Daniel Chen Procedure: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9) Obtain 4 pansies in small plastic containers.

Wrap the containers and the soil so only the pansies leaves and stems are exposed to the air. Label the containers with room, light, dark, wind, and humid. Weigh each container and record their mass in the data table as original mass. Place the room pansy in the room away from the other conditions. Place the light pansy under a lamp. The lamp should be kept on for three days. Place the dark pansy in a cabinet. Place the wind pansy in front of a fan. Leave the fan on for three days. Place the humid pansy in an inverted crate wrapped with a plastic bag. Use a squirt bottle to squirt some water in the crate to simulate a humid environment. 10) After 24 hours, weigh all the pansies and record masses in the data table. 11) Repeat for another two days. Data Table: Loss of Mass Due to Transpiration vs. Time Original Mass (g) Room Light Dark Wind Humid Room Light Dark Wind Humid Room Light Dark Wind Humid 115.4 118.0 113.3 117.2 111.7 115.4 118.0 113.3 117.2 111.7 115.4 118.0 113.3 117.2 111.7 New Mass (g) 102.0 98.0 106.0 106.2 109.0 88.3 76.1 99.2 93.9 106.2 74.2 50.5 91.9 77.3 104.2 Change in Mass (g) 13.4 20.0 7.3 11.0 2.7 27.1 41.9 14.1 23.3 5.5 41.2 67.5 21.4 39.9 7.5 Percent Change in Mass (%) 11.6 16.9 6.4 9.4 2.4 23.5 35.5 12.4 19.7 4.9 35.7 57.2 18.9 34.0 6.7 Class Average Percent Change in Mass (%) 10.9 18.8 8.2 13.2 2.5 22.0 37.9 16.3 24.7 5.0 33.6 55.9 24.7 38.6 6.7

Day 3

Day 2

Day 1

Daniel Chen Graph:

Percent of Mass Lost to Transpiration (%) vs Time (day)

60

50

Percent of Mass lost to Transpiration (%)

40

30

20

10

0 0 1 2 3

Time (day)
Room Light Dark Wind Humid

Questions: 1. Which treatment was control? The room pansy was the control. The room pansy was not exposed to extra light or deprived of light, but rather received light during the day and no light during the night, like a natural plant. The humidity experienced by the room pansy was not manipulated and the room pansy was not exposed to excess wind. Thus, the room pansy served as the control to compare all other treatments to. 2. Compare each treatment to control. Treatment Light: More mass was lost, so there was an increase in transpiration. Because the plant was exposed to extra light, more evaporation occurred. Also, because the light stimulated photosynthesis, the plants stomata were open all three days, causing more water loss due to transpiration.

Daniel Chen Treatment Dark: Less mass was lost, so transpiration decreased. Because the plant was in the dark, no photosynthesis was occurring. Therefore, the plant kept its stomata closed because it did not need any carbon dioxide. Because the stomata were closed, less water escaped through the stomata so transpiration decreased. Treatment Wind: More mass was lost, so transpiration increased. As water evaporated from the plant, it was blown away by the fan. Therefore, the air around the plant never became humid and was always dry. Dry air has a lower water potential, so the windy air pulled more water from the leaves and transpiration increased. Treatment Humid: Less mass was lost, so transpiration decreased. Because the air around the plant was very humid, the water potential of the air was very high. Though the water potential of the air was still lower than that of the plant, because the potentials were so much closer, water was less strongly pulled from the plant into the air so transpiration decreased. 3. How did these conditions affect gradient of water potential from stem to leaf in the test plant? The light and wind treatments caused the water potential at the leaf to be much lower than the potential lower down the stem because there is more transpiration. The dark and humid treatments will have a less dramatic gradient because less transpiration is occurring at the leaves. 4. Temperature 33 degrees C, humidity low, wind 5-10 mph. Stomata open or closed? The stomata are likely closed because the conditions of hot temperature, windy, and dry air all increase the rate of evaporation. Because the plant is losing so much water, the guard cells will be flaccid and close the stomata. Closing the stomata will conserve the plants water. 5. Disadvantages to closing stomata? Closing the stomata means the plant cannot take in CO2 and so must cease photosynthesis. Thus, while the plant is conserving water, it cannot synthesize sugars. 6. How do plants reduce water loss? Plants can reduce water loss with various structural adaptations. Cacti have decreased leaves (spines) to reduce the surface area of transpiration. Other leaves have hairs that capture a film of water around the leaves. Some plants have stomata located in depressions in the leaves to avoid dry wind. Some plants reduce water loss by using CAM. These plants open their stomata at night. Mesophyll cells incorporate CO2 into organic acids. During the hot days, the organic acids break down into CO2 so the plant can carry out photosynthesis while the stomata are closed. By opening stomata only during the cooler nights instead of the hot days, the plants avoid evaporation.