PLANTS

In the comic from the Amoeba Sister below one little flowering plant is asking a larger flowering plant "Mommy, where do seeds come from?" As you will see in this unit plants are different from animals in so many different ways. Seeds are just one of the many cool adaptations that plants have in the way they reproduce that are different from Animals.

Amoeba Sister Comic about seeds explained in text above

In this module you'll learn about PLANTS and what makes them different from animals. Plants not only make their own food but also provide for their offspring via seeds. And though plants are stuck in the ground they can send their kids with some nutritious snack off to far away places. In this unit you will learn how.

Connections to past topics

So far in this class you've learned about the smaller levels of the biological hierarchy - atoms, molecules, macromolecules, organelles, and cells. You have already learned about plant cells and their organelles and learned about the process of photosynthesis when we talked about energy transformations. In this and the upcoming weeks we'll be learning about organisms, populations, communities, ecosystems, and biomes - the higher levels of the biological hierarchy. In this module specifically we will look at the organisation of plants into tissues and how plants are important in ecosystems and communities.

What you learned about macroevolution, taxonomy, and how to read phylogenies will help you understand how plant groups are related to one another and what traits allow them to be successful on land.

Career Spotlight: Plant Biologist

Have you ever collected and pressed leaves or flowers to make artwork, cards, or just to keep forever and ever? Did you know that many professional plant biologists do this as part of their research? Learn about how to collect plants for research and why with this "Science in Real Life" video, featuring Dr. Joyce Chery (now a professor at Cornell) and Dr. Carrie Tribble (who graduated with her PhD in August of 2020 and is now working as a postdoctoral researcher in Hawaii). This video is from back when they were graduate students at UC Berkeley.

Objectives

By the end of this week you will be able to...

name the characteristics that distinguish plants from other organisms
differentiate between the major groups of land plants using their key characteristics
discuss adaptations of different plant phyla to be successful on land
draw and interpret a phylogeny of land plants including their key characteristics
describe the reproductive cycle of flowering plants
dissect a flower and draw and label the parts of a flower and explain the specific function of each of the parts in reproduction
compare different examples of plant - pollinator coevolution
describe examples of plants and their importance to ecosystems and people
describe how different plant parts are used for food or medicine

Things to do in this module

Weekly Schedule
Activity	Estimated time required
Reading: chapters Ch 16 pg 314-327; Ch 28 and Ch 29	4 hours
Lab: Plant kingdom	3 hours
Assignment flower dissection	30 minutes to 1 hour
Discussion: pollinator decline (initial post and response)	30 - 45 minutes
Field journal focus plants	30 minutes
Zoom Lecture: Thursday	1.5 hours
Quiz Plants	30 minutes to 1 hour

Expect to spend 4.5 hours per week in class during specific times (zoom lecture and in person lab) and 6-8 hours outside of class each week.

Note: I am not including additional time you may spend answering lecture and lab study questions, or otherwise studying for this class because that time is SO variable from student to student.

If you find you are spending more than 8 hours outside of class time, make sure to come to office hours so we can discuss more time effective strategies. Need more help studying? Consider visiting the SRJC Tutorial Center . Another FABULOUS resource: student success workshops led by peers