Many angiosperms can be catorgarised into three different plant groups based on their niches and how readily available water is to them in these habitats. Each group has to deal with drastically different climates and conditions, so they have many different adaptations to deal with limitations in these habitats to ensure the best survival rates and compete with other organisms successfully for resources.
Ecological niche of hydrophytes
Hydrophytes are adapted to living in aquatic environments or habitats with a copious amount of water - water loss is not an issue. The plants can be fully submerged (e.g. Elodea) or partially submerged like Lilies (Roberts 2011). Hydrophytes can be found in ponds, streams, lakes and other water environments. They are adapted to their environment to allow optimum survival rates and compete for survival with the other organisms in their habitat (BBC - GCSE Bitesize: Adaptation ). Hydrophytes have few adaptations specifically designed to help conserve water, because they live in an environment where there is an abundance of it. Hydrophytes have adaptations to minimise competition with other organisms for resources that are more scarce, so that the amount of any specific resource does not become a limiting factor to the growth and life processes of the plants (TaliaPowell and Profile).
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Ecological niche of mesophytes
Mesophytic plants live in climates like that of New Zealand's; where there are generally not large extremes in climate conditions. Due to mesophytes not usually being exposed to exceedingly wet or dry conditions, water loss is only a considerable problem during times of high temperatures like midday in summer (Roberts 2011). There is generally not great competition with other organisms because there is a good amount of water and resources, resulting in competition being minimal.
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Ecological niche of xerophytes
Xerophytes are adapted to living in dry, arid climates where water is scarce, like sand dunes or desserts. Xerophytes are exposed to extreme hot and cold temperatures as well as high, dry winds, meaning water preservation is key. Due to the minimal rainfall there is a large amount of competition for water with other organisms, which means that they have specific adaptations for limiting water loss and/or storing water (TaliaPowell and Profile ). Many of these adaptations are focused on the leaves to reduce transpiration rates.
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