Adaptations
• An adaptive feature is an inherited feature that helps an organism to survive and
reproduce in its environment
• You should be able to interpret images or other information about a species in order to
describe its adaptive features, for example:
• Plants that live in different types of habitat have leaves that show adaptations for
survival. The table shows some features of the leaves of three species of plant from
different types of habitat.
SPECIES HABITAT ORIENTATION INDIVIDUAL MEAN STOMATAL
OF THE LEAF AREA DENSITY / NUMBER
LEAVES / cm2 OF STOMATA PER mm2
UPPER LOWER
EPIDERMIS EPIDERMIS
ANNUAL GRASSLAND VERTICAL 1 - 10 125 135
MEADOW
GRASS, POA
ANNUA
WHITE WATER THE SURFACE HORIZONTAL MORE THAN 460 NONE
LILY, NYMPAEA
OF PONDS AND 1000
ALBA
LAKES
COMMON DRY HORIZONTAL 2-4 NONE 508
MYRTLE,
SCRUBLAND
MYRTUS
COMMUNIS
A typical question might be to explain how the leaf area
and distribution and density of stomata help different species of plant survive
in their different habitats
Adaptations & Fitness
• Adaptive features are the inherited functional features of an organism that increase
its fitness
• Fitness is the probability of an organism surviving and reproducing in the
environment in which it is found
Hydrophytes & Xerophytes
Hydrophytes
• Plants adapted to live in extremely wet conditions
• Common adaptations include:
• Large air spaces in their leaves to keep them close to the surface of the water
where there is more light for photosynthesis
• Small roots as they can also extract nutrients from the surrounding water through
their tissues
• Stomata usually open all the time and mainly found on the upper epidermis of the
leaf where they can exchange gases much more easily with the air
Hydrophytes are adapted to live in wet conditions such as ponds
Xerophytes
• Plant adapted to live in extremely dry conditions
• Common adaptations include:
• Thick waxy cuticle – the cuticle cuts down water loss in two ways: it acts as
a barrier to evaporation and also the shiny surface reflects heat and so lowers
temperature
• Sunken stomata: stomata may be sunk in pits in the epidermis; moist air trapped
here lengthens the diffusion pathway and reduces evaporation rate
• Leaf rolled with stomata inside and an inner surface covered in hairs – traps moist
air and prevents air movement across stomata which reduces transpiration
• Small leaves: many xerophytic plants have small, needle-shaped leaves which
reduce the surface area and therefore the evaporating surface
• Extensive shallow roots allowing for the quick absorption of large quantities of
water when it rains
• Thickened leaves or stems which contain cells that store water
Xerophytes are adapted to live in extremely dry conditions
such as deserts
