UNIT OVERVIEW

Plants need to move water, minerals, and food around their bodies. They do this using special transport tissues called xylem and phloem. These tissues work like pipes or highways inside the plant.

In this unit, you will learn how roots and stems are built, how water travels from soil to leaves, and how food made in leaves reaches the rest of the plant.

What you will learn:

• How tissues are arranged in dicot roots and stems
• How water and minerals move from soil into the plant and up to leaves
• What affects how fast plants lose water (transpiration)
• How plants move manufactured food (translocation)
• How to read tree rings to find a tree's age and past climate
• How to investigate transpiration using a potometer

What you should already know:

• Xylem and phloem structure (Term 1)
• Leaf structure: stomata, guard cells, mesophyll (Term 2)
• Cell division by mitosis (Term 1)
• Osmosis, diffusion, and active transport (Term 1)
• Basic plant parts (Grade 7)

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