The Effect of Light and Shade Environments on Rate of Transpiration of Coleus

Plants

Abstract:
 One of the basic life needs that all organisms must have to survive is water. Plants

are no exception, but they must also release water through the stomata of the leaves to

maintain their homeostasis. Yet, it was not lucid on how different type of environments

can affect the rate of water loss from the leaves of the plants. Therefore, in this

experimental study, the Coleus plant was being investigated to see how the light and the

shade environments affect its rate of transpiration. For this experiment, six Coleus plants

with the same amount and type of soil, pot, and water to prevent any outside variables

were used. Three of the Coleus plants were put in light area while the other three were

put in shade area for 30 minutes for them to adjust to their environments. After 30

minutes the CoCl2 indicator paper was attached on each of the fives leaves. During the

experiment, the rate at which the paper changed color were recorded and averaged. After

the first experiment with artificial light and shade, it was found that there were higher

rates of transpiration and photosynthesis in plants receiving light compared to those in the

shade. Thus, the plants receiving light lost more water than those in the shade. The

experimental study was carried out further by using natural light instead of artificial light.

For this second experiment, sunlight was being used to see how it affects the rate of

transpiration. Similar to the first experiment, the natural light caused Coleus plants to lose

water faster. Thus, their rate of transpiration was higher than in the shade plants. Because

of this study, Coleus plants as well as any other house plants could be well better being

taking care of by knowing the amount of water and the frequency that the plants needed

to be water when placed in different environment.

Introduction:
 All plants are autotrophic organisms; they produce their own food through the

process of photosynthesis and therefore do not need to consume other organisms. Thus,

Coleus plants are no exception. Based on the photosynthesis equation below, it is obvious

that half of the amount of water molecules that needed for photosynthesis to occur will be

lost through transpiration (Campbell and Reece, 2005).

6CO2 + 12H2O + light energy → C6H12O6 + 6O2 + 6H2O

In addition to the necessity of water, plants also require light to initiate photosynthesis.

The more light energy they absorb, the higher rate of photosynthesis they can carry out

(McAlpine et al. 2008). However, based on the photosynthesis equation above, they

would have to consume more water because of higher rates of photosynthesis. As a result,

they would also lose more water through their stomata to maintain homeostasis. For

instance, according to Easlon and Richard (2009), a reduction in photosynthesis

diminishes stomata opening. Likewise, an increase in photosynthesis results in more

stomata opening. This indicates that the increase in photosynthesis would cause the water

loss through transpiration. In addition, Jifon’s and Syvertsen’s (2003) study demonstrated

that shaded leaves were higher stomata conductance and more efficient in using water

than sunlit leaves. Therefore, based on these studies, the rate of transpiration by Coleus

leaves in a lighted area could be predicted to be higher than in the shaded ones.

In this experiment, Coleus plants were used in the study since they were provided

to us for our previous general lab. In addition, Coleus plants are used for

ornamental/house decoration. Therefore, it was necessary to learn the effects of placing

Coleus plants under different condition – light or shade – because Coleus plants could be

better taken care of by knowing how much and how often the plants needed to be watered

when placed in either light or shade environments. For this study, the rates of released
water molecules by Coleus leaves in the light and the shaded areas were compared. Three

Coleus plants were placed in the shaded environment while the other three in the light

environment for 30 minutes. Afterward, the rate of transpiration was measured by the rate

of color change of CoCl2 paper (Teare et al. 1973). For the first experiment, artificial

light was used. Since the result supported the hypothesis, the experiment was being

carried out further. Instead of using artificial light, natural light, such as sunlight, was

used to see whether or not it affects the rate of transpiration by comparing its rate with

the rate from the shaded ones.

Materials and Methods:

Six similarly-sized and same-age Coleus plants were placed under the same

conditions – identical type of pots with equal amount of water and soil in each – and were

attained from the same laboratory room where the temperature and environmental factors

were consistent. Three of them were positioned under the table to block light while the

other three were positioned under a 60-watt light bulb, roughly six inches away from the

top of the plant as shown in Figures 1 and 2 below.

Figure 1: plants were placed in the shade. Figure 2: Plants were placed under the 60W light bulb.

To allow all six Coleus plants to adjust to their environment, the plants were left

for 30 minutes to sit in their artificial light/shade area. After 30 minutes elapsed, a CoCl2

paper was placed on each of the five leaves of each plant. Afterward, both the initial time
when the CoCl2 paper was situated on the plant and the end time when CoCl2 paper had

completely changed color on the back of the leaf were recorded. In order to calculate the

rate of transpiration, the initial time was subtracted from the end time. Later, the average

time frame of each of the plants and average time frame for all three plants under the

same artificial light/shade environment were calculated. Throughout the experiment, the

data sheets as seen in Table 1 were being filled out.

