ARS | Publication request: TRANSPORT OF WATER AND NUTRIENTS IN PLANTS

Submitted to: Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: March 24, 2003
Publication Date: May 1, 2003
Citation: RIEDELL, W.E., SCHUMACHER, T.E. TRANSPORT OF WATER AND NUTRIENTS IN PLANTS. ENCYCLOPEDIA OF LIFE SUPPORT SYSTEMS. 2003.

Interpretive Summary: The Encycopedia of Life Support Systems is a comprehensive, authoritative, and integrated body of knowledge of life support systems. It is a forward- looking publication designed as a global guide to professional practice, education and heightened social awareness of critical life support issues. The Encyclopedia will provide a lucid, pedagogical, and authoritative presentation of data, information, and knowledge that will be of value for scientific, engineering, management, and policy making purposes in these areas, as well as for technology transfer across nations and regions of the world with broadly divergent social and cultural outlooks. The current manuscript provides a summary of current information and knowledge on the topic of the transport of water and nutrients in plants. This manuscript will be in the Agricultural Sciences section of the encyclopedia under the Soil-Plant-Water-Air Relations chapter.

Technical Abstract: This manuscript is a contribution to the Agricultural Sciences section of the Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems, a comprehensive compilation of knowledge of life support systems. The manuscript discusses five areas related to the transport of water and nutrients in plants: Introduction, Source-Sink Relationships, Phloem Loading and Unloading, Driving Gradients and Transport Processes, and Carrier Molecules and Sequestration. A general description of transport processes in plants is presented in the Introduction. The section on Source-Sink Relationships discusses the mass- flow hypothesis. The anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry of phloem transport are presented in the Phloem Loading and Unloading section. The physiological basis of transport and the physical processes of convection and diffusion are discussed in the Driving Gradients and Transport Processes section. The biochemistry and physiology of the main types of transporters are discussed in the Carrier Molecules and Sequestration section. The inaugural edition of the Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems will be launched on the World Wide Web in December of 2001.