Life in the Water

Questions & Prompts

• Dive into the photograph and imagine you are standing in the photograph. What do you see? What do you smell? What do you hear? What do you taste? What do you feel?

• Plants need air, nutrients, sunlight, and water. Which of these can you identify in the photograph? Which can you not see?

• What plant adaptations can you identify in these photographs?

• What questions do you have?

Adaptations to Aquatic Environments

Plants need water, but too much water can be dangerous. Look above at all the adaptations that rainforest plants have to help them survive the wet environment. Life in the water can be even very hard. Very few plants have adapted to life in the water. Of all the plants on earth, only a small fraction grow in the water. Those that do have special adaptations to help them survive.

Spongy Tissue in Stems and Leaves. Spongy tissue helps the plant move the oxygen in the air down to the roots.

Floating, Horizontal Leaves. Horizontal leaves that float on the surface of the water expose as much of the leaf surface as possible to the sun. Water reflects light, so leaves underwater get less light than leaves on the surface. Floating horizontal leaves help plants capture as much sunlight as possible for photosynthesis.

Emergent Leaves. Water reflects light, so leaves underwater get less light than leaves on the surface. Emergent leaves are leaves that rest on the top of the water. This adaptation helps plants capture as much sunlight as possible for photosynthesis.

Explore wetland conservation!

Wetland habitats are important and many are endangered. Conservation efforts are efforts to save and restore these habitats. Learn more:

• Fabulous Wetlands with Bill Nye The Science Guy (1989)

• California's Wetland Monitoring Group

• Coastal Wetlands: Too Valuable to Lose