1028062427

ACADEMIC YEAR 2023-24
TERM
NOTES
Vision: Engage. Explore. Exceed.
Mission: Our goal as a school is to equip our students with skills, knowledge, and values to
thrive and take on the world.
Grade: Unit: 8 Date:

Subject: Biology Lesson: Transport in plants
The Xylem & Phloem
• Plants contain two types of transport vessel:

o Xylem vessels – transport water and minerals (pronounced: zi-lem) from the
roots to the stem and leaves
o Phloem vessels – transport food materials (mainly sucrose and amino acids)
made by the plant from photosynthesising leaves to non-photosynthesising
regions in the roots and stem (pronounced: flow-em)
• These vessels are arranged throughout the root, stem and leaves in groups
called vascular bundles
Fig: Vascular tissue in a dicotyledonous plant
Fig: Xylem cells lose their top and bottom walls to form a continuous tube through which water
moves through from the roots to the leaves
• Function: transport tissue for water and dissolved mineral ions

• Adaptations:
o Cells joined end to end with no cross walls to form a long continuous tube
o Cells are essentially dead, without cell contents, to allow free passage of
water
o Outer walls are thickened with a substance called lignin, strengthening the
tubes, which helps support the plant
Root Hair Cells
• Root hairs are single-celled extensions of epidermis cells in the root

• They grow between soil particles and absorb water and minerals from the soil
• Water enters the root hair cells by osmosis
• This happens because soil water has a higher water potential than the
cytoplasm of the root hair cell
Fig: Structure of the root
• The root hair increases the surface area of the cells significantly
• This large surface area is important as it increases the rate of the absorption of
water by osmosis and mineral ions by active transport
Pathway Taken by Water
• Osmosis causes water to pass into the root hair cells, through the root cortex and
into the xylem vessels:
Fig: Pathway of water into and across a root
• Once the water gets into the xylem, it is carried up to the leaves where it
enters mesophyll cells
• So the pathway is:
root hair cell → root cortex cells → xylem → leaf mesophyll cells
Investigating Water Movement in Plants
• The pathway can be investigated by placing a plant (like celery) into a beaker of
water that has had a stain added to it (food colouring will work well)
• After a few hours, you can see the leaves of the celery turning the same colour as
the dyed water, proving that water is being taken up by the celery
• If a cross-section of the celery is cut, only certain areas of the stalk is stained the
colour of the water, showing that the water is being carried in specific vessels
through the stem - these are the xylem vessels
Fig: Investigating water movement in plants using a stain

Transpiration
• Water travels up xylem from the roots into the leaves of the plant to replace the
water that has been lost due to transpiration
• Transpiration is defined as the loss of water vapour from plant leaves by
evaporation of water at the surfaces of the mesophyll cells followed by
diffusion of water vapour through the stomata
• Xylem is adapted in many ways:
o A substance called lignin is deposited in the cell walls which causes the
xylem cells to die
o These cells then become hollow (as they lose all their organelles and
cytoplasm) and join end-to-end to form a continuous tube for water and
mineral ions to travel through from the roots
o Lignin strengthens the plant to help it withstand the pressure of the water
movement
• Movement in xylem only takes place in one direction - from roots to
leaves (unlike phloem where movement takes place in different directions)
Fig: Water uptake, transport and transpiration

Fig: Transpiration in plants
• Transpiration has several functions in plants:

o transporting mineral ions
o providing water to keep cells turgid in order to support the structure of the
plant
o providing water to leaf cells for photosynthesis
o keeping the leaves cool (the conversion of water (liquid) into water vapour
(gas) as it leaves the cells and enters the airspace requires heat energy. The
using up of heat to convert water into water vapour helps to cool the plant
down)
Explaining the Effects of Temperature, Wind Speed & Humidity:
• Wind speed, humidity and temperature all have an effect on the rate at which
transpiration occurs
• The table below explains how these factors affect the rate of transpiration when they
are all high; the opposite effect would be observed if they were low
Transpiration Rate Factors Table
• A potometer can be used to investigate the effect of environmental factors on the

rate of transpiration
Wilting:
• If more water evaporates from the leaves of a plant than is available in the soil to
move into the root by osmosis, then wilting will occur
• This is when all the cells of the plant are not full of water, so the strength of the cell
walls cannot support the plant and it starts to collapse
Fig: A wilted plant cannot support itself and starts to collapse
Translocation
• The soluble products of photosynthesis are sugars (mainly sucrose) and amino
acids
• These are transported around the plant in the phloem tubes which are made of
living cells (as opposed to xylem vessels which are made of dead cells)
• The cells are joined end to end and contain holes in the end cell walls (called sieve
plates) which allow easy flow of substances from one cell to the next
• The transport of sucrose and amino acids in the phloem, from regions of production
to regions of storage or use, is called translocation
• Transport in the phloem goes in many different directions depending on the stage
of development of the plant or the time of year; however dissolved food is always
transported from the source (where it’s made) to sink (where it’s stored or used):
• During winter, when many plants have no leaves, the phloem tubes may transport
dissolved sucrose and amino acids from the storage organs to other parts of the
plant so that respiration can continue
• During a growth period (eg during the spring), the storage organs (eg roots) would
be the source and the many growing areas of the plant would be the sinks
• After the plant has grown (usually during the summer), the leaves are
photosynthesizing and producing large quantities of sugars; so they become the
source and the roots become the sinks – storing sucrose as starch until it is needed
again
Fig: Translocation through the phloem
Comparison between Xylem and Phloem Tissue Table

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ACADEMIC YEAR 2023-24

Vision: Engage. Explore. Exceed.

Grade: Unit: 8 Date:

The Xylem & Phloem

• Plants contain two types of transport vessel:

• Function: transport tissue for water and dissolved mineral ions

• Root hairs are single-celled extensions of epidermis cells in the root

Fig: Structure of the root

Fig: Pathway of water into and across a root

Fig: Investigating water movement in plants using a stain

Fig: Water uptake, transport and transpiration

• Transpiration has several functions in plants:

Transpiration Rate Factors Table

• A potometer can be used to investigate the effect of environmental factors on the

Fig: A wilted plant cannot support itself and starts to collapse

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