1

Cambridge AS Level Biology

Section: G

Plant Transport

1. The movement of water through xylem vessels is affected by external factors.

A decrease in which external factor would result in an increase in water movement?
A atmospheric humidity
B external temperature
C light intensity D wind velocity
2. The diagram shows the water potential () in some plant cells and in their environment.

Which statement describes the movement of water between these cells and between them and
their environment?
A All three cells are turgid, so no water moves.
B Water moves from cell 1, cell 3 and the environment into cell 2.
C Water moves from cell 3 to the environment, and from the environment to cell 1.
D Water moves from the environment into cells 1, 2 and 3.
3. Which statement describes the movement of water between these cells and between them
and their environment?
A All three cells are turgid, so no water moves.
B Water moves from cell 1, cell 3 and the environment into cell 2.
C Water moves from cell 3 to the environment, and from the environment to cell 1.
D Water moves from the environment into cells 1, 2 and 3.
4. What is the main function of a companion cell in mature phloem tissue?
A providing cytoplasmic contact with the sieve tube for loading
B providing structural support for the sieve tube element
C providing the nucleus for cell division in the phloem
D providing the source of assimilates for storage
5. The diagram shows a model which can be used to demonstrate mass flow.

X and Y are filled with sucrose solutions of different concentration, causing water to move in or
out of X and Y by osmosis or as a result of hydrostatic pressure. Sucrose solution then moves
through the tube T joining X and Y.
Waleed Ahmad Khan

A Levels (ECP)

0347 4443879

Cambridge AS Level Biology

Section: G

Plant Transport

Which description of this is correct?

6. The graph shows the relationship between the loss of water vapour through stomata and an
environmental factor.

What is the environmental factor?

A air temperature
B atmospheric humidity
C light intensity
D wind velocity

7. The diagram shows a longitudinal section through transport tissue in a plant stem.

What are the names of the structure labelled X and the tissue in which it is found?

Waleed Ahmad Khan

A Levels (ECP)

0347 4443879

Cambridge AS Level Biology

Section: G

Plant Transport

8. In which combination of environmental conditions are the stomata of a plant most likely to
close?

9. A water potential gradient causes water to move through xylem.

Which process is mainly responsible for this water potential gradient?
A active transport
B osmosis
C root pressure
D transpiration
10. Which combination of features is characteristic of phloem sieve tubes?

11. A region of a stem of a plant is heated to kill the cells in the living vascular tissues. How will
this treatment affect the transport between roots and leaves via xylem and phloem?

12. Some soil-borne fungi cause wilting in crop plants by growing within the xylem vessels.
Which process will be directly affected by these fungi?
A conduction in the apoplast
B development of root pressure
C stomatal movement
D uptake of water by root hairs
13. The diagram shows some adjacent cells from the root of a plant. Which is the symplast
pathway of water movement?

Waleed Ahmad Khan

A Levels (ECP)

0347 4443879

Cambridge AS Level Biology

Section: G

Plant Transport

14. Which organelles occur in large numbers in companion cells in phloem?

A chloroplasts
B lysosomes
C mitochondria
D starch grains
15. A water potential gradient causes water to move through xylem.
Which process is mainly responsible for this water potential gradient?
A capillarity
B osmosis
C translocation
D transpiration
16. During transpiration, what is the site of evaporation of water in the leaves?
A air spaces
B mesophyll cell walls C stomata
D walls of xylem vessels
17. The diagram represents the phloem pathway, with adjacent cells, from leaf to root in a plant.

Which process is occurring between 1 to 2 and what is the effect on the water potential at 2?

18. The diagram represents a transverse section through a part of the root of a plant.

Waleed Ahmad Khan

A Levels (ECP)

0347 4443879

Cambridge AS Level Biology

Section: G

Plant Transport

Which values of water potential (kPa) in the xylem and soil water help to explain why water
passes from the soil into the xylem across the cortex?

19. Translocation in plants moves sucrose from sources to sinks. Which of the following can be
a source and which a sink?

