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Chapter 1.1: Seed Plants and Plant Structure

• Seed plants come in all shapes and sizes.
• Roots absorb water and nutrients as well as anchoring the plant in the soil.
• Stems support leaves and reproductive structures.
• Flowers contain both male and female reproductive parts.
• Seeds contain an embryo and a food supply.
• Leaves produce food for the plant through photosynthesis.
• Cones produce seeds that contain an embryo.

Chapter 1.2: Root Systems

• Up to one-third of a plant can be hidden underground within in its root system.
• Root systems absorb minerals from the soil.
• Root systems anchor the plant to prevent erosion.
• Root systems store food and help the plant survive.
• Taproot systems have one single root with numerous small roots coming out of it.
• Taproot systems penetrate deep in the soil to gather nutrients and hold the plant up.
• Fibrous root systems are made up of several similarly-sized roots.
• Fibrous root systems quickly soak up excess moisture and are efficient in nutrient uptake.
• The four processes for water moving up from the roots are: Transpiration, Capillary Action, Diffusion, and Osmosis.
• Transpiration is when plants sweat, relating to water movement.
• Capillary Action is when the liquid is attracted to the molecules of the solid, this makes the liquid move along the surface.
• Diffusion is the movement of particles from high concentration to low concentration until equilibrium is reached.
• Osmosis is the diffusion of water through a semi-permeable membrane.
• A semi-permeable membrane acts as a filter for particles.

Making Food and Moving Substances in Plants

• Plants make their food by photosynthesis.
• Photosynthesis produces a type of sugar.
• Photosynthesis occurs in the chloroplasts located on the leaves.
• Chloroplasts capture the sun's energy to combine carbon dioxide and water to make sugar.
• The plant cell is surrounded by a membrane with tiny openings known as pores.
• The cell membrane acts as a filter, keeping some substances inside the cell while allowing other substances to move in and out of the cell by diffusion.
• Gas exchange is the process of gases entering and leaving the plant during photosynthesis.
• During photosynthesis, carbon dioxide goes in, and oxygen goes out.
• During cellular respiration, oxygen goes in, and carbon dioxide goes out.

Chapter 1.3: Life Cycle of a Plant

• The life cycle of a plant has three stages: the seed stage, the seedling stage, and the adult stage.
• A seed has three main parts: an embryo, stored food, and a seed coat.
• The embryo uses the stored food to survive until the plant photosynthesizes and produces its own food.
• During the seed stage plants grow quickly, producing new leaves, roots, and stems.
• During the adult, plants produce reproductive structures.

Reproduction of Seed Plants and Pollination

• Plants produce flowers or cones to make seeds and need the process of pollination to reproduce.
• Flowers have both male and female parts, including pollen grains and ovules.
• Pollination occurs after pollen grains land on the stigma of the flower.
• Pollination can occur through air and wind, or through pollinators.
• Pollinators include birds, bees, bots, hummingbirds, and humans.
• Pollinators carry pollen from one flower to another and get nectar in return which is a sweet sugary food source.
• Plants release pollen in the air, where it can be carried by the wind for pollination.
• Flowering plants rely on pollinators, organisms that carry pollen from one flower to another.
• Flowers produce nectar, which is sweet, sugary, and lures pollinators.
• Pollen gets attaches to pollinators while they eat nectar.
• Reproduction without seeds is referred to as vegetative reproduction.

Vegetative Reproduction and Plant Adaptations

• The offspring produced through vegetative reproduction are identical to the parent plant.
• Types of vegetative reproduction include runners (long stems on the surface), rhizomes (stems underground), and suckers (new plants from roots).
• Cuttings involve cutting small pieces of a plant that has part of the stem and a few leaves to reproduce them.
• Grafting involves attaching a part of one plant onto another plant to reproduce them.
• Plants are adapted to their environments.
• Cacti plants thrive in dry environments, have thick stems, store water, and have spins for protection from predators.
• Grasses and sunflowers have narrow thin leaves, deep roots for droughts, and bright petals to attract pollinators.
• Spruce trees have needle-like leaves with thick resin coating and stops the plant from drying out.
• Fibrous roots gather water at the upper layers of the soil.
• Taproots get water deep underground that other plants cannot reach.
• Wild mustard plants are adapted to short growing seasons and produce seeds in less than two months.

Chapter 1.5: Plant Needs

• Plants have specific needs and requirements to grow and reproduce.
• Plants need different amounts of light for photosynthesis and food, with some needing lots of light while others don't.
• Plants need water to survive, but too much water can harm the plant.
• Plants also require differing amounts of space, and need nutrients for growth.
• Nutrients are substances that provide energy to grow, including nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, and magnesium.
• Not enough nutrients will result in a plant growing slowly.
• All plants need space to grow but need different amounts to thrive.
• More space typically equals more sunlight which equals more nutrients.

