Exrection

Excretion is the process by which metabolic wastes and other non-useful materials are eliminated from an organism. In vertebrates this is primarily carried out by the lungs, kidneys and skin. This is in contrast with secretion, where the substance may have specific tasks after leaving the cell. Excretion is an essential process in all forms of life. For example, in mammals urine is expelled through the urethra, which is part of the excretory system. In unicellular organisms, waste products are discharged directly through the surface of the cell.

Green plants produce carbon dioxide and water as respiratory products. In green plants, the carbon dioxide released during respiration gets utilized during photosynthesis. Oxygen is a by product generated during photosynthesis, and exits through stomata, root cell walls, and other routes. Plants can get rid of excess water by transpiration and guttation. It has been shown that the leaf acts as an ‘excretophore’ and, in addition to being a primary organ of photosynthesis, is also used as a method of excreting toxic wastes via diffusion. Other waste materials that are exuded by some plants — resin, saps, latex, etc. are forced from the interior of the plant by hydrostatic pressures inside the plant and by absorptive forces of plant cells. These latter processes do not need added energy, they act passively. However, during the pre-abscission phase, the metabolic levels of a leaf are high.  Plants also excrete some waste substances into the soil around them.

In animals, the main excretory products are carbon dioxide, ammonia (in ammoniotelics), urea (in ureotelics), uric acid (in uricotelics), guanine (in Arachnida) and creatine. The liver and kidneys clear many substances from the blood (for example, in renal excretion), and the cleared substances are then excreted from the body in the urine and feces.

Aquatic animals usually excrete ammonia directly into the external environment, as this compound has high solubility and there is ample water available for dilution. In terrestrial animals ammonia-like compounds are converted into other nitrogenous materials as there is less water in the environment and ammonia itself is toxic.

Birds excrete their nitrogenous wastes as uric acid in the form of a paste. Although this process is metabolically more expensive, it allows more efficient water retention and it can be stored more easily in the egg. Many avian species, especially seabirds, can also excrete salt via specialized nasal salt glands, the saline solution leaving through nostrils in the beak.

In insects, a system involving Malpighian tubules is utilized to excrete metabolic waste. Metabolic waste diffuses or is actively transported into the tubule, which transports the wastes to the intestines. The metabolic waste is then released from the body along with fecal matter.

The excreted material may be called Maxineejecta. In pathology the word ejecta is more commonly used.

Excretion occurs in plants and animals as they both have waste products to be removed from their bodies. Plants are less complex in structure than animals, and have their own means of excretion.

Plants eliminate some waste through diffusion. During the day, excess oxygen gas produced by photosynthesis is released through the stomata. Carbon dioxide produced by respiration is normally used up during photosynthesis. At night, however, as photosynthesis slows, carbon dioxide is not used up as fast as it is produced, and it is released as a waste product. Plants also produce oxygen as a by-product of photosynthesis. The oxygen that is not used for respiration is also excreted through the stomata.

Plants also eliminate waste by the accumulation of waste in the vacuoles of the aging leave cells. These leaves will eventually die and fall off, removing waste in the process. This process is called abscission.

In temperate countries, such as the UK and the USA, during autumn the leaves change to a bright array of colours. This is due to the storage of waste pigment in the leaves.

Have you ever noticed sticky, milky or oily substances being oozed from the bark of trees? These are excretory products and may be resins, gums, latex and or other excretory products. These products maybe poisonous, however many have found use in everyday life of humans, such as latex which is used to produce gloves and clothing.

Excretory Substances

Carbon Dioxide

This is a by-product of respiration of both plants and animals. If it is allowed to accumulate in the cells and associated tissue fluid; the pH will be lowered. Since enzymes are pH sensitive, the Carbon dioxide must be removed.

Carbon dioxide is excreted through the pores of the stomata in plants (some of the carbon dioxide produced by respiration is used in photosynthesis). In man, carbon dioxide is transported by the blood from the cells, where it is produced. The blood then travels to the lungs where it enters the alveolus (air sac). Here carbon dioxide diffuses from the blood into the air sacs and leaves the body through exhalation.

