Introduction to Plants and Botany

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Introduction to Plants and Botany © Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC © Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC NOT FOR SALE OR DISTRIBUTION NOT FOR SALE OR DISTRIBUTION © Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC © Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC NOT FOR SALE OR DISTRIBUTION NOT FOR SALE OR DISTRIBUTION © Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC © Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC NOT FOR SALE OR DISTRIBUTION NOTCHAPTER FOR SALE OR DISTRIBUTION 1 © Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC © Jones & BartlettOUTLINE Learning, LLC NOT FOR SALE OR DISTRIBUTION NOT FOR SALE OR DISTRIBUTION Introduction to • Concepts • Plants Plants and Botany • Scientific Method © Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC • Areas Where© Jones the Scientific & Bartlett Method Learning, LLC NOT FOR SALE OR DISTRIBUTION Is InappropriateNOT FOR SALE OR DISTRIBUTION LEARNING OBJECTIVES • Using Concepts to Understand Plants After reading this chapter, students will be able to: • Origin and Evolution of Plants • Recognize the relationship between plants and climate change. • Diversity of Plant Adaptations • Describe© Jones the difficulty & Bartlett in creatingLearning, a singular LLC definition of a plant. © Jones• Plants & BartlettVersus the Learning, Study of Plants LLC • ListNOT four fundamentalFOR SALE tenets OR DISTRIBUTIONof the scientific method. NOT BoxFOR 1-1 PlantsSALE and OR People: DISTRIBUTION Plants and • Give an example of an area where the scientific method is People, Including Students inappropriate. Box 1-2 Plants and People: The • Summarize the fundamental concepts related to the study of plants. Characteristics of Life © Jones &• OrderBartlett the process Learning, of evolution LLC from early prokaryote© to Jones plant. & BartlettBox Learning, 1-3 Plants and LLC People: Algae and NOT FOR SALE OR DISTRIBUTION NOT FOR SALE OR DISTRIBUTION • Provide two examples of plant adaptations. Global Warming • Explain the difference between observation and interpretation. © Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC © Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC NOT FOR SALE OR DISTRIBUTION NOT FOR SALE OR DISTRIBUTION Chapter Opener Image: People and animals must Did You Know? have oxygen to live. Without oxygen, we would die of asphyxiation. The plants here are photosynthesizing • Early humans were weaving fibers of flax plants into rough in the sunshine, producing the oxygen we need. The roots of these trees hold the soil in place, even on steep clothing© Jones as early & Bartlettas 36,000 yearsLearning, ago. LLC © Jonesslopes. & Without Bartlett the trees, Learning,rain would wash all theLLC soil • Vanilla,NOT chocolate, FOR SALE coffee, OR tea, DISTRIBUTION cinnamon, and mint are all made NOT FORaway leaving SALE just bare OR rock andDISTRIBUTION this river would flood from plants. after every rain or be almost dry when there is a dry • Plant products kill tens of thousands of people every year, not period. Global warming is causing less snowfall (and only through accidental poisoning but through cancer caused more snow melt) in mountains; this alters river flow and the suitability of the area for plants and animals. by smoking tobacco. © Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC © Jones & Bartlett Learning,Worthington Glacier, LLC Alaska. • Science and the scientific method are a simple set of accepted rules NOT FOR SALEabout the OR ways DISTRIBUTION in which evidence can be gathered and NOTprocessed. FOR SALE OR DISTRIBUTION 1 © Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC. NOT FOR SALE OR DISTRIBUTION. In addition to respiration and burning, carbon dioxide ❚ Concepts is added to the air as volcanoes erupt and as magma (molten © Jones Earth& Bartlett is becoming Learning, hotter, floodin LLC g is more frequent, and© Jonesrock) &comes Bartlett upward Learning, at mid-ocean LLC ridges between the giant NOT FORweather SALE is morORe DISTRIBUTIONviolent because we burn coal, oil, and otherNOT tectonicFOR SALE plates tha ORt car DISTRIBUTIONry the continents on Earth’s surface. fossil fuels, which releases carbon dioxide into the atmo- Carbon dioxide is also removed as certain algae build shells sphere. Carbon dioxide is one of several greenhouse gases of calcium carbonate: All limestone rock on Earth is com- that allow visible sunlight to pass through the atmosphere posed of vast numbers of microscopic shells of certain algae, and strike Earth’s surface, heating it. The warmer rocks, soil, clams, and other marine animals. At times in the past volca- and water give off infrar©ed Jones radiation & back Bartlett out towa Learning,rd space, LLCnoes were very active and added© Jones carbon dioxide& Bartlett faster thaLearning,n LLC but greenhouse gases NOTabsorb FORinfrar