The migration of plants from water to land has lead to the evolution of internal processes for providing water to all parts of the plant. Plants also formed complex vascular networks that transfer nutrients and water through the “tubes” of conductive cells in the plant body. Xylem and phloem are considered the vascular tissues of these plants. Vascular tissue xylem consists of dead cells positioned end to end, creating tubes in which water and minerals pass upward to the rest of the plant from the roots (where they are taken in). Phloem, which consists of living cells, brings the photosynthesis products (organic nutrients) from the leaves to the other elements. The main process by which water is transported upward through the xylem (along with dissolved materials) is called TATC (Transpiration-Adhesion-Tension-Cohesion). Through the root hairs, most of the water in a plant enters. As the concentration of dissolved materials in the cellular cytoplasm of the plant is high, the water diffuses quickly (and osmotically) through the root hairs. There are two routes by which water passes from the outside of the root to the center, where it is soaked up by the xylem. The first of these pathways is the symplast, in which water moves through channels connecting its contents across the root hair membrane and through the cells themselves. The apoplast is an alternative route for water, through which it passes to enter the center of the root through cell walls and through intercellular spaces. Once the water is in the xylem, TATC can carry it to all the other parts of the plant.

Unlike mammals, in order to transfer fluid in their vascular system, plants lack a metabolically active pump like the heart. Instead, friction and chemical potential gradients passively drive the water flow. The water absorbed through plants is transported due to the negative pressure generated by the evaporation (i.e. transpiration) of water from the leaves, which is commonly referred to as the mechanism of cohesion-tension (C-T). This mechanism is capable of working because water is “cohesive”-it binds to itself by hydrogen bonding powers. These hydrogen bonds allow the significant strain to be maintained by water columns in the plant (up to 30 MPa when water is stored in the minute capillaries found in plants), and this helps us to understand how water can be transported 100 m above the soil surface to tree canopies. By transpiration, the tension component of the C-T mechanism is produced. Within the leaves, evaporation happens mainly from the moist cell wall surfaces enclosed by a network of air spaces. At this air-water interface, a meniscus is formed, in the area where the apoplastic water contained in the capillaries of the cell wall is exposed to the substomatal cavity air. Water evaporates from the meniscus, due to the sun and breaks the hydrogen bonds between molecules, and the surface tension at this interface pulls water molecules to replace those lost by evaporation. This energy is passed down to the roots along with the continuous water columns, where it induces an accumulation of water from the soil. Scientists call the Soil Plant Environment Continuum (SPAC) the continuous water transport pathway. Stephen Hales was the first to propose that the C-T system regulates water movement in plants; when the movement of the solvent is limited relative to the movement of water (i.e. across semi-permeable cell membranes), water moves by osmosis-the diffusion of water according to its chemical potential (that is, the energy state of water). In the transfer of water between cells and separate compartments within plants, osmosis plays a central role. Osmotic forces dominate the flow of water through the roots in the absence of transpiration. This manifests as root pressure and guttation, a process commonly seen in lawn grass, where after conditions of low evaporation, water droplets form at leaf margins in the morning. When solutes accumulate in a higher concentration in root xylem as compared to other root tissues, it results in root pressure. The resulting gradient of chemical potential pushes the flow of water through the root and through the xylem. In rapidly transpiring plants, no root pressure occurs.

Water Movement Disruption:
At several points in the SPAC, water flow can be interrupted as a result of both biotic and abiotic variables. The absorptive surface area in the soil can be damaged by root pathogens and, similarly, foliar pathogens can remove evaporative leaf surfaces, change the stomatal structure, or damage cuticle integrity. Water flowing through plants is considered meta-stable since, as stress becomes excessive, the water column splits at a certain point, a process called cavitation. A gas bubble (that is, embolism) will form and fill the conduit after cavitation occurs, essentially preventing the flow of water. There can be embolisms in both sub-zero temperatures and drought. Freezing can lead to embolism, and when liquid water transforms into ice, oxygen is squeezed out of the solution. Drought also causes embolism as plants get drier tension in the water column increases.

