Download Processes Necessary for PLANT Survival

PROCESSES
NECESSARY
FOR
PLANT SURVIVAL
4/25/16
I. PHOTOSYNTHESIS
❖ Photo: light (sun)
❖ Synthesis: to make or synthesize
❖ Plants make simple sugar (food) for themselves
❖ Chloroplasts – found in the cells of leaves, contain chlorophyll which absorbs
light energy
❖ Plants use carbon dioxide and water to make food
❖ CO2 is taken in through openings in the leaves called stomata
❖ Oxygen is released into the air through the stomata
Chloroplast:
Organelle where photosynthesis occurs
Chlorophyll: pigment that absorbs light
energy
Photosynthesis Equation
Reactants:
e- (energy from sunlight) + water
Products:
O2 + sugar (food)
+
CO2
What is the function of a guard cell?
Stoma vs. guard cell?
II. Respiration
❖ Respiration (the act of breathing)
❖ To obtain energy from the food a plant produces, it must break down the
sugar in the cells throughout the plant. This called respiration.
❖ Oxygen from the air combines with the sugar, which is then broken down
into carbon dioxide and water.
❖ Energy is released during this process which the plant can use to perform
life functions.
❖ The carbon dioxide and water that are formed are then given off through the
stomata in the leaves.
Respiration Equation
Reactants:
O2 + sugar (food)
Products:
e- (energy from sunlight) + water
+
CO2
III.
Transpiration
❖ Plants lose most of the water they absorb through their leaves. This is called
transpiration.
❖ Plants can control transpiration by opening and closing their stomata.
❖ When the stomata are closed, water cannot escape.
❖ Guard cells on the underside of the leaf, open and close the stomata.
❖ Without a way to control this process, plants would wither up and die.