Water Uptake in Plants

A resource aimed at advanced biology students, this worksheet provides diagrams and questions that relate to how water is absorbed into roots, transported via xylem vessels to leaves and ultimately lost to the atmosphere through transpiration. The first page of the worksheet deals with the different pathways through which water is absorbed into a root while the second page focuses on mechanisms of water transport through the xylem (including root pressure, capilliarity and cohesion-tension theory). This is a useful resource to revise this topic and neatly summarises the main points in one worksheet.

Key words: osmosis, water potential, apoplast, symplast, cell wall, casparian strip, active transport, minerals, epidermis, endodermis, root hair cells, cortex, xylem, transpiration, cohesion-tension, root pressure, capilliarity