Transportation

It is a life process in which a substance absorbed is transported from one body

part to its other parts.
Transportation in Human beings
The main transport system in human beings is the circulatory system. It consists of
blood, blood vessels (arteries, veins & capillaries) and heart.
Blood: It is red coloured fluid connective tissue which transports food, oxygen and
waste products. It consists of plasma, red blood cells (RBC), white blood cells (WBC)
and platelets.
a) Plasma: It constitutes about 55% of blood volume. It transports food, water,
nitrogenous waste etc.
b) Red Blood Corpuscles (Erythrocytes) transport oxygen and carbon dioxide.
c) White Blood Cells (Leukocytes) kill harmful microbes and protects the body.
(Soldiers of body)
d) Platelets (Thrombocytes) help in clotting of blood and prevents loss of blood
during injury.
Functions of Blood:
i) Transport of nutrients to all parts of body.
ii) Transport of O2 and CO2 to all the tissues of body for respiration.
iii) Transport of excretory products like urea, uric acid and ammonia.
iv) Clotting of Blood at site of injury to prevent further loss of blood.
v) Protection against diseases by engulfing the diseases causing microbes
by phagocytosis.
vi) Helps in regulation of pH and body temperature.

Blood Vessels: There are three types of blood vessels involved in blood circulation
Arteries: They are thick walled and do not have valves. They carry pure blood from
the heart to all parts of the body.
Veins: They are thin walled and have valves. They carry impure blood from all parts
of the body to the heart.
Capillaries: They are very narrow blood vessels which connects arteries and veins
together. The exchange of food, water, oxygen, carbon dioxide etc. between the
blood and cells take place through the capillaries.
Difference between arteries, veins and capillaries:

Arteries Veins Capillaries

i) Blood vessels having a Blood vessels having a Narrow blood vessels
thick and elastic wall. thin wall. having a very thin wall.
ii) They carry blood from They bring blood from They form a network
the heart to different different parts of the body throughout the body
parts of the body. to the heart. connecting arteries to
veins.
Iii) They do not have They have valves to They do not have valve.
valve. prevent the backflow of
blood.
iv) All arteries carry All veins carry oxygenated They help in exchange of
oxygenated blood except blood except the materials between blood
the pulmonary artery. pulmonary vein. and surrounding cells that
takes place across the thin
walls of capillaries.

Heart: It is a muscular organ which pumps blood to all parts of the body. It has four
chambers. The two upper chambers are called atria (auricles) and the two lower
chambers are called ventricles. The right and left chambers are separated by a
septum. It prevents the mixing of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood. Since the
ventricles have to pump blood to the different organs, they have thicker walls than
the atria. The right atrium and right ventricles have tricuspid valve and left atrium
and left ventricle have bicuspid valve between them to prevent blood flowing
backward.
 Working of the heart (Double Circulation of blood)
a) Pulmonary Circulation:
When The right atrium contracts and tricuspid valve opens and blood rushes to
the right ventricle. The right ventricle contracts and semilunar valve opens and the
blood is pumped to the lungs through the pulmonary artery. In the lungs carbon
dioxide is removed and oxygen is absorbed and deoxygenated blood becomes
oxygenated. The left atrium relaxes oxygenated blood from the lungs flows into it
through the pulmonary vein.
b) Systemic Circulation:
The left auricle contracts and bicuspid valve opens and the oxygenated blood
rushes to left ventricle. Then the left ventricle contracts and semilunar valve opens
the oxygenated blood is pumped out through the aorta to all parts of the body. After
circulating through upper and lower parts of the body, the deoxygenated blood
enters the right atrium through the superior and inferior vena cava respectively and
the process repeats. Since blood flows through the heart twice in one cardiac cycle, it
is called double circulation.

Lungs

Pulmonary Artery Pulmonary Vein

(Deoxygenated Blood) Pulmonary Circulation (Oxygenated Blood)

Semilunar valve Right Atrium Left Atrium

(Deoxygenated Blood) (Oxygenated Blood)

tricuspid valve bicuspid valve

Right Ventricle Left Ventricle

(Deoxygenated Blood) (Oxygenated Blood)
Semilunar valve

Superior/ Inferior vena cava

(Deoxygenated Blood) Systemic Circulation Aorta / Arteries
(Oxygenated Blood)
Tissues/ Organs

Schematic Diagram of double circulation

Heart Beat: Heart beat is the rhythmic contraction (systole) and relaxation (diastole)
of heart muscles. The rate of heart beat in human adult is 72 times per minutes.

