why is osmoregulation inportant in plants?

Answer 1

Osmoregulation is the active regulation of the osmotic pressure of bodily fluids to maintain the homeostasis of the body's water content; that is it keeps the body's fluids from becoming too dilute or too concentrated. Osmotic pressure is a measure of the tendency of water to move into one solution from another by osmosis. The higher the osmotic pressure of a solution the more water wants to go into the solution. The pressure that must be exerted on the hypertonic side of a selectively permeable membrane to prevent diffusion of water by osmosis from the side containing pure water.

Two major types of osmoregulation are osmoconformers and osmoregulators. Osmoconformers match their body osmolarity to their environment . It can either be active or passive. Most marine invertebrates are osmoconformers, although their ionic composition may be different to that of seawater.

Osmoregulators tightly regulate their body osmolarity which always stays constant and are more common in the animal kingdom. Osmoregulators actively control salt concentrations despite the salt concentrations in the environment. An example is freshwater fish. The gills actively uptake salt from the environment. Water will diffuse into the fish so it excretes a very hypotonic urine to expel all the excess water. A marine fish has an internal osmotic concentration lower than that of the surrounding seawater so it tends to lose water and gain salt. It actively excretes salt out from the gills.

There are no specific osmoregulation organs in higher plants. Control of water intake and loss is by means of those internal and external factors which affect the rate of transpiration.

Plants share with animals the problems of obtaining water and in disposing of the surplus. Certain plants develop methods of water conservation. Xerophytes are plants in dry habitats such as deserts which are able to withstand prolonged periods of water shortage. Succulent plants such as the cactus have water stored in large parenchyma tissues. Other plants have leaf modifications to reduce water loss, such as needle-shaped leaves, sunken stomata and thick, waxy cuticles as in the pine. The sand-dune marram grass has rolled leaves with stomata on the inner surface.

Oncophyorans are also osmoregulators.

Answer 2

Define Osmoregulation

Answer 3

Jeez, two short answers, one copy-paste of largely irrelevant information...

Anyway, it's important because plant cells need turgor pressure to keep the cell wall from collapsing. This pressure is generated by the force of a properly filled central vacuole in plants. When the pressure exerted is not enough, the cell wall collapses; when it is too much, the cell bursts. Since plants are unable to move to leave an environment, they need osmoregulation to keep water from getting to levels that are too low when the gradient dictates flow outward, and to keep water from getting in when the gradient dictates flow inward, given that they have the amount of water (and lets in/out when they need it), in order to maintain homeostasis - a livable balance.

Obviously, it's not nearly 100% effective, but it does work.

Hope this helps.

Answer 4

photosynthesis is the earth's natural way of harvesting energy from the sun and turn it in to elements that can be used for energy by organisms that feed on the plants. It is the very first step at the bottom of the food chain. Therefore, without photosynthesis there would be no humans.

Answer 5

buck is correct. Without the water balance carefully modulated, the plant cells lose turger (they wilt) which is the step before cell death.

;-)

Answer 6

For the best answers, search on this site https://shorturl.im/av2Ah

It provides oxygen and the biomass which is at the start of the food chains on which we depend.

Answer 7

It keeps the water balance in the cells