Download Adaptations 2

Adaptations 2
Fulfilling Basic Needs
Chemical Protection Review
• Resins – viscous protective secretion
produced by many conifers that is insoluble in
water and hardens when exposed to air
• Tannins – a substance occurring in the bark or
leaves of some species, functioning to protect
against predators
• Alkaloids – A nitrogen containing compound,
frequently used as a defense by plants.
Secondary products of plants
• Most plants produce through their
biochemistry a multitude of specialized
compounds to carry out their basic functions
of photosynthesis, respiration, as well as and
the synthesis of various proteins and enzymes.
• In addition to these essential compounds
plants also produce many secondary products
that they use for defence.
Secondary Plant Products - Tannins
• Bind with proteins
• Inactivate proteins and cause cells to die
• Enzyme inactivators – protect against insect
feeding
• Inhibit fungal and bacterial growth
• Heartwood 5 to 10 X’s tannins than sapwood
• Replaced by sugars in ripening fruit
• Salivary proteins being bound together reduces
lubricating action – Why unripe fruit tastes so bad
to us
Secondary Plant Products -Alkaloids
• Bitter tasting
• Some insects protect themselves by making sure that
alkaloids are part of their regular diet
• Club mosses, Many fungi, Amarylidaceae, Apocynaceae,
Berberidaceae, Fabaceae, Papaveraceae, Rannuculaceae,
Solanaceae families contain alkaloids
• Used for many medicines (pain relievers, cardiac and
respiratory stimulators, muscle relaxers, blood vessel
constrictors, cures for malaria)
• Addictions –Caffeine, tea, opium poppy, Nicotine tobacco
• Poisons - Hemlock, Ricin (Castor bean)
Poisonous Plant Chart
(obviously copied from your book)
Dieffenbachia leaves and stems contain special cells that contain needle-like crystals of
calcium oxalate called raphides that if eaten penetrate the mouth and throat tissues and
cause painfull swelling, make it difficult to breath and a loss of speech. Common name is
“dumbcane”
Terms
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Allelopathy
Tendrils
Twining
Rhizomes
Stolen
Drip tips
Epiphytes
Succulents
Saprophytes
Parasites
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Tubers
Corms
Runners
Mycorrhizae
Home Garden vs. Real World
• In our home gardens and landscapes we usually
start by placing the best plant in the best place
knowing its individual characteristics and needs
for light, temp and soil type.
• In the real world however there is a constant
struggle to succeed without perfect secured
conditions as at home, and plants use their
specialized adaptations to try to overcome the
challenges of less than perfect conditions
Competition
• Alleopathy – usually on low water regions
where growth inhibiting chemicals are able to
accumulate without being leached down by
excessive rainfall
• Growing to dominate the space because of
size
Sunlight
• Reaching for light and competing with other
plants provided some plants with attributes to
overcome their quest for more light.
Climbing
Climbing - Tendrils
Tendrils are either
modified leaf parts or
short stems derived from
the growth of auxiliary
buds
Tendrils after finding a
surface to climb on coil
the tendril on itself to pull
plant towards the
structure
Sweet pea – modified terminal leaflets
Boston ivy
Has unique “suction
cup” like
Adhesive discs at
the ends of
specialized
branches allowing it
to climb several
stories tall
English ivy has fibrous
barnacle-like
adventitious climbing
roots to aid in climbing
walls, fences and other
plants
Climbing with Twining Stems
Twining is a plant
motion function to
enable plants to find
support for climbing
Spreading Stems
• Stolons
Above ground spreading stems
• Rhizomes
Below ground spreading stems
St. Augustine grass Stolons
Bermuda grass stolons
Rhizomes
Runners
Strawberry Runner with the typical plant attached
to the end of the runner. Runners are technically
stolons but have the new developed bud or plant
towards the end of the stem
Spider plant with plant
attached to the end of the
runner
Epiphytes
Characteristic support roots
of an orchid clinging to the
bark of a tree. Roots
absorb moisture from the
atmosphere through a
Spongy white material
called velamen
Staghorn Fern growing in a tree
An epiphyte is a plant that grows harmlessly
upon another plant (such as a tree) and
derives its moisture and nutrients from the
air, rain, and sometimes from debris
accumulating around it. Epiphytes differ
from parasites in that epiphytes grow on
other plants for physical support and do not
necessarily negatively affect the host.
Tillandsia cyanea
Tillandsia often called “air plants”
like other ephiphytes harmlessly
rely on living on another plant for
support.
Tillandsia ionantha
Spanish Moss
Tillandsia usneoides growing on Southern oaks
Spanish moss is neither Spanish
nor a moss and relies on moisture
and dust from the air for all of its
nutrient and water needs.
