The biological significance of fruits in plant life. The role of seeds in nature and human life. What is the function of the fetus
- Protective function- the most important of all. It is thanks to the fruit that the seed receives additional protection (from drying out or decay) and the opportunity for final maturation.
- Seed spread- the second most important function of the fruit. Due to the diversity of the structure of fruits, the optimal distribution method for a particular species is achieved, and this is the survival of the species and the expansion of its habitat. Fruits can spread seeds with the help of their special structure (self-spreading), wind, water, animals.
- Additional Nutrients is the third most important function. It is not present in all fruits, since the angiosperm seed itself has in its composition a special substance - the endosperm, the role of which is precisely the supply of nutrients for the embryo and its future development.
Formally, seeds are responsible for the reproduction of plants, but if they did not have such a convenient device as a fruit, the process of reproduction itself became very difficult for plants. That is, the fruit performs two important functions at once - it protects the seeds of the plant from adverse environmental conditions and damage for the entire period of their ripening, and the second role is to supply the seeds with nutrients that the plant specially deposits in the fruits. The third role of the fruit is the distribution of seeds, which is carried out by the most different ways. As soon as the seeds are ready, the fruits also finish ripening and become soft and tasty to be eaten, and the seeds are thrown away from the plant. Or the fruits open and the seeds fall to the ground, sometimes the seeds are carried by the winds, and some fruits may even shoot out the seeds.
Fetus plants, e.g. apple, plum, pear, etc. is the location of its seeds, which use its internal content, pulp, useful material, moisture, for their development and maturation, in order to continue their kind - the main task and meaning of all living things.
The fruits appeared in the most progressive (at the moment) group of plants - Angiosperms or Flowering. It is thanks to the presence of the fetus that they received their main name, as well as the widest distribution.
Fruits perform a number of important functions, which allow Angiosperms or Flowering to successfully compete with other plants and adapt perfectly to different conditions environments:
The most important function of the fruit for plants is the protection and distribution of seeds.
Fruits help plants survive, or rather seeds.
The fruits protect the seeds (walnut), or carry them to a free place (maple), or provide nutrients for the first time (beans), or once in the stomach of animals (rowan), which immediately allows you to fertilize the seeds.
IN different plants fruits contain a variable number of seeds. In some, there are many (poppy, cucumber, pumpkin,), in others, piece (peas, beans), in others, only one (cherry, peach).
All fruits are divided into dry and juicy,
and by the number of seeds for multi-seeded and single-seeded.
The fruit is a very important plant organ. It is thanks to him that such an important process as fertilization takes place.
Fruits can be divided firstly into complex and simple. Simple ones consist of one pistil, complex ones - from several. Raspberries are an example of complex fruits.
Secondly, on juicy and dry. They, in turn, are divided into single-seed and multi-seed.
Juicy single-seeded fruits are plum cherry,
juicy multi-seeded fruits are currants, grapes,
dry one-seeded fruits are rye, wheat,
dry multi-seeded fruits are poppy, bean, mustard.
So, the fruits perform many functions, but the main ones are protective and seed distribution.
Fruits are of great importance in the life of plants, their reproduction.
Inside the fruit there are several seeds or one. The fruit plays the role of protection and stores the substances necessary for seed nutrition and embryo formation.
Fruits play an important role in human life, they accumulate proteins, fats, mineral salts, as well as organic acids, carbohydrates and vitamins. They are of great importance in human nutrition.
Also, fruits are an important food base in animal nutrition.
The world. What is the role of fruits in plant life?
The role of fruits in plant life is very important, since they contribute to the continuation of plant life.
Many plants propagate by seed, and the fruits of these plants are conceived in order to:
1) For the growth and arrangement of seeds;
2) Ensuring the maturation of plant seeds;
3) The peel of the fruit protects the ripening seeds;
4) With the help of animals and insects that feed on fruits, the plant spreads its seeds for the further reproduction of its species.
For example, take a walnut plant.
The nut has a very dense peel and spreads over long distances with the help of crows, which collect the fruits of the nut, and lose it during the flight.
Where they lose, a new nut is likely to grow.
Plant fruits contain seeds. With the help of seeds, plants reproduce, that is, thanks to the seeds, the life of a particular plant species continues.
Therefore, plant fruits are indirectly involved in plant reproduction. Namely:
fruits protect seeds from adverse environmental influences;
juicy fruits accumulate nutrients that will nourish the germinating plant from the seed for the first time;
The fruits aid in the movement of seeds and the spread of plants.
