Lesson 1 - Introduction to Bio 60 (Intermediate Botany)

• BOTANY- the scientific study of plants. Plants influence everything that we do. If we understand them, the better we appreciate them.
• The importance of plants

  • Photosynthesis
  • Oxygen
  • Carbon dioxide
  • Water

  Generate all oxygen and sugars needed for life on earth.
• Sub-fields in botany

  How are plants constructed? (plant morphology and anatomy)
• How do plants work? (plant physiology, biochemistry)
• How did plants get here? (ecology, evolutionary biology, genetics, molecular biology)
• Why are plants important? (ethnobiology)
• Arabidopsis thaliana – the model plant

  • is native to Europe, Asia, and northwestern Africa. It is an annual plant, usually growing to 20–25 cm tall.
  • Life cycle is completed in six weeks.
• thaliana is n=5 (genomes) and the DNA sequencing of this species was completed in 2001.
• 3 Domains

  1. Archaea
  2. Bacteria
  3. Eucarya
• What does LUCA mean?

  Last Universal Common Ancestor
• Bacteria and archaea are the two domains. They successfully lived with one another and Eukaryotes are just offshoots of the two domains, evolved through endosymbiosis.
• The typical plant body:

  • The shoot system - elevates the plant above the soil -functions for: photosynthesis reproduction and dispersal conducts water and nutrients
  • The root system - Usually underground. Anchors the plant in the soil. Absorbs/conducts water and nutrients. Stores nutrients.
• PLANT REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEM

  Double fertilization
• Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778)

  Swedish botanist, medical doctor; father of taxonomy. In 1735, Linnaeus published an influential book entitled Systema Naturae, a scheme for classifying all known and yet to be discovered organisms according to the greater or lesser extent of their similarities.
• Linnean system- binomial naming (Genus + specific epithet)