Plant Transport

Moving water, minerals, and sugars

 At the end of this lesson,
students should be able to:
● explain how the structure of xylem vessels is suited
for their function
● discuss the role of the process of transpiration in
plants;
● describe the effect of external factors on
transpiration;
Vascular Tissue
 KWL- Fill in what you know about the following
transport organs

Xylem Phloem
Root
Stem
 ● 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)
Purpose of transport system in
plants
• Plants have a small SA:V ratio and therefore they need a transport
system.

• Every cell in the plant needs a supply of oxygen, water, nutrients

and minerals.

• The leaves photosynthesise and therefore need water but they

cannot absorb this from the air. So, water and mineral ions must
be transported from the roots up to the leaves and the sugars are
transported from the leaves to the rest of the plant.
 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 called
plasmodesmata.
 Source and Sink

• Source: where the sugar

starts its journey (where it
is produced)

• Sink: where sugar ends up

(where it is needed)
Transpiration
What is transpiration?
● Transpiration is the process by which is water is
lost from leaves as water vapour. This is different
from Guttation.
● Transpiration is important as plants utilize this
water for photosynthesis, turgidity, evaporative
cooling of the plants and bringing mineral salts
to the leaves.
 Part 1: 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
WHAT CAN YOU LEARN FROM THIS
VIDEO?
 Step 2: Capillary action

• Cohesion: polar
water molecules
tend to stick
together with
hydrogen bonds.

• Adhesion: water
molecules tend to
stick to polar
surfaces.
 Capillary action
• 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” effect or a transpiration stream.

• As molecules are removed from the column by

evaporation in the leaf, more are drawn up from the
roots.
 Back to the roots...
• Pressure differences 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 )
 Part 3: 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 affected by a number of
environmental factors. These include:
• Light
• Temperature
• Humidity
• Wind
• Soil water
• You will now be placed in five (5) groups to explain
how each factor affects the rate of transpiration; how
 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

• Diffusion rates increase when the

difference 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 definition 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.
Investigating the rate of
transpiration
How are plants adapted to
conserve water?
• Xerophytes: these plants live in hot
environments, with no shades, and hot
and dry soil conditions
• They have small leaves, often reduced to
spikes or leaves with thick, waxy cuticle
to lower the rate of transpiration.
• Halophytes: these plants live in areas
with high salt concentration, for example
swamps, along the sea, or in salt
marshes.
• The plant has been adapted to stop salts
from entering the cell. There are also
those that collect the salts, store or
remove the salts that enter plants cells.
 Mesophytes
• Mesophytes: these plants live in areas
where water is always available and as a
result do not require specific adaptations
in order to conserve water.
• The leaves are usually green, broad and
flat.
• Hydrophytes: these plants live areas with still water
that may be up to 2 cm deep.
• They possess broad leaves (with stomata on the
upper surface) that are usually flat, thin and lie on
the water’s surface.
• They usually possess a very thin cuticle or no cuticle
at all.
• Why are these characteristics important for
hydrophytes?