Similarities Between Plants And Animals

Plants and animals are very important to human life. Plants and animals developed natural forms

Michael Pollan, author of The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s View of the World, addresses four major plant groups that have both changed for human needs and simultaneously changed human’s needs. While most gardeners, genetic engineers and other plant related professionals have long-believed that plants have evolved based on what we want or need to survive and in other words what we have “domesticated”, Pollan appeals to the plant’s view. Plants’ survival has been solely based on what humans desire both depending on their visual and stimulatory appeal along with their appeal to an appetite. Conversely, plants have used humans as a strategy for “getting us to move and think for them (page xx)”. Many plants have successfully maneuvered humans for

One widely accepted idea is that of the five senses and we know plants possess some of these senses.“When we smell something, we sense a volatile chemical that’s dissolved in the air, and then react in someway to this smell...When one fruit starts to ripen, it releases this hormone which is called ethylene, which is sensed by neighboring fruits, until entire trees and groves ripen more or less in synchrony”(Garet Cook, Do plants think). Plants can have a sense of smell and can react to it and if having perception means being animate plants must be

University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom. E J H Corner, 2002. The Life of Plants. University of Chicago Press,

The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollen uses examples of four plants including the apple ,tulip, marijuana, and the potato, to describe evolution and how mankind works to help plants reproduce. We are a slave to things of sweetness, beauty, intoxication, and control. These four things are described by the different plant chapters in the book. We as people are driven to these kind of things because of the product we get, we subconsciously are working to make these plants more fit and therefore helping in their reproduction and evolution. With each plant chapter Pollen goes into depth about its contribution to the world and history behind the plant within human evolution. By using the examples he provides in the book helps demonstrate the ideas of how these plants contribute to the human body systems, evolution and ecology. To further explain these topics I chose to explore the apple, tulip and cannabis plants.

Plants are important and critical facets of our environment that provide us with cleaner air, water, food and other resources. The ability to increase height growth of various kinds of plants, economically and simply, could be beneficial to everyone. Based on prior research and past evidence, sounds play a role in plant development and how they respond speaks volumes about what plants may possibly be able to hear or sense about the environment around them. From previous studies, plants responded to a range of sounds that included catepillars chewing and flowing water. The response observed was that plants were able to hear or sense

Different types of organisms behave differently in their environments. They may flourish and grow well close together, or they may compete over resources. One plant may even stunt the growth of another plant by stealing all of the water and nutrients. This is known as an allelopathic effect. There are various different types of plants that have this effect on other plants.

Hummingbirds have also evolved a unique relationship with some plants which have evolved specializations such as bright coloration and large petals in order to entice hummingbird to feed from them. These specialized flowers do supply nectar in each flower; however, these plants will allow the hummingbird to meet its nutritional requirements in one visit, and by doing so hummingbirds are forced to visit many flowers and in turn are cross-pollinating the flowering plants. This behavior has allowed for a close mutualism to evolve between these specialized plants and hummingbirds. (Welch & Suarez 2008).

Over the years plants continue to evolve and come out with new methods and systems that help it survive and reproduce. Animals such as insects and birds are key players in the reproduction of plants. We call them pollinators because they help spread pollen from plant to plant, but one would ask how a plant attracts animals to itself anyway. These plants have nectar a sweet tasting liquid that animals eat and during this eating process pollen is rubbed off on the consumer. It’s like an unauthorized deal because both technically benefit from it. Another technique plants use to attract animals, such as insects are vibrant colors. Not all plants appreciate the help so they have structures and chemicals that repel them. For bigger animals like birds; a plant might develop a thorny leaf texture that keeps it from being eaten. For insects, plants can produce toxins that can either kill or repel insects making them sick. Some leaves develop textures that make it hard for animals to digest. It’s a better idea for plants to repel insects than kill because most plants depend on insects and animals in some way unless there self-pollinators. By killing

