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Camila Vela
3 Period
AP Biology
April 30, 2014

Measuring the effects of environmental factors on the rate of transpiration

1. Objective:
Understand which environmental factor will cause the highest amount of transpiration.

2. Research
Transpiration is the evaporation of water from the roots of the plant to its leaves. It is
the process in which moisture is carried through plants beginning at the roots and ending on
the end of the stomata outside of the leaves. In here something that plays a very important
role is the water potential (tendency of water to move across a membrane from one area to
another) because water molecules move from a higher water potential to lower water
potential (Pearson, 2013). In this process water is transformed into vapor and is released into
the atmosphere. Transpiration also includes a process called guttation which is the loss of
water in liquid form from the uninjured leaf or stem of the plant principally through water
stomata (Perlman, 2014). Being that said, the stomata are tiny pores that are controlled by
guard cells is the main exit for transpiration in plants. When the stomata are open the rate of
transpiration increases, whereas when they are closed the rate of transpiration decreases.
The guard cells control what comes in and out of the stomata, therefore it restricts the pores
opening. A guard cell can be turgid when there is large amount of water, which allows the
stomata to have a wider opening (Pearson, 2013).
Transpiration when exposed into different environmental factors such as: Humidity,
mist, and temperature the process have different reactions. When we talk about light
(temperature), we see that the effect it has on the process is the increment of the rate of
transpiration, because plants transpire more in light than in darker places. At the same time
this occurs because light stimulates the stomata to open, allowing water to come out. In that
way, one of the roles light has is that it warms the leaf, making water come out faster (NA,
2011). All this is possible because the opening of the stomata allows more carbon dioxide into
the plant (for photosynthesis) that generates the increase in transpiration (BBC, 2014).
Another environmental factor is humidity. Research demonstrates that a plant when
exposed to humidity decreases the rate of transpiration because the diffusion of water vapor
is delayed if the leaf is surrounded by moist air. That is why transpiration is more effective in
dryer air than a thick air because it is more condensed with water molecules. This also means
that the difference between the water potential in the plant and on the environment is less,
therefore there are less molecules being transpired (Burba, 2013).
Finally, wind is another environmental factor regarding the transpiration process. As
previously stated when a plant is exposed into a moist environment the rate of transpiration
decreases, in contrast when it is exposed for example to wind the rate of transpiration

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increases. It increases because wind removes the extra water molecules that are located in the
environment, this speed up the diffusion of water vapor coming out of the leaf. Never the less,
plants like the jade, orchid, or cactus that grow in very dry environments; have developed
another method for transpiration without the loss of water. This method is known as CAM
(Crassulacean Acid Metabolism). These plants utilize a specific carbon fixation pathway in
where the stomata only open at night and closes during daylight to avoid any water loss
because the environment is too hot.

3. Hypothesis:
Null: Environmental factors will have no effects on the rate of transpiration of Impatiens plant

Alternative: Environmental factors like temperature will have effect on impatiens

Experimental: If Impatiens is exposed to environmental factors such as an increase in
temperature, then it will have a higher rate of transpiration, because the temperature source
also emits light this will cause the plant to open its stomata so more carbon dioxide comes
into the plant for the process of photosynthesis.

4. Experimental Design:

Manipulated
Variable
Responding
Variable
Constants Control
1. Environmental
Factors:
1. Rate of
Transpiration
(measured in
ml/m
2
/min )
1. Type of plant
(Impatiens)
1. Potometer without
environmental
factors
Humidity( Mist) 2. Surface area of the
leaf (m
2)


Wind (Fan) 3. Room Temperature
(22C)

Temperature (Light
bulb)
4. Amount of water in
tubing (ml)

5. Temperature of
water (22C)

6. Distance between
environmental factor
and potometer (30
cm)


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Manipulated
Variable
Responding
Variable
Constants Control
7. Time intervals
(every half hour)

8. Pressure in the
environment (PA)

9. Exposure to the
room light
(sunlight/lamplight)

10. Same diagonal cut
on the plant (45)


# Of Trials: 1

5. Materials:

1. Plant (Impatiens)
2. Plastic tray (one)
3. Plastic tube (one)
4. Ring stand
5. Knife (one)
6. Test tube clamps
7. 2 pipettes (1 milliliter)
8. Ruler 30 cm (one)
9. Marker (one)
10. Syringes 3 ml (one)
11. Transparent Tape (one)
12. Stopwatch (one)
13. Petroleum Jelly
14. Fan (one)
15. Light bulb (one)
16. Plastic bag (for mist)
17. Water (enough as needed)
18. Lab coat
19. Stop watch
20. Hose (check for leaks)

Procedures:
1. Using the potometer along with the millimeter construct the pipette and the plastic
tubing.
a) Attach the millimeter pipette to one end of the plastic tubing.

