Biological Transport Systems

This set covers the fundamental concepts of transport systems in animals and plants, focusing on vascular tissues and the factors affecting transpiration.

Transport system

The means by which materials such as nutrients, oxygen, carbon dioxide, hormones, antibodies, urea, and heat are moved throughout an organism.

High surface to volume ratio

The reason why small, one-cell organisms do not require a transport system for materials.

Circulatory system

The specific transportation system for the body where blood serves as the transport vehicle to deliver oxygen and nutrients to cells.

Vascular bundles

A collection of tube-like tissues, specifically xylem and phloem, that flow through plants to transport critical substances.

Xylem

Tissues within vascular bundles responsible for transporting water and mineral salts upward from the roots.

Phloem

Tissues within vascular bundles responsible for transporting manufactured food, like sugars and amino acids, from the leaves to the rest of the plant.

Root hairs

Tiny or fine structures responsible for the absorption of water into the plant.

Transpiration Pull

The suction or the pull that draws water up through the xylem vessel.

Transpiration stream

The upward movement of water through the plant roots.

Capillarity

The movement of water and mineral salts up to the stem.

Root pressure

The process where water is forced from the root to the stem and the xylem vessel.

Transpiration

The process by which plants lose excess water through their leaves.

Stoma (stomata)

Openings where water is released to the atmosphere, which open in response to higher temperatures and sunlight and close in the cold or dark.

Humidity

The amount of water vapour in the air; when it rises, the transpiration rate falls as it is harder for water to evaporate into saturated air.

Surface area of the leaf

The physical area from which water evaporates during the process of transpiration.