Part 3: Plant Terms Flashcards
(39 cards)
1
Q
What are the negative effects of purple loosestrife (Lythrum Salicaria)?
A
- Disrupts wetland ecosystems by displacing native plants and animals
- It is agressive and competitive and is a disturbance for vegetation
- This plant takes away an animals food source
2
Q
Does purple loosestife have the same negative effects in its native range? Why or why not?
A
- No, it does not because the species is more controlled in Europe where vegetation is not destroyed
3
Q
What methods have been used to control the species?
A
- Cutting them (not effective)
- Flooding them
- Fires
- Mowing
- Chemicals/Pesticides
4
Q
What is biocontrol? What advantage does it have?
A
- It is taking control of a non-native species by introducing another species that is a predator/parasite to attack it in its native environment
5
Q
ON EXAM: Describe the process of developing and testing bio control agents.
A
- Identify pest species
- Survey for natural enemies to attack the pest
- Determine host specificity and impact on the targeted species and non targets for safety
- Get approval from federal and state officials
- Test the pest species and its attacking enemy to see if their are reduced densities of the pest species
- Release the enemy for biological control and evaluate it over the long term
6
Q
How are insects used to control loosestrife?
A
- They can eat leaves on a plant to stunt its growth and reduce seed production
- Deposits eggs (larvae) into the stems of the plant to destroy a plants nutrient source
7
Q
What are shortcomings of biocontrol?
A
- The chosen predators to kill the pest may switch to a different target
- Its a slow process
- Involves a lot of planning and money
- No followup
8
Q
What are pollen cells/grains?
A
The pollen grain is the structure used to transport the male gamete to the female part of a flower. Pollen must be strong to protect the male gametes on their journey.
9
Q
What is wind pollination?
A
Is a form of pollination where by pollen is distributed by wind
10
Q
Describe cycad pollination by beetles
A
- Cycads have been proven to be insect pollinated by a strong smell
- Cycads have symbiotic associations with host-specific insects, mostly beetles and are attracted to cycad cones
11
Q
What is buzz pollination?
A
Is a technique used by some bees using vibrations to release pollen which is more or less firmly held by the anthers, which makes pollination more efficient.
12
Q
How are UV colors are useful to bees?
A
- Bees base all their colors on UV light and blue and yellow colors
- The UV light designates where the nectar is for the bees
13
Q
What are specialized visitors?
A
- When bees are specialized on a different pollen source
- Mice, birds, and bats
14
Q
What are oil rewards?
A
- Flowers that have scented oils are used to attract females
- BUT it doesn’t come for free because its super slippery and somtimes the flower defends itself to keep the bee’s away
15
Q
What are some unusual orchids?
A
Red orchid
16
Q
Describe veterbrate pollination involving geckos, lemurs, and perching birds
A
- When nectar is hard to get out of a palnt so lemurs and other vertebrates get it by using traits such as having long tongues
- They usually get pollen on them that is used to pollinate other plants
17
Q
How are hummingbirds related to the birds and the bees?
A
- Hummingbirds collect the sweet nectar from the flower and they get pollen on their neck to fertilize other plants.
- They have a color spectrum like us and can see blue and red easily
- Lack a sense of smell
18
Q
- What is an example floral mimics? (sexual deception by orchids)
What happens with blow flies on dead horse arum?
A
- Orchids look like wasps that release a similar phermone of female wasps and the male wasps get confused and mate with the flower
- The dead-horse arum when it’s ready to pollinate, the flower begins to generate a scent. The scent smells like rotting flesh, which attracts blow-flies. The flies, looking for a place to lay their eggs, crawl into a pocket around the base of the flower stalk.
- There, the blow-flies are trapped by spines and filaments. If these flies had previously visited another dead-horse arum, they transfer the pollen they picked up there to the female parts of the plant.
- The next day, when the male parts of the flower are producing pollen, the flies, now coated with this pollen, are released to pollinate another arum.