edSALE light ORand heaDISTRIBUTIONt the photosynthesis could removeNOT it, cau singFOR Ear SALEth to hea ORt up. DISTRIBUTIONAt atmosphere. It is a simple relationship: The higher the con- other times they were inactive and photosynthesis outpaced centration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the hotter volcanism and Earth cooled. the climate. As Earth becomes hotter, more water evaporates Neither heating nor cooling has ever been severe enough out of the oceans into the air, where it then falls as heavy to risk killing all life on Earth. Instead, when Earth was rains,© causing Jones floodin & Bartlettg throughout Learning, the world. LLC The warmer warm, rains© were Jones also hea & vyBartlett (because Learning,of the warm oceaLLCns), air alsoNOT causes FOR snow SALE and ice onOR mountain DISTRIBUTION tops to melt faster, so plants grewNOT fast FORer and SALEmore abun ORdantly, DISTRIBUTION absorbing more increasing flooding. Every summer brings more mudslides carbon dioxide. When plants take most of the carbon dioxide in California, larger floods on the Mississippi and other out of the air, Earth cools and dries, and plant growth slows. rivers, and more violent tornadoes and hurricanes. This is Today, we are at an unusually cool period in Earth’s his- © Jones &global Bartlett warming, Learning, also known LLCas global climate change. © Jonestory. Plants& Bartlett have tak enLearning, so much carb LLCon dioxide out of the air What does this have to do with botany? Everything. Plants there is almost none to trap the sun’s heat. We are actually NOT FORin SALE the sun ORphotosynthesize; DISTRIBUTION that is, they take carbon dioxideNOT inFOR an ice SALE age righ ORt now DISTRIBUTION, known as the Pleistocene Ice Age, out of the air and use it to make the chemicals that compose but we are in its warm period (called the Holocene warm their bodies. Most of the weight of leaves, stems, roots, flow- period), known as an interglacial period (cold periods of ice ers, fruits, and seeds is carbon that was carbon dioxide in the ages are called glacials because glaciers are then common on air before plants captured© it.Jones As plants & phoBartletttosynthesize, Learning, they LLCalmost all mountains). Is it bad© thaJonest Earth & is unusBartlettually cool? Learning, LLC remove carbon dioxide from the air and lock it into their bod- Should we be burning even more petroleum and coal to heat ies, helping to keep EarthNOT cool FORand count SALEeracting OR the DISTRIBUTION warm- it up? NOT FOR SALE OR DISTRIBUTION ing we are causing. An important question now is “Can plants The current coolness is exceptional, but it is the climate remove enough carbon dioxide from the air to counteract the in which we evolved and became distinct from the other damage we are doing?” The answer is “probably not.” great apes. It is also the climate in which most of our food The© Jonesbalance betw & Bartletteen the additio Learning,n of atmospheric LLC carbon plants evolved:© Jones Wheat, rye& ,Bartlett barley, and Learning, corn are gras LLCses that dioxide by us and its removal by plants is affected by several flourish under cool, dry conditions. Grasses grow on open, factorsNOT that areFOR easy SALEto unders ORtand. DISTRIBUTION All animals, fungi, bacte- treeless plains,NOT but FOR when EarSALEth is warm OR DISTRIBUTIONmost of its surface is ria, and other nonphotosynthetic organisms produce carbon covered by forests, and grasses do not grow well in the shade dioxide just by being alive. As our bodies “burn” our food below trees. You may know that a significant step in the evo- (technically, as they respire it), carbon dioxide is produced; lution of us modern humans is that, unlike our ancestors therefore, animals (including humans) have been adding who were adapted to living in trees, we gradually evolved to © Jones &carbon Bartlett dioxide Learning, to the atmosphere LLC for billions of years. The© Joneswalk upright& Bartlett on the groLearning,und, freeing LLC our forelimbs (our arms) NOT FORreal SALE problem OR began DISTRIBUTION when our ancestors discovered fire:NOT suchFOR that SALE we could OR use DISTRIBUTION our hands for holding and manipulat- We then began burning wood and coal and, more recently, ing tools. We did not come down out of the trees until open petroleum, natural gas, and other fossil fuels, adding carbon grasslands finally appeared on Earth, and those came about dioxide to the air in huge quantities. Until our mastery of in the last 30 million years as Earth became cooler, drier, and fire, plants were actually taking carbon dioxide out of the air the forests receded, all due to plant photosynthesis. faster than our respiration© Joneswas adding & it.Bartlett Learning, LLCMore recently, we people© beganJones to cul& tivateBartlett our ownLearning, LLC Photosynthesis origNOTinated FOR2.8 bil lionSALE years OR ago, DISTRIBUTIONand the food. 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