Give one or more reasons that photosynthesis is challenging for plants in a desert environment. Describe in detail the adaptations that plants have made in order to deal with this challenge. You should be thinking of biochemical issues, not merely ways that a plant conserves water.
Without even mentioning photosynthesis, when it comes to plants in the desert, we already know how hard it is for plants to survive in such a hot environment. We also know that whenever it does rain in the desert the plants are able to store the water very well to stay alive. How exactly do they do that? Many plants from deserts, especially the succulent plants like cacti and similar plants exhibit something called Crassulacean Acid Metabolism, also known as CAM photosynthesis. During this CAM process, the stomata (the space of a pore inside epidermis of a leaf/stem that allows gases to pass through intercellular areas) closes during the day to prevent evaporation to take away the water they have and to open at night to take in the carbon dioxide no problem. This is a technique used especially for the plants in the drier parts of the world that have to adapt to the shortage of water.
That’s all for this essay. I hope you enjoyed reading it. I’ll be posting more soon and have a great rest of your day!
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