes extend all the way into the roots.
Bibliography • http://www.biologycorner.com/resources/foodweb1.gif • http://www.phschool.com/science/biology_place/biocoach/images/plants/plant.gif • http://www.typesofsoil.org/ http://www.quality-drinking-water.com/images/pHscale.jpg
