Friday, 19 April 2013

Hone your plant metabolism knowledge and Infrared Skills

Case note: Cactus plants are abundant here on Galapagos. Go back to your first year botany and see if you can explain why the cactus temperature is higher than other nearby plants.
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CactusIR






































Sorry, I cut the top off on the thermal image above. Hint: it should have something to do with Crassulacean (spelling? I have no spell check here!) Acid Metabolism.
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2 comments:

  1. Unknown25 June 2013 at 14:46

    My thinking is that the stomata remain closed during the day to prevent water-loss through evapotranspiration. This process would prevent the plant from undergoing evaporative cooling, which explains the higher plant temperatures. I guess this means the plant also undergoes CO2 uptake at night rather than during the day.

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  2. Glenn Tattersall25 June 2013 at 14:57

    Yep. Warmer compared to the other non succulent plants which are cooler than air temperature due to evapotranspiration. Actually, I was away from my plant physiology texts when I posted that, but that was sort of the point I was hoping to make.

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