Video Transcript
The photograph shows a tillandsia
plant, or air plant. These plants have adapted to rely
on their leaves instead of their roots to absorb their nutrients and moisture from
the air. What kind of adaptation is
that?
This question is asking us about
adaptations of this plant. What does adaptation mean? An adaptation is a characteristic
of an organism that makes it well suited to its environment and gives it a better
chance of survival.
In this question, we’re looking at
a tillandsia plant, which is a plant that grows in the desert. A desert is a region of land that
doesn’t get very much rain or precipitation. And without much rain, the
organisms that live in a desert need to adapt to this dry environment.
There’s different types of
adaptations that organisms can have to their environment, for example, structural or
behavioral adaptations. Let’s look at an example of the
cactus, which is a plant that’s adapted to desert life. Cacti have developed different ways
to store and save water. An example of a structural
adaptation in a cactus is that they have a thick waxy surface. This thick skin helps keep water
inside the cactus plant. Cacti generally grow very
slowly. Because they grow slowly, they have
a reduced demand for water. This is an example of a behavioral
adaptation, because it isn’t the structure of the plant that’s changing, but its
activity or behavior.
In the tillandsia plant, the
adaptation is that their leaves act as their roots to absorb nutrients and water
from the air. This can allow them to extract as
much water as possible from their environment. This is a structural adaptation,
because the adaptation relates to the structure of the plant and not its behavior or
activity.
