We explain what the plant kingdom is and how they carry out photosynthesis. In addition, its characteristics, reproduction and more.
The plant kingdom is one of the oldest identified by man , mainly to oppose it to the animal kingdom (animalia), characterized by movement and by its need to consume organic matter to obtain food.
There is no uniform agreement on what is considered plants and what is not, but broadly the group contains all terrestrial plants and aquatic algae . All these life forms are considered to descend from a primoplantae , which is the name of the first living being that was able to carry out photosynthesis.
The living beings of the plantae kingdom are multicellular, and their cells are characterized by presenting a cell wall made up of cellulose , an organic polysaccharide similar to certain sugars in the body of animals. In addition, plant cells have chloroplasts, organelles in which they store the chlorophyll essential to carry out photosynthesis and which gives them their characteristic green color.
There are, however, other forms of plants capable of feeding on other living beings , such as "carnivorous" plants, which have organelles to attract and capture insects , and then digest them to take advantage of their nutrients.
Plants are also capable of breathing , just like animal beings, to stay alive at night, when there is no sunlight to synthesize.
The members of the kingdom plantae lack the ability to locomotion at will , that is, they cannot move when they wish, and they are usually fixed in a substrate (such as the earth). The algae , for example, floating in the water of seas and rivers , moving with the flow, but are unable to decide where to go.
Some plants have the capacity for phototropism, which is a structural movement linked to the way they grow, to encourage a greater encounter with sunlight or to avoid nearby sources of discomfort. However, this movement is tremendously slow and imperceptible.
The general formula of this process is: H2O ? 2H + + 2e - + ½ O 2
There is a variant of photosynthesis that does not involve oxygen , but other substances such as sulfur , characteristic of certain bacteria that take advantage of hydrogen sulfide instead of water: H 2 S ? 2H + + 2e - + S
Unlike animals, plant beings reproduce in two different ways: sexual and asexual.
Plants, as they require a fixed habitat to develop, have colonized both water and land , and are present in all known ecosystems . Plant life has adapted to even the most extreme conditions of climate and geography , existing in deserts , tundras and underwater beds.
The main threats to plant life on the planet are linked to the activity of human beings . Indiscriminate felling, which drastically reduces the number of large trees in forests and jungles , as well as the chemical alteration of soils and waters, lead to the extinction of species and the imbalance of ecological cycles, resulting in a drastic decrease of plant life on the planet in the last centuries of its existence.
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