Question

Find out the adaptations in xerophytic plants in terms with its photosynthetic efficiency and methods of water conservation

Answer 1

Dear student.

Adaptation:
1. Water conservation.
Leaves few or absent or represented by spines only.
Stomata are sunken in the pits of the epidermis and are less in number this prevent the loss of water.

2. Photosynthetic efficiency:
Crassulacean acid metabolism, also known as CAM photosynthesis, is a carbon fixation pathway present in some plants such as xerophytes. These plants fix carbon dioxide during the night, storing it as the four-carbon acid, malate. The malate is then reduced to a three-carbon compound oxaloacetic acid and the CO2 is released during the day, where it is concentrated around the enzyme RuBisCO, thus increasing the efficiency of photosynthesis. The CAM pathway allows stomata to remain shut during the day, reducing transpiration; therefore, it is especially common in plants adapted to arid conditions.

​Regards.