Question
Water is very essential for life. Write any three features each for plants and animals, which enable them to survive in water scarce environment.

Answer

Adaptations of plants to water scarcity, i.e. in xerophytic plants.
  1. Roots grow very deep to explore any possibility of available underground water.
  2. Many desert plants have a thick cuticle on their leaf surfaces and have their stomata arranged in deep pits to minimise water loss through transpiration. They also have a special photosynthetic pathway known as Crassulacean Acid Metabolism, (CAM) that enables their stomata to remain closed during day time so as to minimise transpiration.
  3. Some desert plants like Opuntia, have no leaves. Their leaves are reduced to spines and photosynthesis occurs in flattened stems. Adaptations of animals to water scarcity like in kangaroo rat.
  • The kangaroo rat in North American deserts is capable of meeting all its water requirement by internal oxidation of its body fat (water is a byproduct).
  • It can also concentrate its urine so that minimal volume of water is used to expel excretory products.

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