Plant Adaptations
Hr 8 +Bio 3
Venus Fly Trap
http://www.botany.org/bsa/misc/carn.html
By: Alex Motley & Sophia Baik
Rapid Response
 A rapid response is not a tropism
because it doesn’t involve growth.
 A rapid response is a response to a
plants environment (ie. light and touch)
that takes place quickly and doesn’t
involve growth.
 Information from textbook
How the Fly Trap Works
 The insect triggers sensory hairs inside the fly
traps leaf causing the leaf to close.
 The hairs cause the leaf to close by sending
electrical signals to other cells resulting in a
change in osmotic pressure and cell wall
expansion, so the leaf snaps shut.
 Information from textbook
 Click Here for a movie of the Venus Fly Trap
Closing
Bamboo Reproduction
Reproduction by rhizomes
• Bamboo does not reproduce through
seeds, meaning they reproduce through
vegetative reproduction. Bamboo
reproduces by growing stalks from an
underground rhizome.
Rhizome
• Sometimes many stalks can be packed
tightly together on a single rhizome, and it
would be considered a single bamboo
plant.
• Because of this bamboo is one of the
fastest growing plant on earth.
http://www.bambubrasileiro.com/info/plantio/i1.html
Bishop Pine (Dormancy)
Nalini & Angela
Dormancy
• Bishop Pines uses fire to regenerate itself.
• Since their seeds are protected tightly,
they need heat to expose.
• When a fire burns a mature stand, the
existing trees are killed, but the seeds
released from their cones sprout quickly
on the freshly exposed soil.
Dormancy Cont.
• This allows the seeds to grow in a larger
area and larger species.
• Bishop pine is highly flammable, and
rarely survives a fire.
• They makeup for this because their seeds
germinate by fire or heat.
http://www.nps.gov/pore/parkmgmt/upload/firemanagement_visionfire_trailguide.pdf
Cypress Trees
Aquatic Adaptations
By: Alexis Eacret
Victoria Kopecky
Aquatic Adaptations
 Buttress Trunks- tress are wide and
swollen
 This helps hold the tree up in soggy soil
Continued…
 “Knees”- special
roots that stick up out
of the water
 These are organs
that connect the root
to the air
http://dcm2.enr.state.nc.us/wetlands/Coastal_Explorers/cpfmodule/s
wamp/swamp_plants1.htm
Ethylene Gas
By: Alice Kofman and Adam
Lawrence
Ethylene Gas
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Odorless, colorless gas that exists in
nature and is also created by man-made
sources
the largest producers are plant and plant
products which produce ethylene within
their tissues and release it into the
surrounding atmosphere
Controls the ripening and decay of fruit.
Some people put fruit in brown paper
bags, as ethylene gas builds up and
quickens the process of ripening
Fruits, vegetables and flowers contain
receptors which serve as bonding sites to
absorb free atmospheric ethylene
molecules
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/Xplore/login.jsp?url=http%3A%2F%2Fieeexplore.ieee.org
%2Fiel5%2F5162127%2F5162128%2F05163662.pdf%3Farnumber%3D5163662&au
thDecision=-203
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Peaches
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Split-pit fruits such as peaches produce a great
amount of ethylene gas, which is what initially
causes fruits to ripen or decay.
Since they have more ethylene, they ripen
faster.
It is important not to store
fruits that produce ethylene gas
together
http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Ethylene-Gas.htm
Joe and Ishani
Maple leaves
Abscission
• End of summer, Phytochrome in leaves absorbs less
light as days shorten and nights become longer.
• Chemical pathways for chlorophyll synthesis stops first.
When light destroys the remaining green pigment and
other pigments like yellow and orange appear.
• Glucose is trapped inside the leaves after
photosynthesis stop. Sunlight and cool nights cause
leaves to turn into a red color.
• Sugars, amino acids, and minerals like nitrogen,
phosphorus and potassium are transported from the
leaves to woody tissue.
• Chlorophyll is broken down which leave behind an
orange and yellow pigment.
• Leaf abscission is controlled by a complex system of
hormones, responding to lower temperatures and light
intensity and to shoter day length.
Winter dormancy
• Enters dormant state
• Tree leaves fall off and the stem will turn
brown
• To “winterize” your maple, fertilize around
the root zone in mid-fall, and saturate the
roots before the ground freezes.
Works cited
• Pictures:
http://www.desktoprating.com/wallpapers/n
ature-wallpapers-pictures/fall-of-autumnleaves-wallpaper.jpg
• http://bio.bd.psu.edu/plant_web/Aceraceae
/Sugar_Maple_03a_Leaf.jpg
• Information:
• http://www.butler.edu/herbarium/fallcolor/le
aveschange.htm
Joe and Ishani
Maple leaves
Abscission
• End of summer, Phytochrome in leaves absorbs less
light as days shorten and nights become longer.
