Robert Irao

Bio 51
Dr. Land

Answer the following questions after watching the video:

What are flowers? What is their sole function?
- Flowers themselves are sex organs. The flowers sole function is for
sex and reproduction.
Name the male and female parts of flowers and describe how they work.
- The female part has a receptive stigma that leads to the ovary. The
male anthers produces pollen. The pollen of each species must fit the
stigma just like a key fits a lock.
What are three methods of plant pollination?
- self-pollination.
- Pollen from a plant may be carried by insects to another plants
stigma to be fertilized.
- Wind carries pollen to female parts of other plants to pollinate.
Why is the Australian hammer orchid called a sexual mimic? Why is the
timing of flowering crucial to the plant?
- It gives off the shape and even the scent of a female wasp, attracting
male wasps and attaching pollen to the male. If wasp mistimes its
entrance to the flower, or if the orchid flowers late, it will not get
pollinated.
What is one drawback to wind pollination? Which kinds of plants most
commonly use wind for pollination?
- Grasses and most trees use wind for pollination, however it is
extremely wasteful.
How do each of the three types of bees shown cheat flowering plants?
- Large bumbles with their large tongues easily probe the nectar.
- small bumble bees, unable to get to the nectar chew with the strong
jaws to pillage.
- Honeybees learn to draw nectar without entering the flower and
without touching any reproductive parts.
How has the ginger plant overcome this? How is ginger pollinated?
- It employs ants to guard flower against plunder by the wrong visitor,
and gives nectar to ants for reward.
What happens when an insect drinks the pseudo-nectar of the African
water lily? How does this plant change from the first to the second day of
its life?
- When an insect drinks the crystal clear nectar, it is a deadly poison
that kills the insects. From day one to day two, the flower absorbs all
 the pollen and fertilizes the flower from below.
Why was the triggerplant so named?
- Insects that land on the flower catapults pollen onto the insect.
If flowers are intended to attract pollinators, why do many desert plants
have small, inconspicuous flowers near the ground?
- These flowers rely on ants to go from nectar to nectar through aerial
walkways that the flowers create.
Name three mammals that are pollinators.
- Pygmy Possum,birds, honey eater,
How do the African proteus plant and its resident birds benefit from each
other?
- Birds live on the plants and guards the flowers allowing African
proteus flowers so that birds from all over could take their choice.
Discuss the pollination strategy of the carrion lily (arum). Why does it trap
the blowflies for three days?
- This lily has the stench of a rotting corpse attracting blowflies. As it
goes down the hairy tube, it feeds on nectar, and pollen on the
blowflies rubs on the female recepters. On the second day of
trapping, the male stamens release sticky pollen onto the blowflies.
On the third day, it is able to escape and pollinate other flowers.
In what way is the wind pollination of many grasses similar to the water
pollination of the ribbon- weed? How do fish both hinder and help the
reproduction of the ribbon-weed?
- Just like the wind, the water carries the pollination from the male
plant at the bottom of the ocean up to the female at the surface of
the water. Fish hinder reproduction as it eats the pollen for food. Fish
help move the pollen at the surface of the water to the female plants.
What unique benefit does the arctic rose offer its pollinator?
- Pollinators find it 10 degrees warmer in the arctic rose, and give
pollinators a warm place to rest to continue flying.
How are bucket orchids and orchid bees mutually dependent for their
reproduction? What do they provide each other?
- Bucket orchids has a scent that attracts male orchid bees, and a
perfume that attracts female orchid bees, allowing orchid bees to get
together and reproduce. Meanwhile, the bucket orchid glues pollen
sacks on orchid bees for them to pollinate other bucket orchids.
The bucket orchids reproduction process is very uncertain. Describe the
stages in the process at which the strategy could go awry. Why do you
think it has evolved to reproduce this way?
- The bucket orchid relies on orchid bees to fall into the fluid and get
trapped in the opening for the bucket orchid to glue its pollen on the
 orchid bee. Orchid bees could easily not get trapped in the bucket
orchids fluids, or the orchid bee with glued pollen could not go to
other bucket orchids. Because the process takes a long time, if the
orchid bee does not take the pollen to pollinate another flower, it
would be a huge waste. It has evolved this way, because there is not
much wind to blow its pollen, and requires insects to transfer its
pollen. Gluing the pollen to the back of the orchid bee is a surefire
way for it to stay and has a higher chance to go to other flowers to
pollinate.
Why does life on earth depend on floral sex?
- Primary consumers rely on getting their nutrients from flowers and
other primary producers. If there is no floral sex, some plants will not
reproduce leaving no food for primary consumers, leaving no food for
secondary consumers and so on.
What is the benefit of cross-pollination? Why are some plants monoecious
and some dioecious? Research and compare the life histories of one or two
of each type.
- Cross-pollination gives rise to biodiversity amongst plants. Some
plants are monoecious which means that the flower contains both
the male and female parts, while dioecious means that the male part
is on one flower and the female is on another flower. Monoecious
flowers could be for self-pollinating plants that do not have much
wind or insects to assist with cross-pollinating. Meanwhile, dioecious
plants could allow more biodiversity with the help of cross-pollination
from wind and insects.
Why are highly specialized plants like the bucket orchid reproductively
vulnerable? What conditions might have led to this form of reproduction?
Would specialist or non-specialist plants be more likely to be endangered
species? Why? What are the implications for preserving tropical
rainforests?
- The bucket orchid only has one pollinator, and if that pollinator goes
extinct, the bucket orchid goes extinct. This orchid may have evolved
along with its pollinator only allowing only orchid bees to be its
pollinator. Specialist plants are more likely to be endangered
because it is a lot more situational and only allows certain pollinators,
causing less reproduction to occur. Many flowers in tropical
rainforests only have certain pollinators, and are specialist plants.
You would have to preserve all the plants and the pollinators in order
for the plants to survive.
Compare reproductive strategies of plants in temperate zones versus
tropical environments. Why do you think there are more plant species in
tropical forests than in temperate forests?
- In temperate zones, a lot of pollination could occur through the wind
and bees carrying a lot of the same type of pollen. Whereas, in
tropical environments, because plants are more specialized, there are
more pollinators and reproduction does not occur as much as in
temperate zones because there is not much wind to carry massive
amounts of pollen. Therefore, in tropical forests you may see many
different types of plants, but not an abundance of them.
Blowfly eggs die in carrion flowers. Why do you think blowflies have not
adapted and learned to lay their eggs elsewhere? What does their
relationship tell you about the relative populations of this lily and the
blowflies?
- Carrion flowers smell like rotten corpses and blowflies may not be
able to tell the difference. Also, some blowflies make it out of carrion
flowers alive. If there is no other food source, they may have no
choice but to take their chances and obtain food inside the carrion
flowers. There is probably a lot less lilies than blowflies, because if
the lily ends up killing the blowflies, they will not be able to pollinate
and the lily will not be able to reproduce.