Plant adaptations (1 Viewer)

[Aprilpeters]

hey guys. i' had a practical about plant adaptations and how they avoid loss of water or something. we had to learn thier structures, ther shape, shiny surface and etc. but how do they stop water loss or transpiration? Help please? Appreciated.

 

[zingerburger]

Take leaf shape for example: some plants (like spinifex grass) have needle-like leaves, which helps reduce the surface area of the leaf that is exposed to the sun, reducing water loss.

It's mostly common sense and logic. Think about it: what does a shiny surface do? Reflect light, meaning it reflects heat from the sun. What do vertically-hanging leaves do? Reduce their exposure to the sun during the hottest part of the day, while still allowing for photosynthesis in the morning and afternoon.

Stomates (where water is lost in the leaves through transpiration) positioned on the underside of the also reduce water loss by reducing exposure to the sun. Leaf curling helps trap air to create a humid space so that water is not lost through air currents.

 

[.x.Cookie.x.]

Plants have many adaptations to enable them to conserve water. Many Australian plants, in particular, have evolved features that permit them to survive under dry conditions.

Some plant structures that may be specially adapted for conserving water include:

• Leaf surface area
• Positioning of stomates
• Shape of leaves
• Depth and nature of roots
• Arrangement of leaves
• Thickness of cuticle
• Number of stomates
• colour of leaf surface

For example, Porcupine grass which is a desert grass often grows in sandy soils, it also has shallow and widely spread roots near the surface to quickly absorb any available rainfall. The long, narrow leaves of the grass are rolled and the stomates are found at the bottom of pits inside the rolled surface.

The rolling of leaves and sinking of stomates in pits means that a high humidity is maintained around the openings of the stomates and the effects of wind around the stomates is reduced.

You should know that high humidity reduces evaporation. Maintaining humidity around the openings of the stomates reduces water loss in this way. It probably means that the porcupine grass also is a bit hotter than it would have been if it hadn't rolled its leaves, but atleast it is conserving water. Its light, shiny leaf surfaces also help here as they reflect a lot of the heat from the sun.

Hope this helps =]

 

[Aprilpeters]

tnx heapz guys
it helped a lot

 

[Shadose]

Also the hair on some plants trap moisture and also provides some shade.