Introduction To Botany

An Introduction to the
Science of Botany
Why study botany?
• Botany permeates our everyday life.
Overgrazing in Africa
LEARNING OBJECTIVE 1
• Briefly describe the field of botany, and

give short definitions of at least five
subdisciplines of plant biology
KEY TERMS
• BOTANY The scientific study of plants;

also called plant biology
Subdisciplines 1
• Plant molecular biology

• Structures and functions of important biological
molecules (proteins, nucleic acids)
• Plant cell biology

• Structures, functions, and life processes of
plant cells
Subdisciplines 2
• Plant physiology
• How plants function (photosynthesis, mineral
nutrition)
• Plant genetics
• Plant heredity and variation
Subdisciplines 3
• Plant ecology
• Interrelationships among plants, and between
plants ands their environment
• Summarize and discuss the features of

plants and other organisms that
distinguish them from nonliving things
Levels of Biological Organization
Atoms Biosphere
Hydrogen Oxygen
Molecule
Ecosystem
Water
Community
Macromolecule
Chloroplast
Population
Organelle
Cell
Epidermis
Organism
Tissue
Organ
Fig. 1-3, p. 9
Characteristics of Living Things 1
• Organization
• Plants and other organisms are highly
organized with cells as their basic building
blocks
• Energy
• Plants and other organisms take in and
use energy
Plant Cells
-the basic functional

and structural
building block of
living things
• PHOTOSYNTHESIS
• Biological process that includes capture of light
energy and its transformation into chemical

energy of organic molecules that are
manufactured from carbon dioxide and water
CELLULAR RESPIRATION
• Cellular process in which energy of organic
molecules is released for biological work

• All living things get the energy they need to
live from a chemical reaction

called respiration. This process needs
glucose as a starting point.
• respiration and photosynthesis are
opposites
Photosynthesis
• Importance of Photosynthesis
The process is as important for the humans and

animals as it is for plants. Other than glucose, which
is an important source of carbohydrates, even
proteins, fats, and water-soluble sugars are the
products of photosynthesis. We cannot produce
these nutrients on our own, and hence have to
depend directly on plants, or other animals (which
feed on these plants) to derive them. Plants, being
the only producers, have a crucial role to play in
any food chain.
• Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/photosynthesis-for-kids.html

• Interaction with environment

• Plants respond to stimuli in their environment
• Plants undergo growth and development
• Reproduction
• Plants form new individuals by asexual or
sexual reproduction
Root Growth and Gravity
Response to Stimuli
Germination
Asexual Reproduction
• Heredity
• DNA molecules transmit genetic information
from one generation to the next in plants and
other organisms
• Evolution
• Plants and other organisms evolve
• Populations change or adapt to survive in
changing environments
Adaptation
KEY TERMS
• DEOXYRIBONUCLEIC ACID (DNA)

• A nucleic acid present in a cell’s
chromosomes that contains genetic
information
• EVOLUTION
• Cumulative genetic changes in a population of
organisms from generation to generation

• NATURAL SELECTION
• Mechanism of evolution (Charles Darwin)
• Tendency of organisms that have favorable
adaptations to their environment to survive and

become parents of next generation
• Distinguish among the six kingdoms and

three domains, and give representative
organisms for each
Euglena
Six-Kingdom Classification 1
1. Archaea
2. Bacteria
3. Protista
• protozoa, algae, water molds, slime molds
Six-Kingdom Classification 2
4. Fungi
• molds, yeasts
5. Animalia
6. Plantae
Three-Domain Classification
• Archaea
• Kingdom archaea
• Bacteria
• Kingdom bacteria
• Eukarya
• All other kingdoms
Kingdoms and Domains
Three Domains:
Bacteria Archaea Eukarya
Six Kingdoms:
Bacteria Archaea Protista Plantae Animalia Fungi
Prokaryotes (lack Prokaryotes; Eukaryotes; Eukaryotes; Eukaryotes; Eukaryotes;

membrane- unicellular; mainly multicellular; multicellular; most
bound microscopic; unicellular or photosynthetic; heterotrophic; multicellular;
organelles); most live in simple life cycle with most move heterotrophic;
unicellular; extreme multicellular; alternation of about by absorb
most are environments; maybe generations; muscular nutrients;
heterotrophic differ in heterotrophic cell walls of contraction; do not photo-
(obtain food by biochemistry or photosynthetic; cellulose
nervous system synthesize;
eating other and in cell wall include protozoa, coordinates cell walls of
organisms), structure algae, and slime responses to chitin
but some are from bacteria molds stimuli
photosynthetic
or
chemosyntheti
c
Fig. 1-11, p. 14
KEY TERMS
• KINGDOM
• A broad taxonomic category made up of
related phyla; many biologists currently
recognize six kingdoms of living organisms
• DOMAIN
• A taxonomic category that includes one or
more kingdoms
Classification (Binomial System)
KEY TERMS
• SPECIES
• A group of organisms with similar structural
and functional characteristics
• In nature, they breed only with one another
and have a close common ancestry
• Summarize the main steps in the scientific

method, and explain how science differs from
many other human endeavors
The Scientific Method 1
1. Recognize a problem
• or an unanswered question
• Why plants shoots grow away from gravity
or toward sunlight, while roots grow into the
soil in the direction of gravity?
2. Develop a hypothesis
• to explain the problem
3. Design and perform an experiment
• to test the hypothesis
2. Develop a hypothesis
• to explain the
problem
gravitropism
Amyloplasts
Statolith
3. Design and perform an

experiment
• to test the hypothesis
4. Analyze and interpret the data

• to reach a conclusion
5. Share new knowledge

• with the scientific community
KEY TERMS
• HYPOTHESIS
• An educated guess (based on previous
observations) that may be true and is testable by
observation and experimentation
• THEORY
• A widely accepted explanation supported by a
large body of observations and experiments
Assignment
1. What is prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells?
2. Define the following: paleobotany, bryology,
agronomy, horticulture, forestry & economic
botany.
3. What is gravitropism?
4. What is Amyloplasts and what is its role?
5. What is the function of Indole acetic acid in
plant growth?
Deadline: next meeting
Use white intermediate paper.

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An Introduction to the

• Briefly describe the field of botany, and

• BOTANY The scientific study of plants;

• Plant molecular biology

• Plant cell biology

• Summarize and discuss the features of

-the basic functional

energy and its transformation into chemical

molecules is released for biological work

live from a chemical reaction

The process is as important for the humans and

• Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/photosynthesis-for-kids.html

• Interaction with environment

• DEOXYRIBONUCLEIC ACID (DNA)

organisms from generation to generation

• Tendency of organisms that have favorable

adaptations to their environment to survive and

• Distinguish among the six kingdoms and

Bacteria Archaea Protista Plantae Animalia Fungi

Prokaryotes (lack Prokaryotes; Eukaryotes; Eukaryotes; Eukaryotes; Eukaryotes;

• Summarize the main steps in the scientific

3. Design and perform an

4. Analyze and interpret the data

5. Share new knowledge

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