Tasheika Richards 6AS

LAB#:7

DATE: January 15, 2020

TITLE:Transport in plants.

AIM:To investigate the influence of various environmental factors on the rate of transpiration.

APPARATUS/MATERIALS:plant, measuring cylinder, oil, cotton, distilled water.

TITLE: DIAGRAM SHOWING THE SET UP OF THE APPARATUS USED IN THE

EXPERIMENT

METHOD:

1. Five 100 ml measuring cylinders were labeled A, B, C, D and E.

2. 90 ml of distilled water was poured into each measuring cylinder.
3. Cuttings of the fresh well watered plants were made. Each cutting the same length, leaf
number and leaf sizes.
4. One plant cutting was placed into each measuring cylinder. The new volume of water in
each measuring cylinder was recorded. This change was due to the displacement by the
plant cutting. This became the initial volume of water for each cylinder.
Tasheika Richards 6AS

5. A dropper was used to add oil to the measuring cylinder. The oil was allowed to settle on
top of the water. This created a waterproof seal to prevent evaporation.
6. Cotton was placed on top of the oil to hold the plant cutting in place.
7. One cylinder was placed in each of the following areas:
a. Directly under a lamp.
b. In a dark cupboard with no light.
c. Directly under a fan on medium to high speed to generate air movement.
d. On top of a table and it was enclosed in a wet, transparent plastic bag to create a
high humidity.
e. On top of a table in moderate light and air movement. This cylinder acted as the
control.

RESULTS:

TITLE:TABLE SHOWING THE VOLUME OF WATER IN cm3 LOST BY TRANSPIRATION UNDER

DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENTAL CONDITIONS

Time/h Dark Light Windy Room Humidity

Temperature
1 90 90 90 90 90

2 89 89 88 90 90

3 88 88 86 90 90

4 87 86 84 90 90

Difference in 2 3 4 0 0
volume of
water/cm3

CALCULATIONS:

volume of water
Rate of transpiration: =
time

πr 2 h
=
t
Tasheika Richards 6AS

Rate of Transpiration for each Environmental Condition:

πr 2 h πr 2 h πr 2 h
Dark = Light = Windy=
t t t

3.14 ×22 ×2 3.14 ×22 ×3

= = =
4 4
2
3.14 ×2 ×4
4

= 6.30 cm3/h = 9.42 cm3/h = 12.50 cm3/h

πr 2 h πr 2 h
Room Temperature = Humid=
t t

3.14 ×22 ×0 3.14 ×22 ×0

= =
4 4

= 0 cm3/h = 0 cm3/h

DISCUSSION:

Transpiration is the evaporation of water from plants. It occurs chiefly at the leaves while
their stomata are open for the passage of CO2 and O2 during photosynthesis the water is then loss
through the pores of the leaves, where the water changes into vapour and is released into the
atmosphere. In other words transpiration is basically the evaporation of water from plants. This
process is very important since it is the "engine" that pulls water up from the roots to
supply photosynthesis (1%-2% of the total),bring minerals from the roots for
biosynthesis within the leaf and to cool the leaf. The transpiration rate of plant can be
affected by many environmental factors such as sunlight intensity and availability, wind,
temperature, humidity and also soil water .There is a direct contact between the air in the leaves
and the air outside the leaf, through the stomata. When there is a water potential gradient
between the air inside the leaf and the air outside the leaf, then water will diffuse out of the leaf
down the gradient in the form of vapour. If the rate of transpiration increases, the rate of
absorption of water by the root increases too. Factors that affect the rate of
transpiration also affect water uptake by the plant. If water is scarce, or the roots are
damaged, a plant may wilt ;the plant will absorb the amount of water it requires from the
Tasheika Richards 6AS

soil, based on the amount of water lost during transpiration This can aid in balancing the
concentration of water inside and outside the plant.

