MAKING SENSE OF

IGCSE Biology – 4BI0

2015 Henry Exham

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Copyright © 2015 Henry Exham

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 3.3 Chemical Coordination in Plants - Tropisms
Objectives
• Do you understand that plants respond to
stimuli?
• Can you give an example of positive
phototropism?
• How do plant roots and stems respond to
gravity?

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 3.3 Chemical Coordination in Plants - Tropisms
Plants can respond to their environment

• Its not any animals that can respond to their

environments.

Mimosa Pudica Venus Fly Trap

Click on the images to watch the video about each plant

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 3.3 Chemical Coordination in Plants - Tropisms
Tropisms

• These examples are very quick responses

which are not typical in plants.
• A typical response in a plant is a change in
growth.
• For example a plant may detect a certain
stimuli like light, and start growing towards it.

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 3.3 Chemical Coordination in Plants - Tropisms
Tropisms

• A growth response of a plant to directional

stimuli is called a tropism. This is much slower
as it involves cell division to see the results.
• If it grows towards the stimuli it is a positive
tropism. If it grows away it is a negative
tropism.

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 3.3 Chemical Coordination in Plants - Tropisms
Phototropism

• Tropisms are given

different names dependent
on the stimuli.
• A tropism where the
stimuli is light is called
phototropism.
• The shoot of a plant grows
towards the light to
maximise photosynthesis.
• This is called positive
phototropism.
Cress seeds grown on a window sill

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 3.3 Chemical Coordination in Plants - Tropisms
Phototropism

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 3.3 Chemical Coordination in Plants - Tropisms
Geotropism

• If there is no light under the soil, how does a

germinating seed know which way to grow?

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 3.3 Chemical Coordination in Plants - Tropisms
Geotropism

• If there is no light under the soil, how does a

germinating seed know which way to grow?

• Because the shoot is also negatively geotropic.

• So will detect gravity and grow in the opposite
direction.

• The roots are positively geotropic. So will grow

down to find mineral ions and water.

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 3.3 Chemical Coordination in Plants - Tropisms
Hydrotropism

• The roots of some species show positive

hydrotropism.

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 3.3 Chemical Coordination in Plants - Tropisms
What causes these responses?

• The plant produces many different plant

hormones (plant growth substances).
• The most important one of these is called
auxin.
• It’s produced at the tip of the shoot and
diffuses downwards.
• It causes cell elongation
and division.

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 3.3 Chemical Coordination in Plants - Tropisms
What causes phototropism?

• Auxin is produced at the tip of the shoot and

causes it to grow.

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 3.3 Chemical Coordination in Plants - Tropisms
What causes phototropism?

• When light comes from one direction, the

auxins get transported to the shaded side.

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 3.3 Chemical Coordination in Plants - Tropisms
What causes phototropism?

• The shaded side elongates faster than the

illuminated side and the shoot bends towards
the light

Copyright © 2015 Henry Exham

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 TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Copyright © 2015 Henry Exham

This PowerPoint is protected under copyright.

It is designed for educational use. Either personal study or to be
presented to a class. It may be edited or duplicated for these
purposes only.
It must not be shared or distributed online in any format.
Some images used are under a separate creative commons license,
these are clearly marked.

Brought to you by MrExham.com

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