Question

Plant Biodiversity and Adaptation. Discuss how adaptations allowed plants to move from an aquatic environment to the variety of habitats they inhabit today. You may wish to start out discussing single-celled algae and include the transition from prokaryotes to eukaryotes. At the beginning or end of the essay, it may be helpful to write about plants that you have observed (using correct scientific nomenclature) and consider their traits and habitat. Then explain why those traits are adaptive, and how they arose. Don't forget the role of natural selection in adaptation.

I need to do a 1,200-word paper on this and I don't know where to start. Please help with any information or a paper that you have done on the subject so I can get a better understanding of this assignment.

Answer 1

Modern day plants evolved around 450 million years ago at the Ordovician period in the Paleozoic era. Early plants shared aquatic habit however, now we can see plants in the modern world are living in different habitats. It is due to adaptation that facilitates plants to withstand, live and reproduce under particular environmental conditions. Plant adaptation makes the plant more specific to one area. For example, water lily can survive only in water but cactus under the desert condition. The evolutionary changes in the ecophysiological characteristics of the plants can make these differences. Ecophysiological traits such as gas exchange, leaf structure and function of plants plays a crucial role in plant adaptation and they are good example here. At the same time, one has to remember that the repeated occurrence of CAM (Crassulacean Acid Metabolism) photosynthesis, succulent leaves and stem in desert condition indicate the evidence of natural selection of these water saving traits as well. Understanding the biology of plants and their relatives would shed a light on the picture here.