PLANT-WATER

RELATIONS
A. Water Relations of Cells
B. Water Relations of the Whole Plant
 A. Water Relations of Cells

Objective: To provide the basis for understanding water

movement within the plant, and between plant and its
environment.

 A review of the unique physical and chemical properties of water

which make it particularly suitable for life;
 Physical processes that underlie water movement in plants,
including diffusion, osmosis, and bulk flow as mechanisms for
water movement; and
 The chemical potential of water and the concept of water
potential.
 B. Water Relations of the Whole Plant

 General Objective:
To examine the phenomena of transpiration and water
movement through plants.

 Specific Objectives/ Topics to be addressed:

1. The process of transpiration and the role of vapor pressure differences
in directing the exchange of water between leaves and the atmosphere.
2. The role of environmental factors, in particular temperature and
humidity, in regulating the rate of transpirational water loss.
3. The anatomy of the water-conducting system in plants and how plants
are able to maintain standing columns of water to the height of the
tallest tress.
4. Water in the soil and how water is taken up by roots to meet the
demands of water loss at the other end.
Frank Salisbury’s and Cleon Ross’s (1992)
statement:

"Plant physiology is ...

the study of water."
I. Water is absolutely essential for all living
organisms

The evidence:

 Water: The Molecule That Supports All of Life

Most organisms are comprised of at least 70% or more water.

Some plants, like a head of lettuce, are made up of nearly 95%
water.

When organisms go dormant, they lose most of their water. For

example, seeds and buds are typically less than 10% water, as are
desiccated rotifers, nematodes and yeast cells.
 Earth is the water planet.
(That's why astronomers get so excited about finding
water in space.)
II. Water is important because it is polar
and readily forms hydrogen bonds

Hydrogen
bonds
 A. Water is Polar
The water molecule has a
positively-charged (H) side and
negatively-charged (O) side.
 the hydrogen atoms are arranged at an
angle of about 105 degrees;
 the molecule is tetrahedral-shaped.

 the covalent bond between O-H is

polarized, due to an unequal sharing of
electrons between these 2 atoms.
--> results in a slight negative charge
on the oxygen atom (electronegative)
and slight positive charge on the
hydrogen;
 oxygen has an unshared pair of
electrons
 B. Hydrogen Bonds

 a positively-charged hydrogen atom is attracted

to a negatively-charged oxygen.
 End result: water readily forms hydrogen
bonds with itself and other polar molecules.
Cohesion – when “likes” attract (i.e., hydrogen
bonds between water molecules).
Adhesion - when “unlikes” attract (i.e., water
and cellulose adhere to one another). Cohesion
and adhesion are responsible for capillary
action, the movement of water up a thin tube.
Cohesion helps the transport of water against gravity in plants.
Adhesion of water to plant cell walls also helps to counter
gravity.
Water-conducting cells

. 100 µm
 III. The Properties of Water
A. Water is liquid at physiological temperatures
(i.e., between 0-1000C).

 Water has a high boiling point and a high melting

point, when compared to other similar-sized molecules
such as ammonia, carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide.
These other molecules are gases at room temperature.
 Significance: If life exists anywhere, we predict that it
occurs between approx. 0 and 1000C.
---below 0 are too cold to permit significant chemistry
for metabolism;
---above 100 tend to disrupt chemical bonds.
B. Water has a high heat of vaporization.

 it takes a lot of energy (ca. 44 kJ mol-1) to

convert water from a liquid to a gas; or stated
another way, water resists evaporation.
 reason people perspire, dog's pant, and leaves
transpire.
 As water evaporates, its remaining surface cools, a
process called evaporative cooling.
 Evaporative cooling of water helps stabilize
temperatures in organisms and bodies of water.
C. Water has a high specific heat (heat capacity).

 It takes a lot of energy to raise the temperature of water

 because it requires a lot of energy to break/make
hydrogen bonds.
 Water is slow to heat up and cool down, or stated another
way, water resists temperature changes. This is why
you can swim reasonably comfortably in the beach during
summer. In contrast, a sidewalk has low specific heat - it
heats up quickly (try walking barefoot on a sidewalk in
summer on a sunny day), but cools down quickly.
 This property is important in water's role as a thermal
buffer. It's not surprising that desert plants are succulent -
to help resist temperature fluctuations.
D. Water has a high heat of fusion.