Water

The concentration of water in cells must be kept within narrow limits. Too little or too much water can have a negative effect on the osmotic condition in and around the cell. Therefore, it has to be regulated. Plant cells are protected from bursting by their cell walls. Animals do not have cell walls, and will burst if they have too much water. Excess water is lost from the surface of gaseous exchange in both plants and animals. In mammals, water is also lost through sweat and through osmo-regulation controlled by the kidneys.

Urea

This is a compound produced in mammals from the breakdown of excess amino acids. Amino acids cannot be stored because their accumulation is toxic. They are therefore converted into a less toxic substance. This process occurs in the liver and is called de-aminiation.

De-amination results in the amino acid being broken down into 2 parts. One is a carbohydrate or fat where it is used for respiration or stored for later energy use. The other part of the broken amino acid contains ammonia and is highly toxic. Ammonia is converted to urea by the liver.  Urea is transported by blood to the kidneys where they are excreted.

The kidneys are also used to remove uric acid, water, excess salts, excess hormones and bile pigments.

Calcium oxalate

This is a waste material produced by plants and is stored as an insoluble crystalline structure in the cells. Calcium oxalate is stored in aging leaves, stems and roots, flowers or fruits.

Oxygen

Through the process of photosynthesis, oxygen is produced as a by-product. Some of the oxygen is used for respiration, and the remainder is excreted through the stomata of the leaves.

In plants, some waste substances are stored in parts of the plant that are dead. Examples of this are the tannin in the bark of trees such as mangroves and the dyes in the heartwood of trees such as logwood. The purpose of the storage of waste material ranges from protection to a decreased risk of being consumed.

Excretory Organs

Stomata

In botany, a stoma (plural “stomata”), also called a stomate (plural “stomates”), is a pore, found in the epidermis of leaves, stems, and other organs, that facilitates gas exchange. The pore is bordered by a pair of specialized parenchyma cells known as guard cells that are responsible for regulating the size of the stomatal opening.

The term is usually used collectively to refer to the entire stomatal complex, consisting of the paired guard cells and the pore itself, which is referred to as the stomatal aperture.Air enters the plant through these openings by gaseous diffusion, and contains carbon dioxide and oxygen, which are used in photosynthesis and respiration, respectively. Oxygen produced as a by-product of photosynthesis diffuses out to the atmosphere through these same openings. Also, water vapor diffuses through the stomata into the atmosphere in a process called transpiration.

Stomata are present in the sporophyte generation of all land plant groups except liverworts. In vascular plants the number, size and distribution of stomata varies widely. Dicotyledons usually have more stomata on the lower surface of the leaves than the upper surface. Monocotyledons such as onion, oat and maize may have about the same number of stomata on both leaf surfaces.  In plants with floating leaves, stomata may be found only on the upper epidermis and submerged leaves may lack stomata entirely. Most tree species have stomata only on the lower leaf surface. Leaves with stomata on both the upper and lower leaf are called amphistomatous leaves; leaves with stomata only on the lower surface are hypostomatous, and leaves with stomata only on the upper surface are epistomatous or hyperstomatous. Size varies across species, with end-to-end lengths ranging from 10 to 80 µm and width ranging from a few to 50 µm.

Lenticels

A lenticel is a porous tissue consisting of cells with large intercellular spaces in the periderm of the secondarily thickened organs and the bark of woody stems and roots of dicotyledonous flowering plants. It functions as a pore, providing a pathway for the direct exchange of gases between the internal tissues and atmosphere through the bark, which is otherwise impermeable to gases. The name lenticel, pronounced with an [s], derives from its lenticular (lens-like) shape. The shape of lenticels is one of the characteristics used for tree identification.

Hydrathodes

A hydathode is a type of pore, commonly found in angiosperms, that secretes water through pores in the epidermis or leaf margin, typically at the tip of a marginal tooth or serration. Hydathodes occur in the leaves of submerged aquatic plants such as Ranunculus fluitans as well as herbaceous plants of drier habitats such as Campanula rotundifolia. They are connected to the plant vascular system by a vascular bundle. Hydathodes are commonly seen in water lettuce, water hyacinth, rose, balsam, and many other species.

