How do plants work

These phycobiliproteins are found in tiny, invisible organisms called cyanobacteria. It is, therefore, very important for everyone to understand how cyanobacteria make their food, and what important roles the phycobiliproteins play in the process. When you think of food, do you usually come up with images of your favorite food? This is a natural process, since food is important for every living thing.

To fulfill this basic need, all living things either make their own food or get it from some other source. Humans can eat both plants and animals. Some animals consume other animals, while some animals eat plants as their food. Ultimately, we see that everybody on this planet is dependent on plants for their food.

But then, what do plants eat? The process by which land plants produce their own food using sunlight and carbon dioxide is known as photosynthesis Figure 1.

While carbon dioxide is absorbed by the leaves, the sunlight is captured by a chemical molecule in the plant, called chlorophyll Chl. All photosynthetic organisms contain Chl. Plants in the oceans face problems with light availability.

The blue and green portions of light penetrate into the water more than the yellow and red portions of light do Figure 2. Luckily, ocean plants get help in producing food from such limited light and carbon dioxide, from tiny microscopic microbes called cyanobacteria also known as blue-green algae.

These microbes have adapted to dim light conditions, and they carry out photosynthesis both for themselves and for the benefit of other living things. Cyanobacteria are ancient microbes that have been living on our earth for billions of years. Cyanobacteria are said to be responsible for creating the oxygen-filled atmosphere we live in [ 1 ].

For carrying out photosynthesis in low light conditions, cyanobacteria have the help of proteins called phycobiliproteins , which are found buried in the cell membranes the outer covering of the cyanobacteria. Phycobiliproteins play the role of assistants to Chl in aquatic water environments. Since light has a difficult time penetrating into the oceans, phycobiliproteins make this job easier by absorbing whatever light is available; they absorb the green portion of the light and turn it to red light, which is the color of light required by Chl [ 2 ].

However, changing the color of light is not as easy as it seems. The green light has to pass through different phycobiliprotein molecules, which absorb light of one color and give out light of another color. Plants are usually pollinated by animals or by the wind. Animals that are good pollinators are bees, butterflies, moths, flies, and sunbirds. They are attracted to the flower by the colorful petals.

Actually, this pollination is accidental. The animal is just trying to get food—the sticky pollen or sweet nectar—at the base of the petals. While doing this, the animal accidentally rubs against the stamens the part of the flower that contains the pollen and gets pollen stuck on itself. Plants that are pollinated by birds and insects often have brightly colored petals and a strong smell to attract the animals. Another way plants can be pollinated is by the wind.

The wind carries the pollen from one plant to another. Plants that are pollinated this way usually have long stamens and pistils to increase their chance of catching the pollen. After the flower is pollinated and the egg is fertilized, the ovule develops into a fruit.

The fruit is a covering for the seeds. It can be fleshy, like a mango, or hard, like a nut. The seeds contain new plants, and they need the right conditions to grow: water, warmth, and a good location, usually in soil. Seeds can be dispersed by wind, water, or animals. Plants have developed several adaptations for seed dispersal. It certainly assumes a literate educated readership. But, nowhere could I find explicit a statement regarding the intended readership of the book. The last thing a book about plants wants to do is to disappoint aspiring botanists who might then change course to lesser subjects like zoology!

In many respects How Plants Work can — should! One way to impress upon your readers the majesty of plants is to emphasise how small or large! Unfortunately, for the great majority of illustrations in How Plants Work scale bars or indications of magnification are not present. Noteworthy, therefore, are the exceptions which do indicate magnifications: the coloured SEMgraph [the legend tells us this] of mycorrhizal hyphae p. The 6 Kingdom graphic on p. As shown they appear just to have been a progenitor of plants, fungi, and animals, and no longer with us [although the main text does make it clear that members of this grouping exist today].

The drawing of the cross section of the leaf of a C3 grass on p. Having researched grass leaf structure for many years that arrangement of tissues looks rather odd to me. The corresponding cross section through a C4 grass leaf p. Neither cross-section shows scale bars nor indicates the magnification. I also wonder about the spelling of the specific epithet of Dianthus caryophyllous p.