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Plant Life - Plants in Different Habitats

Grade 4ICSE

Review the key concepts, formulae, and examples before starting your quiz.

🔑Concepts

Habitat: The natural environment where a plant lives and grows is called its habitat. Plants adapt to their surroundings to survive.

Terrestrial Plants: Plants that grow on land. These are further classified into plants of plains, mountains, deserts, marshy areas, and coastal regions.

Desert Adaptations: To prevent loss of H2OH_2O, desert plants like the Cactus have leaves reduced to spines. Photosynthesis is carried out by the green, fleshy stem which stores water.

Mountain Plants: Trees like Pine and Fir are cone-shaped with needle-like leaves. This shape allows snow to slide off easily during winters.

Marshy Areas: In clayey soil where air cannot reach the roots, plants like Mangroves have 'breathing roots' or pneumatophores that grow above the ground to absorb O2O_2.

Aquatic Plants: These grow in water. They are categorized as Floating (e.g., Duckweed), Fixed (e.g., Lotus), and Submerged (e.g., Hydrilla).

Submerged Plants: These plants, like Tape Grass, have narrow leaves with no stomata. They breathe through their body surface and help clean water by absorbing CO2CO_2.

Insectivorous Plants: Plants like the Venus Flytrap and Pitcher Plant grow in nitrogen-deficient soil. They trap and digest insects to fulfill their nitrogen requirements.

📐Formulae

6CO2+6H2OChlorophyll+SunlightC6H12O6+6O26CO_2 + 6H_2O \xrightarrow{Chlorophyll + Sunlight} C_6H_{12}O_6 + 6O_2

Starch (stored food)=(C6H10O5)n\text{Starch (stored food)} = (C_6H_{10}O_5)_n

💡Examples

Problem 1:

Why do plants in hilly areas have a conical shape and needle-like leaves?

Solution:

The conical shape helps the snow to slide off the branches easily, preventing them from breaking. Needle-like leaves have a waxy coating to prevent damage from frost and minimize H2OH_2O loss.

Explanation:

This is a physical adaptation to survive in extremely cold climates and heavy snowfall.

Problem 2:

Explain how a Cactus is able to survive in a habitat with very little H2OH_2O.

Solution:

  1. Leaves are modified into spines to reduce transpiration. 2. The stem is green and fleshy to perform photosynthesis and store H2OH_2O. 3. Roots spread deep or wide to absorb maximum moisture.

Explanation:

Deserts have high temperatures and low rainfall, so plants must conserve water to stay alive.

Problem 3:

What is the primary function of submerged plants in an aquarium?

Solution:

Submerged plants like Hydrilla absorb the CO2CO_2 exhaled by aquatic animals and release O2O_2 during photosynthesis.

Explanation:

This helps in maintaining the balance of gases in the water, making it suitable for fish to breathe.