TRANSPORT IN PLANTS

Chapter 8

Biology Cambridge IGCSE- Y9

REVISION
WHAT IS PLANT TRANSPORT SYSTEM AND WHY DO THEY NEED IT?
 PLANT TRANSPORT SYSTEM
▪ Plants have transport systems to move food,
water and minerals around.

▪ These systems use continuous tubes called Xylem

and Phloem

▪ Vascular Bundles are essentially ‘bundles’ of

these transport tissues.
 Distribution of Xylem and
Phloem (Vascular Bundles) in
roots, stems and leaves
Distribution and Arrangement of Vascular Bundles:-
❖ Xylem and Phloem tissues are found in groups called as the
Vascular Bundles.

❖ The positioning of these bundles varies in different parts of

Plants.

❖ In the Roots, xylem and phloem are in the Center to withstand

stretching forces.

❖ In the Stems, they are arranged in bundles near the Edge to

resist compression and bending forces.

❖ They are grouped together into Veins and Vascular bundles as

they pass through Leaves.
ARRANGMENT IN ROOTS:

Xylem Vessels are tough and

strong, so the vascular
bundles are in the center of
the root to resist forces that
could pull the plant out of the
ground
ARRANGEMENT IN STEMS:

The Stem has to resist

compression and bending
forces caused by the plant’s
weight and wind. The vascular
bundles are arranged near the
Edge of the stem, with the
phloem on the outside and
the xylem on the inside.
ARRANGEMENT IN LEAVES:

They are grouped together as

Veins and Vascular Bundles
as they pass through the
leaves
The Positions of xylem and phloem tissues as seen in transverse
sections of unthicken, herbaceous, dicotyledonous roots, stems
and leaves:
XYLEM AND PHLOEM
 XYLEM
• Transports Water and minerals in One direction.

• It is made up of hollow, dead cells, joined end to end (cell wall disappears)
forming elongated tubes called Vessels.

• Xylem Vessels contain No Cytoplasm or Nuclei.

• Their walls are made of Cellulose and Lignin. Lignin is very strong, so xylem
vessels helps to keep plant upright also.

• Xylem Vessels run from the roots of the plant, right up through the steam and
they branch out into every leaf.
 PHLOEM
• The function of the phloem tissue is to transport food nutrients such
as sucrose and amino acids from the leaves and to all other cells of
the plant, this is called Translocation.

• They are Bi directional.

• They are made of long narrow tubes with perforated sieve

plates along the thin length.

• Unlike the xylem, the phloem tissue is made of columns of living

cells, which contains a cytoplasm but no nucleus, and its activities are
controlled by a companion cell next to it which has a nucleus, but
companion cells have no function in translocation
IDENTIFY THE SCANNING ELECTROMICROGRAPH PICTURE?
STREAM OF FLOW
OF WATER AND
NUTRIENTS
THROUGH THE
PLANT
ROOT HAIRS , WATER AND SALT
UPTAKE UP TAKE BY PLANT
ROOT
 Root Hairs and Root Cap:-
• Plants take in water from the soil, through their Root hairs:
•

At the very tip is a Root Cap. This is a layer of cells which

protects the root as it grows through the soil.

• The rest of the root is covered by a layer of cells called

the Epidermis.

• The Root hairs are a little way up from the root tip. Each root
hair is a long epidermal cell. Root hairs do not live for very
long. As the root grows, they are replaced by new ones.
Functions of Root Hair cells:

• Increase the external surface area of the root

for absorption of water and mineral ions (the hair
increases the surface area of the cell to make it more
efficient in absorbing materials).

• Provide anchorage for the plant.

PASSAGE OF WATER THROUGH
ROOT, STEM AND LEAF
Passage of water through root, stem and leaf

1. Water enters root hair cells by osmosis. This happens

when the water potential in the soil surrounding the root is
higher than in the cell à water diffuses from the soil into the
root hair, down its concentration gradient.

2. As the water enters the cell, its water potential becomes

higher than in the cell next to it, e.g., in the cortex. So
water moves, by osmosis, into the next cell. Some of
water may also just seep through the spaces between the
cells, or through the cell walls, never actually entering a
cell.
 Passage of water through root, stem and leaf

• Water vapour evaporating from a leaf crates a kind of suction, its

pressure at the top of the vessels is lower than that at the
bottom à water move up the stem in the xylem, more water is
drawn into the leaf from the xylem. This creates a Transpiration
stream, pulling water up from the root. Mature xylems cells have
no cell contents, so they act like open-ended tubes allowing free
movement of water through them.

