Hydrophytes
Ecological Niche |
Hydrophytes are plants which live in environments where water is plentiful or where it is considered aquatic, for example; streams, rivers, lakes or ponds. Hydrophytes live in an environment that may have other organisms who depend on similar nutrients and resources, therefore hydrophytes will be in competition with other organisms for these. Some hydrophytes are entirely submerged in water, or only partially submerged. In a hydrophytes’ niche, there may be some abiotic and biotic aspects that affect it. For example hydrophytes may be exposed to various weather conditions and temperatures, hydrophytes environments are aquatic, meaning they will most likely be either a lake, river, stream, swamp or pond. Furthermore if their environment was near a beach, it is possible the hydrophyte could be exposed to a saline environment, or if the hydrophyte lived in marsh pools or river banks, the soil would have no air spaces as it would be quite saturated. Therefore in order to survive in these environments, hydrophytes have certain adaptations that exist in order to face the constant factor of water which hydrophytes need to live in.
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