My Question: Do plants have or need a digestive system? Some plants have digestive systems, but those plants live in marsh areas because they can’t get adequate nitrogen. But most plants don’t have digestive systems. Plants that don’t have digestive live in soils and environments that contain all the nutrients and other things they need. Plants that have a special type of digestive system that is much different to humans live in areas with not enough nutrients they need. The different parts of a plant are: Roots: Roots act like straws absorbing water and minerals from the soil. Tiny root hairs stick out of the root, helping in the absorption.
Roots help to anchor the plant in the soil so it does not fall over. Roots also store extra food for future use. Stems: Stems do many things. They support the plant. They act like the plant’s plumbing system, conducting water and nutrients from the roots and food in the form of glucose from the leaves to other plant parts. Stems can be herbaceous like the bent stem of a daisy or woody like the trunk of an oak tree. Leaves: Most plants’ food is made in their leaves. Leaves are designed to capture sunlight, which the plant uses to make food through a process called photosynthesis.
Flowers: Flowers are the reproductive part of most plants. Flowers contain pollen and tiny eggs called ovules. After pollination of the flower and fertilisation of the ovule, the ovule develops into a fruit. Fruit: Fruit provides a covering for seeds. Fruit can be fleshy like an apple or hard like a nut. Seeds: seeds contain new fruits and plants. Plants use chemical digestion, but not mechanical digestion. They use chemical digestion when they breathe carbon dioxide. They don’t use mechanical digestion because they don’t chew or bite. Plants don’t have enzymes because they don’t eat, they just absorb.
Plants don’t digest so they don’t need a digestive system if they get all their nutrients through the soils they absorb. Plants don’t get the roles of bacteria in digestion because they don’t use/have digestive systems. Well, if plants had digestive systems they would need a place to lay waste which should probably be the roots of the plants, but since they don’t it isn’t important for plants to have digestive systems. What does a digestive system do? A digestive system obtains all the food swallowed by the animal and mix it, crush it and dissolve it until it is waste.
It goes through the intestines and out the anus. What are the parts of the digestive system? The parts of the digestive system are; Esophagus, stomach, gallbladder, pancreas, liver, small intestine and the large intestine. The order of food getting digested is in this order; The food would go down the mouth and get mechanically chewed and then goes down the Esophagus into the gallbladder, after it ends up in the stomach where it gets mainly digested. Then it goes into the liver where it gets transported into the intestines and out the anus. What is the difference between mechanical and chemical digestion?
The difference between mechanical and chemical digestion is that mechanical mainly happens with animals teeth and rarely happens with anything else. Chemical Digestion mainly happens with the acids and chemicals inside the animals body’s. The difference is that one is manual and one is automatic. Most animals have both these features but some of them only have one of the features. What are the roles of digestive enzymes? Digestive enzymes help break down certain foods like how lipase enzymes help digest fats and how protease enzymes break down proteins.
Also amylase enzymes break down carbohydrates and cellulose enzymes help break down cellulose molecules into simple sugars. There are 4 different digestive enzymes all with different purposes to help achieve the one goal. Without these enzymes it would be extremely difficult to break down certain types of foods and drinks. Additional facts: Humans eat around 500kg of food each year 1. 7 litres of saliva is produced each day by the body The Esophagus is approximately 25cm long Muscles contract in waves to move the food down the Esophagus An adults stomach can hold approximately 1. litres of material What is the importance of the digestive system?
The importance of the digestive system is that without it we wouldn’t be able to extract the nutrients from the foods we eat. Without the nutrients we wouldn’t be able to do simple tasks that we would achieve daily. We also wouldn’t be able to compact and dispose of all the waste we produce daily. We wouldn’t be able to eat without pain, we couldn’t drink and we also wouldn’t be able to gain energy from foods.