The appearance of the fruit is considered a sign of the full flowering of the plant, when it is full of strength and ready for reproduction. Fruits play a primary role in the life of plants, they do not allow plants to die out, disappear from the earth. Also, water accumulates in the fruits, which, in an extreme situation, will save the plant for some time from drying out. The fruit plays an important role for the seeds inside. Plant seeds are protected by a shell and are ready to give new plant life.
The main functions of fruits in plant life are as follows:
1)Protecting seeds and creating favorable conditions for them to ripen. The fruit protects the seeds from the effects of cold temperatures, microorganisms, insects, and animals will not covet unripe fruits. Many fruits in an unripe form, that is, at that stage, while the protective role for them is the most important, have bad taste and high acidity. That is, protection is not only mechanical(through the thickness of the fruit, it is more difficult for negative factors to damage the seeds), but also chemical.
2)Seed dispersal. Here the plants have different strategies.
Some fruits are small and very light, or they are shaped to help wind spread(maple snub noses).
Others - ripen and become edible in late autumn, while the seeds themselves are covered with a hard shell and are not digested in the digestive tract of birds. For example, mountain ash ripens in late autumn and does not fall off, it keeps on branches. It turns out that in winter these berries ensured increased attention from the birds(there are not a lot of other feeds!). Birds peck at the fruits, and the seeds are carried over long distances during the winter migration.
The third fruits are distinguished by good taste, and they can afford to ripen in summer: among the summer abundance of food, anyway, there are animals and people ready to eat them and scatter seeds (watermelon, cucumber, tomato, etc.)
The fourth are arranged in such a way as to spread by clinging to the hair of animals (burdock, string, etc.).
That is, everything is thought out by nature: weight of the fetus and its shape, structure, thickness of the membranes, chemical composition and even maturity- all this in order to provide each plant with its own, maximum effective method settlements and reduce competition between them.
3)Depot of nutrients for seeds. There are concepts technical maturity And biological maturity. With a technical fruit becomes edible, and with a biological one, its seeds ripen. A good example is tomatoes. To collect the seeds, they are plucked and ripened on the windowsill. Seeds during this period receive nutrients from the fruit.
4)Protection during the winter. Many seeds have a hard shell that does not let them germinate at the wrong time, and allows it to germinate when the shell swells in the spring. Some fruits have a similar function. In addition, if a whole apple fell to the ground and remained to winter, its pulp covers the seeds from freezing, and in spring they are already slightly buried in the soil.
5)Fertilization and adjustment of soil acidity. The fruit that has fallen into the soil, or on its surface, begins to decompose, and enriches the soil with organic matter. Sometimes the fruit acidifies the soil, and thus eliminates competitors that can prevent the sprout from breaking through to the light.
6)Soil loosening. Sometimes the structure of the fetus helps the sprout organize a convenient place to grow. Here we can recall acorns or chestnuts, which, having crumbled from a tree, rolled into a groove or recess. Some of them will sprout, others will become a substrate for their growth.
If a chestnut falls on flat, dense ground, it has little chance of surviving. It will start to sprout and dry up. And if someone steps on it, then the dense shell of the fruit will allow it to be pressed into the ground without damaging it. sashes walnut or beans, for example, if they remain in the place where the seeds grow, they create air cavities in the soil, which also helps the sprouts.
A complete human diet should be balanced not only in terms of calories, but also in terms of the content of vitamins and other biologically active substances, mineral salts, organic acids and other components that perform important physiological and biological functions in the body.
If energy value nutrition is provided mainly by products of animal and vegetable origin, rich in proteins, fats and carbohydrates, then the sources of biologically active substances are mainly fruits and vegetables.
The Institute of Nutrition of the Russian Academy of Sciences has developed approximate norms for fruit consumption per capita. Thus, the annual human need for fruits is 106 kg. From general rule apples account for about 35%, citrus fruits - 10%, grapes - 8%, cherries, plums, pears, strawberries, raspberries, currants - 4-5% each. The rest are apricots, gooseberries, cranberries, blueberries and other wild-growing berries.
The value of fruits in human life is very great. In addition to good taste and aroma, which is also important, fruits and berries are very valuable products for the human body.