• Chemical pathways for chlorophyll synthesis stops first.
When light destroys the remaining green pigment and
other pigments like yellow and orange appear.
• Glucose is trapped inside the leaves after
photosynthesis stop. Sunlight and cool nights cause
leaves to turn into a red color.
• Sugars, amino acids, and minerals like nitrogen,
phosphorus and potassium are transported from the
leaves to woody tissue.
• Chlorophyll is broken down which leave behind an
orange and yellow pigment.
• Leaf abscission is controlled by a complex system of
hormones, responding to lower temperatures and light
intensity and to shoter day length.
Winter dormancy
• Enters dormant state
• Tree leaves fall off and the stem will turn
brown
• To “winterize” your maple, fertilize around
the root zone in mid-fall, and saturate the
roots before the ground freezes.
Works cited
• Pictures:
http://www.desktoprating.com/wallpapers/n
ature-wallpapers-pictures/fall-of-autumnleaves-wallpaper.jpg
• http://bio.bd.psu.edu/plant_web/Aceraceae
/Sugar_Maple_03a_Leaf.jpg
• Information:
• http://www.butler.edu/herbarium/fallcolor/le
aveschange.htm
Mistletoe
By: Winnie Truong and Rachel
Yeom
Mistletoe-parasite
• Mistletoe plants grow on a wide range of
host trees, and commonly reduce their
growth but can kill them with heavy
infestation by sending out their roots.
• Almost all mistletoes are hemi-parasites,
bearing evergreen leaves that do some
photosynthesis, and using the host mainly
for water and mineral nutrients.
• Mistletoes take root in old, mature trees
weakening them by sucking their food and
water. When their berries ripen they
explode shooting out seeds to distances
50 feet. Seeds that land on young trees
and germinate will steal nutrients from the
saplings.
Bibliography
• http://riversaredamp.files.wordpress.com/
2006/12/mistletoe.jpg
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mistletoe
• http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news
/2002/12/1220_021226_mistletoe.html
Poison IvyThigmotropism
Spencer Cioci
Becca Schulte
Thigmotropism
 Thigmotropism is a type of tropism where a
plant responds to touch.
 The degree of change that a plant has with
respect to thigmotropism varies depending on
the plant.
 Some plant have a severe change due to touch
but others don’t.
Biology Book
Poison Ivy and
Thigmotropism
 Unlike normal plants, poison ivy grows
sideways and twists in circles as it grows.
 It will grow like this until it touches an object.
 Then it grabs onto the object and wraps around
it as it grows.
Biology Book
Seedless Oranges
YuM!!
By Jansen Baja and Dhru Dave
 Are made so there is no genetic
variation made with seeds so they can
make a perfect copy every time
Plant propagation
 In plant propagation horticulturists use cuttings, grafting, or
budding to make many identical copies of a plant or to
produce offspring from seedless plants
 Grafting is used with fruit trees where a branch from one
tree is cut and attached to another fruit tree. When done at
the right time when sap is running high the graft will easily
grow onto the parent tree using the tree as a source of
nutrition
 Book and http://www.wisegeek.com/how-are-seedlessfruits-and-vegetables-grown.htm
Strawberry and Stolons
Thuy and Naishadh
Vegetative Reproduction
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The terminal buds of
these runners (stolons)
turn up and produce
daughter plants some
distance away from the
parent, the new plants
developing adventitious
roots
http://www.biology-resources.com/documents/plants-vr-08runners.doc
http://www.life.illinois.edu/help/digitalflowers/picts/
Vegetative/24-%20Strawberry%20stolons.jpg
Cont.
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Known also as vegetative propagation or vegetative
cloning, strawberries grow new plants without
producing seeds or spores.
What people think of as strawberry seeds that cover
the berry are not in fact their primary means of
propagation.
One reason to grow from seed is if you want a nonhybridized or heirloom varietal of strawberry or if
you are not in any hurry to produce a crop in the
immediate season
http://www.ehow.com/howdoes_4911394_strawberry-plantsreproduce.html
Tobacco
By: Tess Dobkin and Jeff Bonin
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Nicotine from tobacco is extremely toxic to insects
Nonhazardous due to it short persistence
Effective against ground and soil pests such as root aphids, as
well as leaf-chewing insects
Tobacco teas sometimes prepared by home gardeners to
control garden pests
Any nicotine solution toxic enough to kill insects can also be
harmful to humans
Auxins cause Phototropism, tendency to bend toward light
Source:
http://www.canadiancountrywoman.com/garden/bugrecipes.ph
p
Petals
Source:
http://corditecountryshownotes.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/tobacc
o-nicotiana-tabacum.jpg