KWAME NKRUMAH UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY.

COLLEGE OF SCIENCE.
DEPARTMENT OF THEORETICAL AND APPLIED BIOLOGY.

NAME: QUARM ADRIANA AGYEIBEA

INDEX NUMBER: 6656016
PROGRAMME: BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
COURSE: WHOLE PLANT PHYSIOLOGY
COLOUR CODE AND NUMBER: DEEP YELLOW 32
QUESTIONS
Write short notes on:
a) Factors affecting the rate of transpiration

1) Temperature: Temperature greatly influences the magnitude of the driving force for water

movement out of a plant rather than having a direct effect on stomata. As temperature increases,

the water holding capacity of the air increases sharply. The amount of water does not change,

just the ability of the air to hold water. Because warmer air can hold more water, its relative

humidity is less than the same air sample at a lower temperature, or it is drier air. Because cooler

air holds less water, its relative humidity increases or it is moister air. Therefore, warmer air will

increase the driving force for transpiration and cooler air will decrease the driving force for

transpiration.

2) Relative humidity: relative humidity is the amount of water vapor in the air compared to the

amount of water vapor in that air could hold at a given temperature. A hydrated leaf would have

a RH near 100% just as the atmosphere on a rainy day would have. Any reduction in water in the

atmosphere creates a gradient for water to move from the leaf to the atmosphere. The lower the

RH, the less moist the atmosphere and thus, the greater the driving force for transpiration. When

RH is high, the atmosphere contains more moisture, reducing the driving force for transpiration.

3) Wind: Wind can alter rates of transpiration by removing the boundary layer that still layer of

water vapor hugging the surface of leaves. Wind increases the movement of water from the leaf

surface when it reduces the boundary layer, because the path for water to reach the atmosphere is

shorter.

4) Soil water: The source of water for transpiration out of the plant comes from the soil. Plants

with adequate soil moisture will normally transpire at high rates because the soil provide the
water to move through the plant. Plants cannot continue to transpire without writing if the soil is

very dry because the water in the xylem that moves out through the leaves is not being replaced

by the soil water. This condition causes the leaf to lose turgor or firmness, and the stomata to

close. If this loss of turgor continues throughout the plant, the plant will wilt.

5) Light: Stomata are triggered to open in the light so that carbon dioxide is available for the

light-dependent process of photosynthesis. Stomata are closed in the dark in most plants. Very

low levels of light at dawn can cause stomata to open so they can access carbon dioxide for

photosynthesis as soon as the sun hits their leaves. Stomata are most sensitive to blue light. The

light predominating at sunrise.

6) Stomata: Stomata are pores in the leaf that allow gas exchange where water vapor leaves the

plant and carbon dioxide enters. Special cells called guard cells control each pore’s opening or

closing. When stomata are open, transpiration rates increase; when they are closed, transpiration

rates decrease.

b) Plant adaptations to reduce excessive transpiration

1) Anatomical: There are many modifications to leaves that reduce transpiration, or water loss

through leaves, especially on plants in arid regions. These include waxy surfaces such as on Aloe

or a thick covering of hairs(pubescence) like a fur coat, as on Asclepias (Milkweed) or

Verbasum(Mullein). Another example is found in Ocotilla in the North American Sonoran

Desert, a heavily spined, many tall stemmed shrubs bearing red flowers at the stem tips in the

spring seasons if it rains, at the same time the leaves appear. When the dry season starts the

leaves with their water-losing stomata simply drop-off and photosynthesis is carried on in the

green bark of the stems. Leaves may be small sometimes in rolled. Sometimes, the cuticle is
often above average thickness, as are also the walls of the epidermal cells, especially the outer

periclinal walls. This is well developed in members of the Cactaceae.

2) Morphological: Some plants’ leaf cells, especially the epidermal cells, are often

conspicuously smaller than corresponding cells in mesophtyes and hydrophytes. However, there

are exceptions, such as, for example, the enlarged water-storage cells in the epidermis or

hypodermis of Peperomia incana. Some arid-climate plants are able to conserve water because

of their reduced leaf size. Less leaf surface area results in reduced water loss through the

epidermis. Small leaves have fewer stomata than larger leaves, and that adaptation also reduces

water loss.

c) Transpiration: its importance and necessity.

The process of transpiration is a very important procedure for plants:

1) It creates a negative pressure gradient that helps draw water and minerals up through the plant

from its roots.

2) It helps to keep the plant cool on hot weather- a method of evaporative cooling.

3) It supports photosynthesis and encourages the exchange of gases, helping maintain levels of

CO2 and O2 in the atmosphere.

4) It plays a significant role in the water cycle and releases approximately 10% of water back

into the environment.

5) It creates water vapor that forms into fog and clouds.