Transpiration,

Wilting, Guttation
Transpiration
• Water is absorbed by the roots and
transported to the leaves where it is used to
manufacture food during photosynthesis.
• When the stomata open to allow gas
exchange, most of the water escapes in the
form of water vapour.
• This process is called TRANSPIRATION.
Transpiration Advantages
• It creates transpiration pull which draws
water and mineral salts to the leaves for
photosynthesis.
• The loss of water vapour through
transpiration cools the plant.
Video
Relationship between water loss and
the leaf structure. Pg. 150
• How does the … affect transpiration:
• general shape and size of the leaf
• arrangements of leaves in relation to each other
• absence or presence of hairs on leaf surfaces
• thickness of the cuticle
• the number and position
The effect of Environmental factors
on Transpiration rate – NB!!
• The rate of transpiration is also affected by
external or environmental factors, such as
wind, temperature, humidity and light
intensity.
• Divide a page into four sections.
• Read the sections on page 152 and write the
explanations of each in a block.
 Create a summary on the effect of
environmental factors on Transpiration rate
Wind Temperature

Humidity Light intensity

 Wilting
• Sometimes the environmental factors favour a high rate
of transpiration.
• The roots of the plant therefore needs to absorb water
from the soil at a rapid rate to replace the water lost
by transpiration.
• If there is poor water supply or the surface area of the
roots is not large enough to absorb water quickly
enough, then the xylem vessels draw water from the
surrounding cells such as the parenchyma.
Wilting
• The vacuoles of these cells shrink in size and
the volume of their cytoplasm may also
decrease because of the loss of water.
• The cells therefore have lost their turgor or
turgidity.
• Wilting is therefore when a plant loses more
water through transpiration than it is able to
absorb through the roots.
Guttation
• When the air is very humid, transpiration is
slow or stopped altogether, since there is more
water vapour in the air than in the sub-
stomatal chamber.
• Therefore the concentration gradient is
reversed.
• Under these conditions, if there is plenty of
water in the soil, the plant absorbs more water
than it needs.
Guttaion
• The plant wants to get rid of the excess
water and does this by releasing water drops
in liquid form from tiny pores called
hydathodes found in the margins of the leaf.
• This process is known as guttation
Transport of
Water in a plant
 Absorption and transport of water
and mineral salts by plants.
• Water enters the root hairs of the epidermis of the
roots through osmosis.
• Osmosis?
• NOTE the following with regard to absorption:
• The soil is the dilute solution
• The high concentration of salts in the cell sap make
it a concentrated solution.
• The cell membrane and the tonoplast act as
differentially permeable membranes.
Absorption and transport of water
and mineral salts by plants.
• Mineral salts are dissolved in water, but do
not simply flow into the root with the water.
• Mineral salts can not enter by diffusion
either, because diffusion takes place from a
higher concentration to a lower
concentration and there is a higher
concentration of salts in the vacuole than in
the soil water.
Absorption and transport of water
and mineral salts by plants.
• Mineral salts are therefore absorbed against
the concentration gradient.
• They therefore need to move from a lower
concentration to a higher concentration.
• For this process energy is required and the
process is known as active transport.
Lateral Transport of Water and
Mineral salts to the stele of the Root
• The water in the epidermis of the root has to
move across the root tissues until it reaches
the xylem tissue in the stele of the root.
Upward movement of water and
mineral salts through the stem
from the roots to the leaves
• ROOT PRESSURE is an upward force caused
by the continual entry of water into the
roots.
• It can only force water for short distances up
the xylem.
• It is an active process and therefore energy is
required.
 Upward movement of water and
mineral salts through the stem
from the roots to the leaves
• CAPILLARITY is the natural tendency of liquids to
move up tubes with very tiny openings, on their own.
• Water moves up the xylem vessels and tracheids by
capillarity since vessels and tracheids are long tubes
with tiny openings.
• Like root pressure, capillarity can only cause water to
move up the xylem for a few centimeters.
VIDEO
Transpiration Pull
• The main force responsible for the upward
movement of water.
• It occurs as follows:
• Water vapour evaporates from the air
space in the sub-stomatal chamber.
• Dry air absorbs water from the mesophyll
cells around it and mesophyll cells in turn
draw water from the xylem of the leaf.
Transpiration Pull
• The xylem of the leafs continues with that of
the stem and root.
• Because of the strong cohesive forces that
exist between the water molecules, the
tension is transmitted to the xylem of the
stem and roots.
Video
 Translocation of Manufactured foods
from leaves to other parts of the plant
• The way in which glucose is manufactured by
photosynthesis and then transported is not clearly
understood by scientists, although they have put
forward many possible theories to explain the process.
• They Definitely know that:
• The food is transported through the sieve tubes of phloem
tissue.
• The food is transported in the form of cytoplasmic strands.
• These cytoplasmic strands pass through from one sieve tube
to the next across cross walls called sieve plates.