Unit 4

root cap

cover and protect the cells at the end of the root of a plant.

vascular tissue

the tissue in higher plants that constitutes the vascular system, consisting of phloem and xylem, by which water and nutrients are conducted throughout the plant.

tropism

the turning of all or part of an organism in a particular direction in response to an external stimulus.

order

(taxonomy) A taxonomic rank used in classifying organisms, generally below the class, and comprised of families sharing a set of similar nature or character

Dichotomous key

A dichotomous key is a tool that allows the user to determine the identity of items in the natural world, such as trees, wildflowers, mammals, reptiles, rocks, and fish. Keys consist of a series of choices that lead the user to the correct name of a given item. "Dichotomous" means "divided into two parts".

scientific name

A name used by scientists, especially the taxonomic name of an organism that consists of the genus and species. Scientific names usually come from Latin or Greek. An example is Homo sapiens, the scientific name for humans.

family

A taxonomic rank in the classification of organisms between genus and order.

autotroph

An organism capable of synthesizing its own food from inorganic substances, using light or chemical energy. Green plants, algae, and certain bacteria are autotrophs.

heterotroph

An organism that is dependent on complex organic substances for nutrition because it cannot synthesize its own food.

eudicot

Any of numerous flowering plants having two cotyledons in the seed, pollen grains with three pores, and usually the capacity for secondary growth, leaves with reticulate venation, and flower parts that are in multiples of four or five.

monocot

Any of various flowering plants, such as grasses, lilies, and palms, having a single cotyledon in the seed, and usually a combination of other characteristics, typically leaves with parallel veins, a lack of secondary growth, and flower parts in multiples of three.

bacteria

Bacteria are microscopic single-celled organisms that thrive in diverse environments. They can live within soil, in the ocean and inside the human gut. Humans' relationship with bacteria is complex.

class

Biology. the primary subdivision of a taxonomic kingdom, grouping together all classes of organisms that have the same body plan.

phylum

Biology. the primary subdivision of a taxonomic kingdom, grouping together all classes of organisms that have the same body plan.

cellular respirations

Cellular respiration is the process by which the chemical energy of "food" molecules is released and partially captured in the form of ATP. Carbohydrates, fats, and proteins can all be used as fuels in cellular respiration, but glucose is most commonly used as an example to examine the reactions and pathways involved.

homo sapiens

the species to which all modern human beings belong. Homo sapiens is one of several species grouped into the genus Homo, but it is the only one that is not extinct.

plantae

the taxonomic kingdom comprising all plants.

John Ray

English naturalist and botanist who contributed significantly to progress in taxonomy. His enduring legacy to botany was the establishment of species as the ultimate unit of taxonomy.

eukarya

Eukarya (or Eukaryota) is one in the three-domain system of biological classification introduced by Carl Woese in 1990. The other two are Archaea and Bacteria.

domain

In biological taxonomy, a domain (Latin: regio) is the highest taxonomic rank of organisms in the three-domain system of taxonomy designed by Carl Woese, an American microbiologist and biophysicist. ... The first two are all prokaryotic microorganisms, or single-celled organisms whose cells have no nucleus.

nonvascular

Nonvascular plants, also known as bryophytes, are small, simple plants without a vascular system. They are divided into three different types, including mosses, liverworts, and hornworts.

protista

Protists are eukaryotic organisms that cannot be classified as a plant, animal, or fungus. They are mostly unicellular, but some, like algae, are multicellular. Kelp, or 'seaweed,' is a large multicellular protist that provides food, shelter, and oxygen for numerous underwater ecosystems

vascular seedless

Seedless vascular plants are plants that contain vascular tissue, but do not produce flowers or seeds. In seedless vascular plants, such as ferns and horsetails, the plants reproduce using haploid, unicellular spores instead of seeds.

Carolus Linnaeus

Swedish naturalist and explorer who was the first to frame principles for defining natural genera and species of organisms and to create a uniform system for naming them (binomial nomenclature).

