Transcript Plant Structures and adaptation to their environment

Plant Structures and
adaptation to their
environment
There are over a hundred thousand
different plant species in the world,
many of which we don’t even know
about yet.
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Plants have developed to fit almost every niche
that our world has to offer. You find plants
everywhere from the bottom of the oceans, to
the tops of mountains and everywhere in
between.
How do plants do this?
You may have noticed that although
plants are everywhere, they are very
different
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Can you list all of the different ways plants in
the desert have adapted to survive there?
What about the plants in Northern Alberta?
The rain forest?
Different Plants Have Different
Needs.
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Each type of plant thrives in a different type of
environment. The characteristics of the
environment that influence a plants success
include
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The amount of light available.
The amount of water.
The amount of space available.
The amount and types of nutrients available.
Different plants use different
amounts of nutrients.
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Nutrients are substances that provide energy and
materials for plants to grow.
There are five main types of nutrients that plants use,
but not all plants use them equally. For example a
pine tree might use a lot of nitrogen but not very
much phosphorous, but a cactus might use a lot of
phosphorous, and not much nitrogen.
There are five main types of nutrients that plants use
that you should know. They are
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Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Potassium, Calcium, and
Magnesium.
Conifers and Cactus’: The same
only different
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Both cactus’ and pine trees have developed
thick cuticles on their leaves to protect
against water loss.
Can you think of any other ways the two are
the same?
What about differences?
Both conifers and cactus have thick waxy cuticles to help preserve water, both
have spikey leaves to protect them, Even though they are a lot the same they are
also very different. Cactus’s live in much hotter climates, but they still share
different features.
How are plants in the rainforest
adapted????
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The rainforest is so densely covered that plants have
had to adapt to survive.
Because all plants need sunlight plants in the
rainforest have begun an evolutionary battle for
sunlight.
Some plants have adapted by growing taller than all
of the others so that they get the light first.
Some have become very dense so that they catch all
of the light that the taller plants miss.
Some have adapted to live on the taller trees, and
some have adapted to survive with only a little bit of
light.
A picture of rainforest layers
In the rainforest Immature plants only
reach maturity when a large plant dies.
The immature plant will then fill the
space that the older plant left in the
canopy layer.
In seasonal places some plants have adapted
to do most of their growing before the other
plants have sprouted their leaves and there is
a lot of light is available. Once the larger
trees are covered in leaves the smaller plants
reduce or totally stop growing.
Annual vs Perennial
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Annual plants are plants that will
grow for only one season. Annual
plants will bloom produce seeds and
then die.
Perennial plants will grow and
continue to produce seeds for a
number of years. Perennial plants
tend to be larger and more complex
because they have more time to
develop.
Perennial plants often have bulbs.
When winter comes the rest of the
plant will die but the bulb remians in
the soil and grows a new plant the
next year.
Coniferous vs deciduous trees
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Deciduous trees are also known as
broadleaf trees because the leaves are
generally larger and wider than those
of conifers. The larger leaf size
means a greater surface area for
photosynthesis, but it also mean the
leaf is too fragile to withstand winter
conditions. Therefore, most
deciduous trees drop their leaves in
autumn.
Coniferous trees keep their leaves
throughout the year, shedding only
the oldest leaves. Usually these leaves
are lower down on the tree and do not
receive as much sunlight as newly
developed leaves higher up. Some of
the best-known members of the
conifer family are pines, spruces, firs,
and hemlocks. The cones of the
conifers are its flowers.
Plant adaptations
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There are thousands of ways that plants have
adapted to their environment many more that
can be covered in class.
Can you think of some reasons that some
plants are poisonous, while others are sweet?
Why some are tall while others barely get off
the ground?
What other adaptations can you think of that
plants have developed?