Spring 2012
Current Assignments
Secondary growth - Fri, 3/30-Wed, 4/11
Up until now, we have covered the anatomy of the primary plant body. Now we are ready to explore how secondary growth works in the plants that have it. We will start with a discussion of why secondary growth is a benefit for many species, but we also look at why many plants do just fine without it. Then we will look into how the lateral meristems form and how their actions produce the three kinds of secondary tissues: secondary xylem (wood), secondary phloem, and periderm.
Course evaluation - EXTRA CREDIT - Deadline 4/27/2010
In order to get student input for the university and for each DSU instructor, Delta State asks that all students complete a course evaluation survey at the conclusion of each course they take. It will only take you a short amount of time to complete the evaluation, but the information you provide will be very useful to the instructor. Your responses on the evaluation will be kept confidential. You will not be asked to give your name. Dr. Tiftickjian will not see the results of this evaluation until after the semester has ended and all grades have been turned in.
All course evaluations are done online. You will receive an e-mail from from the DSU administration that will come to your okramail account with the instructions for completing the evaluation.
As an incentive for you to take the time to do the evaluation, you will receive 5 points of extra credit for completing the survey. TO RECEIVE YOUR EXTRA CREDIT, YOU MUST FOLLOW THE STEPS BELOW - DO NOT START THE SURVEY UNTIL YOU HAVE READ ALL OF THESE INSTRUCTIONS.
- Follow the link in the e-mail you receive or just go directly to deltastate.campuslabs.com/courseeval
- Login with your okramail username and password, then follow the instructions to complete the survey.
- As you near the end of the survey, make a note of the text of question number 32 (Note: this question comes near the end of the survey. It is the first one where you type in your own answer-not one of the multiple choice questions.).
- When you finish the survey, send an e-mail to Dr. T. at jdtift@gmail.com with the word "Evaluation" in the subject line and the first few words of question number 32 (the question, not your answer) in the body of the message.
- In order to receive your extra credit, Dr. T. must get your e-mail by Friday, 4/27/2012.
Reproductive organs - Wed, 4/11-Fri, 4/27
In the last main section of the course, we look at sexual reproduction in plants. We start with a review of plant life cycles in general, then work toward the details of all the structures involved in producing gametes, bringing gametes together, development of the embryo, seed, and fruit. In this section we will also explore some examples of the many, many variations on the structure of the flower.
Past Assignments
Classes begin - Mon, 1/9
To returning students - welcome back to campus! To new students - welcome to Delta State! And - welcome to Plant Anatomy! I hope you will find this an enjoyable and useful course. Good luck in all your classes this term and especially in BIO 410/510.
During the first class meeting, we will discuss in detail everything you need to know about the workings of the course, but there are a few things you should know before the semester begins if you happen to see this message ahead of time. The most important thing is to make sure you meet the prerequisites for the course. Please read the following information carefully. If you have any questions before the semester begins, please ask. You can contact me by phone or email. My contact information is on the my home page.
BIO 410 counts as one of the required 400-level electives required for biology majors and counts as a required plant science elective for environmental science/wildlife concentration majors. It can also count toward the requirements of other environmental science majors and for biology minors.
As you should already be aware, The Division has a policy that science major must reach "full admission" status before taking upper-level courses in the major (courses numbered 200 or above). For BIOLOGY majors, full admission means that you have COMPLETED the following courses with no grades below C: BIO 100, BIO 101, CHE 101, CHE 102, CHE 103, CHE 104. This requirement also applies to ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE majors who elect to take this course. For other majors, the minimum prerequisites are BIO 100 and 101. It is helpful to have completed cell biology (BIO 300), but this is not required
All DSU science instructors are required to verify that science majors enrolled in upper-level courses have full admission status. Students who do not have full admission status will not be allowed to take this course unless they have specific permission from their advisors. If Division records indicate that you DO NOT have full admission, you will receive an email message stating this.
A few other things you might want to know in advance...
