If a plant is dehydrated, is its photosynthesis and transpiration absolutely stopped or just reduced?
Dear student,
When there is not a lot of water in the plant’s soil, the process of photosynthesis will happen a little differently and will result in the build-up of damaging chemicals called free radicals..
During photosynthesis, CO2 must enter the plant through its stomata (the little pores mentioned earlier). But open stomata mean that water will be lost through transpiration! So, the plant is faced with the difficult problem of making sure it has enough water and also enough CO2 for photosynthesis to occur.
When a plant experiences a shortage of water, abscisic acid is rapidly produced and transported to the stomata. In the stomata, ABA controls how the stomata open and close by manipulating something called turgor pressure.The tension exerted on a plant cell wall by the fluids inside the cell. Imagine filling a balloon you’ve placed inside a glass jar. Turgor pressure is the pressure applied on the wall of the plant cell by the fluids inside the cell. The more water is in the cell (the fuller the cell) and the bigger the pressure. Management of turgor pressure provides a balance between CO2 intake and water loss, so that photosynthesis can occur. But, if water remains limited in drought conditions, eventually the plant will be unable to cope with the stress of the drought and the entire photosynthetic process can stop working properly
.Hope this clears your doubt
.Regards
When there is not a lot of water in the plant’s soil, the process of photosynthesis will happen a little differently and will result in the build-up of damaging chemicals called free radicals..
During photosynthesis, CO2 must enter the plant through its stomata (the little pores mentioned earlier). But open stomata mean that water will be lost through transpiration! So, the plant is faced with the difficult problem of making sure it has enough water and also enough CO2 for photosynthesis to occur.
When a plant experiences a shortage of water, abscisic acid is rapidly produced and transported to the stomata. In the stomata, ABA controls how the stomata open and close by manipulating something called turgor pressure.The tension exerted on a plant cell wall by the fluids inside the cell. Imagine filling a balloon you’ve placed inside a glass jar. Turgor pressure is the pressure applied on the wall of the plant cell by the fluids inside the cell. The more water is in the cell (the fuller the cell) and the bigger the pressure. Management of turgor pressure provides a balance between CO2 intake and water loss, so that photosynthesis can occur. But, if water remains limited in drought conditions, eventually the plant will be unable to cope with the stress of the drought and the entire photosynthetic process can stop working properly
.Hope this clears your doubt
.Regards