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General Biology: Key Concepts in Fungi, Plants, and Ecology

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  • Opisthokonts

    Opisthokonts are a clade that includes the common ancestor of fungi and animals.

  • Fungi characteristics

    Fungi are eukaryotic, mostly multicellular organisms that absorb nutrients through their cell walls made of chitin.

  • Plasmogamy and Karyogamy in fungi

    Plasmogamy is the fusion of cytoplasm from two fungal cells; karyogamy is the fusion of their nuclei.

  • Major fungal groups

    Chytrids, Mucoromycetes, Basidiomycetes, and Ascomycetes are major fungal groups, each with distinct characteristics and example organisms.

  • Fungal ecological roles

    Fungi act as decomposers (saprotrophs), mutualists (mycorrhizae, lichens), and pathogens.

  • Embryophytes

    Embryophytes are land plants with adaptations for terrestrial life, including a multicellular embryo.

  • Alternation of generations

    Life cycle with multicellular haploid gametophyte and multicellular diploid sporophyte stages.

  • Bryophytes

    Non-vascular land plants including mosses, liverworts, and hornworts; lack vascular tissue.

  • Tracheophytes

    Vascular plants with xylem and phloem; include lycophytes, monilophytes (ferns), and seed plants.

  • Seed plant characteristics

    Seed plants produce pollen (male microgametophyte), ovules (female megagametophyte), and seeds.

  • Gymnosperms

    Seed plants with naked seeds; include conifers, cycads, gnetophytes, and Ginkgo.

  • Angiosperm characteristics

    Flowering plants with flowers and fruits; undergo double fertilization.

  • Parts of a flower

    Includes sepals, petals, stamens (male), and carpels (female).

  • Pollination syndrome

    Adaptations of flowers to attract specific pollinators.

  • Double fertilization

    In angiosperms, one sperm fertilizes the egg, the other fuses with two nuclei to form endosperm.

  • Monocot vs Eudicot

    Monocots have one cotyledon, parallel veins, and scattered vascular bundles; eudicots have two cotyledons, net veins, and ringed vascular bundles.

  • Plant meristems

    Regions of undifferentiated cells responsible for indeterminate growth.

  • Three major plant tissue types

    Dermal (protection), ground (photosynthesis, storage), and vascular (transport).

  • Xylem vs Phloem

    Xylem transports water; phloem transports sugars.

  • Short distance transport routes in plants

    Apoplast (cell walls), symplast (cytoplasm connected by plasmodesmata), and transmembrane pathways.

  • Active vs passive transport

    Active transport requires energy to move substances against gradients; passive transport does not.

  • Water potential terms

    Osmosis depends on water potential; hypertonic, hypotonic, and isotonic describe solute concentrations affecting water movement.

  • Plant cell turgidity states

    Flaccid: limp; turgid: swollen with water; plasmolysed: membrane pulled from cell wall.

  • Transpiration vs translocation

    Transpiration moves water through xylem; translocation moves sugars through phloem.

  • Long distance transport mechanisms

    Cohesion-tension moves water up xylem; pressure-flow moves sugars in phloem.

  • Xerophytic adaptations

    Plant adaptations to dry environments, such as thick cuticles and reduced leaf area.

  • Biophilia

    Humans' innate affinity for nature and living organisms.

  • IUCN critically endangered

    Species facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.

  • Biodiversity hotspot

    Regions with high species richness and endemism, threatened by human activity; term coined by Norman Myers.

  • Holobiont

    A host organism plus all its associated microorganisms functioning as a unit.

  • Keystone species

    Species like parasites and predators that have a disproportionate effect on ecosystem stability.