Plant Responses and Adaptations

A set of 30 vocabulary flashcards focusing on plant responses and adaptations, including their mechanisms for detecting environmental stimuli and defending against biotic and abiotic stressors.

Brassinosteroids

Plant hormones that promote cell expansion, impede leaf drop, and stimulate xylem development.

Photoreceptors

Molecules in plants that detect light.

Blue-Light Receptors

A type of photoreceptor that detects blue light.

Cryptochromes

Blue-light receptors involved in regulating plant development.

Phototropin

A blue-light receptor responsible for phototropic responses.

Phytochrome

A photoreceptor that detects red and far-red light, influencing seed germination.

Photoperiodism

The physiological reaction of organisms to the length of day or night.

Long-day plants

Plants that flower when the day length exceeds a certain number of hours.

Short-day plants

Plants that flower when the day length is shorter than a certain number of hours.

Statoliths

Starch-filled organelles in plant cells that help in sensing gravity.

Statocysts

Gravity-sensing organs in plants that contain statoliths.

Thigmotropism

A plant's response to touch or physical contact.

Aerenchyma

A type of tissue in plants that allows for gas exchange, often formed in response to flooding.

Volatile compounds

Secondary metabolites released by plants, often in response to herbivore attacks.

Elicitors

Substances that trigger a plant's defense mechanisms.

Virulence

The degree to which a pathogen can cause disease in a host.

Avirulence genes

Genes in pathogens that trigger a defensive response in resistant plant hosts.

Resistance genes

Genes in plants that provide resistance to specific pathogen attacks.

Hypersensitive Response

A rapid and localized plant response to pathogen attack.

Systemic Acquired Resistance

A longer-lasting, whole-plant resistance to subsequent pathogen attacks.

Plants and Gravity

Plants detect gravity through specialized organelles known as statoliths.

Negative gravitropism

An upward growth response of shoots against gravity.

Positive gravitropism

A downward growth response of roots towards gravity.

Sensitive plants

Plants that exhibit rapid movement in response to touch.

Plant Responses to Stresses

Plant adaptations to responds to physical, biological, and environmental stresses.

Flooding response

Plant adaptations such as aerenchyma that develop in response to waterlogged conditions.

Herbivore defense

Plant responses such as the production of secondary metabolites to deter herbivores.

Pathogen attack response

Plant strategies for combating infections by pathogens.

Chemical signals

Plants produce these to interact with both herbivores and pathogens.

Phenolic compounds

A type of secondary metabolite produced for defense against herbivores.