20. What occurs in the apoplast and symplast pathways?

21. In an animal cell, which process is dependent upon cell surface area and which process is
dependent upon cell volume?

Waleed Ahmad Khan

A Levels (ECP)

0347 4443879

Cambridge AS Level Biology

Section: G

Plant Transport

22. The diagrams show transverse sections of parts of a plant.

In the cross sections, what do 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 represent?

23. Land flooded by the sea is not suitable for growing plants long after the salty flood water has
drained away. The diagram represents a transverse section through a part of the root of a
plant.

Which values of water potential (kPa) in the xylem and soil water help to explain why the land
flooded with salty water is unsuitable for growth of plants?

Waleed Ahmad Khan

A Levels (ECP)

0347 4443879

Cambridge AS Level Biology

Section: G

Plant Transport

Q1. Fig. 4.1 shows transverse sections of a root and a stem.

(a)

(i) Shade in an area in the transverse section of the root where there are cells
specialised for the transport of water.

[1]

(ii) Shade in an area in the transverse section of the stem where there are cells
specialised for the transport of sucrose.

[1]

(b) Suggest why the vascular bundles in the stem are situated towards the outside.
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(c) Describe the process by which water passes from the soil into the root hairs.
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(d) Explain how water passes from the stem to the air surrounding a leaf.
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Waleed Ahmad Khan

A Levels (ECP)

0347 4443879

Cambridge AS Level Biology

Section: G

Plant Transport

......................................................................................................................................[4]
Q2. Fig. 3.1 shows a potometer that is used for measuring rates of water uptake by leafy
shoots.

A student used the potometer shown in Fig. 3.1 to investigate the rate of water uptake of a leafy
shoot under six different sets of conditions. The student changed two environmental conditions
around the plant:
temperature
wind speed.
For each experiment, the apparatus was left in the conditions until the rate of water uptake by
the leafy shoot became constant. The student took several measurements during each
experiment and calculated the mean rate of movement of the gas bubble. The results are
recorded in Table 3.1.

Waleed Ahmad Khan

A Levels (ECP)

0347 4443879

Cambridge AS Level Biology

Section: G

Plant Transport

(a) Using the data in Table 3.1, describe and explain the effect of the two conditions that the
student changed during the investigation on the rate of water uptake.
temperature ......................................................................................................................
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wind speed . ......................................................................................................................
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The rate of water movement up the leafy shoot was measured before it was cut from the plant.
The rate was found to be less than the rate of water uptake from the photometer when kept in
the same temperature and windspeed conditions.
(b) Suggest why the rate of water movement in an intact shoot is less than that measured in the
potometer.
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Waleed Ahmad Khan

A Levels (ECP)

0347 4443879

10

Cambridge AS Level Biology

Section: G

Plant Transport

Q3. Fig. 2.1 is a drawing of a transverse section of a leaf.

(a) (i) Use label lines and the letters X, S, E and D to indicate the following on Fig. 2.1:
X a xylem vessel
S a phloem sieve tube
E a lower epidermal cell
D a palisade mesophyll cell

[4]

(ii) Calculate the magnification of Fig. 2.1. Show your working and express your answer to the
nearest whole number.

Answer ........................................ [2]

Waleed Ahmad Khan

A Levels (ECP)

0347 4443879

11

Cambridge AS Level Biology

Section: G

Plant Transport

(b) Name two assimilates that move from the palisade mesophyll cells to the vascular tissue to
be exported from the leaf.
1 .......................................................................................................................................
2 .................................................................................................................................. [2]
(c) Explain, using the term water potential, how water moves from the vascular tissue to the
atmosphere.
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Q4. Fig. 2.1 shows part of a summer squash, Cucurbita pepo. Fig. 2.2 is a high power drawing
of an area of phloem from a transverse section of the stem of C. pepo.

Waleed Ahmad Khan

A Levels (ECP)

0347 4443879

12

Cambridge AS Level Biology

Section: G

Plant Transport

(a) (i) Name G and H.

