How Do Plants Breathe? | Botany Basics

All living things breathe, including plants. But plants don’t have lungs and don’t breathe in oxygen. Instead, they breathe in carbon dioxide through holes in their leaves called “stomata.”

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Questions and Prompts for Educators

Check for Understanding

How do plants and animals breathe differently?

Take It Further

Look at stomata under a microscope. Apply a thin layer of clear nail polish on a leaf’s top and bottom surfaces. When the polish dries, apply a piece of clear tape, press, and gently peel and remove. Place the tape on a slide to view under a microscope. Take it further and compare the size and density of stomata from different plants.

Create

Create a comic strip that shows how plants breathe.

Make a Personal Connection

Have a mindful moment outside your classroom. Go to an area where there are plants and find a comfortable position. Close your eyes or lower your gaze as you take slow, deep breaths. As you inhale, think about how you breathe in oxygen from the plants around you. As you exhale, think about how you are breathing out carbon dioxide, something plants need to live. Keep breathing slowly and think about how we need plants to live, and they need us. Take one final breath, stretch your arms outward, and thank the plants for their role in our lives.

Next Generation Science Standards: Disciplinary Core Ideas

LS1.A: STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION
How do the structures of organisms enable life’s functions?
LS1.C: ORGANIZATION FOR MATTER AND ENERGY FLOW IN ORGANISMS
How do organisms obtain and use the matter and energy they need to live and grow?
LS4.C: ADAPTATION
How does the environment influence populations of organisms over multiple generations?

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