This beautiful plant transpires during warmer months.
Click on image for full size
Claudia Alexander

Transpiration

Transpiration is the process by which plants return water to the atmosphere. After absorbing water from the ground, plants release water through their leaves. Transpiration helps plants stay cool, in the same way perspiration keeps humans and animals cool.

Transpiration and evaporation in plants are sometimes combined in scientific language, and are called "evapo-transpiration".


You might also be interested in:

Traveling Nitrogen Classroom Activity Kit

Check out our online store - minerals, fossils, books, activities, jewelry, and household items!...more

Kingdom Plantae

Though not the largest kingdom, with a mere 300,000 species catalogued, many might argue that the Kingdom Plantae just may be the most important group of living organisms. In the process known as "photosynthesis",...more

Evaporation

One process which transfers water from the ground back to the atmosphere is evaporation. Evaporation is when water passes from a liquid phase to a gas phase. Rates of evaporation of water depend on factors...more

Withering Crops - An Effect of Global Warming

"Though we often take the plants and trees around us for granted, almost every aspect of our lives depends upon them. They feed us, cloth us, absorb carbon dioxide, provide us with oxygen, and give us...more

Aquifer

An aquifer is the name for a layer of rock which is capable of holding a large amount of water. Some layers are better at holding water than others, for example a layer of sandstone can hold a good deal...more

Carbonates

Carbonate is a name for rocks and minerals which contain a certain form of carbon/oxygen compound known as CO32-. (CO32- is also known as the molecule carbonate). Limestone is an example of a calcium carbonate,...more

Surface Ocean Currents

The water at the ocean surface is moved primarily by winds. Large scale winds move in specific directions because they are affected by Earth’s spin and the Coriolis Effect. Because Earth spins constantly,...more

Rivers

Rivers are very important to Earth because they are major forces that shape the landscape. Also, they provide transportation and water for drinking, washing and farming. Rivers can flow on land or underground...more

Windows to the Universe, a project of the National Earth Science Teachers Association, is sponsored in part is sponsored in part through grants from federal agencies (NASA and NOAA), and partnerships with affiliated organizations, including the American Geophysical Union, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Earth System Information Partnership, the American Meteorological Society, the National Center for Science Education, and TERC. The American Geophysical Union and the American Geosciences Institute are Windows to the Universe Founding Partners. NESTA welcomes new Institutional Affiliates in support of our ongoing programs, as well as collaborations on new projects. Contact NESTA for more information. NASA ESIP NCSE HHMI AGU AGI AMS NOAA