Thinking Scientifically

1. Give three examples from the chapter of plant adaptations that maximize surface area.

2. How can cutting down coastal redwoods for lumber harm ferns?

3. How did vascular systems influence plant evolution?

4. How might transgenic technology (See Biotechnology Box 13.3) be used to endow plants with the ability to fix nitrogen?

5. On a planet with an atmosphere similar to Earth’s, which elements would have to be present in the soil for earthly plants to grow?

6. To collect sap to make maple syrup, a metal tube is placed into the sapwood – at a certain time of day in only some parts of the U.S. – and sap flows out. What is this sap? What force pushes it out of the tree?

7. Rice plants given a gene encoding soybean ferritin triple the amount of iron that they can store. How might this engineered rice be of value, and how might it be harmful?

8. Explain how chlorenchyma and root cortical cells depend on each other.