Aristotle

Taxonomy is the study of scientific classification, in particular the classification of living organisms according to their natural relationships. Taxonomy's first father was the philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BC), sometimes called the "father of science."Jan

animalia

The Kingdom Animalia (=Metazoa) is one of a handful of lineages rooted far back in the branching "tree" that represents the history of life on Earth. This lineage that is composed of those organisms we know as "animals" represents one of the three major origins of multicellularity (the other two large and diverse groups of multicellular organisms are the fungi and the green plants).

phloem

The tissue of vascular plants that conducts food produced by photosynthesis to all parts of the plant and consists of sieve elements, fibers, and parenchyma.

xylem

The tissue of vascular plants that conducts water and minerals, provides support, and consists of tracheary elements and parenchyma cells. Woody tissue is made of secondary xylem produced by the vascular cambium.

gymnosperm

The gymnosperms are a group of seed-producing plants that includes conifers, cycads, Ginkgo, and gnetophytes.

kingdom

The highest classification into which living organisms are grouped in Linnean taxonomy, ranking above a phylum. One widely accepted system of classification divides life into five kingdoms: prokaryotes, protists, fungi, plants, and animals.

photosynthesis

The process in green plants and certain other organisms by which carbohydrates are synthesized from carbon dioxide and a source of hydrogen (usually water), using light as an energy source. Most forms of photosynthesis release oxygen as a byproduct.

transpiration

Transpiration is the process by which moisture is carried through plants from roots to small pores on the underside of leaves, where it changes to vapor and is released to the atmosphere. Transpiration is essentially evaporation of water from plant leaves.

rhizomes

a continuously growing horizontal underground stem that puts out lateral shoots and adventitious roots at intervals.

archaea

a domain and kingdom of single-celled microorganisms.

rhizoids

a filamentous outgrowth or root hair on the underside of the thallus in some lower plants, especially mosses and liverworts, serving both to anchor the plant and (in terrestrial forms) to conduct water.

species

a group of living organisms consisting of similar individuals capable of exchanging genes or interbreeding. The species is the principal natural taxonomic unit, ranking below a genus and denoted by a Latin binomial, e.g., Homo sapiens.

angiosprem

a plant that has flowers and produces seeds enclosed within a carpel. The angiosperms are a large group and include herbaceous plants, shrubs, grasses, and most trees.

genus

a principal taxonomic category that ranks above species and below family, and is denoted by a capitalized Latin name, e.g., Leo.

cuticle

a protective and waxy or hard layer covering the epidermis of a plant, invertebrate, or shell.

Binomial nomenclature

a system of nomenclature in which each species of animal or plant receives a name of two terms of which the first identifies the genus to which it belongs and the second the species itself

cotyledon

an embryonic leaf in seed-bearing plants, one or more of which are the first leaves to appear from a germinating seed.

multicellular

an organism composed of many cells, which are to varying degrees integrated and independent.

stoma

any of the tiny pores in the epidermis of the leaf or stem of a plant, forming a slit of variable width that allows movement of gases in and out of the intercellular spaces.

fungi

are living organisms that are distantly related to plants, and more closely related to animals, but rather different from either of those groups

fiddleheads

are the furled fronds of a young fern, harvested for use as a vegetable. Left on the plant, each fiddlehead would unroll into a new frond (circinate vernation)

root hairs

each of a large number of elongated microscopic outgrowths from the outer layer of cells in a root, absorbing moisture and nutrients from the soil.

unicellular

single cell

Classification

the action or process of classifying something according to shared qualities or characteristics.

sporophyte

the asexual and usually diploid phase, producing spores from which the gametophyte arises. It is the dominant form in vascular plants, e.g., the frond of a fern.

Taxonomy

the branch of science concerned with classification, especially of organisms; systematics.

pistil

the female organs of a flower, comprising the stigma, style, and ovary.

gametophyte

the gamete-producing and usually haploid phase, producing the zygote from which the sporophyte arises. It is the dominant form in bryophytes.

stamen

the male fertilizing organ of a flower, typically consisting of a pollen-containing anther and a filament.

Dichotomy

the separation of a class into two subclasses, one of which has and the other has not a certain quality or attribute.