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BIOLOGY OF PLANTS
Plants are alive, just like people. How do we know this? Living things all do certain things:
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They grow and die.
They need energy, nutrients, air, and water.
They produce young.
They are made up of cells.
They react to what's around them.
STUDENT: list 3 examples of living things
STUDENT: list 3 examples of NON-living things
Plant Adaptations
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Plants adapt to help them survive (live and grow) in different areas. Adaptations are special
characteristics that allow a plant or animal to live in a particular place. These adaptations might make it
very difficult for the plant to survive in a different place. This explains why certain plants are found in one
area, but not in another. You wouldn't see a cactus living in the Arctic. Nor would you see lots of really
tall trees living in grasslands.
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Here’s an example:
The Tropical Rainforest
The tropical rainforest is hot and it rains a lot, about 80 to 180 inches per year. This
amount of water can cause problems such as helping the growth of bacteria and fungi
which could be harmful to plants. Heavy rainfall also increases the risk of flooding, soil
erosion, and fast removal of nutrients and vitamins from the soil. Plants grow rapidly
and quickly use up any nutrients available. The result is poor soil. The tropical rainforest
is very thick with plant life. Not much sunlight is able to reach to the forest
floor. However, the plants at the top of the rainforest in the canopy must be able to
survive 12 hours of intense sunlight every day of the year. There is a great variety of
plant species in the tropical rainforest.
STUDENT: What are 3 things that make it difficult for a plant to live in the rainforest?
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Tropical Rainforest Plant Adaptations
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drip tips and waxy surfaces allow water to run off, to discourage growth of bacteria and fungi
some plants grow on other plants to reach the sunlight
plants have shallow roots to help capture nutrients from the top level of soil.
STUDENT: Choose ONE rainforest plant adaptation, CIRCLE it then use your imagination to illustrate what
that adaptation would look like—no “stick” drawings and color encouraged. LABEL and EXPLAIN
Explanation:
Use your notes to label the parts of this
flower. Be sure to include: stamen, pistil,
ovary, and anther. You will have one box left
over.
How Do Plants Get Pollinated?
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People can transfer pollen from one flower to another, but most plants are pollinated without any help from people.
Usually plants rely on animals or the wind to pollinate them.
When animals such as bees, butterflies, moths, flies, and hummingbirds pollinate plants, it's accidental. They are
not trying to pollinate the plant. Usually they are at the plant to get food. The animals accidentally rub against the
stamens and get pollen stuck all over themselves. When they move to another flower to feed, some of the pollen can
rub off onto this new plant's stigma.
Another way plants are pollinated is by the wind. The wind picks up pollen from one
plant and blows it onto another.
STUDENT: Name 5 living organisms that might pollinate a flower1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Seed Dispersal (makes plant populations bigger)
To disperse is a verb that means to spread farther.
After a plant has been pollinated, it will grow its own seeds inside of it. Plants have adapted some fast ways to spread
their seeds to far off places so their entire species will expand. You might think people are responsible for spreading
seeds but that is not true. People plant some seeds, but most plants don't rely on people. Plants rely on animals and
wind and water to help scatter their seeds.
Animal dispersal
Animals disperse seeds in several ways. First, some plants get tangled in animal fur
or feathers, and are carried to new places. Other plants produce their seeds inside
fruits that get eaten by an animal. The fruit is digested by the
animal, but the seeds pass through the digestive tract, and are
dropped in other locations when the animal goes to the
bathroom. Some animals bury seeds, like squirrels with
acorns, to save for later, but may not return to get the seed. It
can grow into a new plant.
Summarize the TWO ways that animals disperse seeds
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Wind dispersal
The kind of seeds which are often moved by the wind are smaller seeds that have wings or other hair-like or
feather-like structures. Plants that produce windblown seeds, like the dandelion, often produce lots of seeds to
ensure that some of the seeds are blown to areas where the seeds can grow.
Directions: Use the description above, your imagination or prior knowledge to draw a wind dispersing seed or
plant.
Floating in water
Many plants that live near water have seeds that can float, and are carried by water. Plants
living along streams and rivers have seeds that float downstream, and are carried by the
water to new places. The size of the seed does not matter for whether or not a seed can
float. Some very large seeds, like coconuts, can float. Some small seeds also float.
Directions: Apply your new knowledge--Why might islands have so many coconut trees on them?
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