Carnivorous plants

Carnivorous plants

Have you ever wondered if carnivorous plants like the Venus flytrap use photosynthesis. Well they do, sort of. They use photosynthesis but cannot make enough due to the unhealthy soil in the harsh climates they live in so they have to eat meat. There are over 600 types of carnivorous plants in the world. the ones I will talk about are Venus flytraps, pitcher plant, bladderworts and sundew. And also sorry to spoil your fun, but piranha plants don't exist. Must be a good day for Mario.

The first plant I will tell you about is the Venus flytrap. It has two leaves shaped like a mouth. Inside the mouth are sensory hairs. When the sensory hairs are touched by insects the mouth closes. The more an insect tries to struggle the more the mouth will close. Poor insect. 

A little help please.

 The next plant I will tell you about is the pitcher plant. It is basically a pitfall trap....... of death. It is shaped like a cup and attracts bugs with sweet nectar. They come to the very top of the plant and look for nectar and slip of the edge to the bottom which is full of water that the bugs drown in. The plant then realise digestive acids to consume the insect. Some fun facts are that some spiders and frogs live in the plant. They wait for something to fall into the plant and when the prey is weakened they go in for the kill. Pretty convenient.



Bladderworts are up next. They live underwater and catch water fleas or other creatures by first attracting them with their smell. When the prey gets close enough, a  trap opens and water rushes in, carrying the prey along with it. It's all over in about 1/30 of a second. That's some fast food.



 Next is the sundew. The sundew has sticky drops covering it's stem which attracts prey. Once the prey lands on the drops it gets stuck. The sundew then curls up and digests the insect.

Other plants are the Dewy Pine which is like a sundew and the lobster pot trap which is like the pitcher plant.That's it for this blog see you next time.

http://www.carnivorousplants.org/

Photosynthesis

Photosynthesis

 

Today we are learning about the process of photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is when a plant turns sunlight into food but we are going into photosynthesis even more. Leaves have an important part in the process of photosynthesis. Chloroplasts, which are organelles, are in the leave and they turn sunlight into food for the entire plant.

We need plants a lot. Without them we wouldn't be here. They create oxygen which we need to breath. We cut them down to use for paper, clothing and food in return. Not so nice of us is it? But there is one thing we do for them. When we breath in the oxygen they make, we exhale carbon dioxide which is what they need to live. Think of it as a giant circle or a partnership. We need them much more than they need us. If we didn't exist they would get carbon dioxide from animals. If they didn't exist we would have no air, clothes, food and other materials.

 Photosynthesis is when a plant collects energy from the sun to make a sugar called glucose. Glucose is the main source of energy for plants, allowing there cells to function and grow. As you probably already know, plants use their roots to collect water from the soil around them. Water travels up from the roots into the rest of the plant in a transport tissue called xylem which is what the wood in trees are. Leaves take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen through openings called stomata which only open and close when the guard cell tells it to prevent chemicals from getting in.

 

  The water and carbon dioxide spread through the leaves into cells called the palisade and spongy cells. These cells contain structures called chloroplasts, which are filled with a green pigment called chlorophyll. Chlorophyll is what makes green plants green. In photosynthesis chlorophyll traps energy from sunlight, storing it as chemical energy. This process splits water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen atoms. The chemical energy is used to create glucose from the hydrogen and carbon dioxide. The glucose dissolves into extra water molecules and gives the plant plenty of food for growth.

The Six Kingdoms

The Six Kingdoms

Today we are learning about the six kingdoms which is the six groups that all living things are organized in. They range from animals like tigers and humans to trees to mushrooms and even bacteria. The purpose of this is to organize or classify all living things making them easier for scientists to learn about them. One of the early Greek philosophers, Aristotle divided all living things in just two categories, animals and plants and classified them just by looks. For instance, he would probably put animals like dolphin and tuna in the same group because they look alike and live underwater. Today we know that dolphin are more like tigers than tuna. Eventually scientists began to group things with phylogeny, which is how things are organized based on evolution. From then on scientists have made six kingdoms. When microscopes were first invented, people learned about microorganisms. They made a bacteria kingdom which was later divided into three kingdoms.

The first kingdom or group we will learn about is the bacteria kingdom. Bacteria come in many different sizes and shapes. Most Bacteria aren't pathogens, the evil ones that make you sick. Bacteria can live anywhere, in the air, underwater and even inside other living things! In fact bacteria can be very good for you by helping break down food and keeping us healthy.

The next kingdom is the Archean kingdom.These are some of the world's oldest from of life, but we didn't know of them until 40 years ago. Archea can live in extreme environments like deep sea trenches. This kingdom was originally grouped with bacteria. Some Archea can live in boiling water.

On to the next kingdom, the Protist kingdom. Like other kingdoms the protist are single celled microorganisms. Unlike other microorganisms protists cells have a nucleus. Protists are divided up by how they get there food. Amoebas capture food to eat, while plankton use sunlight to make food like a plant. Some protist do both.

The fungi kingdom is next. They survive by sucking up nutrients from other organisms. They are often found on dead animals and plants breaking down remains which is why they are called decomposers. Most fungi attach themselves to their food using clumps of root-like thread called hyphae. 

The plant kingdom is next. Plants and fungi were once grouped together before people learned fungi could not make their own food. Plants however can make there own food using photosynthesis which is the conversion of sunlight into food. Plant cells have rigid walls made of a substance called cellulose.

Last but not least and my favorite kingdom, the animal kingdom. The animal kingdom is huge and has different groups. In fact we are part of this kingdom. Animals are multi-celled organisms that have to find and eat food and water to survive. Animals move around and eat plants or other animals to survive.