Why “Howplantswork”?
The goal of this blog is to explore the inner workings of plants, on which we all depend for our existence.
In this blog, I’ll primarily focus on sharing new information about plant function (a.k.a., plant physiology).
I prefer to approach this subject mainly from the perspective of the life of a typical flowering plant (angiosperm): seed germination, plant development, how plants make a living from day-to-day, and, finally, flowering and plant death.
Along the way, I’ll feature topics of current relevance, such as the effects of increasing atmospheric CO2 on plants, the use of plants to clean the environment (phytoremediation), and the extraction of biofuels from plants.
Ultimately, it’s all about how plants work.
Who Is This Guy?
My name is Richard Stout, and I live in Bellingham, Washington. I received a Ph.D. in Plant Physiology from the University of Washington, Seattle, in 1980. Since then, I’ve taught biology, biochemistry, botany, and plant physiology as a faculty member at Williams College (Williamstown, MA) and Montana State University (Bozeman, MT).
In May, 2008, I bade goodbye to academia, and so now I have time to pursue online interests, such as this blog.
Dedication
This weblog is dedicated to the memory of Dr. Dave Rayle, who was both mentor and friend.
Dave was a member of the faculty in the Dept. of Biology at San Diego State University for many years.
He, along with Prof. Bob Cleland at the University of Washington, discovered how the plant hormone auxin stimulates plant cell growth.
Known as the “Acid Growth Theory” (PDF), this hypothesis has become one of the fundamental concepts of how plants grow.
Basically, this theory explains how auxin stimulates the elongation of cells in young stems. It turns out that this is also key to both phototropism and gravitropism in plants.
And the acid growth theory may also have implications beyond the plant hormone auxin, since the acidification of the cell wall may also play a role in the growth of other walled cells, such as in fungi and protists.
Dave was also an avid (rabid?) fisherman.
He rarely passed up any opportunity to go fishing, whether for winter-run steelhead during blizzards on the Skykomish River in Washington state or for rainbow trout during summer float trips on the Smith River in Montana.
Sadly, Dave died at the age of 58, soon after retirement from San Diego State University.
He was both a scientist and fisherman extraordinaire.
It was my great good fortune to have known him.
And as he was a great teacher, as well as a great scientist, this site – all about how plants work – is dedicated to him.
Header photo by Christiaan L
Hi, your site is fantastic! Could you do some info on bonsai plants? I’m interested to know why and how a maple (for example) only grows tiny leaves when clipped to bonsai. Why don’t they just grow normal sized leaves on a tiny trunk? How do they know? Weird questions, I know, but interesting don’t you think?
Here’s an article that may interest you:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081111102804.htm
Hi. I’m from the Philippines and find your articles useful. I’m an agriculturist. Can you enlighten me or do you know anything about differential cellburst extraction. Thank you so much.
rey D
Sorry, I don’t know anything about differential cellburst extraction.
Hi!! Iยดm a botany student and I really enjoy your articles!
I was wondering if you knew the the effects that global “weirding” can have on C3, C4 and CAM plants.
Thank You very much!
Hi,
I’m glad that you enjoy this blog.
The likely effects of “global weirding” on C3 plants will probably be significantly different than those on C4 and CAM plants.
However, my answer to your question won’t make much sense to you unless you know how C3 plants differ from C4 and CAM plants. And also how C4 plants differ from CAM plants. Do you know? If so, let me know, and I’ll be happy to try to answer your question.
Thanks for asking, by the way.
yeah, know the basics like the photosynthesis, the places where they can be found, the weather, etc. I know that C4 and CAM plants are more “alike” and that C3 plants would have a greater impact with the global warming.
The answer to your question is complex, and people don’t really understand plants and plant ecology well enough to make accurate predictions. And why it’s referred to as global “weirding” also reveals our uncertainty regarding how increased atmospheric CO2 will affect Earth’s climate. But we can still try to make some “educated guesses”. (see https://howplantswork.wordpress.com/category/co2/ for example)
One thing is certain, however: atmospheric CO2 will continue to increase. Probably double in your lifetime. Earth hasn’t experienced such high levels of atmospheric CO2 for hundreds of millions of years. The fossil and geologic records of this period can give us clues as to what we can expect. Briefly, the planet was hotter and plant growth was lush.