Although it can propagate itself
from seeds it most often does so
from small pieces of itself breaking
off and reestablishing itself.
Spanish moss flowers
Spanish moss Tillandsia grown as an “outdoor curtain”
Supportive Roots
Joe Stead
Buttress roots of the Moreton Bay Fig help support its massive crown
Support Roots
Support roots typically used in a shallow
soil are seen in this Screw Pine
Water Uptake Methods
• Diversion of water to root
zone – drip tips and waxy
cuticles
• Ephaphytes – tillandsias,
Spanish moss, bromeliads,
Orchids (velamen)
• Caudiciform plants
Water Storage – Leaf, Stem and Root
• Succulents – Sedums, Echeverias, and Crassula
• Opuntia (Cladodes)
• Baobob ( can store up to 25,000 gallons of water in trunks)
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Terminalia tomentosa
Water Storage - Bromeliads
Water is stored in this Bromeliads' cup shaped rosette
Sedums
Major genus within the succulent plants
Green Roofs typically use and
assortment of sedums to cover the surface of
the roof. Their water capturing ability, thick
spreading growth habits, along with water
storage potential align perfectly with plants
on a harsh rooftop environment. Green roofs
deflect heat, reduce cooling costs, protect
the roofing below and convert CO2 to O2
Opuntia
The flat stems
“Cladodes” of the
Opuntia Genus
store massive
quantities of
water to use
during the dryer
seasons.
Opuntia
Depressions within the cladodes showing room for expansion
The classic bulbous
Trunk of the
Brachychiton rupestris
allow for water storage
during long hot dry
periods
Adansonia grandidieri – Baobob tree
Caudiciform plants
Cyphostemma juttae
Fockea Edulis
Calibanus hookeri
Beaucarnea recurvata
Beaucarnea recurvata (right) and
Calebanis hookeri (bottom) both
have a caudex used to store water
for drier times of the year
Cyphostemma juttae
wild grape, tree grape, Namibian grape
from South Africa this is a deciduous
plant loosing its Succulent eaves during
the hotter Summer months
“Jabba the Hut” at Pitzer College in
Claremont, CA
Underground Food and Water Storage
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Tubers - root and stem tubers
Bulbs
Corms
Rhizomes
Tubers
Dahlia Root tubers (above) Iris
Rhizomes (top right) and Sweet
potato Root tubers are packed
with starches for food for the
next season’s plant when it
begins to grow
Bulbs
Bulb is a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf bases that
function as food storage organs during dormancy
Corms
corm is a short, vertical, swollen underground
Plant shoot that serves as a storage organ used by
some plants to survive winter or other adverse
conditions such as summer drought and heat
The Corm Uses
specialized
roots to pull
itself down into
the soil
Saprophytes and Parasites
• Saprophytes (feeding off of dead material) –
fungi, bacteria, (decomposition) most living in
the soil
• Parasites – Dodder, Mistletoe, Witch weed,
Broomrape feeding of the tissues of live plants
Decomposers
Parasites
Mistletoe - These plants attach to and penetrate the branches of a tree or shrub by
a structure called the haustorium, through which they absorb water and nutrients
from the host plant.
Mistletoe living on/in and slowly killing an oak tree
Dodder
Although dodder is capable of limited
photosynthesis, it obtains nearly all of its energy
from the host plant. A dodder seedling can survive
several days without a host, but if it doesn’t come
into contact with one within 5 to 10 days, the
seedling will die. Dodder stems that have attached
to a host plant have been known to survive for
several days after being detached from the host
plant.
Dodder, Cuscuta species, is
a parasitic annual plant
that infests many crops,
ornamentals, native
plants, and weeds. More
than 150 species occur
worldwide, although
dodder is most prevalent
in the Americas.
UCIPM
Mycorrhizae – Root Nodules
Mycorrhizae are fungi that coexist with the roots of many
plants. They form a symbiotic relationship by entering the plant
roots and extending their hyphae way out into the soil root zone
surrounding the plant increasing the water and nutrient
absorbing potential of the roots. In turn the fungi feed on the
sugars produced by the plant through photosynthesis.
Many mycorrhizae are
host specific and
naturally coexist with
their hosts.
Many species can be
found in the soil at the
same time and in the
same general area
attached to their
respective host plants
Sarcodes sanguinea snow plant feeds off the mycorrizal fungi that are attached to
the roots of nearby trees
Insectivorous Plants
Typically insectivorous
plants grow in boggy
areas where nitrogen is
low. They recapture the
nitrogen by capturing and
digesting the insect and
using the proteins as a
nitrogen source.
Sundew’s leaves are covered with sticky
hairs in which the insects become
trapped
Venus fly trap – Dionea muscipula