Plants have a variety of adaptations to survive in different environments. Desert plants like cacti store water in their stems and have waxy coatings to reduce water loss. Grassland plants like prairie grasses have deep roots to absorb water and narrow leaves to lose less water. Forest trees vary by region - tropical trees have buttresses and shallow roots, deciduous trees drop leaves in winter and have broad leaves in summer, coniferous trees have needle-like waxy leaves and shed snow well. Tundra plants are low-growing and clump together to conserve heat in the harsh climate. Overall, plant adaptations allow them to obtain resources and protect themselves based on their environmental conditions.

1. Plant Adaptations
By Moira Whitehouse PhD

2. What do plants need to survive?
• sunlight
• carbon dioxide
• water
• the right temperature
• to reproduce
• protection

3. As a quick review from our previous
lessons, you should remember:
What part of the plant absorbs
carbon dioxide?

5. What part of the plant absorbs water?

7. What part of the plant is involved in
reproduction?

9. Carbon dioxide is generally available to
most plants from the air surrounding them.
Plants that live in dense forests do have
to compete for light.
Noting that most plants grow towards the
light, consider the these cases:
Sunshine is also generally available but in
some cases plants have actively seek it:

10. Many trees in
the forests
grow very tall to
get to the
sunlight.

11. Some rainforest
plants climb on
others to reach the
sunlight.

12. Plants that live on the forest floor are adapted
to live in the shade and require less sunlight.
Next, we consider a plant’s need to reproduce?

13. Plants reproduce mainly by flowering seeds or
cones.
http://macmillanmh.com/
science/2008/student/na/
scienceinmotion/Commo
n/SIM.html?Module=../Gr
ade3/Chapter2-
LifeCycles/
Let’s use the internet
to see at how plants
with flowers and
cones reproduce.
Many plant adaptations are related to
reproduction but we won’t be going there
today.

14. To protect themselves, plants cannot run away
from animals that want to eat them, such as
deer, goats, bears, insects, and rabbits. But
many plants do have ways to protect
themselves.
Some plants have
thorns on their leaves
or stems.
Some plants taste
bitter.

15. Some plants are poisonous and cause a
rash on an animal’s skin. You may be
familiar with the rash caused by poison
ivy.

16. Many of a plant’s adaptations have to
do with getting and retaining water.
A plant gets water through its roots and
loses water through its leaves .

17. Most plant adaptations seem to have come
about because of the plant’s water supply.
The rest of this presentation will be about
how plants have adapted in the regions of
the Earth that are defined largely their
temperature and by how much or how little
water they normally get.
We will consider plant adaptations in:
1) deserts, 2) grasslands, savannas, prairie
and steppe grasslands, 3) forests, rain,
deciduous and coniferous and 4) the Tundra.

18. First, some plant adaptations found in
Desert plants.
The desert regions shown in brown are dry and
generally hot, and often have poor soil that holds
little water.

19. Plants in
deserts either
have 1) long
roots that
spread out
wide and
absorb a lot of
water when it
does rain or
2) roots that
grow deep into
the ground.

20. Waxy
coating on
the leaves
or stems
reduce
loss of
water.
Desert plants
often store
water in their
stems or leaves.
Cactuses have
stems but no
leaves.

21. Hair or spines
help shade the
plant so it does
not lose so much
water.

22. Deep root
system or

23. Next, some plant adaptations found in
Grassland plants.
The grassland regions can be divided into
Savannas (tropical grassland) shown here in
yellow which generally have a warm climate and
always have definite wet and dry seasons, and:

24. the prairie and steppes regions of the Earth.
These regions, shown here in yellow have mainly
dry weather, deep fertile soil, and are usually hot
in the summer and cold in the winter.

25. Roots of
grassland/prairie
grasses extend deep
into the ground to
absorb as much
moisture as they
can.

26. Grassland/
prairie
grasses
have
narrow
leaves
which lose
less water
than broad
leaves.

27. Baobab tree in African
grassland has huge
trunk to store water
during the dry season

28. Next, some plant adaptations found in
the forests of the world.
There are three forest regions. The Tropical Rain
Forests shown here in dark green which seldom
get below 68 degrees, get about 100 inches of rain
each year and have less than one inch of top soil.

29. Tropical rainforest trees have shallow
roots because the soil is so thin.
Buttresses and stilt roots help prop up
plants in the shallow soil.

30. Many rainforest leaves have “drip tips”—a
pointed shape which helps drain excess
water from the leaf.

31. Epiphytic orchids have
aerial roots that cling
to the host plant.
They absorb
minerals, and water
from the atmosphere.

32. Continuing with plant adaptations found in
the forests of the world.
The deciduous Forests shown here in dark
green, have four seasons with rain in the summer
and rain or snow in the winter.
The temperature varies from hot in the
summer to below freezing in the winter.
Rain is plentiful, about 30 to 50 inches per
year but the trees become dormant in the
winter when there is less water available.

33. to absorb as much sunlight as possible.
In both the tropical rain forest and deciduous
forest the trees have BIG LEAVES
Water loss through these big leaves is not a
problem because these regions normally get
adequate water.

34. The thin, broad, light-weight leaves of the
deciduous trees can capture a lot of sunlight to
make a lot of food for the tree in warm weather.

35. Most deciduous
trees have deep
spreading roots—
as wide as the
canopy.

36. When the weather gets cooler, the broad leaves
cause too much water loss and can be weighed
down by snow, so the tree drops its
leaves. New ones will grow in the spring.

37. These
regions have short summers and long cold
winters.
Continuing with adaptations found in the
forests of the world we consider the coniferous
forest shown here in dark green.
Temperature not hot in the summer but
very cold in the winter. Moisture is
generally good in the spring and
summer, but freezes and is not available
for the plants in the winter.

38. Long roots to hold up tall trees.

39. Needle-like
leaves with waxy
covering help
reduce water loss
during freezing
weather.
They do not drop leaves
(needles) all at once in fall.
They are kept throughout the
year to make food whenever
sunshine and water are
available (short summers).

40. The triangular shape of many conifer
trees helps shed heavy snow to save
branches from breaking.

41. Finally, we consider plant adaptations found
in the Tundra shown below in brown. This is
a vast, flat, treeless Arctic region of
Europe, Asia, and North America in which the
subsoil is permanently frozen.

42. These tundra plants are
low-growing to avoid
the harsh winds.
This plant grows
in a clump to
help conserve
heat.

43. Shallow roots to absorb the limited water.

44. In conclusion, we have touched on just a
tiny sample of the remarkable adaptations
plants around the world have made in order
to survive. The thing to remember is that
plants, as well as animals, must satisfy their
needs in order to survive, they have to
to conditions in their environment.
adap
t