Transport in Plants Flashcards
Why do plants need transport systems?
Metabolic demands- Need oxygen and glucose and waste products removed.
Size- Be able to move substances up and down long distances
Small surface area to volume ratio- cannot rely on diffusion alone
What is are dicots?
Dicotyledonous plants
What are cotyledons?
Organs that act as food stores for developing embryo plant and form the first leaves when the seed germinates.
What sort of seeds to dicots make?
Seeds which contain two cotyledons.
What are herbaceous dicots?
Soft tissue
Short life cycle
What are woody/ arborescent dicots?
Hard lignified tissue and a long life cycle.
What is the vascular system?
Series of transport vessels running through the stem, roots and leaves.
What is the vascular system made up of herbaceous dicots?
Xylem
Phloem
How are the transport tissues arranged?
In vascular bundles.
In a stem, …
… the vascular bundles are around the edge to give strength and support (phloem further outside than xylem)
In the roots, …
… vascular bundles are in the middle to help plants withstand tugging strains that result as the stems and leaves are blown in the wind.
In the leaves, …
… the midrib of a dicot leaf is the main vein carrying the vascular tissue through the organ.
What are the functions of the xylem?
Transport water and mineral and support.
What is the direction of flow in the xylem?
From roots to leaves.
What sort of cells make up the xylem?
Dead
What is the structure of the xylem?
Long, hollow structures.
Made by several columns of cells fusing together end to end.
What are the other tissues associated with the xylem in herbaceous dicots?
Parenchyma
Lignin
What is parenchyma?
Thick walled.
Around xylem, stores foods, contains tannins deposits.
What is lignin?
Provide extra mechanical strength. Can be laid down in several ways, it can form rings, spirals or solid tubes with lots of small unlignified areas called border pits.
What happens at border pits?
Water leaves xylem
What is the phloem?
Living tissue that transport food in the form of organic solutes.
What is the direction of flow in the phloem?
Both
What are the main transporting vessels of the phloem?
Sieve tube elements
How is the structures of xylem and phloem different?
Phloem does not have lignin.
How is the structures of xylem and phloem similar?
Made up of many cells joined end to end to form a long, hollow structure.
In the phloem what perforates the walls?
Sieve plates
What don’t mature phloem have?
Nucleus
What is the phloem filled with?
Phloem sap
How are companion cells linked with sieve tube elements?
Plasmodesmata
What are plasmodesmata?
Microscopic channels through the cellulose cells walls linking the cytoplasm to adjacent cells.
What do companion cells maintain?
Nucleus and organelles.
What supporting tissues does the phloem contain?
Fibres
Sclereids (cells with thick walls)
How is water important to the structure of plants?
Turgor pressure, loss of water by evaporation keeps plants cool
How is water important for metabolism in plants?
Raw material for photosynthesis
What is the exchange surface in plants where water is taken into the plant?
Root hair cells
How are root hairs adapted as exchange surfaces?
Large SA:V ratio
Thin surface layer
Microscopic size means they can penetrate between soil particles
Concentration of solutes in the cytoplasm of root hair cells maintains a water potential gradient between the soil water and the cell.
Does soil water have a high or low water potential?
High
Why does soil water have a very high water potential?
Has a low concentration of dissolved minerals.
Is the water potential higher in soil water or root hair cytoplasm?
Soil water so water moves into root hair vacuolar sap and cytoplasm by osmosis.
What are the two pathways in which water can move across the root to the xylem?
Symplast
Apoplast