Plant Adaptations What does Adaptation mean Plant Adaptations What does Adaptation mean? The special characteristics that enable plants and animals to be successful in a particular environment are called adaptations. Adaptations help a plant to: · Get Sunlight, Water, Air, or Nutrients · Not be eaten · Stay put · Reproduce

Tropical Rainforest Plant Type Adaptation Bark: limits evaporation Lianas: woody vines that climb to reach sunlight Drip Tips: enable raindrops to reach roots Buttresses, Prop and Stilt Roots: give support in shallow, wet soil Bromeliads: leaves form a tank that holds water Epiphytes: don’t require soil, “air plants” Carnivorous Plants

Desert Plant Name Adaptation Roots: grow near the surface to collect rainwater quickly Thick Stems: to store water Leaves with hair: help shade the plant, reducing water loss.  Spines: to discourage animals from eating plants for water; Waxy coating on stems and leaves: help reduce water loss. Flowers that open at night: lure pollinators who are more likely to be active during the cooler night. Slower growing: requires less energy.  The plants don't have to make as much food and therefore do not lose as much water.

Deciduous Forest Tundra Plant Name Adaptation Deciduous Trees drop their leaves Broad, thin, light-weight leaves: capture sunlight Thick bark: protect against cold winters Tundra Size:(usually less than 12 inches tall) and low-growing due to lack of nutrients, because being close to the ground helps keep the plants from freezing, and because the roots cannot penetrate the permafrost. Plants are dark in color: some are even red—this helps them absorb solar heat. Hair: helps keep them warm. Grow in clumps: protect one another from the wind and cold. Dish-like flowers: focusing more solar heat on the center of the flower, helping the plant stay warm.

Grassland Taiga Plant Name Adaptation Thick bark: resist fire Roots: resprout after a fire Roots: extend deep into the ground to absorb as much moisture as they can Extensive root systems: prevent grazing animals from pulling roots out of the ground Narrow leaves: which lose less water than broad leaves Soft stems: enable prairie grasses to bend in the wind Taiga Evergreen: so that plants can photosynthesize right away when temperatures rise needle-like leaves: which shape loses less water and sheds snow more easily than broad leaves/ waxy coating prevents evaporation Needles are dark in color: allowing more solar heat to be absorbed Branches that droop downward: to help shed excess snow to keep the branches from breaking

In Water Plant Type Adaptation Underwater leaves and stems: flexible to move with water currents Air spaces in their stems: to help hold the plant up in the water Roots and root hairs: reduced or absent; roots only needed for anchorage, not for absorption of nutrients and water Leaves that float atop the water: exposing themselves to the sunlight Chlorophyll is restricted to upper surface of leaves (part that the sunlight will hit) and the upper surface is waxy to repel water Produce seeds that can float