• Water moves from xylem to

enter leaf tissues down water potential gradient. In the leaves,
water passes out of the xylem vessels into the surrounding cells.
Common misconceptions

Water does not travel through xylem vessels

by osmosis. Osmosis involves the movement of
water across cell membranes – xylem cells do
not have living contents when mature, so there
will be no membranes.
 Query: How is the pressure at the
top of the Xylem Vessels reduced? It
happens through the process of
………
Transpiration in plants
and
factors affecting
Transpiration rate
1. In the leaves, water molecules leave the xylem
vessels and move from cell to cell. They move through
the spongy mesophyll layer by osmosis along a
concentration gradient. Water
then evaporates into spaces behind the stomata and
diffuses through the stomata into the surrounding air.
 TRANSPIRATION
Transpiration is the evaporation of water at the surfaces of
the mesophyll cells, followed by loss of water vapor from plant leaves,
through the stomata.

Water in the leaf cells forms a thin layer on their surface. The water
evaporates into the air spaces in the spongy mesophyll. This creates
a high concentration of water molecules. They diffuse out of the leaf into
the surrounding air, through the stomata, by diffusion.
Mechanism of water movement through a plant

Water molecules are attracted to each other

(cohesion) à water vapor evaporating from a leaf crEates a
kind of suction, pressure of water at the top of the vessels is
lower than that of the bottom à water move up the stem in the
xylem, more water is drawn into the leaf from the xylem. This
creates a Transpiration stream, pulling water up from the
root.
 Transpiration
pull

Transpiration pull is strong enough

to draw up water 50 meters or
more in trees
 How is the Transpiration Stream Created?

• Water molecules are attracted to each other by cohesion – creating a

continuous column of water up the plant.
• Water moves through the xylem vessels in a continuous transpiration
stream from roots to leaves via the stem.
• Transpiration produces a tension or ‘pull’ on the water in the xylem vessels by
the leaves.
• As water molecules are held together by cohesive forces (each individual
molecule ‘pulls’ on the one below it), so water is pulled up through the plant.
• If the rate of transpiration from the leaves increases, water molecules are
pulled up the xylem vessels quicker.
Summary
of water
uptake
 Photosynthesis: provides the water
needed for food manufactured by
photosynthesis in the leaves

Cooling: causes the plant cells to cool down

and prevents direct sunlight from damaging
the delicate cells.
Importance of
Support: causes turgidity of cells which
Transpiration gives support to plant

Movement of Minerals: water transported

upwards from the roots to the leaves also
contains dissolved mineral salts.
The rate of transpiration can be affected by several factors:
The opening and closing of the Stomata is controlled by the Guard cells.

• In light, guard cells take up water by osmosis and become turgid.

Because their inner walls are rigid, they are pulled apart, opening the
pore.

• In darkness water is lost and the inner walls move together closing the
pore.

• Because of this, the transpiration rate is increased by an increase in

light intensity.

* Most of the factors that result in a change in transpiration rate are

linked to diffusion. When writing explanation, try to include references
to the concentration gradient caused by a change in the factor.
 How wilting occurs?
1. Young plant stems and leaves rely on their cells
being turgid to keep them rigid. If the amount of water
lost from the leaves of a plant is > than the
amount taken into the roots à the plant will have
a water shortage à cells become flaccid (soft) and will no
longer press against each other à Stems and leaves lose
their rigidity, and wilt.

2.
Well Adapted Plant Structure for Efficient Water
Uptake and Transport
Root hair → provides a huge surface area through which water can be
absorbed. This increases the quantity of water that can move into the plant at
any one moment.

Xylem Vessels→ The hollow, narrow xylem vessels provided an easy pathway
for water to flow all the way up from the roots to the very top of the plant.

Air spaces inside leaf → The many air spaces inside the leaf mean that there
is a large surface area of wet cells from which water can evaporate into the
air.

Stomata →when open, allow water vapor to diffuse easily out of the leaf which
reduces the water potential inside the leaf, which in turn encourages more
water to evaporate from the surfaces of the mesophyll cells.