Investigating Transpiration

• How can you investigate water loss from plant leaves?

  measure their change in mass over a period of time
• What are various factors that affect water loss from the leaf?

  air movement, temperature and stomata obstruction
• What is the method for this?

  Remove a number of leaves from a bush or tree, find their mass, suspend each leaf from a piece of wire or string and after a set period of time re-measure the mass
• How can a sample be representative of the whole leaf for water loss?


  Include a sufficient number of counts of stomata on diff parts of the slide, must be random and have a decent amount of stomata
• How can counts of stomata be made?

  With a microscope, count the stomata in field of view and then move the slide slightly and count the number in a diff field of view