Why can't plants and animals "drink" salt water when thirsty?please include something with stomata
600353
Others have answered the question with drinking salt water.  The stomatas are pores in leaves that regulate the absorption & evaporation of water, along with gas exchange.\n\nDepending on the evnironmental condition, stomata will open up if there's lots of moisture in envoronment to absrob extra water.  If environment is dry, stomata will close to conserve its water content by reduing the evaporation.\n\nEffects of salt water on stomata, I'm not very sure but it's sure to give a lot of stress on the plant.  Stomata will open up a lot more in wet condition, and close longer & tightly during dry condition.\n\nSo main thing is, that if you give plants salt water, it's like giving very little water.
750335
I would assume that they can use the water that's in milk; however, I would think the fats, sugars, and other solids in milk could create problems with mold/fungal growth which could endanger the plant.  Since milk is more expensive than water, it seems pointless to use milk in place of water for growing a plant, but on the whole I would think it could survive for at least a while.
894124
because of osmosis.  If you have a semi-permeable membrane separating a low level of salt solution and a high level of salt solution water will always travel toward the side with a higher concentration until it reaches equilibrium (the concentration is the same on both sides).  this is the case with bacteria or any other cell.  the cell membrane is semi-permeable.  If the bacteria lands on something that is very salty or very sugary the water will move from the inside of the cell to the outside of the cell to try to reach equilibrium.  The cell will shrivel and die because the water will be leaving it.  There are very few bacteria that can withstand this.  (of course there are some that can, there is ALWAYS an exception in biology)
61042
Yes. It does. Since there is more sugar in the water outside of the plant than there is in the water in the plant, the sugar solution will be hypertonic (higher concentration of solutes). This will cause osmosis to occur, causing water to flow out of the plant and into the sugar water to equilize the content. This will drain the vacuoles in the plant cells, and cause them to shrivel up inside of the cell wall.
517414
There is a finite amount of energy in the ecosystem, regulated by the amount of sunlight plants can convert to usable forms of energy.  As you go up the food chain, a bit of this energy is lost at each level, meaning that at or above a certain trophic level, the energy input is insufficient to support an organism.  It's pouring water from bucket to bucket... You're going to spill some each time, and eventually, none will be left to pass on.
322754
i would assume that water would work best since a plant doesnt need any other ingredients excpet for the water to grow, other things that might affect the way a plant grows is the amount of sunlight and water it recieves.  This is just my guess from what i have learned in Biology.
717475
because in osmosis/ diffusion, solvent / solute moves across a barier to balance the concentration. since the water is saltier than normal, either water has to come out of the cells to dilute it, or salt has to go into the cells to make them more concentrated. either one is bad for cells, but in terms of osmosis, it is the water that does the moving, leaving the cells dehydrated.
219867
Yes.  A little drink is perfectly harmless (unless it's during a red tide or it's polluted).\n\nIt's only a serious problem when you are unable to drink anything else (like in a liferaft without fresh water).  The high salt content wouldn't quench your thirst for long and would just increase the salt in your body (further dehydrating you) and make you sick.
241145
Frogs do not have anything that is watertight. Their skin is so porous that water will enter their butts rapidly through osmosis.
289845
Yes, they have stoma which open and close pores on leaves.  Stoma are sensitive to moisture levels.  The leave turning thing is probably a different mechanism.  But yeah plants are very sensitive to water levels, esp in desert areas.  The leaves need water for photosynthesis so it makes sense that they have specialized to capture the most water.
874952
Saltwater is isotonic to a cell assuming that it has a balanced osmolarity for the particular cell.  Fresh water has essentially no ionic component, and as such will cause the cell to take up water in an attempt to balance the gradient.
430128
Non-vascular plants do not have vascular systems to carry water, nutrients, ant the products of photosynthesis throughout the plant. Non-vascular plants include mosses, ferns, hornworts, and liverworts. The mosses, hornworts, and liverworts all transport water by osmosis so they cannot grow very large. This is why they must live so close to water. Ferns have a primitive forrunner of a vascular system, but it is not really a real vascular system because they do not have true roots, and also lack xylem, which is a type of cell that carries water and nutrients up the plant, and phloem, which are cells that can carry water, nutrients, and the products of photosythesis throughout the plant. If you have any more questions, I'll check back here for updates if this was helpfull at all.
1126251
Okay, for plants to gain energy they break down sunlight through their cells in the way that is called photosynthesis. However, to do this, cells must keep their leaves open and faced towards the sunlight. Transpiration is like us sweating: we loose water in the process to cool down. The heat, air pressure, and solar radiation contribute to this. Because plants need energy, they have to open up and allow transpiration to happen. While they loose water, they gain energy. They just soak up more water from the ground. That is another reason why, if it is in a drought, that plants wither and die. They not only don't have enough water to keep themselves "fed" but the air is soaking up water when they gain energy.
120972
The water in this planet can support all of it inhabitant but places like desert have difficulties in getting enough water. We need water because we use water as a medium to cool down.
915751
It would post probably be sunlight.......some plant organisms may survive without water for long periods of time, such as ones in the desert....... but sunlight is required for green plants to make food  which unlike for humans......... food is the bigger priority than water
248224
You can lead a horse to water BUT you can not make it DRINK;\nHOWEVER, you can put salt on his oats; note SAVE the BEST untill after  the FOR BETTER OR WORSE
728410
Try to think of all the things that plants use potassium for. Potassium is extreemly important for animals - for a start it regulates our heart beat. For plants one of its major uses is to control the opening and closing of stomata, this affects the rate at which water evaporates from the leaves. Plants also use it during photosynthesis and respiration (the P in NADP etc.), so it's pretty essential. Plants can germinate without an external source of it because they generally have some in their seeds, but it will not grow or die without potassium.