Ecological Niches
Water Balance
Water is essential to a plant to help it grow and survive. Water provides moisture for the cells for diffusion of gasses into and out of the plant. Water also helps the plant to make food for energy in the form of glucose by photosynthesis. Water and carbon dioxide use sunlight and chlorophyll in the leaves to form glucose and waste products. Water balance in plants is crucial because with too much water, the vacuole in the cells can swell and burst causing the cell to die and possibly the whole plant to die, or at least drown in the water. With not enough water plant cells become flaccid and shrink and the plant does not have enough water to make energy to survive.