COORDINATION AND RESPONSE

IN PLANTS – AN ASPECT OF
IRRITABILITY

Objectives:
• Define irritability, stimulus, response, receptor, effector
• Describe the responses of green plants to stimuli
• Explain why the response to stimuli is important for the survival of plants

References:
FORM 4 BIOLOGY Biology for CSEC Exams. – L. Chinnery etc.
2020-2021: 3rd term (online) Biology for CSEC Exams. – L. Atwaroo-Ali
Dr. S. Ali CSEC Biology – A. Tindale
Look at the following pictures.
What comes to mind….?

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 Recall: GRIMNER
 “I” – Irritability: the ability of living organisms to respond to stimuli.

 Stimulus (plural stimuli): a change in the internal or external

environment of an organism

 Response: a change in an organism brought about by a stimulus.

 The part of an organism that detects the stimulus is called the

receptor.

 The part of the organism that responds to the stimulus is called the
effector.

 Coordination is the way in which receptors detect stimuli and pass

the information on to the effectors which then elicit a response.
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 IRRITABILITY
 Examples of receptors and effectors in plants and animals:
In Plants In Animals

Receptors • Meristems (tips of roots • Sense organs (contain receptors)

and shoots) E.g. eyes, nose, ears, tongue, skin

Effectors • Just behind the tips of • Muscles and glands

roots and shoots
• Petioles of leaves

 Examples of stimuli are:

 light, temperature, moisture, chemical from an organism, etc.

Can you give possible responses to such stimuli and explain why?
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Coordination and Response in Plants
 Plants respond to changes in their environment much
slower than animals.

 Plants respond to stimuli by making

 part movements
 growth movements

 Some plants respond to stimuli by changes in the

turgidity of cells, hence can bring about part
movements.
 Parts of insectivorous plants move to trap prey
 Certain leaves and flowers respond to changing light
intensities (open in the morning, close at night)
 Certain leaves respond to touch, or even strong winds
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Coordination and Response in Plants
 Some plants respond to stimuli by parts of the plants
growing – growth movements.

 Plants can respond to stimuli by changing their rate or

direction of growth.

 Such growth movements (responses) are called tropisms

 i.e. a growth response by a plant in which the direction of the growth
is affected by the direction of the stimulus

 Growth towards stimulus – positive response

 Growth away from stimulus – negative response

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Coordination and Response in Plants
 Recall: Shoots grow upwards and roots grow downwards.
What stimuli do plants respond to?

 Two stimuli in which plants respond to are light and gravity.

 Growth response to light – phototropism
 Growth response to gravity – geotropism

 Shoots grow towards light,

whereas most roots are not affected by light.
 Shoots grow away from the pull of gravity,
whereas roots grow towards gravity.

 Shoots are positively phototropic and negatively geotropic.

 Roots are positively geotropic and negatively phototropic. 7
Coordination and Response in Plants
 Why are growth movements important for the plant’s
survival?

 Shoots grow and bend towards one-directional

light:
 Maximize amount of light for photosynthesis
 Flowers are held in optimal position for pollination by
birds, insects, wind.

 Roots grow and bend downwards due to gravity:

 Anchor plant into the soil
 Absorb water and minerals from soil particles
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Class Activity: Response in Plants
 From the pictures below, identify if the shoot or root is
growing towards the stimulus of if it is growing away
from the stimulus.

Stimulus
Light Gravity
SHOOT
ROOT

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 Coordination and Response in Plants
Apart from light and gravity, what other stimuli can
plants respond to?

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Coordination and Response in Plants
 Auxin is the plant hormone that controls growth
(movements).

 Auxin is produced in the tips of shoots and roots and

diffuses to the region just behind the tips where it
causes growth.
 In shoots – moves downwards
 In roots – move backwards

 Auxin stimulates the cells behind the tip of shoots and

roots to absorb water and elongate resulting in an
increase in length of shoots and roots.

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Coordination and Response in Plants
 Auxin and phototropism Consider the investigations
Fig. 10.25 (Chinnery)
Fig. 17.5 (Atwaroo)
 Figures 10.26, 10.27 pg. 193 Chinnery
 Figure 17.3 pg. 198 Atwaroo

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Coordination and Response in Plants
 Auxin and geotropism
 Figure 10.28 pg. 194 Chinnery
 Figure 17.4 pg. 198 Atwaroo

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Class
Activity

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Homework
 Read: Chinnery
 pgs. 190-195, investigations included, pg. 221 section 12.11
 Read: Atwaroo-Ali
 pgs. 197-199, 209-210

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