Transpiration include a process called guttation , which is the lost of water in liquid from
uninjured leaf or stem of the plant , primarily through the stomata .
The major path for water movement into plants is from soil to the tip of growing roots. The surface of
the root hairs needs to be in close contact with the soil to access soil water. Water diffuses into the root,
where it can take at least three different pathways to eventually reach the xylem, the conduit located at
the interior of the root that carries the soil water to the leaves .Once water has entered a root hair, it
must move across the cortex and endodermis before it reaches the xylem. Water will take the path of
least resistance through a root to reach the xylem. Water can move across the root via three different
pathways. One path is the apoplastic pathway where the water molecule stays between cells in the cell
wall region, never crossing membranes or entering a cell. The other two routes, called cellular pathways,
require the water molecule to actually move across a membrane. The first cellular pathway is the
transmembrane path where water moves from cell to cell across membranes; it will leave one cell by
traversing its membrane and will re-enter another cell by crossing its membrane. The second cellular
path is the symplastic path which takes the water molecule from cell to cell using the intercellular
connections called the plasmodesmata which are membrane connections between adjacent cells.
Regardless of the pathway, once the water molecule has traversed the cortex, it must now cross the
endodermis. The endodermis is a layer of cells with a waxy inlay or mortar called the Casparian strip that
stops water movement between cells. At this point, water is forced to move through the membranes of
endodermal cells, creating a sieving effect. Once in the endodermal cells, the water freely enters the
xylem cells where it joins the fast moving column of water or transpiration stream, headed to the leaves.

Based on the experiment that was carried out, it was evident that the rate of transpiration
increased moving from dark to light to windy conditions. The plant that was placed in the dark
had a lower rate of transpiration (6.30 cm3/h) compared to the plant that was placed in the light,

which had a higher rate of transpiration (9.42 cm3/h). This occurred because; Plants transpire

more rapidly in the light than in the dark. This is largely because light stimulates the
opening of the stomata. Light also speeds up transpiration by warming the leaf This
is due to the fact that in light, the plant will have a high rate of photosynthesis; hence there is a
high demand for CO2 by the mesophyll cells which stimulates the opening of the stomata. The
Tasheika Richards 6AS

opening of the stomata causes the CO2 to diffuse into the leaf and inevitably causing water
vapour to diffuse out of the leaf. Light can increase the temperature of the leaves, which can also
increase the rate of transpiration. Plants transpire more rapidly at high temperatures, because
water will begin to evaporate from the cell walls of the mesophyll cells and leaves the plant
through the stomata. This is why the light condition had a higher rate of transpiration than the
dark. The plant that was placed in the windy condition depicted the highest rate of transpiration
(12.50 cm3/h). This occurred because;windy conditions caused a continuous removal of water
vapour from the leaves and this caused drier air to surround the leaves, this then increased the
rate of diffusion of the water vapour from cell wall of the mesophyll cells by creating a steeper
gradient between substomatal cavity and the air. This is why the windy conditions had the
highest rate of transpiration. In humid conditions, the transpiration rate of the plant was 0 cm3/h.
Humidity is defined as the amount of moisture present in the air. The transpiration rate was as a
result of high humidity, which means that the air surrounding the plant had a high concentration
of moisture and the air inside the leaves was also saturated with water vapour, thus diffusion of
the water vapour did not occur, hence why transpiration did not occur. At room temperature, the
rate of transpiration of the plant was also0 cm3/h, this is because the factors that can affect the
rate of transpiration such as: wind, moisture, low or high light intensities and high temperatures
were absent, thus there was nothing present to affect the rate of transpiration, hence why
transpiration did not occur.

LIMITATION:

 The impact of overcast skies on the plant placed in the sun.

CONCLUSION:

In conclusion the rate of transpiration was affected by various environmental factors, it was
depicted that the rate of transpiration was the fastest in the windy conditions (12.50 cm3/h) and
was the slowest at room temperature and in humid conditions (0 cm3/h).