Professor Dave Explains
Basidiomycota Part 2: The Mushroom Life Cycle
We've looked at two of the three subphyla within the phylum Basidiomycota. But before we dive into all the different amazing types of mushrooms, let's get a better understanding of their life cycle, as this will provide important context...
Professor Dave Explains
Lycophytes: Early Vascular Plants
We learned all about nonvascular plants, which are called bryophytes, so what came next in the evolutionary time line for plants? Eventually vascularization came about, and the first vascular plants were called lycophytes. What were...
Professor Dave Explains
Basidiomycota Part 1: Ustilaginomycotina and Pucciniomycotina (Smuts and Rusts)
Now that we have a general overview of fungal taxonomy covered, it's time to start investigating the different fungal phyla. The first one we will investigate is the most important one, basidiomycota. There are three subphyla in this...
Professor Dave Explains
Mushroom Identification Terminology
We now know a bit about mushrooms, their structure, and their life cycle, but let's learn a bit more terminology before we dive head first into the world of mushrooms. We know about stipes and caps and partial veils and spores, but...
Professor Dave Explains
Ferns: The Emergence of Roots and Stems
We just learned about lycophytes, so which plants came next on the evolutionary timeline? Those would be ferns. With ferns we finally arrive at a type of plant which should actually look quite familiar to most people, even though these...
Professor Dave Explains
Fungal Morphology: The Parts of a Mushroom
So although we will be looking at a wide variety of fungi in this series, most of you are here to learn about mushrooms, as they are the most interesting members of the fungi kingdom. So let's learn about the structure of a mushroom....
Professor Dave Explains
Bryophytes and the Life Cycle of Plants
We now understand that the ancestors of plants came from the ocean. But eventually, the first plants made their way out of the water and onto land. What did these plants look like? What functions were they capable of carrying out, and...
Professor Dave Explains
Plant Anatomy and Structure
We've learned about the types of plant cells, and the types of plant tissues, so the next step up on the hierarchy of organization is organs and organ systems. Plants have these too! The stem, the leaves, the roots, these are all...
Professor Dave Explains
Angiosperms: Flowering Plants
We just learned about gymnosperms, and the incredible evolutionary advantages they had over their ancestors. But the next leap forward for plants was even more impressive. Angiosperms are flowering plants, so any plant with flowers or...
Professor Dave Explains
Introduction to Fungal Phylogeny and Taxonomy
There are a lot of species in the fungi kingdom. How many? Over five million! That's a lot of fungus to sort through, so how do we keep things organized? Well we may remember learning about phylogeny and taxonomy in the biology series,...
Curated Video
Soil: The Skin of the Earth
Soil is a vital natural resource that supports life on Earth. It is a mixture of minerals, organic matter, gases, liquids, and organisms. Soil plays a crucial role in providing nutrients and moisture for plant growth, purifying water,...
Professor Dave Explains
Types of Plant Tissues
We just learned about plant cells, so now it's time to learn about how these different types of cells come together to form all the different tissues in the plant. There is ground tissue, dermal tissue, and vascular tissue. What do they...
Professor Dave Explains
Introduction to Mycology
Mushrooms are some of the most fascinating organisms on the planet. But what are they exactly? Are they plants? No! In fact, they are extremely different from plants. They belong in their own kingdom, called the Fungi kingdom. What else...
Professor Dave Explains
Plant Pigments
Why are most plants green? Why do leaves change colors in the autumn? Let's learn about pigments, the molecules that give living organisms their color. They also have other interesting functions, like the famous chlorophyll, which serves...
Professor Dave Explains
Overview of Plant Classification: Vascular and Nonvascular Plants
Now that we have covered most of the basics regarding plant structure and function, it's time to start digging into all the different types of plants, how they are classified, and their evolutionary history. It's even more fascinating...
Professor Dave Explains
Plant Responses to the Environment: Tropisms and Defenses
We've already learned a little bit about plant hormones, but let's dig a little deeper so that we can really examine the different ways that plants can respond to stimuli. These are called tropisms, and they can be positive or negative,...
Professor Dave Explains
Gymnosperms: Long-Distance Pollination
We've made through a number of vascular plants so far, but it's time to examine gymnosperms. These include plants like pine trees, and any plant that bears cones. These plants exhibit an important evolutionary advantage over previous...
Professor Dave Explains
Types of Plant Cells
If we want to learn about plant structure and function, we have to start with the smallest components, and those would be plant cells. Just like animals, plants are made of eukaryotic cells of different types, and in plants these are...
Professor Dave Explains
Mechanisms of Plant Growth
We've gone over the various tiers of structure of a plant, from cells, to tissues, to organs and organ systems. Now it's time to better understand how plants grow. How to plants know when to grow? How do they know which direction to...