Related Concept Videos
02:02Phloem and Sugar Transport
Like many living organisms, plants have tissues that specialize in specific plant functions. For example, shoots are well adapted to rapid growth, while roots are structured to acquire resources efficiently. However, sugar production is primarily restricted to the photosynthetic cells that reside in the leaves of angiosperm plants. Sugar and other resources are transported from photosynthetic tissues to other specialized tissues by a process called translocation.
02:45Responses to Heat and Cold Stress
Every organism has an optimum temperature range within which healthy growth and physiological functioning can occur. At the ends of this range, there will be a minimum and maximum temperature that interrupt biological processes.
02:19Morphogenesis
Plant morphogenesis—the development of a plant’s form and structure—involves several overlapping developmental processes, including growth and cell differentiation. Precursor cells differentiate into specific cell types, which are organized into the tissues and organ systems that make up the functional plant.
02:36Meristems and Plant Growth
Plants grow throughout their lives; this is called indeterminate growth, and it distinguishes plants from most animals. Although certain parts of plants stop growing (e.g., leaves and flowers), others grow continuously—like roots and stems.
02:41Responses to Drought and Flooding
Water plays a significant role in the life cycle of plants. However, insufficient or excess of water can be detrimental and pose a serious threat to plants.
02:16Light Acquisition
In order to produce glucose, plants need to capture sufficient light energy. Many modern plants have evolved leaves specialized for light acquisition. Leaves can be only millimeters in width or tens of meters wide, depending on the environment. Due to competition for sunlight, evolution has driven the evolution of increasingly larger leaves and taller plants, to avoid shading by their neighbors with contaminant elaboration of root architecture and mechanisms to transport water and nutrients.
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Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 6, 2026
06:28
High Throughput Image-Based Phenotyping for Determining Morphological and Physiological Responses to Single and Combined Stresses in Potato
Published on: June 7, 2024
Phloem loading, plant growth form, and climate.
Anna Davidson1, Felix Keller, Robert Turgeon
1Department of Plant Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
Protoplasma
|December 3, 2010
Summary
Plant phloem loading strategies, including passive symplastic loading, show a stronger link to tree growth form. Apoplastic loading correlates with herbaceous plants, while RFO synthesis is linked to tropical species frequency.
Area of Science:
- Plant Biology
- Plant Physiology
- Ecology
Background:
- Plasmodesmatal frequencies in leaf minor veins suggest varied photoassimilate loading strategies.
- The ecophysiological basis for these diverse phloem loading types remains largely unknown.
Purpose of the Study:
- To update previous analyses of phloem loading strategies using current phylogenetic data.
- To differentiate between active polymer trapping (synthesis of raffinose family oligosaccharides--RFOs) and passive diffusion in symplastic loading.
- To investigate the ecophysiological basis of different phloem loading types in relation to plant growth form and climate.
Main Methods:
- Updated analysis of existing data with current phylogenetic information.
- Categorization of symplastic loading into active (RFO synthesis) and passive (diffusion) types.
Main Results:
- A stronger association was found between passive, symplastic loading and the tree growth form.
- Apoplastic loading showed a high correlation with the herbaceous habit.
- No correlation was observed between RFO families and growth form at the family level.
- At the species level, RFO trait correlated with species frequency in tropical and subtropical regions.
- Correlations between loading types and climate were generally weak and likely indirect.
Conclusions:
- Phloem loading strategies exhibit subtle, indirect correlations with plant growth form and climate.
- Passive symplastic loading is more prevalent in trees, while apoplastic loading is characteristic of herbaceous plants.
- The RFO trait is associated with species distribution in warmer climates, suggesting an adaptive role.