Plants and Human Needs

• Humans produce a lot of carbon dioxide from factories, engines in cars, and breathing out.
• Oxygen is needed for survival.
• Plants use up carbon dioxide via photosynthesis and release oxygen.
• Plants make their food through photosynthesis.
• In turns, plants become food for many organisms, and those animals are eaten by something else.
• Plants protect other organisms from weather and predators by providing shelter.
• Dead plants build up to build soil.
• Plant roots holds the soil to prevent erosion by wind, water, and animals.
• Plants, as produces, allow the connection of the food web/chain.
• Humans have been using plants for many ways over centuries.
• First Nations communities have been using plants for medicine, food, and fiber.
• A paint brush was used to treat rheumatism, while the flower is sweet and can be eaten.
• Tea is made from white spruce and hemlock to cure scurvy (vitamin C deficiency).
• The main purposes of the plants are: food, fibre, medicine, fuel, construction, and transportation.

Plants as Resources

• Plants provide fruits and veggies for food.
• 75% of the world's food supply is based on wheat, rice, corn, barley, cassava, and livestock.
• Plants also provide fibre through materials extracted to make clothing.
• Common fabrics are: cotton, hemp, flax and silk.
• Plants are also used to make medicine.
• More than 7000 medicines are made from plants.
• Ginger, garlic, and ginseng help people when they’re sick!
• Rubber is one of the most important plant products being used in the transportation and construction industries.
• Fossil fuels are not unlimited source of fuel because it takes millions of years to make, and they are non-renewable.
• One solution is to use Ethanol & Methanol, which is made from starch/sugar as a renewable resource.

Living Resources

• Living resources are all things that can be used for human needs
• ex. trees, animals, bugs
• The first people to use living resources in alb were first nations, metis, and inuit
• They used these for primarily food & fibre from hunting and gathering
• Medicine from plants was also key
• Horses for travel & bows for hunting were crucial
• Nothing went to waste, it was a subsistence living
• Only taking what was needed from the enviro to live.
• European settlers used sig more land for themselves and others
• Used sig more wood for building and fuel
• Brought new tech to harvest, making mgt of living resources a necessity
• An inc in the world’s pop increases demand for natural resources, so management becomes very ess.
• Forestry can’t be easily destroyed – unsustainable
• Using more faster than made – no future resources possible
• Agencies manage forest resources so regulation - what can be harvested and how
• Balance w logging and replanting allows forests to live in the present and future.

Grain Sizes in Soil

• Soil isn't just dirt, it contains particles with spaces that contain either water air.
• Mineral particles: made from rocks that have been broken down (non-living)
• Spaces where water can easily run through it.
• Soil also has organic particles made out of dead plants/animals
• Partly decomposed organic matter is called hummus that contains nutrients and water.
• Organic soils - Mainly organic
• Inorganic - Mainly minerals
• Sandy soil runs through fingers, tends to be light brown, mostly minerals.
• Loamy: crumbly like moist cake, great for planting in, typically dark brown and full of nutrients.
• Clay: slippery/moist/oily, forms tight ball when squeezed, holds water well, contains humus, fine texture.

Human Impact on Soil

• Soil is an important natural resource needed to grow plants.
• Humans impact soil through: fertilizers, irrigation, clearing the land, plowing, and crop rotation.
• Too much harms the plant the extra nutrients go to runoff and pollute streams/lakes.
• Irrigation: used to provide water that live in dry areas w no rainfall.
• provides a precise amount of water
• If too much, the plants can drown and leads to the evaporation of water
• Farming deforestation
• If not careful, no plant = no hold soil which inc erosion, compacting and causing excess evapo
• Plowing: process of cutting into the soil and turning the top layer over
• farmers rotate what they gwor on field every year, giving the soil nutrient regeneration time

Yield and Farming Types

• Yield, the amount of useful plant parts per plant
• Greenhouses allow an artificial environment, glass lets sunlight control: temp, light, and nutrients
• Artificial soil environment where the plants are grown wo soil
• Roots are buried in gravel water provides the nutrients

Genetically Modified Plants

• Plants are developed by growers and scientists to meet demands
• Ex, Farmers in Alberta developed a carrot for the short growing season in Alberta.
• Species is a group of orgs w similar traits that can reproduce w eachother.
• Varieties are subsets that have traits that distinguish them from other varities
• Providing plants for the traits that we need/want: tolerate salty soil, colder climates, etrc
• Growers and farmers use selective breeding to develop new varieties
• Selecting plants w specific traits and reproducing them, used since 1st starting farming
• Genetic engineering is adding a single gene from one plant to another plant
• Each cell inherits genetic traits and characteristics.
• Comes from other plants or living things entirely.
• New varieties of plants bring w them new probs and special treatments which can be costly
• Also may attract pests
• Ex. Canola has been engineered to protest it against insect damage and herbicides

Pests and Farming

• Pests and weeds interfere w crop growth
• Both have a role in environment but need controls to max yield
• Mountain pine beetles destroying forests
• Farmers use herbicides to kill plants, though it stops the food chain, builds up herbicide
• it also washed up into water systems
• Weeds may evolve to be resistant to herbicides and insecticides.
• kill helpful and harmful insects though pests may adapt and become resistant

Environment Management

• The balancing of human and enviro needs
• We need to study the potential environmental consequences
• Monoculture increases crop yield and easy harvest
• can give pests supply of food and reduces biodiversity.
• Soil has left nutrient regenteration with rotating crops, creating an ecologic event
• Also will have to live in friends communities and a much better outlook on life