It was lush at least in part because plants had higher amounts of CO2 to use for photosynthesis. At this time, there were no C4 plants. ( http://www.palaeobiology.org.uk/projects_05.htm ) Why not? They didn’t arise until Earth’s atmospheric CO2 decreased. Plants were (still are) “gasping” for CO2 – much like you would be gasping for O2 on the top of Mt. Everest. C4 plants use a specialized leaf structure (Kranz anatomy) and an alternative enzyme to RuBisCo to capture CO2 and then transfer the CO2 into “normal” C3 photosynthesis. This way, they thrive at relatively low levels of CO2 compared to C3 plants. (So, why don’t C4 plants rule? Because they don’t do well at cool temps, that is, outside the tropics.)
Fast forward to today, with ever increasing levels of CO2. C4 plants are losing their CO2 advantage and in some places are already being displaced by C3 plants.
How about the likely effects of climate change, mainly more episodes of heat waves and droughts?
In this case, CAM plants may have the advantage. Why? They’ve already adapted to desert environments. They are C3 plants. (Yes, C3!) They simply use an enzyme to capture CO2 carbon at night (stomates open!), store it as a 4C organic acid malate overnight, and use malate as carbon source during daylight to do C3 photosynthesis (stomates closed to conserve water).
Bottom line: C4 plants may decline; C3 plants may grow more lushly; but increased incidents of heat and drought may favor CAM plants.
Thank you so much! you answer in such an interest way! hehehe I was thinking that C3 plants would have a greater challenge with global warming than C4 plants… definetly CAM will be favored… Thanx again for your help! Great blog! ๐
Hey!! It’s me again!
I have a different question now. Do you know what are the major differences between the life cycles of angyo/gymnosperms and the life cycles of Bryophytes, algae, fungi and seedless vascular plants?
Once again Thank you for your help! ๐
Hey, Pilar. Welcome back.
A nice wiki-page that answers your question is here.
It’s easy, however, if you are familiar with some common examples of “bryophyte” and “algae” and “fungi” and “seedless vascular plants”. Are you?
Hint: You’ve probably seen mushrooms, seaweeds, mosses, and ferns. But which of these belongs to which group?
Anyway, these guys don’t produce seeds, right?
But angios and gymnos do! (duh!)
This is pretty obvious, but another big difference has to do with diploid versus haploid organisms. The humans and most flowering plants that you see are diploid. But the bryophytes and fungi that you can see are haploid. (This is a big old clue to answering your question.)
Figure it out yet?
yeah! BIG HELP! hehe
Mushrooms are a tipe of fungi, seaweeds are algae, mosses are bryophytes and ferns i guess are seedless vascular plants?
I think i get it better now! ๐
Hello Dr. Stout,
My name is Jacob and I am working to put together a quarterly magazine for citizen scientists. Would you be interested in putting together an article related to getting started with plants?
Hello,
I really liked reading the articles on your website. It was really interesting. Not only the content is good, but also the way it is presented. I have similar interest as you. I also studied biology, obtained a phd, did reseach and quited reasearch… And since one month I also have a blog on which I write my ideas on plants. My blog is a little different from yours. I have some ideas I want to share on the evolution of plants. I try to explain the biochemistry and architecture of plants by looking/trying to understand the evolution of the plant. I invite you to read my ideas. (at the moment, there are only two of my theory published online. A third will follow in one or two weeks). I would like to know your opinion.
kind regards,
Stijn
Stijn,
Thank you very much for your kind remarks.
I will be sure to visit your website and read your posts regarding plant evolution.
Happy New Year,
Richard
Hello,
I forgot to mention the webaddress in the previous mail on which you can find my theories:
http://www.plantevolution.be
kind regards,
Stijn