Biology

Grade 11
January 12, 2022

Movement
Living organisms must move to some extent; some are capable of moving their whole bodies
while others only move body parts.
Key Terms
Movement-Displacement of part or parts of the body of an organism from one point to another.
E.g. waving my hand.
Locomotion-Displacement of the entire or the whole organism from one place to the next. E.g.
going from the bedroom to the kitchen
Movement in Plants
There are two types of plant movement:
 Tropism- Growth movement
 Nastic movements
Tropism
Growth movements in plants are called tropism. Tropism is when a plant growth response
towards or away from a stimulus. When plants grow towards stimulus it is referred to as
positive tropism whereas negative tropism describes when plant grow away from the stimulus.
Growth in response to the stimulus of light is called phototropism, and geotropism is growth in
response to gravity. Stem moves towards light thus is positively phototropic. Roots move away
from light; therefore they are negatively phototropic. Roots however are positively geotropic as
they move towards the direction of gravity (grow downwards), while shoots are negatively
geotropic (grow upwards).
Growth in plants is controlled by the hormone, auxin. Auxin is made in the tips of roots and
shoots which are the growing parts of the plant. It diffuses to the region just behind the tip and
there it causes growth.
Light and gravity are examples of external factors (factors in the environment) that affect growth
in plants. The shoots of plants respond to light by growing towards it. When a shoot is lit from
one side, auxin breaks down on the light side and accumulates on the shaded side. This results in
more growth on the shaded side so the shoot bends towards the light.
In a shoot which is not upright, gravity causes the auxin to collect on the lower side. This has the
same effect as before, to make the shoot grow faster on that side, so it bends away from gravity.

In roots, concentrations of auxins slow down growth. As in the shoot, auxin accumulates on the
lower side because the gravity, but in a root the upper side will grow faster because it is less
affected by the auxin. No matter how a root is placed in the soil, it will always grow downwards.