Plants and Adaptation

1. Plants and Adaptation By: Nawal Syeda 8-C

2. Adaptation of Plants • Plants have adaptations to help them survive (live and grow) in different areas. Adaptations are special features that allow a plant or animal to live in a particular place or habitat. These adaptations might make it very difficult for the plant to survive in a different place. This explains why certain plants are found in one area, but not in another. For example, you wouldn't see a cactus living in the Arctic.

3. Importance of photosynthesis • Once plants can’t make their own food using photosynthesis. The whole food chain breaks down slowly. Photosynthesis is the main energy source. A good example could be a food chain. If plants couldn’t make their own food using photosyenthessi. There wouldn’t be any producers left in the ecosystem. Once there’s no producers, the rest of the food chain gets affected. There wouldn’t be any food for the primary consumers (herbivores). Gradually the primary consumers would die down. One by one. Eventually there wouldn’t be any food for the secondary consumers (Carnivores) because there aren’t any primary consumers. The same situation relates to the a food web.

4. Energy flow The energy pyramid shows many trees and shrubs providing food and energy to giraffes. Note that ass we go up, there are fewer giraffes than trees & shrubs and even fewer lions than giraffes … as we go further along the food chain, there are fewer and fewer consumers. In other words, a larger mass of living things at the base is required to support a few at the top … many herbivores are needed to support a few carnivores.

5. Carbon dioxide and Oxygen • Biology plays an important role in the movement of carbon between land, ocean, and atmosphere through the processes of photosynthesis and respiration. Almost all multicelluar life on earth depends on photosynthesis and respiration in order to produce the energy needed for movement, growth and reproduction. Plants take in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere during photosynthesis and then they release CO2 back into the atmosphere during respiration through the following chemical reactions:

6. Matter Cycled • There are 6 elements that make up most of the living matter which is, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulphur. We constantly need these elements in order to get proteins, carbohydrates. Basically what a living thing needs in order to survive. If these elements weren’t cycled living organisms wouldn’t get the nutrients required in order to survive.

7. Human activities upset the balances of gases. • Humans have a mass population. If they continue their daily activities like driving cars, factory workers and pesticides. Cars and release gases like carbon monoxide which id highly dangerous to living things. So are factories they release carbon dioxide. If these gases keep emitting even more than others, its could affect living life. And global warming and the hole in the ozone layer. Is people continue using pesticides, this could affect the food chains. If one part of the food chain/web is affected (since food chains/webs are linked.) All of it collapse, soon every living organism will get affected.