The migration of plants from water to land has lead to the evolution of internal processes for providing water to all parts of the plant. Plants also formed complex vascular networks that transfer nutrients and water through the “tubes” of conductive cells in the plant body. Xylem and phloem are considered the vascular tissues of these plants. Vascular tissue xylem consists of dead cells positioned end to end, creating tubes in which water and minerals pass upward to the rest of the plant from the roots (where they are taken in). Phloem, which consists of living cells, brings the photosynthesis products (organic nutrients) from the leaves to the other elements. The main process by which water is transported upward through the xylem (along with dissolved materials) is called TATC (Transpiration-Adhesion-Tension-Cohesion). Through the root hairs, most of the water in a plant enters. As the concentration of dissolved materials in the cellular cytoplasm of the plant is high, the water diffuses quickly (and osmotically) through the root hairs. There are two routes by which water passes from the outside of the root to the center, where it is soaked up by the xylem. The first of these pathways is the symplast, in which water moves through channels connecting its contents across the root hair membrane and through the cells themselves. The apoplast is an alternative route for water, through which it passes to enter the center of the root through cell walls and through intercellular spaces. Once the water is in the xylem, TATC can carry it to all the other parts of the plant.

Unlike mammals, in order to transfer fluid in their vascular system, plants lack a metabolically active pump like the heart. Instead, friction and chemical potential gradients passively drive the water flow. The water absorbed through plants is transported due to the negative pressure generated by the evaporation (i.e. transpiration) of water from the leaves, which is commonly referred to as the mechanism of cohesion-tension (C-T). This mechanism is capable of working because water is “cohesive”-it binds to itself by hydrogen bonding powers. These hydrogen bonds allow the significant strain to be maintained by water columns in the plant (up to 30 MPa when water is stored in the minute capillaries found in plants), and this helps us to understand how water can be transported 100 m above the soil surface to tree canopies. By transpiration, the tension component of the C-T mechanism is produced. Within the leaves, evaporation happens mainly from the moist cell wall surfaces enclosed by a network of air spaces. At this air-water interface, a meniscus is formed, in the area where the apoplastic water contained in the capillaries of the cell wall is exposed to the substomatal cavity air. Water evaporates from the meniscus, due to the sun and breaks the hydrogen bonds between molecules, and the surface tension at this interface pulls water molecules to replace those lost by evaporation. This energy is passed down to the roots along with the continuous water columns, where it induces an accumulation of water from the soil. Scientists call the Soil Plant Environment Continuum (SPAC) the continuous water transport pathway. Stephen Hales was the first to propose that the C-T system regulates water movement in plants; when the movement of the solvent is limited relative to the movement of water (i.e. across semi-permeable cell membranes), water moves by osmosis-the diffusion of water according to its chemical potential (that is, the energy state of water). In the transfer of water between cells and separate compartments within plants, osmosis plays a central role. Osmotic forces dominate the flow of water through the roots in the absence of transpiration. This manifests as root pressure and guttation, a process commonly seen in lawn grass, where after conditions of low evaporation, water droplets form at leaf margins in the morning. When solutes accumulate in a higher concentration in root xylem as compared to other root tissues, it results in root pressure. The resulting gradient of chemical potential pushes the flow of water through the root and through the xylem. In rapidly transpiring plants, no root pressure occurs.

Water Movement Disruption:
At several points in the SPAC, water flow can be interrupted as a result of both biotic and abiotic variables. The absorptive surface area in the soil can be damaged by root pathogens and, similarly, foliar pathogens can remove evaporative leaf surfaces, change the stomatal structure, or damage cuticle integrity. Water flowing through plants is considered meta-stable since, as stress becomes excessive, the water column splits at a certain point, a process called cavitation. A gas bubble (that is, embolism) will form and fill the conduit after cavitation occurs, essentially preventing the flow of water. There can be embolisms in both sub-zero temperatures and drought. Freezing can lead to embolism, and when liquid water transforms into ice, oxygen is squeezed out of the solution. Drought also causes embolism as plants get drier tension in the water column increases.