plant adaptations

• what do plants need?

  plants must photosynthesise to produce glucose needed for energy and growth

  their adaptations enable them to live in many places e.g. most plants get water and mineral ions from the soil through their roots
• how are epiphytes adapted?

  they live high above the ground, attached to other plants, collecting water and nutrients from the eir in adapted leaves
• how can a plant be adapted reproductively?

  there are a small number of plants relying on bats to pollinate their flowers as they open their flowers at night, have a strong perfume and lots of nectar.
• how do plants change their surface area to adapt?

  some plants have curled leaves to reduce surface area of the leaf which also traps a layer of moist air around the leaf to reduce the amount of water loss. some desert plants have small fleshy leaves with a thick cuticle to keep water loss down and prevent evaporation
• how is marram grass adapted?

  grows on sand dunes, has tightly curled leaves to reduce SA for water loss so it can survive dry conditions
• how is butchers broom adapted?

  it lives in shady dry conditions. to reduce waterloss, its' leaves' are really flattened leaf like bits of stem. stems have far fewer stomata than true leaves, so it loses very little water
• how are cacti adapted?

  leaves have ben reduced to spines so that cacti only lose a tiny amount of water, sharp spines discourage animals from eating them.
• how have plants adapted in dry conditions in order to collect water?

  they have extensive and specially adapted root systems that spread over wide areas. this means that the plant can collect as much water as possible from the soil.
• how have plants adapted to store more water in dry conditions?

  some plants can use their fleshy leaves to store water.

  a cacti's body is actually a stem which is full of water storing tissue.