ESO 4 B&G 5

Plant Physiology

What to Learn

  • Plant nutrition: absorption and transport of nutrients, transpiration, photosynthesis, respiration.
  • Plant reproduction: the flower, pollination, fertilization, seed dispersal, germination.
  • Plant interaction: plant hormones and growth.

Key Information

Mind Map: Events after fertilisation
Source

Videos

 

Plant Nutrition
Zoom into a leaf

Zoom into a leaf

Watch the surface and the inside of a leaf progressively magnified by an electron microscope.

Photosynthesis

Photosynthesis

Learn how photosynthesis is performed inside the chloroplasts.

Produced by Britannica.com

Respiration

Respiration

Learn if and when a plant respires, absorbing CO2 and producing O2.

Produced by Britannica.com

Plant Reproduction
Plant fertilization

Plant fertilization

Learn how male and female gametes fuse in plants and what happens afterwards.

Produced by Britannica.com

Double fertilization in flowering plants

Double fertilization in flowering plants

Detailed view of the process of fertilization in plants.

Reproduction of the pine tree

Reproduction of the pine tree

Learn the specificities of the reproduction process in the gymnosperms.

Produced by Britannica.com

Plant Interaction and Growth
Plant hormones and growth

Plant hormones and growth

Learn how plant hormones control their growth towards the light.

Produced by Britannica.com

Images

 

Activities

Questions: Plant Transpiration
Source lesson
  1. Which are the two physical processes that allow the loss of water in the leaves?
  2. "If a plant wants to obtain water, it has to lose water". Is this assertion true? Why?
  3. Why is it good for a plant to lose water by transpiration?
  4. Why is it bad for a plant to lose water by transpiration?
  5. Why is transpiration important to keep a plant upright?
  6. How does transpiration make the replication of DNA possible?
  7. Where is the boundary layer thicker: around the leaves of a cactus or around the leaves of a poplar? Why?
  8. How does the rate of transpiration change when you take a plant from inside a house to a garden? Why?
  9. How does the rate of transpiration change when you start boiling water in the same room where you have a plant? Why?
Questions: Plant Reproduction
  1. There are two ways in which a plant can be hermaphrodite. Which ones?
  2. What is the minimum composition of a male flower?
  3. The anthers of grasses are very big and dangle out of the flower. Do you expect these flowers to have a colourful big corolla? Why?
  4. Which one of the three main parts of a pistil is the least necessary? Why?
  5. How many nuclei does each pollen grain have when it is fully developed?
  6. What is the mission of the tube nucleus of a pollen grain?
  7. There is one egg-cell inside each _______________. One ovary can contain one or several _______________.
  8. When fertilized, the ovules develop into _______________ and the ovaries that contain them develop into _______________.
  9. What is the micropyle?
  10. Why is plant fertilization called "double fertilization"?
  11. What are the main components of a seed? What is the function of each?
  12. How can a fleshy fruit help the dispersal of its seeds?