05.27.2020 - Wednesday - Science -
Remember, as always, to look up the CAPITALIZED terms with which you are unfamiliar.
- Current Events: CNN 10 - https://www.cnn.com/cnn10
- Space X Launch: The United States has not launched an astronaut to orbit from with the Unite States since the end of the space shuttle program - Almost ten years ago. Space X is a joint venture with Nasa meant to launch this afternoon from the same launch pad in Florida from which Apollo 11 launched.
- There is a view of a ring galaxy which shows the result of an ongoing interaction between two large galaxies. Galaxies - like our Milky Way - can be found in varies stages of collisions and mergers. Even though each galaxy contains hundreds of billions of stars galaxy collisions rarely result in any star collisions because the distance between the individual strs is so great.
II. Science Assignment: Due Friday: Email with a list of your example of the eight Animal Kingdom Phyla discussed in class notes and the FOUR Plant Kingdom Phyla mentioned below.
III. The Plant kingdom has twelve currently-recognized Phyla.
A. Plants are among the most diverse Kingdoms, with over 300,000different species.
B. Plants are EUKARYOTIC, and have CELL WALLS made of CELLULOSE. Chances are, you’re reading this from within a building being held up by cellulose …. Wood!
C. Plants have ORGANELLES called CHLOROPLASTS where PHOTOSYNTHESIS takes place.
IV. The Plant Kingdom is, first, divided into VASCULAR and NONVASCULAR species. You have a vascular system. We studied our vascular system in class and you probably remember that we have arteries, veins, and capillaries to carry blood from our lungs and hear to every cell in our bodies. The evolution of a vascular system was a huge leap ahead in the evolution of plants.
A. Think back to our study of PIONEER SPECIES: We looked at LICHENS as one of the first species to colonize hard rock after lava cools or after it’s been scraped by a glacier. One of the first plants to move into an area, where lichens have taken hold, are mosses.
B. Mosses and liverworts are non-vascular, which means they do not transport foods and nutrients around to all of their cells. That’s why you see mosses growing in damp places. They have to be in places where there is lots of water because they don’t have XYLEM and PHLOEM to bring water and nutrients to all fo their cells. Their cells absorb water directly from the environment.
C. Vascular plats have three, main, parts.
1. The roots. Roots help anchor a plant and also bring water and nutrients to the rest of the plant.
2. The STEM: The stem might be woody or non-woody. It transports nutrients and pulls water up from the soil. The most important roll is as a scaffold for leaves.
3. LEAVES: Are where all the action is in a plant. It’s where PHOTOSYNTHESIS takes place and it’s where TRANSPIRATION occurs.
4. Vascular plants are divided into ANGIOSPERMS and GYMNOSPERMS. We’ve visited both kinds of plants on campus and at outdoor education. (Think back to our on-campus walk to the oak trees, or to the study of redwoods at outdoor ed.)
V. ASSIGNMENT; Find an example of each of the following common plant Phyla:
A. MOSS:
B FERN
C. CONIFER
D: FLOWERING PLANT
