Tropical Rainforest Research Paper

The leaf structure of desert and rainforest plants allow them to survive in their environments by maintain enough water in their system. The climate in the deserts ranges from the temperatures of -18°C to 49°C, along with the average annual precipitation being 25 cm. Desert plants, such as cacti, possess spines (needles or very narrow pointed leave) with a very small surface area and surface area to volume ratio. This allows them to store and conserve water for long periods of time in the hot and dry daytime temperatures of the desert by reducing transpiration (evaporation of water primarily out of plants through their leaves). As a small amount surface area of spines/leaves are exposed to the hot exterior environment of the leaves, that reduces

Rainforest leaves are wide/broad, so they have a higher surface area and surface area to volume ratio in general and compared to the spines of desert plants. That being said, the surface leaves of rainforest plants are greatly and constantly exposed to hot sunlight and heat that transfers into the volume of the leaves, which essentially means that transpiration (evaporation) of water is always occurring in the leaves of the plant. With the accommodation of constant precipitation in the rainforest environments, tropical plants are constantly absorbing water in through their roots. And as said already, water will evaporate out of the plant through the pores of the leaves, specifically the stomata in the epidermis, through the process of transpiration. If there was not constant precipitation in rainforest ecosystems, tropical plants would not be able to survive, and would dry out, due to the lack of water combined with constant transpiration of water out of the leaves of the plants. In addition, as the leaves of rainforest plants have a high surface area and surface area to volume ratio, high amounts of sunlight can hit the chloroplasts and perform photosynthesis. The more surface area and surface area to volume ratio a leaf has, the more exposure to sunlight it can get; resulting in more