Plant water relations: Identify the process whose excess leads to wilting in plants. Full question: Plants wilt due to an excessive rate of which physiological process? Choose the correct option.

Given data

• Outcome: Wilting (loss of turgor, drooping).
• Cause asked: Excess of a particular plant process.

Concept / Approach
Wilting occurs when water loss exceeds uptake, reducing cell turgor. The process that drives most water loss is transpiration (evaporation of water from leaf surfaces via stomata).

Why not the others?
Imbibition is water absorption by colloids (seeds/wood). Photosynthesis and respiration do not directly cause rapid turgor loss. Root absorption mitigates, not causes, wilting.

Mechanistic note
High temperature, low humidity, and wind increase transpiration → water potential drops → plasmolysis risk → wilting.

Final Answer
Transpiration.