TPO 09 - Question 6

A sample Answer to this speaking in text:

In the lecture, the professor talks about the two ways plants protect them from being eaten by insects. The first is that they use physical features that make it hard for insects to land on them. Passion plants have spiky hairs all over them, no room is left for insects to land on the leaves in order eat them. The second kind of defense is chemical. Take the potato plant for example, it can release a chemical from its leaf system when being eaten by insects. The insect swallows this chemical which makes it feel full, like it’s already had enough to eat. Because the insect doesn’t feel hungry any longer, it stops eating the plant.

1. We all know that insects like to eat plants.
2. But some plants have been able to…to develop ways to protect themselves from insects.
3. Today I'm gonna talk about some ways plants defend themselves.
4. Now, some plants have physical features that prevent insects from landing on them, like the passion plant for example.
5. Its leaves have little spiky hairs all over them.
6. They are like spikes, sticking out of the plant that are so numerous and dense that they prevent insects from landing on the leaves.
7. Basically there's just no room for the insect to land.
8. And since insects can't land on the leaves they can't eat them.
9. So the little hairs serve as a physical feature that helps protect the passion plant from insects.
10. All right!
11. But other plants protect themselves using chemical defenses, like the potato plant.
12. The potato plant's able to release a chemical throughout its leaf system whenever an insect attacks it, starts eating leaf.
13. So, say an insect starts eating a potato plant's leaf.
14. That will cause the plant to react by releasing a chemical throughout its leaf system.
15. The insect swallows this chemical as it eats.
16. And this chemical discourages the insect from wanting to eat any more of the plant.
17. How?
18. Well, the substance makes the insect feel full, like it's already had enough to eat.
19. The insect no longer feels hungry.
20. So it stops eating the plant.
21. So, by emitting this chemical, the potato plant protects itself from insects.

The professor talks about two ways plants protect themselves from insect attack. The first way is to use physical features. To explain this concept the professor uses an example of a passion plant. Passion plants have dense layer of small spiky hairs on its' leaves and it prevent the insects from landing on it. If the insects cannot land on it, they cannot eat the plant.

The second defensive technique plants use is to release chemicals. The professor uses an example of a Potato plant to illustrate this concept. Leaves of Potato plants contain chemicals, when insects starts to eat a leaf, the plant releases chemicals through leaf system that discourage insects to eat further. When chemicals enter into insects' system, it makes insects fell full and not hungry. That way, insects stop devouring the plant and the plant protect itself from insect attack.