Hydathodes are made of a group of living cells with numerous intercellular spaces filled with water, but few or no chloroplasts, and represent modified bundle-ends. These cells open out into one or more sub-epidermal chambers. These, in turn, communicate with the exterior through an open water stoma or open pore. The water stoma structurally resembles an ordinary stoma, but is usually larger and has lost the power of movement.

Hydathodes are involved in the process of guttation, in which positive xylem pressure (due to root pressure) causes liquid to exude from the pores. Some halophytes possess glandular trichomes that actively secrete salt in order to reduce the concentration of cytotoxic inorganic ions in their cytoplasm; this may lead to the formation of a white powdery substance on the surface of the leaf.

Hydathodes are of two types:

1. passive hydathodes, formed when a leaf vein terminates in an epithem (an area of thin-walled parenchyma).
2. active hydathodes, formed when epidermal cells lose water actively

Vacuoles

A vacuole (/ˈvækjuːoʊl/) is a membrane-bound organelle which is present in all plant and fungal cells and some protist, animal and bacterial cells. Vacuoles are essentially enclosed compartments which are filled with water containing inorganic and organic molecules including enzymes in solution, though in certain cases they may contain solids which have been engulfed. Vacuoles are formed by the fusion of multiple membrane vesicles and are effectively just larger forms of these. The organelle has no basic shape or size; its structure varies according to the needs of the cell.

The function and significance of vacuoles varies greatly according to the type of cell in which they are present, having much greater prominence in the cells of plants, fungi and certain protists than those of animals and bacteria. In general, the functions of the vacuole include:

• Isolating materials that might be harmful or a threat to the cell
• Containing waste products
• Containing water in plant cells
• Maintaining internal hydrostatic pressure or turgor within the cell
• Maintaining an acidic internal pH
• Containing small molecules
• Exporting unwanted substances from the cell
• Allows plants to support structures such as leaves and flowers due to the pressure of the central vacuole
• By increasing in size, allows the germinating plant or its organs (such as leaves) to grow very quickly and using up mostly just water.
• In seeds, stored proteins needed for germination are kept in ‘protein bodies’, which are modified vacuoles.

Vacuoles also play a major role in autophagy, maintaining a balance between biogenesis (production) and degradation (or turnover), of many substances and cell structures in certain organisms. They also aid in the lysis and recycling of misfolded proteins that have begun to build up within the cell. Thomas Boller  and others proposed that the vacuole participates in the destruction of invading bacteria and Robert B Mellor proposed organ-specific forms have a role in ‘housing’ symbiotic bacteria. In protists, vacuoles have the additional function of storing food which has been absorbed by the organism and assisting in the digestive and waste management process for the cell.

The vacuole probably evolved several times independently, even within the Viridiplantae.

Roots

The term root crops refers to any edible underground plant structure, but many root crops are actually stems, such as potato tubers. Edible roots include cassava, sweet potato, beet, carrot, rutabaga, turnip, parsnip, radish, yam and horseradish. Spices obtained from roots include sassafras, angelica, sarsaparilla and licorice.

Sugar beet is an important source of sugar. Yam roots are a source of estrogen compounds used in birth control pills. The fish poison and insecticide rotenone is obtained from roots of Lonchocarpus spp. Important medicines from roots are ginseng, aconite, ipecac, gentian and reserpine. Several legumes that have nitrogen-fixing root nodules are used as green manure crops, which provide nitrogen fertilizer for other crops when plowed under. Specialized bald cypress roots, termed knees, are sold as souvenirs, lamp bases and carved into folk art. Native Americans used the flexible roots of white spruce for basketry.

Tree roots can heave and destroy concrete sidewalks and crush or clog buried pipes.^[20] The aerial roots of strangler fig have damaged ancient Mayan temples in Central Americaand the temple of Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

Trees stabilize soil on a slope prone to landslides. The root hairs work as an anchor on the soil.

Vegetative propagation of plants via cuttings depends on adventitious root formation. Hundreds of millions of plants are propagated via cuttings annually including chrysanthemum, poinsettia, carnation, ornamental shrubs and many houseplants.

Roots can also protect the environment by holding the soil to reduce soil erosion. This is especially important in areas such as sand dunes.