Life-form

The subdivisions of the plants in Raunkiær system are

premised on the location of the bud of a plant during
seasons with adverse conditions, i. e. cold seasons
and dry seasons
Phanerophytes
Epiphytes
Chamaephytes
Hemicryptophytes
Cryptophytes
Therophytes
 Light
Three principal characteristics of
light affect plant growth:
quantity,
quality, and
duration.
 Sunlight

Energy source for photosynthesis

Competition might be quite intense in a rainforest
where plants at ground level receive low intensity light

In marine environments plants do not exist beyond 100

meters due to insufficient light
Majority of producers – phytoplankton found mainly
on the surface
Other species of algae (brown algae) contain different
pigments which are able to absorb light enabling them to
survive at greater depths.
 Light quantity

Light quantity refers to the intensity, or concentration, of

sunlight. It varies with the seasons. The maximum amount of
light is present in summer, and the minimum in winter. Up to
a point, the more sunlight a plant receives, the greater its
capacity for producing food via photosynthesis.
You can manipulate light quantity to achieve different
plant growth patterns. Increase light by surrounding plants
with reflective materials, a white background, or
supplemental lights. Decrease it by shading plants with
cheesecloth or woven shade cloths.
Ligth duration
Duration, or photoperiod, refers to the amount of
time a plant is exposed to light. Photoperiod
controls flowering in many plants (Figure 26).
Scientists initially thought the length of light period
triggered flowering and other responses within
plants. Thus, they describe plants as short-day or
long-day, depending on what conditions they flower
under. We now know that it is not the length of the
light period, but rather the length of uninterrupted
darkness, that is critical to floral development.
Plants are classified into three categories: short-day
(long-night), long-day (short-night), or day-neutral,
depending on their response to the duration of light
or darkness. Short-day plants form flowers only
when day length is less than about 12 hours. Many
spring- and fall-flowering plants, such as
chrysanthemum, poinsettia, and Christmas cactus,
are in this category.
In contrast, long-day plants form flowers only when
day length exceeds 12 hours. Most summer
flowering plants (e.g., rudbeckia, California poppy,
and aster), as well as many vegetables (beet, radish,
lettuce, spinach, and potato), are in this category.
Day-neutral plants form flowers regardless of day
length. Examples are tomato, corn, cucumber, and
some strawberry cultivars. Some plants do not fit
into any category, but may respond to combinations
of day lengths. Petunias, for example, flower
regardless of day length, but flower earlier and more
profusely with long days.
 Light quality
Light quality refers to the color (wavelength) of light.
Sunlight supplies the complete range of wavelengths and
can be broken up by a prism into bands of red, orange,
yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.
Blue and red light, which plants absorb, have the greatest
effect on plant growth. Blue light is responsible primarily
for vegetative (leaf) growth. Red light, when combined with
blue light, encourages flowering. Plants look green to us
because they reflect, rather than absorb, green light.
Light quality
Knowing which light source to use is important for
manipulating plant growth. For example,
fluorescent (cool white) light is high in the blue
wavelength. It encourages leafy growth and is
excellent for starting seedlings. Incandescent light
is high in the red or orange range, but generally
produces too much heat to be a valuable light
source for plants. Fluorescent grow-lights attempt
to imitate sunlight with a mixture of red and blue
wavelengths, but they are costly and generally no
better than regular fluorescent lights.
 Sciophytes heliophytes
There are differences between sun-expsoed leaves
and shade exposed leaves of the same plants.
There are morphological and anatomical
differences between plants growing in sun and in
shade.

