1) After Thanksgiving break you return to the HTHMA garden to find that your crops have not been watered in over two weeks. Most of your plants are dead and those that are alive are barely hanging on. In relation to the process of photosynthesis, describe what has happened to your plants.
To help reserve water the guard cells on the underside of the plants leaves have closed off, closing the holes called stomata. The leaves will proceeded to shrivel and die to trap in more moister and nutrition that they hold. The plant will keep shriveling until it goes into the roots which are their last resorts for survival. Beyond this if a plant doesn't get any water after this they will shrivel and die. Young plants are more susceptible that fully grown plants and should always be under close inspection. Vascular are better and more durable for dry areas where they won't get a lot of water.
2) Upon microscopic inspection of the underside of your plant’s leaves, you notice that in an attempt to conserve water the stomata (aka stomates) are closed. Explain in detail how this impacts the light independent reactions of photosynthesis.
The light independent reactions will slow down as the resources that enter through the stomates stop. This is because the other processes will stop to conserve energy. The stomates will close themselves in order to hold all the energy and water they can. The guard cells will swell and closed preventing anything from entering or leaving. The stomates and guard cells are found at the undersides of the leaves working as a strainer/protector for the plant.
1) How is water used in PS?
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