Plants have many roles to play. Plants make food and oxygen, they provide shelter for animals, and they make and preserve soil, and provide useful products for humans. Plants are the only organism that is able to convert light energy from the sun into food. This process is called photosynthesis. The food that we eat is produced by plants. Humans need oxygen to live. This oxygen comes from plants. Oxygen is produced when plants make food. Animals often use plants for their shelter and their food source. Plants roots help hold the soil together and also help make soil. Plants help humans more than just the oxygen they produce. They also produce food, fibers, medicines, and energy. Animals and humans depend greatly on the roles of plants. (1)

Among the topics from this semester that were not discussed in this exam, I find the “Oviposition and host-plant selection behavior of the herbivores” especially interesting. This topic invoked a different perspective on factors that influence host-plant selection behavior by the herbivore insects. The three steps herbivore insects take to locate their host-plant plants are as follows: 1). Search for cues (e.g. olfactory and visual) of potential host-plants. 2). Contact/test (e.g. mechano-sensory and gustatory) potential host-plant via probing and biting. 3). Decide whether to accept, which results in feeding/oviposition or reject, which results in searching for another host-plant. We have discussed two specific questions on this topic. The first question addressed the consequences of vegetation texture on finding host-plant by herbivores in a complex plant community. The second question addressed factors that affect the likelihood of a herbivore accepting a host-plant. These questions helped us to understand the fundamental factors that drive herbivore behaviors that differentiate host-plant from non-host plant

     Plants are autotrophs that mean they are able to synthesize food directly from inorganic compounds, instead of relying on other organisms. They use carbon dioxide gas and water to produce sugars and oxygen

The properties of life that plants and animals should possess include heredity and growth, homeostasis, cellular organization, metabolism and responsiveness. Merriam Webster defined the transmission of such qualities from ancestor to descendant through the genes. Therefore, heredity is the power of an organism to reach data about itself onto its young. As well, growth is included as a property of life because all living things originate and some may develop much quicker than others. Another attribute of life is homeostasis. This is when living things possess a stable internal environment regardless of any alterations in their external environment. In summation, the cellular organization is another attribute of animation where all living things are composed of cells where some have unicellular organisms and some have multicellular organisms. Furthermore, metabolism is needed to provide organisms with energy and responsiveness must do with outside environmental changes. Lastly, reproduction is not necessary for the survival of organisms, but is necessary for there to be a prolongation of life.

Other then being used for consumption, plants also provide shelter from the environment. Trees provide shade, which creates a cooler temperature that helps prevent dehydration. They also provide fruit and shelter for animals for human consumption. Trees are also cut up into wood for building houses and making tools needed for hunting and protection from predators. Humans have an advantage over animals because of our greater intelligence that permitted the discovery of tools. Without

What classifies an animal or plant to be listed as an endangered species, endangered specie is either an animal or plant that is in danger of elimination. When looking for endangered species I came to stubble upon endangered European specie that was the beluga sturgeon. The beluga sturgeon is a beautiful fish that is a proud member of the sturgeon family. The beluga can be found mainly in the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. When looking at the beluga appearance it undertakes as a huge long bony fish, their skin consist of smooth elastic tissue like rubber and since they are so bony the bones act as a protection against other predators. Also the beluga sturgeon has a tail similar to a shark with a whisker like sensor near their long mouth which help them sense when its time to eat. Not only are they huge long and bony but they reach lengths of 24 feet and weight up to 3500 pounds. The fish it self is has a very unique lifestyle in the sense that it spends its life in oceans such as the Caspian sea but only reproduces in rivers or lake. What is fascinating about the beluga sturgeon is that the larger they are the more likely they are to survive, ranging for more than 105 years. The beluga sturgeon diet consists feeding of other fish and the beluga sturgeon is considered one of the largest destructive fishes on earth. Even though these fish can live over 105 years they mature very late down their life that causes problems when it is time for spawning or reproducing new eggs.