​What are some plant adaptations?

• ​They make their own food.

• ​Use their leaves to soak up sunlight.

• ​Use their roots to take in water and minerals.

​Growth Adaptations

​Tropism: a growth movement (the way a plant moves to grow)

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​Phototropism: a growth response to light. (when a plant grows towards a light source)

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​Gravitropism: plants respond to the pull of the earth's gravity

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​Plant roots respond to water.

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​Some plants respond to touch

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​Many plants respond to changes in the seasons.

​What adaptations protect plants?

• Plant spines: protect the plants from being eaten by animals.

• Poisonous sap​: keeps birds and bugs from eating the plant.

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​*Poisonous sap does not always protect a plant from every animal. Some animals might be able to eat it, but it keeps away a lot of others.

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​Example: deathcama: a common poisonous plant. Animals that eat it become very sick and often die.

​How do grasses survive in prairies?

​The amount of rainfall affects which plants grow on the plains. The more it rains, the deeper the grass roots grow.

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​Little rain falls on the shortgrass prairie. Here the grass roots are short.

​Short roots are an adaptation that helps plants absorb water near the surface of the ground where most of the rainwater stays.

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​The tallgrasses grow in areas that get more rain. Their roots are long and can reach the water that sinks deep into the ground.

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​Grasses do not have spines or poisonous saps.

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​So what adaptation helps them survive?

• ​Growth: helps grass survive when part of the plant is eaten by an animal.

• ​Surviving fires: when the fire goes out, grasses send up new shoots and soon the prairie is covered with grass again.

​Bogs

​Bogs: wet environment where the soil contains very few nutrients.

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​The plants in bogs adapt to get their nutrients from other things.

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​Plants found in bogs get their nutrients from insects.

• ​These plants have a sweet smelling syrup that attracts insects.

• ​The leaves trap the insects.

• ​They have liquids like the ones we have in our stomachs.