TEXTBOOK
The textbook you need to buy is: William C. Dickison, 2000, Integrative Plant Anatomy, Harcourt/Academic Press, ISBN: 9780122151705
You don't have to buy the book before classes start, but you might want to if you don't plan to get it from the DSU bookstore. There are other sources you might want to check for the best price. Several online book sellers carry the book, both new and used. If you consider buying online, remember to consider shipping cost and how soon you will receive your book. You must have your copy no later than the end of the first week of classes.
WEBSITE
I maintain a website for the course. If you would like to check it out in advance, go to:
http://www.doctortee.com/plant-anat
If you visit the the site before the semester begins, it may not be completely ready for current semester; the information you see there may be from the last time the course was taught. But the course content is basically the same; there won't be many changes except for the schedule.
Again WELCOME! I am looking forward to a great semester.
Introduction to plant anatomy - Wed, 1/11
We will start with a brief overview of the science of plant anatomy. It is important to appreciate that plant anatomy is still a very active part of botany but that its perspective has changed in recent years. It is not the purely descriptive science it once was. Plant anatomist now incorporate aspects of phylogeny, physiology, ecology, genetics, and biochemistry into studies of plant structure.
In the preface of the textbook, Dr. Dickison discusses his approach to talking about anatomy in an interdisciplinary way. We will try to do this too in the course. Although we will still cover plant structure in the traditional sequence of cells-tissues-organs-whole plant, we will include readings from the sections of the book that examine topics such as structure/function, phylogeny, and economic botany. Follow the reading assignments carefully by page number, because we will jump back and forth quite a bit.
To comment on this entry, visit the blog.The plant body - Fri, 1/13-Wed, 1/18
We begin our discussion of plant structure with a review of the various plant groups. Don't worry about all the details here, but you should get a general idea of what the vascular plants are and how they are comprise seedless plants (like ferns), gymnosperms, and angiosperms. We will concentrate mostly on the seed plants in this course. This material is just a quick review of basic plant taxonomy that you learned in general biology.
We will then do a brief overview of the basic structure of the vascular plant body. Internal structure is of course the subject of our course. We will spend the rest of the semester looking into the tissues and organs of the plant in detail. The textbook's introduction to the overall plant body is very brief, so there will not be much reading in this section. Everything we introduce here will be expanded upon in later lectures and in the text.
To comment on this entry, visit the blog.The plant cell - Fri, 1/20
In order to talk about tissues and organs, we must start with cells. Vascular plants are multicellular creatures. The basic unit of all parts of the plant is the cell, so that is a logical place to start building an understanding of plant structure. Chapter 1 covers the basic aspect of the cell in general and the cell wall in particular. The reading in pages 30-44, describes the plant cell and its typical organelles. Most of the material in this chapter you should find familiar because you were introduced to basic cell structure in your general biology course.
To comment on this entry, visit the blog.The cell wall - Mon, 1/23-Wed, 1/25
In chapter 1, pages 14-29, the structure of the cell wall is discussed. You should give this section special attention because the cell wall is a cell feature that separates plant cells from cells of other organisms (e.g. animals). Understanding the details of wall structure will be critical to understanding tissues and organs. Much of how the different tissues are distinguished from each other is based on differences in cell wall features.
This section also describes plasmodesmata and pits. These are specialized openings in cells walls making connections between adjacent cells possible. We will just introduce pits here, then cover them in more detail in the xylem section. Pits are most varied and complex in xylem cells.
To comment on this entry, visit the blog.Parenchyma - Fri, 1/27
Now that we have discussed plant cells, we are ready to tackle the tissues. We will start with the ground tissue system, focussing first on the primary tissues. We will cover secondary tissues after we have built up a complete understanding of the primary plant body. Chapter 2 covers the basic aspects of the primary tissue systems. Although this chapter begins with a discussion of meristems, we will delay covering them until after we have discussed characteristics of the mature tissues.