G ..............................................................................................................................
H ...........................................................................................................................[1]
(ii) Describe three ways in which the structure of a xylem vessel differs from the structure of
cell G.
1. ..............................................................................................................................
2. ..............................................................................................................................
3. ..........................................................................................................................[3]
(b) The liquid extracted from the phloem of C. pepo contains sucrose.
Explain how sucrose is transported in the phloem along the stem from the leaf to the fruit.
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Waleed Ahmad Khan

A Levels (ECP)

0347 4443879

13

Cambridge AS Level Biology

Section: G

Plant Transport

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(c) Most of the sucrose transported in the phloem enters the fruit.
Suggest why summer squash fruits are not sweet.
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Q5. (a) Explain why transpiration is the inevitable consequence of gaseous exchange in land
plants.
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Fig. 3.1 shows some of the cells from the lower part and under surface of a leaf. The water
potentials of three cells, A, B and C, are shown.

(b) Explain how water moves from the xylem vessel to cell B.
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Waleed Ahmad Khan

A Levels (ECP)

0347 4443879

14

Cambridge AS Level Biology

Section: G

Plant Transport

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(c) Draw labelled arrows on Fig. 3.1 to show the direction in which
(i) water flows between the cells A, B and C;
(ii) water vapour diffuses.

[2]
[1]

(d) State two features of xerophytic plants that help to reduce the loss of water by transpiration
from their leaves.
1. ......................................................................................................................................
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2. ......................................................................................................................................
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Q6. Fig. 1.1 is a drawing made from an electron micrograph. It shows a longitudinal section
through a sieve tube element and a companion cell in the phloem of a flowering plant.

Waleed Ahmad Khan

A Levels (ECP)

0347 4443879

15

Cambridge AS Level Biology

Section: G

Plant Transport

(a) Refer to Fig. 1.1.

(i) Name structures A to C.
A ...............................................................................................................................
B ...............................................................................................................................
C ...........................................................................................................................[3]
(ii) State the name given to the region labelled D that separates the two sieve tube elements.
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(iii) Name one assimilate that is transported in the phloem.
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(b) Explain how the structure of sieve tube elements helps the translocation of substances in the
phloem.
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(c) Describe the role of companion cells in translocation in the phloem.
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Waleed Ahmad Khan

A Levels (ECP)

0347 4443879

16

Cambridge AS Level Biology

Section: G

Plant Transport

Q7. Fig. 2.1 shows a transverse section of a root nodule of a legume. Fig. 2.2 is a drawing of a
cell from the centre of the nodule made from an electron micrograph.

(a) Name three structures that are present in cells in the cortex of the root that are not present in
bacterial cells.
1 .......................................................................................................................................
2 .......................................................................................................................................
3 ...................................................................................................................................[3]
(b) Explain the advantages of studying cell structure with an electron microscope rather than
with a light microscope.
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Waleed Ahmad Khan

A Levels (ECP)

0347 4443879

17

Cambridge AS Level Biology

Section: G

Plant Transport

(c) Describe the role of Rhizobium in the root nodule.

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(d) Cells in the centre of the root nodule have a high concentration of the pigment,
leghaemoglobin. This combines with oxygen in much the same way as haemoglobin in
mammals. Leghaemoglobin is responsible for maintaining anaerobic conditions around the
bacteria in the nodules. Leghaemoglobin is not found in the roots of other plants. The base
sequence in the gene that codes for the polypeptide of mammalian haemoglobin is similar to
that for leghaemoglobin. Suggest why this is so.
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Q8. Fig. 3.1 shows an electron micrograph of some xylem vessels in tobacco leaf fragments in a
cigarette.

Waleed Ahmad Khan

A Levels (ECP)

0347 4443879

18

Cambridge AS Level Biology

Section: G

Plant Transport

(i) Describe and explain two features of the xylem vessels, visible in Fig. 3.1, that are
adaptations for the transport of water in a plant.
feature ......................................................................................................................
explanation ...............................................................................................................
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feature ......................................................................................................................
explanation ...............................................................................................................
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(ii) Explain the mechanisms that cause movement of water in xylem vessels.
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Waleed Ahmad Khan

A Levels (ECP)

0347 4443879