Plants as a whole adjust themselves vertically

towards the light.
There are following categories of plants:
sciophytes (shade plants)
heliophytes (sun plants)
 Heliophytes
The plants which grow best in full sunlight are called
heliophytes. There are special organ and tissue traits.
Heliophytes have
thicker stem,
short internodes,
many branches,
well developed roots,
thick leathery leaves with more hairs per unit area.
Intense light favours the formation of flowers, fruits and
seeds.
Mechanical tissues and xylem bundles are well
developed.
Leaf mesophyll is well differentiated into palisade and
spongy parenchyma. The developed palisade parenchyma
protects the inner tissues from intense light.
 Sciophytes
sciophyte (ˈsaɪəˌfaɪt). from Greek skia shade + -phyte
Sciophyte definition: is a plant that thrives best at
lowered light intensity.
Sciophytes are shade-loving trees or plants.
These plants have larger photosynthetic units than sun
plants or heliophytes
Sciophytes have few branches and long stem. They have
thin, large, etiolated and less hairy leaves. Cuticle of these
leaves is thin. The palisade cells form few layers. Thin
layered epidermis may contain chlorophyll. The spongy
tissue is well developed with large intercellular spaces.
Mechanical tissue are poorly developed in these plants.
They have developed many adaptations for displaying
their foliage to light. They may be twiners, climbers or
epiphytes.
Facultative sciophytes: the plants which grow best in sun
but can also grow fairly well under shade are called
facultative sciophytes.
Facultative heliophytes: the plants which although grow
best at lower light intensities but can also grow well in full
sunlight are called facultative heliophytes.
 Temperature
Temperature influences most plant processes, including
photosynthesis, transpiration, respiration, germination, and
flowering. As temperature increases (up to a point),
photosynthesis, transpiration, and respiration increase.
When combined with day-length, temperature also affects
the change from vegetative (leafy) to reproductive
(flowering) growth. Depending on the situation and the
specific plant, the effect of temperature can either speed up
or slow down this transition.
Termophyllic plants are preferring higher temperatures
 Pyrophytes
A plant which is resistant to fire, or is
stimulated by fire to germinate or regrow.
Any plant that is resistant to fire, or that needs
fire to propagate.
Many species are fire-adapted (pyrophytes),
meaning they have strategies for surviving fires
 Pyrophytes
Fire acts favorably for some species.
Passive pyrophytes resist the effects of fire,
particularly when it passes over quickly, and hence
can out-compete less resistant plants, which are
damaged.
Active pyrophytes have a similar competing
advantage to passive pyrophytes, but they also
contain volatile oils and hence encourage the
incidence of fires which are beneficial to them.
Pyrophile plants are plants which require fire
in order to complete their cycle of reproduction.
 Pyrophile plants
These resist fire with adaptations including
thick bark,
tissue with high moisture content, or
underground storage structures.

Examples include:
Longleaf pine (Pinus palustris)
Giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum)
Coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens)
Cork oak (Quercus suber)
Niaouli (Melaleuca quinquenervia) is extending in areas
where bush fires are a mode of clearing (New Caledonia)
Venus fly trap (Dionaea muscipula) –
this grows low to the ground in acid marshes, and resists
fires passing over due to being close to the moist soil;
fire suppression threatens the species in its natural
environment.
White asphodel (Asphodelus albus)
For some species of pine,

Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis),

European black pine (Pinus nigra) and
lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta),

the effects of fire can be antagonistic:

if moderate, it helps pine cone bursting, seed dispersion

and the cleaning of the underwoods;

if intense, it destroys these resinous trees.

 Active pyrophytes
Some trees and shrubs such as the Eucalyptus of
Australia actually encourage the spread of fires by
producing inflammable oils, and
are dependent on their resistance to the fire which
keeps other species of tree from invading their habitat.
 Pyrophile plants
Other plants which need fire for their reproduction are
called pyrophile.

The passage of fire, by increasing temperature and

releasing smoke, is necessary to raise seeds dormancy of
pyrophile plants such as Cistus and Byblis an Australian
passive carnivorous plant.

