Biology 141: Plant Needs, Boundaries & Science

• Plants and People is covered in Biology 141 by Dr. Arthur Kneeland

Plant Needs

• Plants need water and absorb everything through it
• Plants need sun as it provides radiation change
• Plants need nutritious soil containing Nitrogen, Potassium, and Calcium
• CO2 exchange provides plants with carbon
• Oxygen is taken in for respiration, which yields waste material
• Plants require the correct conditions: space, temperature, humidity, pressure, and a certain height

Planetary Boundaries

• Planetary boundaries describe how humans interact with the planetary system
• They also measure human influence regarding climate change, biosphere integrity, stratospheric ozone depletion, and ocean acidification
• Also included are biogeochemical flow (N&P), land-system changes, freshwater use, and atmospheric aerosol loading

Principles of Science and Systems

• A University of Minnesota study found more biodiversity means more resilience
• For example, shorter roots keep dirt still while longer roots help bigger plants protect smaller plants

Science

• Science is a methodical and logical process used to produce knowledge about natural phenomena
• Science is a cumulative body of knowledge from scientists
• Science relies on careful observation and hypothesis testing

Richat Structure, Mauritania

• This structure involves various rings seeming to grow into a center mass
• The Sahara once had oceanic water
• An eroded mountain top shifted when the water drained

Empiricism

• The world can be learned through careful observation of empirical (real or observable) phenomena
• Fundamentals, processes, and natural laws can be understood by observation

Uniformitarianism

• Basic patterns and processes are uniform across time and space
• The forces at work today are the same as those that shaped the world in the past and future

Parsimony

• When two plausible explanations are reasonable, the simpler explanation is preferable
• This rule is also known as Ockham's razor

Uncertainty

• Knowledge changes as new evidence appears, and explanations (theories) change with new evidence
• Theories based on current evidence should be tested

Repeatability

• Tests and experiments should be repeatable to ensure that conclusions are correct
• Experiments must be done repeatedly

Proof

• Proving a theory correct in science is rarely achieved because new evidence undermines understanding.
• Testable questions must be asked to find out whether a theory is correct

Insider Knowedge

Domain Analysis

• Domain Analysis is used to describe grouping within a spot or world
• Domains that are significant in life encompass civil society groups and Optimism Clubs
• There are concerns about the lack of groups involved with certain things
• These concerns are often related to economics

Ethnography

• Ethnography refers to the scientific description of the customs of certain individual peoples and cultures

Etic Perspective

• Etic perspective refers to an outside viewpoint of what the viewers consider important
• Recognition that culture may be interpreted differently by outside viewers
• Emic differs from Ethic and is hard to keep separate

Experimental Design

• Natural experiments involve observing events that have already happened
• Manipulative experiments involve deliberately altering conditions for one variable and holding the others constant
• In a controlled study, a treatment group is compared to a control group that has not received treatment

Placebos

• Classic control and variable with placebos can be used
• Placebos trick you into feeling better; about 5-10% of people are affected by this

Blind and Double-Blind Experiments

• In a blind experiment, researchers do not which group has been treated until after the data have been analyzed
• In a double-blind experiment, neither the subject nor the researcher knows which treatment group who belongs to
• These are used to check placebos and bias

Explanatory Variables

• Studies have one response variable and one or more explanatory variables
• Response and explanatory variables are also known as Independent and Dependent Variables.
• The explanatory variable affects the response variable

Graphing Variables

• The response variable is typically placed on the Y-axis of a graph
• The explanatory variable is typically placed on the X-axis

MOLES

• Models are simple representations of phenomena (physical, organism, mathematic)
• Scientists can study complex systems and predict the effect of conditions that are too difficult to create and control using these
• Scientist become more confident when multiple models agree

Back Casting

• Back casting involves taking data, erasing it, and retrying it on computer models to see if it repeats the information

Systems

• Systems are networks of interdependent components and processes with materials and energy from one component to another
• Systems are a central concept in environmental sciences, such as ecosystems, climate, geologic, and economic
• Systems interact with each other

Emergent Properties

• Emergent properties are characteristics of a whole function system that are quantitatively or qualitatively greater than the sum of its parts.
• Human bodies are systems of flows

Closed and Open Systems

• Closed systems are self-contained, receiving no inputs of energy or materials from the outside
• Open systems take inputs from their surroundings.
• Throughput refers to the energy that flows into, though, and out of a system

Feedback Loops

• Positive feedback loops occur when a flow leads to compartment changes that further enhance the flow
• Negative feedback loops dampen flow

Equilibrium

• Equilibrium is a dynamic state in which systems are changing little over time, or homeostasis

Disturbances

• Disturbances are periodic destructive events such as fire or floods

Resilience

• Resilience refers to the ability of a system to recover quickly from disturbances

