The Adaptations of Mangroves Page 61 PDF

Preview

Summary

class assignment...

Description

Vahaj Azeem

The Adaptations of Mangroves

1.

Page 61

Why do plant roots need oxygen?

Plant roots need oxygen to stay healthy and to do their job efficiently of gathering water and nutrients for the plant. 2.

How do the roots of terrestrial (land) plants obtain oxygen?

They gain oxygen from the nutrients and the oxygen in the soil. When plant roots absorb the nutrients from the soil, they take in all of the things they need to carry out its functions. Therefore, the roots of terrestrial plants obtain oxygen through absorbing the nutrients and oxygen in the soil. 3.

What adaptations do the roots of the Grey Mangrove Plants have that help them obtain oxygen?

The grey mangroves have roots below and above the ground. They also have pneumatophores with lenticels. These increase the amount of oxygen obtained by the mangrove. They not only gain oxygen from the ground but they grow pneumatophores (peg roots) straight up, above the ground. At the tip of the pneumatophores are the lenticels. These absorb oxygen directly from the air. This increases the amount of oxygen obtained by the mangrove and this is how this adaptation allows them to do this. 4.

What conditions are required for terrestrial plants to germinate and where does this usually occur?

The terrestrial plants need birds or other organisms to spread out their seeds. The seeds germinate and grow into seedlings and for this to occur, it requires the soil to be in suitable conditions. The seeds are usually scattered on the ground by the birds and as they grow and develop, they produce roots and grow them downwards to absorb nutrients so they can grow. 5.

In what ways do the conditions for the germination of Grey Mangroves differ from terrestrial plants?

Terrestrial plants require other organisms to spread out their seeds whereas the Grey Mangroves does the spreading out of seeds all by itself. The fruit of the mangrove contains a single seed and it germinates inside the fruit while still on the tree. The terrestrial plants require suitable soil conditions whereas the Grey Mangroves do not. They develop their roots and do not worry about if the soil is suitable or not. 6.

What adaptations do mangroves have to overcome these conditions for germination?

Grey mangroves seeds germinate their seeds while they are still on the tree. This increases the chance of the seeds developing fully and reproducing to produce more. When the seeds fall into the water, roots grow extremely quickly thus preventing the young plant from being wiped away by the next tide. These are the adaptations that allow the mangroves to overcome these conditions for germination. 7.

Water moves from the soil into plant roots by osmosis. Compare the salt concentration of soil water and root parenchyma for both species and explain how these concentrations promote the absorption of water.

Represents salt mounds (I will simply refer to it as salt mound) for example. There is one salt mound in the water of….. In the case of the Brush box, there is one salt mound of salt in the soil water. This is relatively low compared to the 5 salt mounds of salt in the soil water in which the Grey Mangrove lives in the parenchyma cells of the Brush Box, there is 2 salt mounds of salt in the parenchyma cells of the Brush Box. In the parenchyma cells of the Grey Mangrove, 6 salt mounds of salt are present. Therefore, by analyzing the data we can tell that the Grey mangroves live in a highly salt concentrated environment whereas the Brush Box lives in an environment where there is little salt if at all in the soil water and in the parenchyma cells. The Brush Box has to be careful in the water it absorbs as, if too much salt is absorbed, the plant will eventually end up dying. The Grey Mangrove does not have this problem as it is adapted to the salty environment and therefore does not need to worry about there being too much salt absorbed as processes inside the mangrove work to remove the excess salt from its system.

Vahaj Azeem

8.

What would happen to the uptake of water by the roots of the Brush Box if the soil water were as salty as for the Grey Mangrove?

The Brush Box will eventually end up dying as the high salt concentration would destroy the plant causing it to die. The Brush box is not adapted to handle salty environments and if placed into one, it would more than likely not be able to adapt in time if at all for it to survive to reproduce. The roots of the Brush Box that absorb the water will eventually be filled with excess amounts of salt and will not be able to remove it in time before it gradually begins to cause the destruction of the plant. The plant could also evolve and adapt to the selection pressure of the salt soil water and develop mechanisms similar to the Grey Mangroves that aid in the removal of excess salt inside the plant. Therefore, the Brush Box would either end up dying as a result of the high salt concentration in the salt water or it would adapt to the selection pressure of the salty soil water and develop mechanisms similar to that of the Grey Mangroves which will help in removing excess amounts of salt in the Brush Box....