Desert plants need to conserve water most of the time. They already have mechanisms to do this. The thorns on the cactus are its leaves and conserve the water very well. Other desert plants have a thick leathery leaf with fewer stomata than plants in more temperate climates. They have thick waxy cuticles or resins covering the surface of their leaves or stems and some have hairs that grow on the surface of some leaves and help to maintain a vapor layer that reduces the amount of transpiration. Sunken stomata (stomatal crypts) also can reduce the transpiration gradient. Leaf curling, which reduces the surface area of the leaf, is a more drastic means of reducing transpiration. Rain forest trees would probably contain more stomata due to the fact that they are broader leaf plants. Their surface area is larger than those in the desert. Plants will conserve water if it is scarce by undergoing photo-respiration in place of photosynthesis. This occurs while the stomata remain closed.
2007-03-26 10:09:20
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answer #1
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answered by ATP-Man 7
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Rain forest plants have more stomata because they are releasing more grass and photosynthesizing much more frequently than desert plants. Desert plants are not doing much, so they do not need as many.
2016-04-09 03:31:23
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answer #2
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answered by Anonymous
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Desert plants. Stomata is the plural form of the tiny openings or pores, found mostly on the under-surface (epidermis) of a plant leaf, and used for gas exchange. To measure this accurately, is by measuring leaf gas exchange. A leaf is enclosed in a sealed chamber and air is driven through the chamber. By measuring the concentrations of carbon dioxide and water vapor in the air before and after it flows through the chamber, one can calculate the rate of carbon gain (photosynthesis) and water loss (transpiration) by the leaf.
However, because water loss occurs by diffusion, the transpiration rate depends on two things: the gradient in humidity from the leaf's internal air spaces to the outside air, and the diffusion resistance provided by the stomatal pores. Stomatal resistance (or its inverse, stomatal conductance) can therefore be calculated from the transpiration rate and humidity gradient. (The humidity gradient is the humidity inside the leaf, determined from leaf temperature based on the assumption that the leaf's air spaces are saturated with vapor, minus the humidity of the ambient air, which is measured directly.) This allows scientists to learn how stomata respond to changes in environmental conditions, such as light intensity, humidity, or carbon dioxide concentration.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoma"
2007-03-26 09:01:49
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answer #3
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answered by holykrikey 4
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forest plants. desert plant would have less becaus stomata is an openning in plants that allows it to lose water.
2007-03-26 08:59:10
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answer #4
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answered by Acorn barnacle 2
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plants of the rain forest for the desert plants also called xerophytes cannot afford to lose water by transpiration in he already hot and dry weather.
2007-03-26 08:59:08
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answer #5
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answered by rara avis 4
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the latter because they are not so prone to drying out
2007-03-26 08:59:29
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answer #6
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answered by Rat 7
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