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b) Fill the construction with water by using the plastic syringe (Make sure there a


) re no air bubbles present inside the tubing)Fix the construction on the ring
stand (do not allow any water spill).
2. With the scalpel cut a small section of the plant.
3. Place the cut plant on the tip of photometers tubing.
4. Seal the opening between the plant and the tubing with petroleum jelly (place the
jelly around the plant and the tube)
5. Let the experiment rest for ten minutes.
6. Record the water level on the millimeter pipette section of the potometer at time
zero. (This means after the 10 minutes have passed).

a) Record the water level at a three minute interval for thirty minutes.

7. After thirty minutes have passed, remove the plant from the potometer and cut all
of the plants leaves.
8. Calculate the leaves surface area with the paper your teacher gives you.

6. Results

Table 1: Measurements of the water decrease (in ml) in the potometer
time in minutes
Treatment 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30
control
0,00
0 0,002 0,003 0,003 0,004 0,004 0,004 0,005 0,005 0,005 0,006
light
0,00
0 0,004 0,006 0,009 0,014 0,017 0,024 0,033 0,037 0,046 0,055
light
(w/obs)
0,00
0 0,005 0,006 0,007 0,008 0,009 0,011 0,012 0,015 0,019 0,021
fan
0,00
0 0,003 0,010 0,015 0,021 0,029 0,034 0,040 0,048 0,052 0,059
mist
0,00
0 0,008 0,008 0,009 0,009 0,009 0,010 0,010 0,010 0,011 0,011


Table 2: Calculated surface area of the plant used:
treatment surface area m2
control 0,003500

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light no obs 0,009500
light 0,004600
fan 0,007500
mist 0,007100


Table 3: Calculated rate of transpiration (ml/m
2
)
ml/m2
time in minutes
Treatment 0 3 6 9 12 15 18 21 24 27 30
control
0,0
0 0,57 0,71 0,86 1,14 1,14 1,14 1,43 1,43 1,43 1,71
light
0,0
0 0,42 0,63 0,95 1,47 1,79 2,53 3,47 3,89 4,84 5,79
Light
(w/obs)
0,0
0 1,09 1,30 1,52 1,74 1,96 2,39 2,61 3,26 4,13 4,57
fan
0,0
0 0,40 1,33 2,00 2,80 3,87 4,53 5,33 6,40 6,93 7,87
mist
0,0
0 1,13 1,13 1,27 1,27 1,27 1,41 1,41 1,41 1,55 1,55











Analysis

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Looking at the table and the graph we can see that there is an obvious effect by the different
environmental factors being used during the experiment. As we can see the environmental
factor with the higher rate of transpiration was wind, starting at 0.4 ml/m
2
in minute 3 and
then at minute 15 3.8 ml/m
2
, finally at minute 30 7.8 ml/m
2
. This demonstrates that wind
created the highest amount of transpiration during the 30 minutes. Followed by the
environmental factor of light without an obstacle which in minute 3 obtained 0.4 ml/m
2
, in
minute 15 1.7 ml/m
2
, and in minute 30 5.7ml/m
2
. The control group along with the mist
group had similar results (as the table demonstrates). Finally, the mist group was the one to
have the lower results for transpiration. Being that at minute 3 it obtained 1.1 ml/m
2,
minute
15 1.2 ml/m
2,
and minute 30 1.5 ml/m
2.
As we can see the results had no greater increase than
1.5, meaning that it remain (in a way) constant during the whole experiment. Another thing
that we should take into account is that the control group and mist group had very similar
results starting around minute 12 all the way to minute 30. Giving us the idea that not having
an environmental factor at all or having mist will result in a lower rate of transpiration.