Parenchyma comes first, beginning on page 74. In some ways parenchyma are the most variable of all cells because they carry out the widest variety of functions. Nearly all plant functions that require a living cell are done by parenchyma cells. One way to classify parenchyma cells is based on function. Keep in mind that these functions can overlap, with the same cell serving more than one function. Remember too that the term parenchyma can refer to both a cell type and a tissue type. As is often true with biological terminology, it is important to know the context of the term in order to understand the specific meaning.
To comment on this entry, visit the blog.Collenchyma - Mon, 1/30
We continue our discussion of the ground tissues with collenchyma. Collenchyma has several characteristics in common with parenchyma, but there are important differences. Collenchyma is one of the two supporting tissues (the other being sclerenchyma, covered next). Supporting cells always have thicker cell walls than parenchyma cells. Be sure to understand how collenchyma provides plastic (flexible) support. This section in the text is very short-collenchyma is a relatively simple tissue that looks basically the same almost everywhere it occurs.
To comment on this entry, visit the blog.Sclerenchyma - Wed, 2/1-Fri, 2/3
We continue our discussion of the ground tissues with sclerenchyma. Like collenchyma, sclerenchyma is a support tissue, but it provides elastic rather than plastic support. What are the features of sclerenchyma that give it its elastic properties? In this section we see that there are two basic types of sclerenchyma cells: sclereids and fibers. Like parenchyma, sclerenchyma is a term that can refer to both a cell type and a tissue type. Be sure to understand how sclerenchyma is used differently in these two contexts.
The basic properties of sclerenchyma is covered in Chapter 2, but we will also cover some of what is in Chapter 12. that chapter covers some of the ways in which plant fibers are used commercially, such as in the fabric and paper industries.
To comment on this entry, visit the blog.Epidermis - Mon, 2/6-Wed, 2/8
Having finished the ground tissue system, we now move on to the dermal system. Two tissues belong to this system, epidermis and periderm. We will only cover epidermis at this point. Epidermis is the primary dermal tissue. Later, as we cover secondary growth, we will deal with periderm. Periderm is the secondary tissue.
We concentrate here on how the structure of the epidermis makes it suited to protective functions, primarily protection from water loss. We discuss the structure and function of stomata and also examine various kinds of trichomes, which are appendages of the epidermis. Most of the information on epidermis is in Chapter 2, but there is also an assignment from Chapter 5 that covers stomatal complexes and trichomes in more detail and deals with their systematic and phylogenetic significance.
To comment on this entry, visit the blog.First exam - Fri, 2/10
The first exam will include all covered material from chapters 1, 2, and 12 up though the ground tissues. The topics included are: introduction to plant anatomy, the general plant body, overview of the three tissue systems and their development from the apical meristem, plant cells, the cell wall, parenchyma, collenchyma, and sclerenchyma.
Test items will primarily be short discussion questions. There may also be a few multiple choice items. For a sample of the kind of questions you can expect, see the sample exam questions.
Xylem - Wed, 2/8-Wed, 2/15
Having finished the ground and dermal tissue systems, we now come to the third and final system, the vascular tissue. Two tissues belong to this system, xylem and phloem. These are the most complex tissues in the plant, each comprising a number of different cell types. We start with xylem, the water transport tissue. The basic characteristics are covered in Chapter 2, but we will also cover some of Chapter 5, which discusses the phylogenetic development of xylem.
Like the dermal tissues, there are both primary and secondary forms of vascular tissues. We cover primary xylem here. After we have finished with the primary structure of all tissues and organs, we will look into secondary growth. At that point, we will come back to the xylem and phloem that are derived from the vascular cambium, the meristem responsible for secondary vascular tissues.
To comment on this entry, visit the blog.Phloem - Fir, 2/17-Mon, 2/20
We move on to the second of the vascular tissues - phloem. Phloem functions to carry photosynthates (food molecules) from organs that produce them (usually leaves) to other locations that do not do adequate photosynthesis. The basic characteristics of phloem are covered in Chapter 2, but we will also cover some of Chapter 7, which discusses the the function of xylem and phloem. The important part of this chapter is the discussion of the osmotically generated pressure flow model explain how materials move through the sieve elements
As for xylem, phloem cam be both primary and secondary. We cover primary phloem here. After we have finished with the primary structure of all tissues and organs, we will look into secondary growth. At that point, we will come back to the xylem and phloem that are derived from the vascular cambium, the meristem responsible for secondary vascular tissues.