As for the second experiment, everything was kept the same except the

environment. Instead of using the light bulb as light energy source, natural light from the

sun was being used to see how artificial and natural light could affect the rate of

transpiration as well as the rate of photosynthesis. Three Coleus plants were placed near

the window where sunlight could be absorbed while the other three were placed in the

shade.
Table 1: The initial time is the time at which the CoCl2 is placed on the leaf;
the final time is the time at which the CoCl2 paper completely changed color.
Average of all time frames is all the “final-Initial” times, divided by 5

Plant#1 (Light)
Leaf# Initial Time Final Time Final-Initial
1
2
3
4
5
Average of all time frames:

Results
 After the experiment, the average time frame of all plants that were placed under

the artificial light and shade were found to be 150 seconds and 252 seconds, respectively,

as shown in Figure 1 below, and the average time frame of all plants that were placed

under the natural light and shade were found to be 113 seconds and 210 seconds,

respectively, as displayed in Figure 2.

Figure 1: Average time frame of all plants under each condition.

Figure 2: Average time frame of all plants under each condition.

The range under each condition was also observed. As for the artificial light and

shade environments, the range was 130-170 seconds and 194-307 seconds, respectively,

as illustrated in Table 2. The range for the natural light and shade was 98-123 seconds

and 178-235 seconds, respectively, as portrayed in Table 3.

Table 2: The lowest time frame and the highest time frame for each condition.
Range for artificial light. 130-170 seconds

Range for shade. 194-307 seconds

Table 3: The lowest time frame and the highest time frame for each condition.
Range for natural light. 98-123 seconds

Range for shade. 178-235 seconds

Based on figure 3 below, Coleus plants’ rate of water loss under artificial light

was not equal to the ones under natural light. The rate of water loss for artificial and

natural light was 150 seconds and 113 seconds, respectively.

Figure 3: Average time frame of all plants under each condition.

Discussion and Conclusion:

After doing the experiment, the average time frame for the plants receiving the

light, either artificial or natural, to lost water was found to be faster than the shaded ones.

For instance, based on Graph 1, the average time for the plants with artificial light was

150 seconds while the average rate for the shade ones was 252 seconds. Similarly, the

average time for the plants with natural light was 113 seconds while the rate for the shade

ones was 210 seconds from graph 2. In addition, both of the graphs showed that the rate

of water loss for Coleus leaves under both artificial and natural light were nearly twice as

fast as the shade ones. Furthermore, each condition, whether under the light or in the

shade environment, gave a totally different range for the rate of water loss. For example,

the range for the ones with artificial light was 130-170 seconds while the range for the

shade ones was 194-307 as indicated in Table 2. Furthermore, from Table 3, it was

obvious that the range for the ones with natural light was 98-123 seconds and the range

for the shade ones was 178-235 seconds. The ranges between the light and the shade were

not overlapped, indicating that the rates of water loss were not even closed to each other.

After the second experiment, an interesting phenomenon was found – natural light caused

the plants to lose more water than the artificial light as shown in figure 3. This might be

the case that natural light might have a higher light intensity than the 60-watt light bulb or

Coleus plants might be better at absorbing natural light energy than absorbing artificial

light.

As supported from the different average time frame and range under each

condition, light or shade, it could be concluded that the plants receiving light lost more

water than those in the shade. Moreover, it could also be confirmed that they have higher
rate of transpiration compared to those in the shade. Thus, they would also have a higher

rate of photosynthesis because of the larger consumption of light energy. Likewise, the

stomata openings would be opened more frequently to release water from the

photosynthesizing process. In other words, base on the photosynthesis chemical equation,

the more light energy the plants consume, the higher the rate of photosynthesis would be,

thus, leading to the higher rate of transpiration when the stomata opens to release water as

the product of the process of photosynthesis.

During the experiment, all of the possible experimental factors were controlled.

However, some variables were uncontrollable. Thus, the results might not be as accurate

as they should be. For instance, some Coleus plants might have different photosynthesis

rates due to different leave sizes and some might be better at absorbing light energy. In

addition, some leaves are closer to light than others. Furthermore, 30 minutes might not

be enough time for the plants to adjust to their environment. The results would have a

higher percentage of accuracy if the plants were permitted to adjust to the environment

longer and the same size leaves and the same distance of every leaf from the light could

be used. This experiment could allowed others, such as scientists or college students, to

further study the effect of different environmental factors on Coleus plants or any plant.

For example, he/she could see how different light color affects the plants’ rate of

transpiration. However, he/she should remember that artificial light and natural light are

not the same. As from this experiment, natural light caused more water loss than artificial

light, thus, having a higher rate of transpiration. Therefore, artificial and natural

environmental factors should be count as different components.

Since the predicted hypothesis was supported from this experiment, it is evidently

that the Coleus plants or any other house plants under the light condition would need
more water than those in the shade to prevent desiccation because the rate of transpiration

was greater in the light environment (Johnson et al., 2009). If plants do not receive

enough amount of water to replace its high rate of transpiration in the light environment,

then their “stomatal conductance and leaf photosynthetic rate” will be reduced and thus,

their metabolism will also be decreased (Pattanagul and Madore, 1999). As a

consequence, the plants will die. However, according to Scheiber and Beeson (2007),

plants with well-watered controls would have height that was 20% or 15% greater than

those grown in a deficit-watered location. Thus, understanding how environmental

factors affect the Coleus plants as well as any organism in the ecosystem is extremely

important.

Acknowledgements:

Special thanks to Dr. Armstrong who had explained the essential process of

photosynthesis and to Jason Lang for making input in how to improve the experiment.

This work was supported by the University of Georgia.

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