19
Q
Titan arum – huge, monocarpic
A
- The largest flower in the world that smells like rotten fish thats attracts insects
20
Q
Fig wasps: Describe their pollination method
A
- The fertilized female wasp enters the fig.
- She crawls inside the fig and pollinates some of the female flowers. She lays her eggs inside some of the flowers and dies.
- After weeks of development in their galls, the male wasps emerge before females through holes they produce by chewing the galls. The male wasps then fertilize the females by depositing semen in the hole in the gall.
- The males later return to the females and enlarge the holes to enable the females to emerge and then the males die.
21
Q
What is cross-pollination?
A
The transfer of pollen from the anther of a flower of one plant to the stigma of the flower of another plant of the same species.
22
Q
What is Endolithic algae, in arctic stones?
A
- Grow slowly in rocks
- Burst into bloom during the summer months and are close to the ground from the wind
23
Q
Arctic plant adaptations
A
- Are close to the ground to protect them from the wind
- Have a short growing season when there is warmth
- Use dead animals to grow from their warmth and nutrients
- Always faces the sun to not waste any sunlight they need to survive
- Have small rounded humps to conserve heat
24
Q
What is special about Heliotropic poppies and arctic plants?
A
They are always facing the sun in order to get as much light as possible to survive
25
Cushion plants in the high mountains
- Have small rounded humps to conserve heat
26
How do some plants protect themselves from the cold?
- Plants can have dense hairs
- Dead leaves are used to prevent them from getting ice solid
- Plants can fold over their thick leaves at night to protect themselves
27
What are some drought adaptations regarding the Namib Desert?
- Self fabrication when plants choose to loose leaves to survive
- Some small plants have cones that dont break until rain comes where they then can produce flowers
28
Describe the aspects of saguaro cacti of Arizona
- Are large succlents that retain water
- Grow high to collect even the slightest bit of water before it evaporates
29
What are Lithops which are the window plants of South Africa?
- Lithops cactus plants are often called “living stones” but they also look a bit like cloven hooves. These small, split succulents are native to deserts.
30
Name some examples of seed dormancy as a desert adaptation
- Live underground where its cool OR in the hot sand until the rain arrives and the desert turns into a meadow
- The plants produce rapidly after a rainfall
31
Describe the importance of Mt. Roraima, Venezuela (Carnivorous plants Drosera, bladderworts)
Some plants - Have a slippery hole for pollinators where they slip into the plant stem and are drowned to death and ingested by the pant
Bladderwort-
Drossera- Catch insects by using sticky scented hairs
32
Describe the aspects of the giant Amazon water lilies (leaves and pollination)
- Have spines to protect itself and are boyant in water
- It is 6 feet in diameter
- Grow flowers that give off a strong perfume and the flower closes at night
- The flower attracts beetles on its first day to get pollinated
33
What is the importance of swamp and mangrove apatations?
- Through physiological adaptations, mangroves are able to live in harsh saline environments.
- Mangrove trees are adapted for survival in oxygen-poor or anaerobic sediments through specialized root structures
- Mangroves have poorly developed, shallow below-ground root systems while having well-developed aerial roots. These aerial roots allow for the transport of atmospheric gases to the underground roots.
34
What are the adaptations to kelp on the rocky coast?
- Moved with the tide to gather light
35
What is the role of phytoplankton?
- Are the autotrophic components of the plankton community and a key factor of oceans, seas and freshwater basin ecosystems
- Move with the tide to gather light
36
Name some plants we saw on the Herbarium tour
37
Why are herbariums important?
## Footnote
Beyond their customary value to taxonomy, herbarium collections have become crucial for a wide array of studies including such things as reconstruction of plant phylogeny, the spread and habitat preferences of invasive species, population trends of rare plants, identifying priority sites for conservation, pollination ecology, education, forensic studies, ethnobotanical studies, and phenology studies to name a few.
38
Name some more plants and their features from the hebarium
39
What is conversion evolution?
The process whereby organisms not closely related (not monophyletic), independently evolve similar traits as a result of having to adapt to similar environments or ecological niches.
