How Materials �are Transported �in Vascular Plants

California Science Standards Covered (in Life Science):

2a. Students know many multi-cellular organisms have specialized structures to support the transport of materials.

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2e. Students know how sugar, water, and minerals are transported in a vascular plant.

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2f. Students know plants use carbon dioxide (CO₂) and energy from sunlight to build molecules of sugar and release oxygen.

Classification of Plants

• The first division of plants into smaller categories has do to with whether they have tubes or not. Based on this characteristic, all plants are divided into two categories: Vascular & Non-Vascular

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• Vascular plants have a system of tubes to help move materials throughout the plant

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• Non-Vascular do not have tubes…

All About Nonvascular Plants…

So how does a nonvascular plants move materials throughout it?

• Nonvascular plants are small by nature because they lack an effective way to deliver water to faraway parts. Because water moves slowly from cell to cell in non-vascular plants (through diffusion), these must remain rather small in size. Therefore, their cells must be close to a source of water, such as the ground, the side of tree or near rivers where there’s very moist air.

Examples of Nonvascular Plants

• Mosses, liverworts, hornworts

More examples of nonvascular plants

And more examples of nonvascular plants

More About Nonvascular Plants

• Unlike vascular plants, mosses can grow well without much light. Many are found on the floor of a wet, dark forest (sometimes covering the forest floor like a carpet).

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• Nonvascular plants serve a needed role: ¹⁾ they help hold the soil in place and from drying out, ²⁾ they slowly break down rocks that they grow on, and ³⁾ they provide food and habitat for insects and other small animals.

All About Vascular Plants…

Vascular Parts

• There are half a million types of vascular plants on Earth.

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• There are six different plant parts found in vascular plants.

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• Not all vascular plants have all six parts.

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• The three most common parts of in vascular plants are: roots, stems, and leaves.

The 6 Vascular Plant Parts

Vascular

Plant

Roots

Stem

Leaves

Flowers

Fruits

Seeds

Different Types of Roots

Tap Roots

Some plants have tap roots, single, thick roots that grow straight down.

Fibrious Roots

Many plants have fibrious roots which help prevent soil erosion caused by wind and water.

Prop Roots

Roots that begin above the ground, help keep trees that grow in loose and/or wet soil from being blown over by the wind.

Roots

anchor a plant and take in minerals and water from the soil

Examples of Prop Roots

Examples of Prop Roots (cont.)

Examples of Prop Roots (cont.)

Example

Of Fibrous

Roots

Example of Fibrous Roots (cont.)

Example of Fibrous Roots (cont.)

Examples of Taproots

Example of Taproots (cont.)

Examples of Taproot (cont.)

Woody Stem Plants

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● Xylem and phloem are arranged in rings (trees).

● Some woody plants, such as the redwoods of California, may live for hundreds or even thousands of years.

● Hard, woody and covered by bark

Flexible Stem Plants

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● The xylem and phloem are in bundles scattered all through the stem.

● These are found in small plants (daisies and dandelions).

● Usually soft and green,

most soft-stemmed plants grow for just one season.

● Softer and flexible

Stem

Supports a plant and moves materials between the plant’s parts

Example of Stems

Examples of Stems (cont.)

Examples of Stems (cont.)

Leaves

• The food-making process in leaves, called “photosynthesis,” takes place inside the cell organelle “chloroplast”.

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• In almost all plants, leaves hold most of the plant’s chloroplasts. You can think of leaves as the food factory for a plant.

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• Chlorophyll is a green pigment inside chloroplasts that helps plants use energy from the sun to produce food (sugar). It also give leaves their green color.
• Plants use 3 types of materials from the environment to make food: ¹⁾ carbon dioxide from the air, ²⁾ water from the soil (and nutrients), and ³⁾ energy from the sun

Examples �of Leaves…

A System of Tubes in Vascular Plants

• In vascular plants, two sets of tubes help move all material around the plant.

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• the tubes that transport water and mineral are called xylem. They move water and minerals upwards from the roots to the leaves.

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• The tubes that carry food are called phloem. They move the food made in the leaves up & down to all parts of a plant (they all need to get food energy to be able to do their job).

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• Both xylem & phloem are a type of vascular tissue.

Xylem & Phloem

Cut out of a stem…�Xylem is closer to the center, phloem is closer to the outside

When plants make food…

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• Plant set out to create “glucose”, a type of sugar that is food to the plant.

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• In the process of making food, two by-products are created: Water & Oxygen. These are released into the environment from the leaves.

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• The releasing of water into the air helps pull up more water upward to take its place.

Stomata

• “Stoma” is singular and “stomata” is plural. Stoma is a Greek word than means mouth.

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• Remember that a plant needs to exchange gases with its environment. Small openings called stomata, in the outer layer of the leaf (and specifically the underside of the leaf), allow carbon dioxide to enter the leaf. They also allow water and oxygen to exit.

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• Stomata often open during daylight when photosynthesis occurs. At night, stomata usually close to keep water in. During dry spells or very hot days, a plant’s stomata might stay close to conserve water.

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Images of stomata

Vascular Plants & the Storing of Food

• Vascular plants make food to help the plant grow, maintain itself (provide the energy for each cell to do its job) and reproduce (create new plants). They also store some of the food to help them survive brief changes in their environment.
• Plants store extra food and water as a survival measure because most plants cannot make food in the winter, and because in dry periods they may not be able to get all the water they need from the soil.
• Therefore vascular plants make more food than they need during good weather, where there's plenty of sunlight and water. This allows them to survive during harsher weather, such as drought or cloudy days.
• Vascular plants store extra energy in any of the 6 plant parts, depending on the plant. Usually plants store it in only one part but which part it is varies per plant.

Edible Plant Parts in Different Vascular Plants

Vascular

Plant

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ROOTS

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STEM

LEAVES

FLOWERS

FRUITS

SEEDS

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Carrots

Potato

Sugar Beets

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Celery

Sugar Cane

Spinach

Iceberg

Cauliflower

Apple

Tomato

Sunflower

Seeds

Practice what you just learned, in this online quiz: www.quia.com/quiz/1229234.html