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just curious - why do plants clamp up their leaves at night?

3795 Views 18 Replies 10 Participants Last post by  loachlady5, 
L
This really is of no consequence. I've just always wondered. It's so cool looking.
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BiscuitSlayer
They're sleeping.

JK...

I think it might have to do with respiration.
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L
BiscuitSlayer said:
They're sleeping./quote]

I wish I still was.
Click to expand...
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O
nothing wrong with waking up early ;) atleast you get home early too. (well minus my days in the refinery, wake up at 4, start at 7:00 end at 5:30, sleep at 7 pm, repeat 4x)

back on topic, it is to conserve water and heat. Why would it do it to conserve water in an aquarium? well most plants are actually non-aquatic, so they retain their behaviour under water.

How it is done is like hydraulics, pushing or pulling in liquid into cells to move
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ValorG
outcast said:
back on topic, it is to conserve water and heat.
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So they hug themselves at night to keep warm? AWW how cute :p :fish:
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N
outcast said:
it is to conserve water and heat. Why would it do it to conserve water in an aquarium? well most plants are actually non-aquatic, so they retain their behaviour under water.

How it is done is like hydraulics, pushing or pulling in liquid into cells to move
Click to expand...
"Most plants are non aquatic" is just not true. Some are, but its not like you could drain your aquarium and have your plants live.

And why would they conserve heat? Aquariums are same temp all day...

Lets see some evidence...
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spypet
during photosyntheses, leaf surfaces exposed to light expand as
thousands of stomata pores allow O2/Co2 gas exchange to occur,
thus leaves will arc out when lit, then tighten back up at night.
thicker more rigid leaves will not noticeably bend by this activity.
this image is a quarter of the thickness of a typical human hair.
See less See more
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ValorG
Good info spypet, I still wish it was because they liked to hug themselves. :< A boy can dream...
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L
ValorG said:
So they hug themselves at night to keep warm? AWW how cute :p :fish:
Click to expand...

He, he:biggrin::biggrin::biggrin:
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G
Yeah, though why would they need to close their stomata if they're underwater? Cause most plants on land close it to conserve water, and open to let out o2 and let in co2, so I don't see a reason they need to close it.
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frozenbarb
neilfishguy said:
"Most plants are non aquatic" is just not true. Some are, but its not like you could drain your aquarium and have your plants live.

And why would they conserve heat? Aquariums are same temp all day...

Lets see some evidence...
Click to expand...

Most aquatic plants that we have in our tanks can be grown emerged. You could drain your tank and seal it tight to keep up the humidity
And most of your plants should grow.
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/plantfinder/go.php
Plants that can grow emerged. Thats alot of plants
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frozenbarb
gotcheaprice said:
Yeah, though why would they need to close their stomata if they're underwater? Cause most plants on land close it to conserve water, and open to let out o2 and let in co2, so I don't see a reason they need to close it.
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I think outcast just said it.
"well most plants are actually non-aquatic, so they retain their behaviour even they are underwater
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G
Ah, yeah, I see. Makes sense. It does look cool too!
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dr.tran
I remember a long time ago I had an argument with one of my biology teachers back in high school about if aquatic plants had stomatas or not. She said all plants do and I said only terrestrial plants do.

It turns out we were both wrong. Only some aquatic plants are completely lacking stomatas while some only produce them when they are close to the surface and is in contact with the air.

Also there are other aquatic plants that are full of stomatas for passive diffusion of water flow that rarely closes them.

Here are some of the examples.

http://www.micrographia.com/specbiol/plan/planaq/plaq0100.htm
http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/bot00/bot00341.htm
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mistergreen
This is some kid's project but it explains the difference between photosynthesis and respiration.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oqOub_IYj8

plants respire at night too. Remember that it takes in O2 at night.
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mistergreen
oh, and the reason why plants fold and unfold their leaves have nothing to do with the stomatas directly... It's about hydrolics at the base of the leaves where cells expands or contracts based on K+ moving in and out of the cells.

http://www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/reprint/109/3/729.pdf
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G
I'm pretty sure that pump is the hydrolics is with the stomatas, cause it causes the guard cell to swell which opens up the stomata.
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mistergreen
i guess,
but the stomatas aren't the reason why the leaves fold and unfold.
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L
Cool - now I'm officially edumacated:icon_wink
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