Plant Transport & Nutrition

 Plants acquire nutrients from the air, soil, and water

 They obtain water, minerals, and some oxygen from the soil

Adaptations for acquiring resources

1. Shoots - capture light efficiently

2. Roots - acquire water and minerals

Nutritional Requirements

 Macronutrients ( Large amounts): CHNOPS + K+, Ca2+, Mg2+

 Nitrogen is the most important!

Unusual Nutritional adaptations

 Epiphytes, Parasitic plants, and Carnivorous plants

- Epiphyte is a plant that grows on another plant, usually anchored to branches or trunks of living trees, they
absorb water and minerals from rain.

- Parasitic plants are not photosynthetic, and they absorb sugars and minerals from their living hosts.

- Carnivorous plants are photosynthetic, but can obtain some nitrogen and minerals by consuming insects, some
small animals; found in nitrogen poor soil.

Mutualistic relationships:

1. Rhizobium Bacteria supply nitrogen at roots (fix atmospheric N₂ to make useable N) Plant supplies sugar &
amino acids
2. Mycorrhizae (plant +fungus)

Transport Processes

Xylem

 Nonliving, tubular, elongated cells

 Conducts H2O and minerals up from the root

 Xylem sap: water and minerals

Phloem

 Living cells conduct sugar & organic compounds from leaves to other parts of the plant

 Phloem sap: sucrose, minerals, amino acids hormones

 Sugars transported from source to sink

Transport pathways in plant tissues:

 Apoplast = materials travel between cells

 Symplast = materials cross cell membrane, move through cytosol & plasmadesmata

Transport of Water

Osmosis

 Water Potential: H2O moves from high ψ → low ψ potential, solute conc. & pressure

o Water potential equation: ψ = ψS + ψP

o Solute potential (ψS) – osmotic potential

o Pressure potential (ψP) – physical pressure on solution

o Pure water: ψS = 0 Mpa

o Ψ is always negative!

o Turgor pressure = force on cell wall

o Bulk flow: move H2O in plant from regions of high pressure → low pressure

o Flaccid: limp (wilting)

o Plasmolyze: shrink, pull away from cell wall (kills most plant cells) due to H 2O loss

o Turgid: firm (healthy plant)

Transpiration: loss of H2O via evaporation from leaves into air

1. Root pressure (least important)

- Diffusion into root pushes sap up
2. Cohesion-tension hypothesis
- Transpiration provides pull
- Cohesion of H2O transmits pull from roots  shoots
Sugar Transport

 Translocation: transport of sugars into phloem by pressure flow

 Source → Sink
- Source = produce sugar (leaf photosynthesis)
- Sink = consume/store sugar (fruit, roots)
 Active transport of sucrose from source cells into phloem
 Plasmadesmata allows movement of RNA & proteins between cells
 Phloem can carry rigid long-distance electrical signaling
o Nerve-like function
o Swift communication
o Changes in gene expression, respiration, photosynthesis.