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Lesson 6 Transport in Vascular Plants Student Note

Vascular plants transport water and nutrients throughout their structures without a pump. Transport occurs in three stages: from soil into roots, from roots into stems, and from stems to leaves. Water and nutrients enter roots through osmosis and active transport, then move into vascular tissue. In stems, root pressure and transpiration pull xylem sap upward. Transpiration occurs as leaves release water vapor, pulling more sap from below. Sugars made by leaves are transported through phloem to areas of use in a process called translocation.

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26 views

Lesson 6 Transport in Vascular Plants Student Note

Vascular plants transport water and nutrients throughout their structures without a pump. Transport occurs in three stages: from soil into roots, from roots into stems, and from stems to leaves. Water and nutrients enter roots through osmosis and active transport, then move into vascular tissue. In stems, root pressure and transpiration pull xylem sap upward. Transpiration occurs as leaves release water vapor, pulling more sap from below. Sugars made by leaves are transported through phloem to areas of use in a process called translocation.

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allaboutamalia
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Transport in Vascular Plants

Unlike animals, plants lack a pump to move internal fluids. However vascular plants of
all sizes are able to transport materials throughout their structures by using the same
basic mechanisms.
Transport of Water and Nutrients
This process involves 3 stages:

● From the soil into the roots

● From the roots into the stem

● From the stem to the leaves

1. From the soil into the roots


Water molecules move into the roots by osmosis, the diffusion of water across a
membrane. Since the cytoplasm of the root cells have a lower concentration of water
than the surrounding soil, the water freely crosses the epidermis. The root hairs are a
way for the plant to increase the surface area of the root.
The absorption of the nutrients is more complicated. Usually the concentration of the
nutrients is higher in the plant cells than in soil water. Diffusion cannot work therefore
the plant must use active transport. Active transport is when ATP is used to move
substances from low to high areas of concentration.
Once the water and nutrients are in the cytoplasm of the outer root cells they make their
way to the vascular tissue. The cells all have interconnecting strands of cytoplasm
making the movement from cell to cell through the cortex easier.
Before the water and nutrients can enter the vascular tissue
they must pass through the Casparian strip and the
endodermis.
The Casparian strip is made up of a wax-like substance that
prevents all substances from passing through the spaces
between the endodermal cells. All substances must pass
directly through the endodermal cells. The Casparian strip
prevents substances from leaking back into the cortex.
Once inside the vascular area, nutrients are actively pumped across cell membranes
into the xylem. The water and nutrients are now called xylem sap.

2. From the roots into the stem


As more nutrients are actively pumped into the xylem, their concentration increases and the
water molecules follow by osmosis. This creates root pressure and helps to push the
xylem sap upward.
Capillary action, which is the tendency of a liquid in a narrow tube to rise or fall because of
attractive forces between the liquid molecules, also helps the xylem sap rise.

The column of water is held together by weak attractive forces between the molecules, called
cohesion. The column rises because of the attraction between the water molecules and
the sides of the tube, called adhesion.

The xylem sap can move from one xylem tube to another through pits in the cell wall of the
xylem cells. These pits also allow the sap to move out into the surrounding tissue. This
ensures that all cells in the plant body receive water and nutrients.

3. From the stem to the leaves


Capillary action and root pressure are not enough to the xylem sap all the way to the top. The
main driving force to get water and nutrients to the top comes from the leaves.

Plants release water vapour from the leaves through the open stomata located in the leaf
epidermis. This evaporation of water is called transpiration. Because of the water loss
at the top of the xylem column, it pulls on the water molecules creating the flow.
Without transpiration there would be no water movement.

Transpiration is greatest in the day when the stomata are open. At night, when the plant is not
photosynthesizing, the stomata close. The stomata are adaptations of the plant to help
regulate transpiration.

Transpiration causes a tremendous loss of water from the plant


therefore there must be sufficient soil water to replace the
lost water. If there is not enough water, the plant will wilt.
This is caused when there is not enough water pressure
inside the cell vacuole. When the vacuole is full, it pushes
against the cell wall. This pressure is called turgor
pressure. Without this pressure, the cell sags. A plant
can withstand wilting for a period of time but eventually the
loss of turgor pressure results in permanent wilting and the plant will die.
Overview
Transport of Sugars (Phloem Sap)
The phloem transports sugars and other organic compounds along with water is a
process called translocation. The sugars are moved from an area of production or
storage, to an area where they are needed, called a sink.
Sugars can move in any direction through the plant. The direction depends on the
location of the source cells relative to the location of the sink cells.

1. From Source to Phloem


The sugar moves into the phloem cells by the process of active
transport. As the concentration of sugar increases inside the
phloem cells this lowers the concentration of water causing water
to move into the phloem cells from the neighbouring xylem cells
by osmosis.
This will force the sugar-water solution down the phloem pipeline
toward the roots. More sugar enters followed by more water to
keep moving the nutrients to the roots. Cells along the way can
use the sugar as an energy source.
Excess sugars can be stored in the root or fruit. This process is also called the source
to sink model of sugar transport.

2. From Phloem to Sink


Once the sugar molecules reach a sink cell, they leave the phloem. The sink cells have
a lower concentration of sugars than the phloem cells therefore the sugars move by
diffusion into the sink.
Because the phloem cells have a lower concentration of sugars, water is returned to the
xylem.

The complete process is called the pressure-flow mechanism. Water moves from areas
of high pressure (at the source when water is drawn into the phloem) to areas of low
pressure (at the sink where water is returned to the xylem).

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