 It takes a lot of energy to convert water from a liquid to

a solid, or put another way, water resists freezing.

 This property is used by citrus growers - prior to a light

freeze they spray fruit with water; ice forms releasing
the heat of fusion which will help protect the crop from
serious damage.
E. Water has a high surface tension.

 It takes a lot of energy to break through the surface of

water, because water molecules at the surface are
attracted (cohesion) to others within the liquid much
more than they are to air.
 Thus, water acts as though it has a skin.
 This phenomenon is important at air/water interfaces
and explains why:
(1) water rises up a thin tube (capillary action)
(2) raindrops and teardrops are round
(the molecules at the surface attract one another)
(3) water striders, bugs, twigs, fruits can "walk/float on water"
(4) a meniscus forms
 Surface tension is a measure of how hard it is to break
the surface of a liquid.
 Surface tension is related to cohesion.
F. The density of water decreases on crystallization.

 This occurs because when ice forms, each water

molecule is hydrogen bonded to exactly four others.

 At 4oC, water is densest, and each water molecule is

attracted to slightly more than four others. Thus, as
water cools it gets denser and denser, until it reaches
4oC. Then it gets less dense below 4oC. And ice floats.
 Insulation of Bodies of Water
by Floating Ice
 Ice floats in liquid water because hydrogen bonds in ice
are more “ordered,” making ice less dense.
 If ice sank, all bodies of water would eventually freeze
solid, making life impossible on Earth.
G. Water is a universal solvent.

 Water dissolves more different kinds of molecules than

any other solvent. Hydrophilic (water-loving) molecules
dissolve readily in water (likes dissolve likes),
hydrophobic (water-fearing) ones do not.
 However, water can also dissolve compounds made of
non-ionic polar molecules.
 Even large polar molecules, such as proteins can
dissolve in water if they have ionic and polar regions.
 –
Na+
+
+ –
–
+
– –
Na+
–
+ +
Cl– Cl–
+ –
–
+
–
+
–
–

•When an ionic compound is

dissolved in water, each ion is
surrounded by a sphere of water
molecules, a hydration shell.
H. Water has high tensile strength and
incompressibility.

 If water is squeezed it doesn't compress, but it

produces positive pressures (i.e., hydrostatic
pressures).
 This pressure provides the driving force for cell
growth and other plant movements.
 Negative pressures (tensions) can develop in
the water column.
I. Water is transparent to light.

 important because chloroplasts (inside a cell) are

obviously surrounded by water. If water were
opaque, plants couldn't photosynthesize.
 ecological perspective: the penetration of light
in water determines the distribution of aquatic
plants.
J. Water dissociates into protons and
hydroxide ions.

Hydronium Hydroxide
ion (H3O+) ion (OH–)

This serves as the basis for the pH system.

 IV. Functions of Water
 major component of cells

 solvent for the uptake and transport of materials

 good medium for biochemical reactions

 reactant in many biochemical reactions

(i.e., photosynthesis)

 provides structural support via turgor pressure

(i.e., leaves)
 medium for the transfer of plant gametes
(sperms swim to eggs in water, some aquatic plants shed pollen
underwater)

 offspring (propagule) dispersal (e.g., coconut)

 plant movements are the result of water moving into and out of
those parts (i.e., diurnal movements, stomatal opening, flower
opening)

 cell elongation and growth

 thermal buffer
 Evolutionary Perspective

 water has directed the evolution of all

organisms.
morphological features of organisms as a
consequence of water availability.
examples:
- organisms growing in xeric (dry),
- mesic (moderate),
- hydric (aquatic) environments.
 WATER
Tom Robbins, author of Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, has eloquently
stated the importance of water:

"Water - the ace of elements. Water dives from the clouds

without parachute, wings or safety net. Water runs over the steepest
precipice and blinks not a lash. Water is buried and rises again; water
walks on fire and fire gets the blisters. Stylishly composed in
any situation - solid, gas or liquid - speaking in
penetrating dialects understood by all things - animal,
vegetable or mineral - water travels intrepidly through
four dimensions, sustaining, destroying, and creating.
Always in motion, ever-flowing (whether at stream rate or glacier
speed), rhythmic, dynamic, ubiquitous, changing and working its
changes, a mathematics wrong side out, a philosophy in reverse, the
ongoing odyssey of water is virtually irresistible."