7. Conclusions:


The purpose of our experiment was to find out the effect different environmental
factors like wind (fan), temperature (light), and humidity (mist) have on the rate of
transpiration. At the same time we had to find out which environmental factor had the
greatest increase of transpiration for the plant impatiens.
The major findings we gathered surprised me a little bit. Given for the fact that I
thought at first that increasing the temperature would diminish the rate of transpiration
because the stomata of the plant would close, inhibiting the loss of water. In reality when you
increase temperature as the research demonstrates, it stimulates the stomata to open
0.00
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
5.00
6.00
7.00
8.00
0 8 15 23 30 38
W
a
t
e
r

l
e
v
e
l

(
m
l
)

Time (minutes)
Rate of transpiration in ml/m2/min
Control
Light
Light (with obstacle)
Fan
Mist

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allowing the water to come out. This means that the guard cells are constantly open for water
to get out. At the same time this allows diffusion of Carbon dioxide in, which is needed for the
process of photosynthesis. Wind (fan) was the group that generated the highest rates of
transpiration. Wind removes the extra water molecules that are located in the environment,
speeding up the diffusion of water vapor coming out of the leaf. Furthermore, before we
started the experiment our teacher Jen told us that if we did not have a control group we
could use the light with obstacle as the control group. Never the less, as the graph and table
demonstrates that mist was the most similar (in results) to our control group. This was due
to the fact that a plant when exposed to humidity decreases the rate of transpiration because
the diffusion of water vapor is decreased if the leaf is surrounded by moist air. That is why
transpiration is more effective in dryer air than a thick air because it is more condensed with
water molecules. This also means that the difference between the water potential in the plant
and on the environment is less, therefore there are less molecules being transpired because.
My hypothesis stating that If Impatiens is exposed to environmental factors such as
an increase in temperature, then it will have a higher rate of transpiration, because the
temperature source also emits light this will cause the plant to open its stomata so more
carbon dioxide comes into the plant for the process of photosynthesis, was supported by my
findings because the research and the results demonstrate that despite being the second
result with the highest rate of transpiration, it increased the rate of transpiration more than
mist or light with an obstacle. This was due to the opening of the stomata influenced by the
presence of light.
Some possible explanations that may be seen in the experiment is that despite wind
(in the form of fan) was the group to demonstrate the highest rate of transpiration;
temperature was the second group to demonstrate the highest rate of transpiration. This was
due to the fact that it was benefited from the opening of the stomata to diffuse more carbon
dioxide in, by that it left open the stomata and more water was released. Meaning that it was
not the first cause (temperature increased transpiration) but directly related to
photosynthesis which was in reality the first cause for the opening of the stomata. All this was
given by the presence of light that influenced the opening of the guard cells of the stomata.
The findings of our experiment were very similar for the ones found in other research such as
in biology junction where it demonstrates that the major increment of transpiration was not
given by wind (fan) rather by light (which was 4 ml/m
2
). Meaning that light has a positive
impact in transpiration.
Some human errors that were introduced into the experiment were for example
that my group (control) experienced a leak from the hose, so we had to repeat the experiment
one more time to secure the results. Another error was that at times you could get confused in
the way we had to measure because we had to add another pipette and at first I thought we
were measuring the rate of transpiration, but we were actually measuring the decrease of
water after the ten minutes interval. Some recommendations I could offer would be the fact
that school does not give enough time for experiments that are fundamental for an AP level
course as this class, AP Biology, I think that students should have enough time so they do not
rush with the results. Also a change I would do to the experiment would be instead of only

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doing one group of the environmental factors (because of time) I would encourage students
to experiment with all of the experimental factors.
Finally, some recommendations for further study would be to experiment with
different variables. For example you could change instead of testing high temperature you
could decrease the temperature to check if it decreases, increases, or remains neutral the
transpiration rate. Also, you could change the plant and experiment each manipulated
variable in different types of plants. For example, cacti we know they are C4 plants, what
would happen if we place them in a very cold environment? Or develop the experiment during
night? It is quite interesting to see the evolutionary history plants hold because of their
various adaptations they have had into the different environments in the world, and becoming
more evolutionary organisms.

Works Cited

BBC. (2014). Transport in plants. Retrieved May 18, 2014, from
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/add_gateway_pre_2011/greenworld/pl
anttransportrev2.shtml
Burba, G. (2013). Transpiration. Retrieved May 20, 2014, from
http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/156689/
Campbell, N. and Reece, B. (2005). AP Edition Biology, Seventh Edition. Pearson Education: San
Francisco.
N, a. (n.d.). CAM plants. Retrieved May 20, 2014, from http://www.biology-
online.org/dictionary/CAM_plant
N, a. (2014). Transpiration - Water Movement through Plants. Retrieved May 17, 2014, from
http://passel.unl.edu/pages/informationmodule.php?idinformationmodule=1092853841&to
picorder=6
N, a. (2011). Transpiration. Retrieved May 18, 2014, from
http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/T/Transpiration.html