To comment on this entry, visit the blog.Second exam - Fri, 3/2
The first exam will include all covered material from chapters 2, 5, and 7 on dermal and vascular tissues. The topics included are: epidermis structure, stomata and their operation, trichome types, xylem structure, comparison of tracheary elements, cohesion-tension mechanism, importance of pits, xylem evolution, development of primary xylem, phloem structure, pressure-flow mechanism, comparison of sieve elements, and development of sieve elements.
Test items will primarily be short discussion questions. There may also be a few multiple choice items. For a sample of the kind of questions you can expect, see the sample exam questions. These sample questions will just show you the kinds and depth of questions you will see. They do not necessarily cover the specific material that will be in this exam.
Shoot apical meristem - Wed, 2/22-Mon, 2/27
Now that we have covered cell and tissues, we are ready to begin discussing how tissue combine to make organs. The vegetative organs of the primary plant body are the stem, leaf, and root. We will cover them in this order.
The stem and leaf together make up the shoot. In order to understand shoot structure, we must first as some questions about how the shoot apical meristem is structured and how its activity produces new stem tissue and leaves. Apical meristems are covered in chapter 2. This section is brief, but it takes a bit of time to cover meristems in lecture. The concepts concerning meristems is as much about how they work as it is about with they look like. We will start with some basic concepts about patterns of plant growth and what kinds of meristems can be found in plants, then cover specifically what the shoot meristem is like and some of the thoughts about how it is organized and how its patterns of cell division and cell growth lead to the entire shoot system.
To comment on this entry, visit the blog.Stem - Mon, 2/27-Wed, 2/29
In some ways, the stem is the most complex organ of the plant. This is partly because it is intimately connected with the leaves, and the vascular system of the stem is related to how it connects to the vascular system of leaves. In this section, we concentrate most on the variations in arrangement of the stem vascular system (the stele). Important to this discussion is an understanding of nodal anatomy. A node is the point where the stem and leaf intersect. Anatomy of this region depends on the type of leaf a plant has and the phyllotaxy. An important concept we will cover with respect to this is the difference between microphylls and megaphylls.
Leaf - Mon, 3/5-Mon, 3/26
Leaves come in many forms. The leaf is one of the most variable parts of a plant. Its form depends on the taxonomic group the plant belongs to as well as the type of environment in which it lives. In this section we will state with basic leaf forms (simple, compound) and leaf arrangement (alternate, opposite). Then we will move to internal structure. Leaves have all the same primary tissues as do stems, but there arrangement is different. Leaf form is mostly a result of its function as a photosynthetic organ. Keep this in mind as you consider why leaves have the morphology and anatomy that they do.
We will briefly cover leaf development. How does the activity of the various meristematic regions in a leaf primordium enable it to reach the final form characteristic of the particular species.
We will finish this section with a discussion of leaf variation. How do leaves differ depending on the type of environment to which they are adapted? How do leaves differ among gymnosperms, monocots, and dicots?
Root - Wed, 3/28
The third of the vegetative plant organs we discuss is the root. Here we will consider root types (primary, lateral, adventitious) and root system morphology (tap root, fibrous roots) before looking into the anatomy. We will briefly discuss root development by comparing the root apical meristem with the shoot apical meristem covered earlier. As we discuss the details of root anatomy we will introduce the physiological concept of apoplast and symplast and examine how the endodermis plays a role in movement of water and solutes between the two spaces. We will finish this section with a discussion of root branching patterns and talk about how root branches form in a way that is fundamentally different than how shoot branches form.
Delta State University > Biological and Physical Sciences > Dr. Tiftickjian > BIO 410 > Assignments