State Shift

• A state shift is a severe disturbance where the system does not return to normal but changes some of its state variables instead
• Note: Negative feedback allows systems to maintain stability

Scientific Consensus

• Scientific Consensus is a general agreement among informed scholars stemming from communities of scientists

Big Picture

• Evidence suggests earth solidified 4.5-4.6 billion years ago
• Evidence also from banded iron-formed rocks and caused chemical reactions that are caused by living organisms and bacteria

Photosynthesis

• Photosynthesis only happened 2.5 billion years ago, almost 1 billion years after life officially started

Walk Through Time

• Sediment layers from 325 million years ago to 300 million years ago are on the waters floor
• Joggings Formation had sideways sediments with trilobite fossils

Modern Timeline

• Started 55 million years ago with the Artic being a tropical forest
• Hominins descended from trees 6 to 8 million years ago
• Homo Sapiens arise in Africa – 315,000 years ago

Babylon and Beer

• The earliest known writing involved beer signs related to taxes

Papyrus Ebers

• In Egypt around 1500 BC, methods for making 700 drugs (mostly from plants) existed

Plants vs Animals

• Plants are non-motile, and animals are motile
• Plants have a large surface area and are absorbent
• Plants have rigid cell walls, which helps it to feed above and below
• Animals have large internal surface area
• Oxygen, hydrogen, and carbon make up the chemical composition
• Nitrogen is an essential component of DNA
• Calcium, phosphorus, and potassium are essential components of bones

Biomolecules

• Carbohydrates, Proteins, Nucleic Acids, and Lipids exist
• Monomers include Monosaccharides, Amino Acids, Fatty Acids, and Nucleotides

Evolution

Charles Darwin

• Natural selection comes from the work of Charles Darwin, traveled with sailors, “Father of the theory of Evolution.", studied Daewin's finches

Natural Selection

• In a population, there are differences in survival and reproduction among members due to environmental pressures
• There is selective pressure due to environmental pressures
• The fittest survive and reproduce
• Fitness is relative to survival and reproduction
• Adaptation is a trait which increases the likelihood to survive

Mycobacterium Tuberculosis

• Mycobacterium Tuberculosis is known to infect the lungs
• Antibiotic use has aided in preventing this disease but has ultimately caused the bacteria to evolve and handle anti-biotics

Evolution

• Evolution describes changed in population traits over time
• Higher fitness → More Offspring
• Yellow Frogs compared to brown frogs are two populations

Von Liebig

• Von Liebig proposed the single factor in shortest supply relative to demand
• This is known as the Critical Factor

Critical Factor

• Describes the tolerance limit of a species

Generalist

• A generalist describes organisms that will eat anything

Specialist

• A specialist describes organisms that "Eat one thing good"

Competitive Exclusion Principle

• The Competitive Exclusion Principle states that no two species can occupy the same ecological niche

Resources Partitioning

• Resources Partitioning states that species can co-exist if they use different parts of their diets

Symbiosis

• Symbiosis describes that two or more species live intimately together with their fates linked

Commensalism

• Commensalism describes one species benefiting, while the other is unaffected (neither benefits nor is harmed)

Parasitism

• Parasitism is a form of predation and a symbiosis

Coevolution

• Coevolution suggests that predators and prey evolve in response to each other

Mimicry

• Batesian Mimicry involves harmless species mimicking harmful species to gain protection
• Mullerian Mimicry describes two harmful species who evolve to look alike
• Population have change over time into the different species we see today

BIOFULES

• Biofuels are carbon-based fuels like woods, oils, and animal fats

PHOTOSYNTHESIS

• Plants perform Photosynthesis: CO2 + H2O + LIGHT = SUGAR + O2,
• Plants use respiration: SUGAR+ O2 = CO2 + O2

Decomposition

• Living things also cause decomposition, releasing CO2 back into the soil and the air

Oil Harvesting

• TYPE A is burbling oil that natural sputtered out
• TYPE B is oil wells that mine a few hundred feet deep and suction out that oil
• TYPE C is oil rigs that drill thousands of feed down
• TYPE D is wandering drills, where one can move the drill for difference sources
• TYPE E is classic fracking, where they push jagged sand into drills to leak out oil hidden

Photosynthesis

• Laws of Thermodynamics applies to Photosynthesis
• Energy can be changed but cannot be created or destroyed
• In Photosynthesis, energy from the sun is captured and builds sugars

Plant Biology

• All complex plants have Aerobic bacterium and Cyanobacterium.

Plants and Climate Change

• It shows that humans cause Plant biology to change
• CO2 and Methane are major GHG
• Major sources are burning fossils and altering vegetation (esp. deforestation)