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Biology library
Course: Biology library > Unit 35
Lesson 1: 2015 Free response worked examples- 1a-c, Responses to the environment
- 1d-e, Responses to the environment & natural selection
- 2a-b, Cellular respiration & common ancestry
- 2c-d, Cellular respiration & cell compartmentalization and its origins
- 3a-b, Phylogeny
- 4a-b, Meiosis and genetic diversity
- 5a-b, Responses to the environment
- 6a-c, Population ecology
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5a-b, Responses to the environment
Phototropism investigation.
Want to join the conversation?
- On cellular, or even molecular level, how does phototropism work exactly? Are there enzymes in the shoot, that are not present in the rest of the plant (stem)? If yes, how do they work?(9 votes)
- Based on what I know, the tip contains some specific hormones or chemicals that the rest of the plant do not have, so the tip releases those hormones so that the rest of the plant will bend towards the light source. I'm not an expert on this, but I hope this helps you! :)
Edited:
From my research, a chemical called auxin is contained in the tip of the plant, so when it receives light, the auxin moves toward the darker side and sort of "pushes" the part that receives less light causing that part to elongate and bend towards the light source. You can search phototropism at Wikipedia if you want a better explanation (looking at images can be really helpful). :)(9 votes)
- Part 5b asked for TWO additional characteristics of the phototropism response. This video only gives one.(7 votes)
- I looked it up the 2015 AP Scoring Guidelines and it said two possible characteristics are:
1. Tip produces a substance/signal/hormone (auxin) in response to light that causes plant to bend
2. Substance/signal/hormone must diffuse from the tip and cause the plant to bend
So Sal kinda mentioned the second part, but I think you may want to be a little more thorough, even if it seems too obvious(14 votes)
- could not understand what photoperiodism is(1 vote)
- Photoperiodism is the response of a plant to the relative length of day and night (24 hrs cycle).
Some plants flower only when then exposed to day lengths shorter than or below a certain critical value . This is their response (photoperiodism ) and they are called short day plants (SDP). eg. Chrysanthemum
Long Day Plants(LDP) require a photoperiod more than critical length . Eg. Hordeum vulgare
Day neutral plants have no specific requirements . eg Tomato(5 votes)
- Is this free response a short or a long response?(2 votes)
- can someone please explain what phototropism is, because i dont understand what it means(2 votes)
- Phototropism is the tendency for plants to grow towards light. If you'd like a sophisticated explanation on a more chemical level, please let me know.(1 vote)
- Is there a possibility that the shoot will grow away from the light?(1 vote)
- Yes, depending on the frequency of the light.(1 vote)
- What material could those barriers be? Wouldn't the impermeable barrier block everything else (water, nutrients) too, so the tip couldn't actually live with this kind of barrier? And is this an experiment that somebody has actually done?(1 vote)
- Didn't the question say "describe TWO additional charecteristics?" Sal only explained one, or did i get something wrong? thanks(0 votes)
Video transcript
- {Voiceover] Phototropism in plants is a response in which a plant shoot grows toward a light source. The results of five different experimental treatments from classic investigations of phototropism are shown above. Part A: Give support for the claim that the cells located in the
tip of the plant shoot give support for the claim that the cells located in the tip of the plant shoot detect the light by comparing the results from treatment group one with the results from treatment group two and treatment group three. So we wanna compare these first three treatment groups, and you see when you have an unaltered tip that the whole plant is going to bend in
the direction of the light, when you remove the tip, it no longer bends in the direction of the light, or if you were to cover the tip with some type of an opaque cap so the light can't go through it, it's
still not going to bend. So this is pretty good
evidence that there is there is something about
the tip of the plant that allows the phototropism to occur, it allows the plant to
know which direction the light is and then makes somehow causes it to bend in that direction. So I'll just write that down. Give support for the claim, so we can say that phototropism phototropism phototropism only occurred only occurred when there is an unaltered tip unaltered tip that has access to the light that has access to light. No bending occurred no bending occurred occurred when either the tip was removed the tip was removed that was that was treatment two so treatment treatment two, or the tip was tip had an opaque cover, the tip had an opaque cover, that was treatment treatment treatment three. So that's all there is
to it, it only occurred when there was an unaltered tip, so that was treatment one that
has access to light, no bending occurred when
either the tip was removed in this one, in treatment two, or treatment three, so it's a pretty good indication that you need that tip and it needs to have access to light, something about the
tip lets the plant know what direction to start bending in. All right, let's do part B now. Part B. In treatment groups four and five, so that's these two treatment groups right over here, the tips
of the plants are removed and placed back onto the shoot on either a permeable or impermeable barrier. Using the results from treatment groups four and five, describe two
additional characteristics of the phototropism response. Well, when the tip was placed on top of a permeable barrier, the phototropism still happens, the plant still bends. So even though the tip is disconnected, because this barrier is permeable, the tip must be able
to sense the light and release some type of substance or hormone or chemical or something that's able to go through this permeable barrier, some type of substance that goes through this permeable barrier, and somehow signals to the rest of the plant to bend in the right direction. Because when you put
an impermeable barrier right over here, the tip
might be trying to release those same substances but they can't get through and so the rest
of the plant doesn't know to bend or in what direction to bend. So we could say, we could say tip, tip must release some type of hormone hormone I say chemical chemical that signals to rest of plant to bend to bend and in which direction which direction we know this, we know this, because only the or only I
could say treatment four only treatment four treatment four permeable barrier, and I'll say where the barrier's permeable to that substance, where the barrier is permeable to that substance that substance we know this because only treatment four where the barrier is permeable to the substance shows shows phototropism, phototropism. Not treatment treatment five. We know this, we could say, because of the two, of four and
five, only treatment four where the barrier's permeable to that substance shows phototropism. That's the only explanation here, that it's not doing somehow doing it through radio waves or
releasing substances that somehow float in the air to the rest of the plant, that somehow some type of substance is going through through directly from the tip to
the rest of the plant, and when you block it,
it's not able to send those chemical signals. That's the best that's
the best explanation that I can think of for
this behavior that we see between between treatments four and five.