GR OW TH &

DIFFERENTIATION
 Growth
Growth is a permanent increase in size or mass of an organism
All growth results from the production of new cells by mitosis
 growth of a
runner bean
 Fertilization
2 Cells
8 Cells

growth of a
24 weeks
human
20 weeks foetus
4 weeks

16 weeks

32 weeks
8 weeks 7 weeks
How do you measure growth?
Wet Weight Mass of living organism
including its water.
What is your
wet weight? Advantage?
Disadvantage?

Dry Weight Mass of an organism (usually

plant) excluding water.
Advantage?
Disadvantage?
Measurement of Human
Growth
• Growth Curves
• BMI
• Waist-Hip Ratio
 Growth
Curve –
See page
32 in your
text book
for a good
example
Human height a continuous variable
Frequency/Number

Height (cm)
Differentiation

2 days

6 weeks
 Differentiation
After cell division most cells grow and then differentiate (develop special
characteristics to allow them to do their particular job)
Cell Organ

Tissue

System
 Growth In Plants
Plants grow from their tips:
Stem tips Root tips

The newly divided cells have thin soft cell walls.

The cells absorb water, their vacuoles get larger and
the cells get bigger a process called elongation. Then
the cell walls harden and elongation stops.
Growth In
Plants

Shoot tip

Region of
elongation
So what happens………

A group of cells near the end of each root and

shoot allows plants to continue growing
throughout their lives. This area is called the
plant meristem. The cells produced through
mitosis elongate and then differentiate. Each
type of cell is adapted to it’s function.
Eg: Xylem or Phloem cells, root hair cells