3.

TRANSPORTATION
Human beings, like other multicellular organisms, need a regular supply of foods,
oxygen etc. This function is performed by a circulatory system or transport system.
In plants, the vascular tissue is responsible for transporting substances.
TRANSPORTATION IN HUMAN BEINGS:
❖ The circulatory system is responsible for transport of various substances in
human beings.
❖ It is composed of heart and blood vessels.
❖ The blood vessels are arteries, veins and blood capillaries.
Functions of circulatory system
❖ Circulates oxygen and removes Carbon Dioxide.
❖ Provides cells with nutrients.
❖ Removes the waste products of metabolism to the excretory organs for disposal.
❖ Protects the body against disease and infection.
❖ Pumps blood
HEART:
❖ The heart is a muscular organ and of the size of a person’s fist.
❖ It is the pumping organ which pumps blood.
❖ The human heart is composed of four chambers, right atrium, right ventricle, left
ventricle and left atrium. [Birds and mammals have four chambered heart,
amphibians and reptiles have three chambered heart and pisces / fishes have
two chambered heart]
❖ Atria is also known as auricles.
❖ The right and left side of the heart are separated by a muscular septum.
❖ The separation of the right side and the left side of the heart is useful to keep
oxygenated and deoxygenated blood from mixing. This separation allows a highly
efficient supply of oxygen.
❖ The left side is filled with oxygenated blood and the right side is filled with
deoxygenated blood.
❖ Ventricles have thicker muscular walls than atria, as they must pump blood
into various organs.

BLOOD VESSELS
They are of three types.
1. Arteries: -
❖ These are thick-walled blood vessels
which carry oxygenated blood from the
heart to different organs.
❖ Pulmonary arteries are exceptions
because they carry deoxygenated
blood from the heart to lungs, where
oxygenation of blood takes place.
2. Veins: -
❖ These are thin-walled blood vessels
which carry deoxygenated blood from different organs to the heart.
❖ pulmonary veins are exceptions because they carry oxygenated blood from lungs
to the heart.
❖ Valves are present in veins to prevent back flow of blood.
3. Capillaries: -
❖ Capillaries are delicate blood vessels that deliver nutrients and oxygen to cells
throughout your body.
❖ They also remove carbon dioxide and other waste from your cells.
❖ Their walls are one-celled thick. With their thin walls, capillaries allow fluids and
gases to pass through easily.
❖ Capillaries connect arteries and veins and help your organ’s function.
BLOOD: -
Blood is a fluid connective tissue.
Blood is composed of Plasma and Blood cells.
Blood plasma: Blood plasma is a pale yellow coloured liquid which is mostly
composed of water. It also contains proteins and salts. Plasma transports CO2 as it is
highly soluble in water.
Bloods cells:
There are three types of blood cells, Red Blood Cells (RBCs), White Blood Cells
(WBCs) and platelets.
a) Red Blood Corpuscles (RBCs or erythrocytes):
❖ These are red because of the presence of haemoglobin which is an iron
containing protein.
❖ Haemoglobin readily combines with oxygen. The transport of oxygen happens
through haemoglobin.
b) White Blood Corpuscles (WBCs or leucocytes):
❖ These are pale white colour.
❖ They play an important role in immunity.
❖ These are of five types. Eosinophils, basophils, neutrophils, monocytes and
lymphocytes.
c) Platelets or thrombocytes-
❖ Platelets are responsible for blood clotting.
❖ Blood clotting prevents excess loss of blood, in case of an injury.
Functions of blood:
❖ Blood is responsible for the transportation of nutrients, respiratory gases, waste
products from one part of the body to the other.
❖ Blood plays a role in temperature regulation
❖ Protection of the body from the attack of disease-causing pathogens.
❖ Blood forms a clot at the site of injury thus preventing further loss of blood.
BLOOD PRESSURE:
❖ The force that blood exerts against the wall of a vessel is called blood pressure.
❖ This pressure is much greater in arteries than in veins.
❖ Systolic pressure - pressure of blood inside the artery during ventricular
contraction.
❖ Diastolic pressure - blood pressure inside the artery during ventricular
expansion.
❖ The normal blood pressure values are- Systolic pressure: 120 mm Hg, Diastolic
pressure: 80 mm Hg
❖ Blood pressure is measured with an instrument called a sphygmomanometer.
DOUBLE CIRCULATION: -
❖ In the human circulation, blood passes through the heart twice in one cardiac
cycle. This type of circulation is called double circulation.
❖ The heart beats about 72 times per minute in a normal adult.
❖ Double circulation ensures complete separation of oxygenated and
deoxygenated blood which is necessary for maximum oxygen supply and
energy production in warm-blooded animals.
❖ One complete heartbeat in which all the chambers of the heart contract and relax
once is called a cardiac cycle.
❖ Flow of blood from the heart to
lungs and back is called
pulmonary circulation. Flow of
blood from body to heart and back
is called systemic circulation.
WORKING OF HEART:
❖ The cardiac muscles of all the four chambers relax.
❖ Deoxygenated blood from the large veins called vena cava pour into the right
atrium. (Superior and inferior vena cava)
❖ The right atrium contracts and blood flows to the right ventricle through the
tricuspid valve.
❖ Right ventricle relaxes and collects the blood.
❖ Right ventricle contracts and the blood is pumped to the lungs for oxygenation by
pulmonary arteries.
❖ Pulmonary veins from lungs pour deoxygenated blood into the left atrium. Left
atrium contracts and pump blood to the left ventricle.
❖ Blood flows to the left ventricle through bicuspid valve or mitral valve.
❖ The left ventricle contracts.
❖ Oxygenated blood from the left ventricle is distributed to different parts of the
body through the aorta. [Aorta is the largest artery]
CIRCULATION IN OTHER ORGANISMS:

❖ Animals like amphibians and many reptiles have three chambered hearts and
tolerate some mixing of oxygenated and deoxygenated blood streams.
❖ Fish have only two chambered heart.
❖ Blood is pumped to the gills, where it is oxygenated and passes directly to the
rest of the body. Thus, blood goes only once through the heart in one cycle.

SINGLE CIRCULATION

❖ In single circulation, the blood passes through heart only once. Blood is pumped
by the heart to the gills for oxygenation, after which the blood flows to the rest of
the body and back to the heart.
❖ Animals such as fish are known to have single circulatory systems. Their hearts
are two chambered- with just a single atrium and a single ventricle.
❖ Single circulation has a disadvantage – the oxygen delivery rate is slow, and this
lowers the rate of metabolism.
LYMPH:
❖ Lymph is tissue fluid which consists of plasma, small proteins and lymphocytes.
❖ Lymph is formed from the fluid which leaks from blood capillaries and goes to
the intercellular space in the tissues. This fluid is collected through lymph
capillaries and vessels and finally returns to the veins.
❖ Lymph also plays an important role in the immune system.
❖ It transports fat.
❖ Lymph flows from the tissues to the heart assisting in transportation and
destroying germs.
Blood Lymph
Red coloured Colourless
Part of circulatory system Part of lymphatic system
Contains plasma, RBC, WBC and It contains plasma and WBC
Platelets
Has proteins Has only small proteins
Flows in both directions Flows in one direction

TRANSPORTATION IN PLANTS:
Energy requirement in plants is comparatively less as [1] they do not move [2] most
of their cells are dead. Their transport system is relatively slow.

Plants have specialized vascular tissues for transportation of substances.

There are two types of vascular tissues in plants. Xylem and phloem.
Xylem:
❖ Xylem is responsible for transportation of water and minerals.
❖ It is unidirectional.
❖ It is composed of tracheids, vessels, xylem parenchyma and xylem fibres.
❖ Tracheids and xylem vessels are the conducting elements.
❖ The xylem makes a continuous tube in plants which run from roots to stem and
right up to the veins of leaves.
Phloem:
❖ Phloem is responsible for transportation of food.
❖ Phloem is composed of sieve tubes, companion cells, phloem parenchyma and
fibers.
❖ Sieve tubes and companion cells are the conducting elements in phloem.
❖ Phloem is bidirectional.

Transportation of water Ascent of sap:

❖ The upward movement of water and minerals from roots to different plant parts
is called ascent of sap. It is done with the help of transpiration pull and root
pressure.
Transpiration pull:
❖ Loss of water vapour through stomata and lenticels, in plants, is called
transpiration.
❖ Transpiration through stomata creates vacuum which creates a suction force,
called transpiration pull.
❖ The transpiration pull sucks the water column from the xylem tubes and thus,
water can rise to great heights in even the tallest plants.

Root pressure

❖ It is the force that helps roots absorb water and conduct it upwards.
❖ The walls of cells of root hairs are very thin.
❖ Water from soil enters the root hairs because of osmosis.
❖ Root pressure is responsible for movement of water up to the base of the stem.
TRANSPORT OF FOOD:
❖ Transport of food in plants happens because of utilization of energy. Thus, unlike
the transport through xylem, it is a form of active transport.
❖ Transport of food from leaves to different parts of the plant through the phloem
is called Translocation. Phloem also transports amino acids along with sucrose.
❖ Moreover, the flow of substances through phloem takes place in both directions,
i.e., it is a two-way traffic in phloem.
Functions of transpiration
❖ Absorption of water
❖ Conduction of water
❖ Upward movement of water
❖ Helps in temperature regulation in plants.
Differences between xylem and phloem

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