Fruit contain easily digestible carbohydrates (sugars), organic acids, mineral salts, trace elements and vitamins necessary for the human body. At the same time, vitamins and minerals are in fruits in a ratio favorable for the manifestation of biological action. For example, a constant companion of vitamin P - ascorbic acid enhances their joint action and helps to better absorb iron.
vitamins- vital and irreplaceable substances that regulate metabolic processes in the body. The human need for them is insignificant - 0.05-150 mg% per day. However, with a long-term absence of one or another vitamin in food, serious illness- avitaminosis, and with a lack of several vitamins - hypovitaminosis. The role of fruits and berries as vitamin carriers is exceptional.
Minerals animal origin, as a rule, are acidic, and vegetable - alkaline. Together with vegetables and fruits, the human body receives the bulk of alkali metal salts, which play an important role in maintaining the alkaline-acid balance in the blood and human tissues. With a lack of some of these substances, a violation of the alkaline-acid balance and a deterioration in the activity of the body occur.
The daily human need for potassium is 2-3 g, in - 0.8, in phosphorus - 1.6, in chlorine - 6 g. Fruits and berries, based on dry weight, contain 0.3-1.8% of mineral compounds.
The nutritional substances of fruits are not only easily absorbed by the body, but also contribute to the process of digestion, make other nutrients more digestible - proteins, fats.
The medicinal value of fruits is great. Biologically active substances contained in fruits and berries are able to directly therapeutic effect on the human body. But the main role of the fruit is the prevention of various diseases.
The preventive function of many fruits is carried out primarily as a result of their effective action on metabolism, strengthening the functional activity of vital organs, which in general contributes to an increase in human resistance to adverse environmental factors.
The systematic use of rich fruits contributes to the prevention and more successful treatment of such common diseases as cardiovascular (atherosclerosis, hypertension, hypotension), blood diseases, hypo- and beriberi, gastrointestinal (gastritis and peptic ulcer, digestive disorders), and also infectious diseases (dysentery, etc.).
The fruits have a positive effect in violation of the activity of the endocrine glands, causing a number of diseases (Graves' disease, diabetes, liver and kidney diseases). Significant role of fruits in prevention general weakness, obesity, salt metabolism disorders, colds. The use of fruits helps to increase the body's resistance to radiation injuries.
Almost all nuts contribute to better intestinal motility and gallbladder activity. walnuts and Pine nuts, sweet almond with a high content of salts of potassium, magnesium and fatty acids are useful for the prevention of atherosclerosis and its complications.
Pine nuts, in addition, - good remedy from anemia, since a relatively large amount of iron, copper, cobalt, nickel in them is combined with vitamins of group B. The iodine content allows them to be used to prevent Graves' disease, and pro-vitamin A, which is practically absent in other nuts, to maintain good vision .
"Nut milk", made from crushed sweet almonds, is one of the effective means treatment of peptic ulcer of the stomach and duodenum.
By the nature of the pericarp of a ripe fruit all fruits can be divided into dry and juicy,
and by the number of seeds - single-seeded and multi-seeded.In the process of evolution, they have developed adaptations for the preservation of seeds (usually hidden inside the fruit) and their distribution:
- in dry fruits, when the seeds ripen, the pericarp must open to allow the seeds to disperse. The pods and beans of some plants themselves scatter their seeds;
- dry multi-seeded fruits have a well-developed seed coat, which protects them after they have been sown from the fruit;
- in dry one-seeded plants (nuts, acorns, grains, achenes), the fruits themselves are scattered along with the seeds. Their fruits do not open. Their pericarp breaks only during seed germination;
- seeds of juicy multi-seeded and single-seeded fruits are distributed by animals that eat these fruits. Such seeds retain the ability to germinate after passing through the digestive tract. They have a well-developed seed coat;
- drupe seeds are protected by the inner stony layer of the pericarp - the stone.
Many flowering plants produce large numbers of seeds.
So in nature seeds play an important role in reproduction.
Everything reproduces by seeds flowering plants and even those that reproduce vegetatively. Besides, serve as food for many animals.Their role in human life is very great:
a) serve as food. For the sake of obtaining fruits and seeds, a person grows cereals, vegetables, fruit trees and berry bushes, sugar crops, oilseeds, etc.;
b) uses in industry - industrial crops (cotton, flax, hemp);
c) uses medicinal plants in medicine. Currently, medicine uses more than 300 types medicinal plants. They serve as raw materials for the chemical and pharmaceutical industry (anise, belladonna, valerian, medicinal chamomile, henbane, dope, mint, etc.);
d) uses forage grasses for feeding domestic animals (clover, alfalfa, sainfoin, vetch, mogar, etc.);
e) decorate a person's life (aesthetic role) - roses, chrysanthemums, dahlias, petunias, orchids, etc.
