Plant Adaptations - xerophytic

• Plants with adaptations to live in hot and dry conditions are called xerophytic
• Adaptations for survival in hot desert environments include:

  • Small leaves to reduce water loss through transpiration
  • Tap roots that reach deep underground for water access
  • Spines instead of leaves, like cactuses, to reduce water loss and deter animals
  • Waxy skin on leaves to reduce water loss by transpiration
  • Water storage in stems, leaves, roots, or fruits, especially in succulents
• Tap roots are long roots (7-10 meters) that reach deep underground to access water supplies
• Spines on some plants, like cacti, lose less water than leaves and also deter animals from eating the plant
• Some leaves have a thick, waxy skin to reduce water loss by transpiration
• Succulents are plants that store water in their stems, leaves, roots, or fruits
• The Thar Desert in northwest India is one of the major hot deserts of the world with the highest population density
• Many people in the Thar Desert are subsistence farmers, but with increasing development opportunities, the human population is also growing
• Despite its extreme climate, the Thar Desert provides development opportunities like mining valuable minerals, energy generation using solar panels and wind energy, commercial arable farming through irrigation, and tourism at the Thar Desert National Park
• Challenges of development in the Thar Desert include extreme temperatures exceeding 50°C, limited water supply requiring sustainable use, waterlogging from over-irrigation, and inaccessibility due to the desert's vast area and poor infrastructure
• Desertification is the spread of desert conditions in arid regions due to human activities, drought, or climate change
• Strategies to reduce desertification:

  • Planting more trees to hold soil together and reduce erosion
  • Improving soil quality by reducing grazing animals and growing crops
  • Water management through techniques like earth dams to store and irrigate crops