I/GCSE Biology - Growth

In this post, we will look at the growth in plants and animals respectively. Let's get started!😁

• Growth is a permanent increase in size, length, mass and cell number.
• Percentile charts can help to show if your child is growing faster or slower than is normal for their age.
• The 50^th percentile is the median.
• If your height is at the 50^th percentile, you are taller than 50% of the population.

In I/GCSE Biology, it is important to remember the topic regarding growth in plants and animals!

Growth in plants:

• Grow through all their lives
• Meristems are a place where cells keep dividing
• Once cells have divided, they get longer (elongate)
• Meristem can specialise/differentiate

Growth in animals:

• Stop growing when they become adults
• Have stem cells that can differentiate
• Most animals cannot regrow damaged limbs

Make sure you remember this in I/GCSE Biology!

• All the cells in an embryo are stem cells.
• This means they can produce any kind of cell.
• Only a few cells in an adults body are stem cells, and these are used to help repair damaged tissue.

And we're done with this topic! Well Done!

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Drafted by Alyssa (Biology)

References:

1. "Growth chart", https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/41/CDC_growth_chart_boys_birth_to_36_mths_cj41c017.pdf/page1-1200px-CDC_growth_chart_boys_birth_to_36_mths_cj41c017.pdf.jpg
2. "Meristems", https://ib.bioninja.com.au/_Media/meristems_med.jpeg
3. "Derivation and differentiation of human embryonic stem cell", https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Maria-Marchetto/publication/51407282/figure/fig1/AS:305716054249472@1449899795131/Derivation-and-differentiation-of-human-embryonic-stem-cells-to-a-neuronal-lineage.png