Imperata cylindrica is a plant of Papua New Guinea. Even

green, it ignites easily and causes fires on the hills.
Serotiny in botany simply means 'following' or 'later'.
In the case of serotinous flowers, it means flowers
which grow following the growth of leaves, or even
more simply, flowering later in the season than is
customary with allied species. Having serotinous leaves
is also possible, these follow the flowering.
Serotiny is contrasted with coetany. Coetaneous
flowers or leaves appear together with each other.[
In the case of serotinous fruit, the term is used in the
more general sense of plants that release their seed over
a long period of time, irrespective of whether release is
spontaneous; in this sense the term is synonymous with
bradyspory.
In the case of certain Australian, South African or
Californian plants which grow in areas subjected to
regular wildfires, serotinous fruit can also mean an
ecological adaptation exhibited by some seed plants, in
which seed release occurs in response to an
environmental trigger, rather than spontaneously at
seed maturation.
The most common and best studied trigger is fire,
and the term serotiny is used to refer to this specific
case.
Possible triggers include:
Death of the parent plant or branch (necriscence)
Wetting (hygriscence)
Warming by the sun (soliscence)
Drying atmospheric conditions (xyriscence)
Fire (pyriscence) — this is the most common and best
studied case, and the term serotiny is often used where
pyriscence is intended.
Fire followed by wetting (pyrohydriscence)
Some plants may respond to more than one of these triggers.
Pinus halepensis exhibits primarily fire-mediated serotiny,
but responds weakly to drying atmospheric conditions.
Sequoias and some Banksia species are strongly serotinous
with respect to fire, but also release some seed in response
to plant or branch death.
 Fire-mediated serotiny
In the southern hemisphere, in fire-prone parts of
Australia and South Africa.
It is extremely common in the
Proteaceae of these areas, in other taxa,
Eucalyptus (Myrtaceae)
Erica sessiliflora (Ericaceae).
In the northern hemisphere,
it is found in a range of conifer taxa,
Pinus,
Cupressus,
Sequoiadendron,
rarely Picea.
 Fire-mediated serotiny
Since even non-serotinous cones and woody fruits can
provide protection from the heat of fire,
the key adaptation of fire-induced serotiny is seed storage
in a canopy, seed bank, which can be released by fire.
The fire-release mechanism is commonly a resin that seals
the fruit or cone scales shut, but which melts when heated.
 Fire-mediated serotiny
This mechanism is refined in some Banksia by the presence
inside the follicle of a winged seed separator which blocks
the opening, preventing the seed from falling out.
Thus the follicles open after fire, but seed release does not
occur.
As the cone dries, wetting by rain or humidity causes the
cone scales to expand and reflex, promoting seed release.
The seed separator thus acts as a lever against the seeds,
gradually prying them out of the follicle over the course of
one or more wet-dry cycles.
The effect of this adaptation is to ensure that seed release
occurs not in response to fire, but in response to the onset of
rains following fire.
Banksia is a
genus of
around 170
species in the
family
Proteaceae
The relative importance of serotiny can vary among
populations of the same plant species.
Lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) can vary from being highly
serotinous to having no serotiny at all, opening annually to
release seed. Different levels of cone serotiny have been
linked to variations in the local fire regime: areas that
experience more frequent crown-fire tend to have high
rates of serotiny, while areas with infrequent crown-fire
have low levels of serotiny.
Additionally, herbivory of lodgepole pines can make fire-
mediated serotiny less advantageous in a population. Red
squirrels (Sciurus vulgaris) and red crossbills (Loxia
curvirostra) will eat seeds, and so serotinous cones, which
last in the canopy longer, are more likely to be chosen.
Serotiny occurs less frequently in areas where this seed
 Pyriscence

Pyriscence can be understood as an adaptation to an

environment in which fires are regular
and in which post-fire environments offer the best
germination and seedling survival rates.
 Pyriscence
In Australia, fire-mediated serotiny occurs in areas that are
prone to regular fires,
possess oligotrophic soils
seasonally dry climate

This results in intense competition for nutrients and

moisture,
leading to very low seedling survival rates.
The passage of fire,
reduces competition by clearing out undergrowth, and
results in an ash bed that temporarily increases soil
nutrition;
releasing a large number of seeds at once, rather than
gradually, increases the possibility that some of those
seeds will escape predation

In Northern Hemisphere conifer forests,

issue of allelopathic leaf litter, which suppresses seed
germination.
Fire clears out this litter, eliminating this obstacle to
germinate
Extremophytes
 Extremophiles
a microorganism, especially an archaean, that lives in
conditions of extreme temperature, acidity, alkalinity,
or chemical concentration.

An extremophile (from Latin extremus meaning

"extreme" and Greek philiā (φιλία) meaning "love") is
an organism with optimal growth in environmental
conditions considered extreme in that it is challenging
for a carbon-based life form, such as all known life on
Earth, to survive
 The limits of known life on Earth
Environment /
Factor Limits Examples
source
Submarine
High temperature hydrothermal vents 110 °C to 121 °C Pyrolobus fumarii, Pyrococcus furiosus
Low temperature Ice -20 °C to -25 °C Synechococcus lividus
Psychrobacter, Vibrio, Arthrobacter,
Alkaline systems Soda lakes pH > 11
Natronobacterium
Volcanic springs,
Acidic systems acid mine drainage
pH -0.06 to 1.0 Bacillus, Clostridium paradoxum
Cosmic rays, X-rays, Deinococcus radiodurans, Rubrobacter,
Ionizing radiation radioactive decay 1,500 to 6,000 Gy
Thermococcus gammatolerans
Deinococcus radiodurans, Rubrobacter,
UV radiation Sunlight 5,000 J/m2
Thermococcus gammatolerans
High pressure Mariana Trench 1,100 bar Pyrococcus sp.
High salt
Salinity concentration
aw ~ 0.6 Halobacteriaceae, Dunaliella salina
Atacama Desert
(Chile), McMurd ~60% relative
Desiccation Dry Valleys humidity Chroococcidiopsis
(Antarctica)
accessed at some Halicephalobus mephisto, Mylonchulus
Deep crust gold mines brachyurus, unidentified arthropods
 Extremophytes
Thellungiella
Transcriptomes Signify Niche Adaptation for the Multiple-Ion-
Tolerant Extremophyte Schrenkiella parvula". Plant
Physiology. 164 (4): 2123–2138. doi:10.1104/pp 2020