According to the nature of the pericarp of a ripe fruit, all fruits can be divided into dry and juicy,
and by the number of seeds - single-seeded and multi-seeded.
In the process of evolution, they have developed adaptations for the preservation of seeds (usually hidden inside the fruit) and their dissemination: in dry fruits, when the seeds ripen, the pericarp must open to allow the seeds to disperse. The pods and beans of some plants themselves scatter their seeds; dry multi-seeded fruits have a well-developed seed coat, which protects them after they have been sown from the fruit; in dry one-seeded plants (nuts, acorns, grains, achenes), the fruits themselves are scattered along with the seeds. Their fruits do not open. Their pericarp breaks only during seed germination; seeds of juicy multi-seeded and single-seeded fruits are distributed by animals that eat these fruits. Such seeds retain the ability to germinate after passing through the digestive tract. They have a well-developed seed coat; drupe seeds are protected by an inner stony layer of the pericarp - a stone. Many flowering plants produce large numbers of seeds.
Thus, in nature, seeds play an important role in reproduction.
All flowering plants reproduce by seeds, and even those that reproduce vegetatively. In addition, they serve as food for many animals.
The role of seeds in nature and human life
Spread by animals
Spread by water
wind spread
Self spreading seeds
The seeds of many plants fall to the ground next to mother plant after opening the fruit. Sometimes, when the fruits are opened, the seeds are ejected with force, scattering over a certain distance. Self-scattering of seeds is typical for such plants as small-flowered touchy, common sorrel.
The seeds of many plants are dispersed by the wind (anemochory). These are, for example, seeds of Scots pine, equipped with a wing, seeds of plants of the genera Poplar and Willow, covered with hairs (ʼʼpoplar fluffʼʼ), small dusty orchid seeds.
The floating seeds of the water lily, the plantain chastukha and a number of other aquatic and semi-aquatic plants are distributed by water.
Distribution by animals is zoochory. Plant seeds can be dispersed by animals on the body (usually along with the fruit) as they pass through intestinal tract and when pulled apart with loss of seeds.
On the body, seeds and one-seeded fruits are carried, usually by birds and mammals. Thus, mammals can spread on their wool the fruitlets of gravilate, string, agrimony and many other plants with hooks, hairs and trailers. Also sticky seeds of mistletoe, water lilies, etc. can spread on the body of birds and mammals.
Through the intestines of birds and mammals, after eating the fruits, they pass, without losing their germination, the seeds of such plants as warty euonymus, hawthorn, raspberry and many others.
Squirrels, chipmunks, jays and nutcrackers make stocks in pantries, lose part of the seeds or do not find part of the pantries, contributing to the spread of seeds of Siberian pine and oak.
A special way of seed dispersal by animals is myrmecochory. Myrmecochory - distribution seeds ants. The seeds of some plants have nutritional appendages attractive to ants - elaiosomes. myrmecochore plants middle lane Russia - fragrant violet, European hoof, hairy hog and many others; some of them are distributed exclusively by ants.
Many organisms (from fungi and bacteria to birds and mammals) feed heavily, and sometimes exclusively, on seeds. Seeds form the basis of the diet of such animals. as some insects and their larvae (for example, reaper ants), granivorous birds, rodents (chipmunks, squirrels, hamsters, etc.).
Seeds have also been the basis of the human diet since the emergence of agriculture in most regions of the world, primarily the seeds of cultivated cereals (wheat, rice, corn, etc.). Main nutrient with which mankind receives largest number calories - starch found in cereal seeds. An important source Proteins for mankind are also seeds, primarily legumes - soybeans, beans, etc.
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Seeds are also the main source vegetable oils, which are extracted from sunflower seeds, rapeseed, corn, flax and many other oilseeds.
3. Fruit (lat. fructus) - the reproductive organ of angiosperms, formed from a single flower and serving to form, protect and distribute the seeds contained in it. Many fruits are valuable food products, raw materials for the production of medicinal, coloring substances, etc.
The science that studies fruits is called carpology. The section of carpology that studies the patterns of distribution of fruits and seeds is called carpoecology (sometimes carpoecology is understood in a broad sense - as a synonym for diasporology, a science that studies the patterns of distribution of diasporas).
The role of seeds in nature and human life - the concept and types. Classification and features of the category "The role of seeds in nature and human life" 2017, 2018.
