Thursday February 3rd, 2022
Plant Transport
Vascular Tissue
• Vascular tissue is found in all water-conducting plants, from the roots, up
through the stems and up to the leaves.
• These include xylem and phloem (we will take a closer look at them in the
coming slides)
• The vascular tissue or “vascular bundle” is very important to plants, but why?
Xylem
• Xylem tissue is responsible for transporting water and minerals from roots up
to the leaves.
• Xylem vessels are dead at maturity, being thickened by rings of lignin.
• They are narrow, hollow and are formed from many elongated cells that are
joined together.
• Look at the highlighted words, why do you think these features would be
important?
Phloem
• Phloem tissue transports sap (water and sugar) from “source” to “sink.”
• Phloem vessels are alive at maturity, but need companion cells in order to
transport sucrose as these contain mitochondria and nucleus, etc.
• Phloem are long columns of cells whose walls have become perforated to form
sieve plates, and are connected to individual companion cells through holes.
Source and Sink
Source
• where the sugar starts its journey (where it is produced)
Sink
• where sugar ends up (where it is needed)
However the source and the sink can change based on the plant and even the
season.
Transpiration
• Transpiration is the process by which is water is lost from leaves as water
vapour. This is di erent from Guttation.
• Transpiration is important as plants utilise this water for photosynthesis,
turgidity, evaporative cooling of the plants and bringing mineral salts to the
leaves.
Roots
• Roots absorb water and minerals in a 4-step process:
• Active transport of minerals into root hairs.
• Osmosis of water into root hairs and epidermal cells
• Osmosis through the cortical cells of the root.
• Osmosis into the xylem of root and bottom of stem.
• Movement of water from root hair cells-->root xylem is due to root pressure.
Mineral and water uptake
a r
Capillary action
Cohesion
• polar water molecules tend to stick together with hydrogen bonds.
Adhesion
• water molecules tend to stick to polar surfaces.
Cohesion and adhesion cause water to “crawl” up narrow tubes. The
narrower the tube the higher the same mass of water can climb.
Maximum height: 32 feet. [Think about the tallest tree ever!]
Cohesion-tension theory
• Cohesion between water molecules creates a “water chain” e ect or a
transpiration stream.
• As molecules are removed from the column by evaporation in the leaf, more
are drawn up from the roots.
roots
• Pressure di erences created by transpiration draws water out of the roots and
up the stems.
• This creates lower water pressure in the roots, which draws in more water.
(remember water always moves from a high to a low water pressure )
Evaporation
• Evaporation at the surface of the leaf keeps the water column moving.
• This is the strongest force involved in transpiration.
Stomata control
• The stomata are important in transpiration. They are found on the lower
surface of leaves and determine how much water vapour is lost from plants.
• Guard cells around the stomata are sensitive to light, CO2, and water loss.
• Cells expand in response to light and low CO2 levels, and collapse in response
to water loss.
Stomata
• When stomata are open, evaporation draws water out of the leaf. Gas
exchange can also occur to keep photosynthesis and respiration running.
• When stomata are closed, evaporation cannot occur, nor can gas exchange.
Photosynthesis and transpiration slow down.
Summary of water transport in 3 parts:
Transpiration (or evapo-transpiration) is the transport of water and minerals
from roots to leaves. It involves three basic steps:
• Absorption at the roots.
• Capillary action in the xylem vessels.
• Evaporation at the leaf.
Factors affecting transpiration
Transpiration can be a ected by a number of environment factors. These
include:
• Light
• Temperature
• Humidity
• Wind
• Soil water
Light
• Plants will transpire at a faster rate in the light than in dark conditions.
• Light serves as a trigger to open the stomata. This is a result of the turgor of
the guard cells
Temperature
• Consequently, plants transpire more when the temperature is higher.
• This is due to the fact that water vapour will evaporate more as the
temperature increases.
Humidity
• Di usion rates increase when the di erence in concentration of substances
increase.
• What does this mean?
Wind
• If there is a strong breeze, the air outside the leaf will have less water vapour
(less humid).This will increase transpiration.
• When there is no breeze, humid air outside the leaf increases, thereby
decreasing the rate of transpiration.
Soil water
• Plants will not be able to transpire at a constant rate if water lost by
transpiration is not being replaced by water from the soil.
• When there is a lack of water in the soil, loss of turgor happens, the stomata
close and transpiration is reduced.
Transpiration Rate
• As a result of all these factors, what would a suitable de nition of
transpiration rate be?
• Transpiration rate is the rate at which plants take up water depending on the
rate the water is lost by the plant.
• Therefore, the more water that is lost by transpiration, the more water is taken
up by the plant.
