Download KEY - C3.4 Transport in Plants

Unit C: Biology (Cycling of Matter in Living Systems) – Assignment Answer Key
C3.4 Check and Reflect #1 – 5, 7, 8
1. The properties of adhesion and cohesion aid in water transport in plants.
2. When a plant cell is placed in a solution that is hypertonic to the cell contents, the
vacuole shrinks and the contents of the cell move away from the cell wall as water
moves down the concentration gradient (high to low) and out of the cell. In a hypotonic
solution, the vacuole will increase in size and there will be pressure against the cell wall,
until the cell is turgid, because water moves into the cell from the surrounding solution.
3. Plants that have access to the air use stomata to control the amount of water that is lost.
Stomata close in response to external conditions and water loss is reduced. Stomata
are located mainly on the lower surface of the leaf, away from the direct rays of the sun.
4. The two types of vascular tissue are the xylem and the phloem. The xylem transports
water and minerals from the roots to the leaves. The phloem transports sugars from the
leaves to other parts of the plant.
5. Turgidity keeps the stems straight and the leaves exposed to the maximum amount of
light, which allows photosynthesis to occur.
7. To move water from the roots to the leaves, the root hairs absorb minerals from the soil
by active transport and water enters by osmosis because of the high concentration of
solutes in the roots. This leads to root pressure, which forces water through the cells or
along cell walls into the xylem. Once the water is in the xylem, it moves upward through
the rest of the plant because of transpiration pull. Transpiration pull is caused by each
water molecule’s attraction to the water molecule next to it, so that as water evaporates
through the stomata in the leaves, the water molecules are drawn up the xylem. The
processes occur more rapidly if the temperature is warmer.
8. Sugars from photosynthesis are transported from the leaves to other parts of the plant
through the phloem. At the source (ie. the leaves), companion cells take in sugar
molecules by active transport. Water then moves into the cells by osmosis. The
pressure of the water pushes the water and sugars through the phloem to the other parts
of the plant (roots, fruits, tubers, etc).