Plants I

Reece et al., Chapter 29

Principles of Biology I (Biology 113) Notes, 2014
Blaauw Eco Forest opening ceremony, September 2013
http://twu.ca/news/2013/048-glen-valley-dedication.html
Genesis 1:11 Let the land produce vegetation
What do plants need to grow on land?
Problem #1. Light and CO2 available above ground; nutrients and H2O
below
Solutions: structural partitioning: roots
Problem #2. Air is dry
Solutions: stomata, waxy cuticle, leaf shape (e.g. conifer needles)
Problem #3. Developing gametes vulnerable to desiccation
Solution: early development within tissues of the female plant

land plants referred to as embryophytes

Fundamental difference between land plants and algae (fig. 29.5)

Bryophytes
Although they might seem lowly, their ecological stature is colossal

e.g., sphagnum moss forms huge peat bogs that form carbon
reservoirs which act as a buffer against global warming

e.g., Burns Bog covers most of Delta, acts as lungs and kidneys for
the BC lower mainland

Langley Bog research

Cranberry study conclusions: Current conditions in the Langley Bog

are favouring V. macrocarpon (non-native cranberry)

Vaccinium
oxycoccus

Vaccinium
macrocarp
on

Blaauw Eco
Forest research

In spring
2014, TWU
research
students Beth
Guirr and
Karen
Enkhoorn
discovered a
bog in the NE
corner of the
Blaauw Eco
Forest

Now named
the

Guirhoorn Bog

An application to remove peat in the adjacent property was defeated in

July 2014

_____________________: as well as Sphagnum moss, there are many

vascular plants that act as indicators of a bog environment (and have
been found at the Blaauw Eco Forest), e.g., __________________,
blueberry plants

Vascular tissues

Xylem = tube-shaped cells that carry water and nutrients from roots

often xylem lignified + stem with a lignin skeleton

Phloem = living corridors sugars and other nutrients

Seedless vascular plants

Phylum Pterophyta (ferns & friends)

Horsetails
most abundant during carboniferous period
however, Equisetum is still very common - may act as a weed
Ferns
most abundant during carboniferous period, but still more
than___________ species today

Why it matters coal crucial to the Industrial Revolution

7 billion tonnes still burned annually worldwide, with 65 million tonnes

of this supplied by Canada

Contributes to climate change and serious air pollution problems and

transportation issues here in the BC lower mainland