v]Introduction Transpiration is an essential process for terrestrial plants. This process is spurred by a low pressure gradient where water travels from high water potential inside the plant to low water potential outside of the plant and into the atmosphere. Water enters from the bottom via root hair cells and then travels up the stem of the plant from cell to cell using both osmosis and diffusion. The water is then released to the atmosphere via the leaves’ stomata where it is able to be evaporated. Transpiration provides various beneficial functions for the plant such as facilitating in gas exchange of CO2 and O2 and keeping the plant cool through evaporative cooling. Furthermore, it forms water vapor for clouds and contributes 10% of water
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Since plant A lost the most surface area, there was less stomata for water to be released through which increased the need for the plant to get rid of internal water. Graph 1, graph 2, and table 2 all have a trend that shows plant A as experiencing the most overall change in size and weight and plant D as having the smallest change amongst all the plants in size and weight. Since plant A also had the most water loss, one conclusion that could be drawn is that the remaining stomata opened up more to allow the release of more water from the plant, therefore compensating for the loss of surface area and stomata as a result of cutting the leaves . Since plant D did not lose any surface area, and therefore did not lose any stomata, the transpiration rate did not increase as much as it did for plant A because the plant did not have to compensate for the loss of stomata. Therefore, the stomata more than likely remained the same size (a smaller size than the rest of the plants) which led to a slower release of water than the other plants. It is more effective to open up the stomata more because it is quicker and requires less energy, as opposed to trying to grow another leaf that contains …show more content…
Cacti instead have little spines that scientists believe are to be adaptations of leaves. These spines have less surface area, thus decreasing the amount of evaporation that is common in the hot and dry climates that they live in where water is scarce. Scientist who have conducted transpiration experiments on cacti have observed that they transpire more at night than during the day, which is the opposite of traditional vegetation that have traditional leaves. If I were to conduct a similar experiment, I would use four cacti (all of the same species) and cut off some of the needles closest to the stem of the cacti where the water is stored. My team would run two experiments using both light and no light to observe stomatal opening in simulated daytime and nighttime conditions. Two of the cacti would be in constant light, with one having trimmed needles and the other being the control with no trimmed spiness. The other two would be in constant darkness and would have a control and experimental plant as well. Both experimental plants (in the light and the dark) would have an equal number of trimmed spines and all four plants would be of relatively equal size and have relatively the same number of spines. The data collected from this lab could be used to determine the impact of surface area and light/darkness on
Since plant A lost the most surface area, there was less stomata for water to be released through which increased the need for the plant to get rid of internal water. Graph 1, graph 2, and table 2 all have a trend that shows plant A as experiencing the most overall change in size and weight and plant D as having the smallest change amongst all the plants in size and weight. Since plant A also had the most water loss, one conclusion that could be drawn is that the remaining stomata opened up more to allow the release of more water from the plant, therefore compensating for the loss of surface area and stomata as a result of cutting the leaves . Since plant D did not lose any surface area, and therefore did not lose any stomata, the transpiration rate did not increase as much as it did for plant A because the plant did not have to compensate for the loss of stomata. Therefore, the stomata more than likely remained the same size (a smaller size than the rest of the plants) which led to a slower release of water than the other plants. It is more effective to open up the stomata more because it is quicker and requires less energy, as opposed to trying to grow another leaf that contains …show more content…
Cacti instead have little spines that scientists believe are to be adaptations of leaves. These spines have less surface area, thus decreasing the amount of evaporation that is common in the hot and dry climates that they live in where water is scarce. Scientist who have conducted transpiration experiments on cacti have observed that they transpire more at night than during the day, which is the opposite of traditional vegetation that have traditional leaves. If I were to conduct a similar experiment, I would use four cacti (all of the same species) and cut off some of the needles closest to the stem of the cacti where the water is stored. My team would run two experiments using both light and no light to observe stomatal opening in simulated daytime and nighttime conditions. Two of the cacti would be in constant light, with one having trimmed needles and the other being the control with no trimmed spiness. The other two would be in constant darkness and would have a control and experimental plant as well. Both experimental plants (in the light and the dark) would have an equal number of trimmed spines and all four plants would be of relatively equal size and have relatively the same number of spines. The data collected from this lab could be used to determine the impact of surface area and light/darkness on