Schrenkiella is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the

family Brassicaceae
In relation to invasions

Natural plants - 2 millenium before

An archaeophyte is a plant species which is non-native to a
geographical region, but which was an introduced species in
"ancient" times, rather than being a modern introduction.
Those arriving after are called neophytes.
In Britain, archaeophytes are considered to be those species
first introduced prior to 1492, when Christopher Columbus
arrived in the New World.
 Nitrophyles
nitrophile. Pronunciation /ˈnʌɪtrə(ʊ)fʌɪl/ Greek words
νἰτρον (nitron) meaning "saltpetre" and φίλος (philos)
meaning "friendly".
a nitrophyte is a plant that prefers or requires soil or water
rich in nitrates. This is the case of large nettle and many
ruderal plants. These plants are sometimes referred to as
"nitrogen pointers". With the diffusion of chemical
fertilizers, these plants are favored to the detriment of
other plants appreciating less the abundance of nitrogen,
which contributes to reduce the biodiversity.
Plants growing in acidic soil

Blackberry
Cabbage
Carrot
Cranberry
Parsley
Peanut
Potato
Radish
Raspberry
Strawberry
Sweet potato
Tomato
Plants growing in acidic soil
Highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum)
Evergreen magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora)
Gardenia (Gardenia jasminoides)
White dogwood (Cornus alba)
Wax begonia (Begonia semperflorens)
Nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus)
Camellias
Hydrangeas
Willow Tree
Beech tree
Chionophile plants
Chionophiles - snow favored plants

Ombrophile: affinity to large amounts of rainfall

Chionophilic plants include many species occurring in
broadleaf forests, for example Corydalis, Scilla, Ficaria,
Anemone, and Galanthus. Chionophiles belong to the group
of snow plants, in which growth processes and
photosynthesis occur at temperatures around 0°C in late
winter and early spring, when the plants are covered with
snow. The green leaves of tundra evergreen herbs and
shrublets and of plants constituting the ground cover of
temperate-zone forests are preserved throughout the winter
under the snow, as are certain cultivated plants (rye and
wheat) and winter weeds (wintercress and shepherd’s purse).
Halophytes
The large majority of plant species are glycophytes,
which are not salt-tolerant and are damaged fairly
easily by high salinity.
A halophyte is a salt-tolerant plant that grows in soil
or waters of high salinity
1. Aqua-halines
Emerged Halophytes (most of the stem remains above the
water level)
Hydro-halophytes (whole or almost whole plant remains
under water)
2. Terrestro-halines
Hygro-halophytes (grow on swamp lands)
Mesohalophytes (grow on non-swamp, non-dry lands)
Xero-halophytes (grow on dry or mostly dry lands)
3. Aero-halines
according to Iversen (1936), these plants are classified with
respect to the salinity of the soil on which they grow.
1. Oligo-halophytes (amount of NaCl in the soil is 0.01 to
0.1%)
2. Meso-halophytes (amount of NaCl in the soil is 0.1 to
1%)
3. Euhalophytes (amount of NaCl in the soil is >1%)
 Myrmecophiles
Honeydew is a sugar-rich sticky liquid, secreted by
aphids and some scale insects as they feed on plant
sap. When their mouthpart penetrates the phloem,
the sugary, high-pressure liquid is forced out of the
anus of the aphid. Honeydew is particularly
common as a secretion in hemipteran insects and is
often the basis for trophobiosis.
 Myrmecophiles
Honeydew producing insects like cicadas pierce
phloem ducts to access the sugar rich sap. The sap
continues to bleed after the insects have moved on
leaving a white sugar crust called manna. Ants may
collect, or "milk", honeydew directly from aphids
and other honeydew producers, which benefit from
their presence due to their driving away predators
such as lady beetles or parasitic wasps. Animals and
plants in a mutually symbiotic arrangement with
ants are called Myrmecophiles.