Transport in Plants
TRANSPORT IN PLANTS
Plants have a transport system called the vascular system.
Vascular plants are land plants, need to transport water, mineral salts and dissolved food nutrients
in and around the plant.
The vascular system is made up of vascular bundles which consists of xylem, phloem and cambium
cells.
XYLEM AND PHLOEM
These tissues are found throughout the whole plant body in the roots, stems and leaves.
Xylem tissue transports water and mineral ions. The roots then absorb the water and mineral ions
from the soil where they enter the xylem tissue and travel upwards in the stem to the leaves,
flowers and fruits. Transport in the xylem is in one direction only from the roots via the stem to the
leaves.
Phloem tissue transports end products of photosynthesis such as sucrose, amino acids and including
hormones throughout the plant. Substances are transported in the phloem in two directions:
downwards from leaves to roots and upwards from the leaves to flowers.
Phloem- made up of conducting cells composed of living material. The cells form sieve tubes. The
cross walls of these enlongated cells perforations which make end walls called sieve plates. The sieve
plates allow food materials to pass from cell to cell by diffusion and active transport. unlike the
xylem the cells are not lignified
INSIDE THE ROOT AND STEM To find the transport tissues of roots and stems, we cut across them to
give transverse sections.
Leave a space for diagram (page)
WATER UPTAKE
Root hairs have thin, permeable cell walls and provide a large surface area to absorb water. The
roots have a more concentrated solution than the soil because they also absorb mineral ions and
contain other solutes such as sugars. The cell membrane is partially permeable, so water diffuses
from the soil into the root hair cells by osmosis.
Water then passes across the cortex of the root, where most of the water moves through the cells
walls and in the spaces between the cells and some move from cell to cell. Water eventually reaches
the xylem in the centre of the root, where it will move up through the stem and to the leaves where
it enters the spongy mesophyll cells. Much of the water enters the cell walls and some of it
evaporates to form water vapour and then diffuses through the stomata to the atmosphere.
Diagram pg
We often describe the movement of water into a root hair, across the cortex and into a xylem vessel
in terms of water potential. Xylem vessels are like pipes as they are empty except of the water that
fills them. Water is not pushed from the roots up to the leaves, instead it is pulled by the
evaporation of water from the plant= transpiration pull
TRANSPIRATION
This is the loss of water vapour from plant leaves through the stomata.
Diagram showing diffusion of water in the leaf
WILTING
The stomata close at night to reduce the volume of water lost by transpiration. They may also close
in hot, dry conditions during the day as water lost in transpiration is not being replaced by water
from the soil. If the plant does not get enough water it will start to wilt. Its cells have lost so much
water that they are no longer turgid or full of water. Wilting is not a bad thing as the leaves move
downwards so they are out of direct rays of the sun so do not get as hot. When the temperature
decreases and they can absorb more water than is lost by transpiration the leaves will recover.
FACTORS AFFECTING TRANSPIRATION
Humidity:
This is the amount of moisture in the atmosphere.
In high humid conditions, there may be as much water vapour in the atmosphere as the air inside
the leaves. This means that there is no concentration gradient for water vapour so the rate of
transpiration is low. In low humidity, the concentration gradient is very steep so water vapour
diffuses out of leaves through the stomata.
Temperature:
it influences the rate of evaporation of water from the surfaces, such as the cells inside the leaf. As
temperature increases, water molecules on the cell surfaces have more kinetic energy and enter the
air inside the leaf as water vapour.
Light Intensity
light causes stomata to open, as the light intensity increases stomata open wider. As light intensity
decreases when it is cloudy or towards evening, stomata close so that less water is lost by
transpiration.
Wind speed/air movement
Moving air removes water vapour from the leaves surface allowing more to diffuse out of the cells.
Still air allows water vapour concentration to build up hence low transpiration rate.
TRANSPIRATION PULL
Water is pulled up the xylem in the stem from the roots to the leaves by transpiration pull. The
water is used for photosynthesis and to stop the plant from wilting. As water is used up or lost from
the leaves, more is sucked up from the xylem vessels. This mass flow of water up the xylem relies on
two properties of water.
Cohesion: the water molecules tend to attract each o
The is filled by submerging it in water and making sure the stem in the stopper is airtight. ther
Adhesion: the water tends to stick to the inside of the xylem vessel
So, there is a continuous flow of water from the roots to the leaves and this movement of water
molecules along the xylem vessel is known as the transpiration stream.
MEASURING TRANSPIRATION
To measure the rate of transpiration one can, use a potometer to measure the rate of water uptake.
It can be used to compare the rate of transpiration because the water that is used by the plant or is
taken in is almost the same as the water that is lost. An air bubble is allowed to form in the capillary
tube. The distance moved by the bubble is a measure of the rate of water uptake.
The potometer can be used to compare the rate of transpiration at different conditions e.g windy vs
still air, high light intensity vs low light intensity.
DIAGRAM OF THE POTOMETER
TRANSLOCATION
This is the movement of end products of photosynthesis in the phloem from the leaves to the rest
of the plant.
