OVERVIEW

Introduction to Plants & Botany

Plant Physiology

PLANTS

• Plants, also called green plants, are living organisms of the kingdom Plantae including such multicellular groups as flowering plants, conifers, ferns and mosses, as well as, depending on definition

SCIENTIFIC METHOD

• Source of information• Phenomena that can be studied• Constancy and universality• Basis

PLANT PHYSIOLOGY

It is the branch of science that deals with plant functions – the dynamic processes that account

for plant life.

Significance: plant growth, metabolism and reproduction

Plant structures: cellular, tissues and organ levels

CHARACTERISTICS

1. Plants are photoautotrophic and non-

motile organisms2. Basis functional structure

of plants3. Plant bioenergetics

(Physical and chemical laws)

4. Plants metabolism5. Plants must have a means of storing and using information6. Plants reproduce7. Genetic information8. Plants must survive in their environment9. Plants are highly integrated organisms10. Plants interaction

DEFINITION

• Plant physiology is a subdiscipline of botany concerned with the functioning, or physiology of plants.• Closely related fields include:• Plant morphology (structure of plants),

• Plant ecology (interactions with the environment),

• Phytochemistry ( biochemistry of plants),

• Cell biology, and Molecular biology

DEFINITION:FUNDAMENTAL PROCESSES SUCH A:

• Photosynthesis, respiration,• plant nutrition, plant hormone functions,• Tropisms, nastic movements,• photoperiodism, photomorhogenesis,• Circadian rhythms, environmental stress

physiology,• Seed germination, dormancy and • stomata function and transpiration, • both part of plant water relations, are

studied by plant physiologists.

SCOPE OF PLANT PHYSIOLOGY

• The field of plant physiology includes the study of all the internal activities of plants—those chemical and physical processes associated with life as they occur in plants. This includes study at many levels of scale of size and time.

• At the smallest scale are molecular interactions of photosynthesis and internal diffusion of water, minerals, and nutrients.

• At the largest scale are the processes of plant development, seasonality, dormancy, and reproductive control.

Scope of Plant Physiology

Major subdisciplines of plant physiology include:

Phytochemistry (the study of the biochemistry of plants) and phytopathology (the study of disease in plants).

Scope of Plant Physiology

The scope of plant physiology as a discipline may be divided into several major areas of research.

BIOCHEMISTRY OF PLANTS

• The list of simple ELEMENTS of which plants are primarily constructed — carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, calcium, phosphorous, etc.

• The fundamental atomic components of plants are the same as for all life; only the details of the way in which they are assembled differs.

BIOCHEMISTRY OF PLANTS

• Properties:1. Pigments are used by plants to absorb or

detect light, and are extracted by humans for use in dyes. • Other plant products may be used for the

manufacture of commercially important rubber or biofuel.

2. Plants with pharmacological activity, such as:• salicylic acid (aspirin), morphine, and

digitalis.

MACRONUTRIENTS. ELEMENT FORM OF UPTAKE NOTES (NECESSARY IN LARGE QUANTITIES)

• NITROGEN NO3–, NH4+ Nucleic acids, proteins, hormones, etc.

• OXYGEN O2 H2O Cellulose, starch, other organic compounds

• CARBON CO2 Cellulose, starch, other organic compounds• HYDROGEN H2O Cellulose, starch, other organic

compounds• POTASSIUM K+ Cofactor in protein synthesis, water

balance, etc.• CALCIUM Ca2+ Membrane synthesis and stabilization • MAGNESIUM Mg2+ Element essential for chlorophyll• PHOSPHORUS H2PO4– Nucleic acids, phospholipids, ATP • SULFURE SO42– Constituent of proteins and coenzymes

MICRONUTRIENTS. ELEMENT FORM OF UPTAKE NOTES (NECESSARY IN SMALL

QUANTITIES)

• CHLORINE Cl- Photosystem II and stomata function

• IRON Fe2+, Fe3+ Chorophyll formation• BORON HBO3 Crosslinking pectin

• MANGANESE Mn2+ Activity of some enzymes • ZINC Zn2+ Involved in the synthesis of enzymes &

chlorophyll • COPPER Cu+ Enzymes for lignin synthesis • MOLYBDENUM MoO4

2- Nitrogen fixation, reduction of nitrates

• NICKEL Ni2+ Enzymatic cofactor in the metabolism of nitrogen compounds

EVOLUTION OF PLANTS

EARLIEST CELLS

NEXT DISCUSSION CHAPTER 2

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