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Plants are some of the oldest complex organisms on the planet, and they have had time to colonize most of the earth's surface. In almost any environment where there is availability of water in a liquid state and some sunlight arrives, we can find plants.
However, in order to survive in such a large number of environments and climates, and with such diverse circumstances, a large number of adaptations of plants to environmental factors have had to be developed. If you want to learn more about how plants adapt to the environment, join us in this interesting article by Green Ecologist about what are the adaptations of plants with examples.
Types of plant adaptations
Plants have to adapt to its environment to survive, like other living things. They have to adjust their structures and metabolism to factors such as soils, water, temperature, light, and so on. Some of the adaptations that plants have managed to do throughout their evolution are:
- Thorns
- Acicular or needle-shaped leaves.
- Very large leaves to receive more sunlight.
- Fleshy leaves.
- Fleshy stems.
- Thick roots, such as tubers or rhizomes.
- Very extensive roots.
- Roots adapted to always being submerged in water, with or without contact with the ground.
- Rotating movement to get more sunlight.
- Reduce your metabolism to a minimum.
We recommend you read this other article about the Origin and evolution of plants.
Plant adaptations to the soil
Among the many factors that plants must adapt to in their different environments, one of the most important is undoubtedly the soil, which is a source of minerals and support for most species. This is influenced by the pH of the soil, its porosity, its level of permeability or its salinity, among others.
- Thus we find the calcareous plants, which are those that grow in alkaline soils, with a pH below 7. Their adaptations are aimed at capturing iron in that environment, necessary for the synthesis of chlorophyll.
- At the other end are the siliciculous plants, that live in acid soils with a pH above 7. This type of soils tend to be sandy, which is why they are poor in nutrients. Some examples of plants that adapt to this type of soils are chestnut and cork oak.
- We also have the halophilic plants, which grow in soils with high salinity, which makes it difficult to capture water.
- In addition, there are also the gypsy plants, who live in soils with a high gypsum content.
- The nitrophilic plants they develop in soils with excess nutrients that would poison unadapted species.
This area could also include the aquatic plant adaptations, which grow floating on water or submerged. These plants do not need to develop complex water catchment or storage systems, but instead have to adapt to ensure that their flowers stay above water to facilitate pollination, for example. Here you can learn more about +50 aquatic plants: names, characteristics and images.
Plant adaptations to temperature
Generally speaking, plants can only survive between 0ºC and 45ºC. Below the freezing point, the water freezes and the plant has no way of absorbing it, eliminating it or processing it in another way, while above 45 ºC the vegetable becomes paralyzed due to the cessation of its proteins.
Depending on the range of temperatures that a plant can withstand, they are classified into Eurithermal plants and in stenothermic plants. The former survive in a wide range of temperatures, while that of the latter is very small, like that of the tropical plants or their own plants from very cold areas, which require greater specialization.
When a plant needs to adapt to the cold, what it usually does is develop tools or systems to reduce its metabolism as much as possible, especially during times of lower temperatures. They tend to be deciduous and small in size to make freezing difficult. Many of them complete their life cycle in less than a year, to die in winter and pass the cold season in seed form. In this other post you can learn about the deciduous flora of the deciduous forests: characteristics, flora and fauna. On the other hand, in this other link, you will find tropical flora, adapted to the high temperatures and high humidity of tropical forests: characteristics, flora and fauna.
Plant adaptations to light
The amount of light available is another vital factor for plants, since without it they cannot perform photosynthesis and make its necessary nutrients. The heliophilic plants are those that need a large contribution of light to develop, while the sciophilic plants They thrive in shady or semi-shady conditions. The former reduce their number of stomata to lose less water when they receive more solar radiation, while the sciophiles increase it by not having problems of excess perspiration.
In heavily vegetated environments, such as tropical jungles, a large amount of adaptations of plants in the absence of light, given that the competition to achieve this is very great. Thus appear the epiphytic plants that grow on the trunks or branches of other plants rather than on the ground. Some examples are:
- The orchids.
- Bromeliads.
- Some ferns.
To further expand this knowledge you can enter here and learn about 25 indoor plants that need little light and Epiphytic Plants: what are they, types and examples.
Plant adaptations in the desert and examples
Is named xerophytes to plants that develop and live in very dry environments, that is, these are the desert plants. The plant adaptations in arid areas as these are very marked, since they are species that need to fight against high temperatures and a shortage of water, in many cases, extreme. To do this, they have adapted by modifying their leaves until they become very narrow and in many cases turning them into thorns, as well as increasing the volume of some parts of its structure, such as the stem, the root or the leaves, so that it becomes a water store, that is why we speak of succulent or succulent plants.
Some examples of plant adaptations in these cases they are The Cactus.
- The Carnegiea gigantea, or saguaro cactus, is a large arboreal cactus, endemic to the Sonoran Desert. This plant, like many succulents, has developed a very thick fleshy stem, capable of storing a high amount of water inside. In addition, its leaves are thorns that protect it from herbivorous predation and its root system is extraordinarily extensive despite being shallow, to be able to absorb the little moisture that the soil contains more effectively. In addition, it controls its water loss through perspiration exceptionally well.
- Other species, such as the so-called mesquiteThey are trees that develop a deep root system, so deep that it can reach underground water sources more than 40 meters deep and can grow back from its roots.
We encourage you to learn more with this post about 25 desert plants.
If you want to read more articles similar to Plant adaptations: types and examples, we recommend that you enter our Biology category.