Blood Pressure:
• The force that blood exerts against the wall of vessel is called blood pressure.
• The maximum pressure at which the blood leaves the heart through the aorta
during ventricular systole (contraction) is called the systolic pressure.
• The minimum pressure in arteries during ventricular diastole (relaxation) of heart
is called diastolic pressure.
• The normal blood pressure values are:
Systolic pressure: 120mm of Hg
Diastolic pressure: 80 mm of Hg
• Blood pressure is measured by using an instrument called sphygmomanometer.
• High blood pressure (Hypertension) is caused by constriction of arterioles which
results in increased resistance to blood flow.
Lymph (Tissue fluid): It is another type of fluid found in our body and is
also involved in transportation. It is a colourless fluid present in intercellular spaces. It is
formed from the plasma which escapes from the capillaries. Lymph from intercellular
spaces drains into lymphatic capillaries which forms lymph vessels and joins into large
veins.
Functions of Lymph:
i) Lymph is involved in transportation of substances where blood vessels do not
reach.
ii) Lymph transports digested and absorbed fats from intestine and drains excess
fluids from extra cellular spaces back into the blood.
iii) It contains lymphocytes which kills germs and protects the body.
Hearts of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles, and fishes
i) The heart in mammals: and birds have four chambers and the right and left sides
of the heart is separated by a septum. This prevents mixing of oxygenated and
deoxygenated blood and provides efficient supply of oxygen. This is necessary
because they need more energy to maintain their body temperature.
ii) The heart in amphibians and reptiles: have three chambers and allows some
mixing of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood because they do not use energy to
 maintain their body temperature. Their body temperature is the same as the
temperature of the surroundings.
iii) The heart in fishes: have only two chambers and blood are oxygenated in the gills.

Transportation in plants
In plants, transportation of materials like food, water and minerals
takes place through conducting tissues called xylem and phloem.
Transportation of Water and Minerals in Plants:
• Xylem is the specialized vascular tissue in plants that transports water and
minerals from soil to all parts of the plant.
• Xylem is a complex tissue that is composed of four basic types of cells (tracheid,
vessel, xylem fibre and xylem parenchyma). The only living component of xylem is
xylem parenchyma.
• Xylem tissues of plants have interconnected network of vessels and tracheids of
roots, stem and leaves.
• The water along with minerals is absorbed by the root hairs by osmosis until it
reaches the xylem.
• At the root, the cells in contact with the soil actively take up ions causing a
concentration difference between the roots and the soil. (root pressure).
• So, water moves into the root to eliminate the difference. This causes a
continuous movement of water into the root xylem from the soil that creates a
column of water pushing it upwards.
• The flow of water is unidirectional and in the upward direction.
• But this root pressure alone isn’t enough to move water over the heights of tall
plants. Here the plants adopt another strategy of suction of water is transpiration.
• Transpiration is the loss of water in the form of vapour from the aerial parts of
the plant.
• The evaporation of water (Transpiration) from the stomata creates a suction
effect/pull. This pulls the water up from the xylem cells of the roots.
• Transpiration helps in absorption and upward movement of sap (water and
minerals) creating transpiration pull, also called ascent of sap.
• Transpiration pull is the major driving force of water movement upwards in a
plant during the day. The effect of root pressure in the transport of water is more
important at night.
• Significance of transpiration:
a) Transpiration also helps in temperature regulation.
b) It maintains a constant supply of ions to leaves.
c) It removes excess water.
Transportation of Food and other substances in Plants (Translocation):
• The transport of food/glucose and amino acids and other substances from the
leaves to the different parts of the plant body is called translocation.
• Translocation takes place in the phloem delivering substance to the storage
organs like roots, fruits etc. and to growing organs.
• Phloem is a complex tissue that is composed of four basic types of cell (sieve
tubes, companion cells, phloem fiber and phloem parenchyma). The only dead
component of phloem is phloem fibre.
• Translocation is bidirectional i.e. both in the upward and downward directions
and takes place in the sieve tubes with the help of adjacent companion cells.
• Translocation in phloem is achieved by utilising energy.
• Materials like Sucrose that is formed in the leaf is transferred into the phloem
using energy from ATP, which increases the osmotic pressure of the tissue causing
water from the neighbouring xylem now moves into the sieve tube via the
companion cells.
• The bulk pressure increases in the sieve tubes and the material moves in the
phloem to tissues which have less pressure.
• This allows the phloem to move materials according to the plant’s needs.
• In spring, sugar stored in root or stem tissues may move to growing buds which
need more energy to grow.

Fig: Cross section of Xylem and Phloem