Cuán Importante es el Agua/How Important Water Is - My entry for this week tematic challenge

in #hive-1277882 years ago


Paisaje desértico, Valle de Tehuacán/Desertic landscape, Tehuacán Valley

Hola comunidad de #amazingnature, estuve unos meses alejado de la red por razones personales, pero ya estoy de vuelta y espero poder mantenerme participando. Esta vez me gustaría particiar en el concurso temático sobre las manifestaciones de clima. Confieso que me cuestioné si debía participar, pues para que el post quedara completo debía reutilizar imagenes que ya había utilizado en #hive antes. Sin embargo, me animé pues busqué en las reglas del grupo y del concurso y solo decía que las imágenes debían ser de mi propiedad. De modo que, como sí cumplo ese requisito acá estoy participando.
Hello #amazingnature community, I have been away from the net for a few months for personal reasons, but I'm back and I hope I can keep involved. This time I would like to participate in the thematic contest on weather manifestations. I confess that I wondered if I should participate because, for the post to be complete, I had to reuse images that I had already used in #hive before. However, I was encouraged, because I looked at the rules of the group and the contest and it only said that the images had to be my own. So, since I do meet that requirement, here I am participating.


Lecho de un arroyo seco en Tehuacán/Dry creek bed at Tehuacán

Como de seguro adivinaron por la imagen pretendo hablar de la sequía. La escasez "crónica" de agua es una condición que impone grandes restricciones a las comunidades naturales y en consecuencia provoca adaptaciones. En algunos casos estas resultan extremas. Entre los organismos que más drásticas adaptaciones presentan a la sequía se encuentran las plantas. Estas, como no gozan de la capacidad de trasladarse no pueden hacer más que adaptarse y resistir las condiciones en las que habitan. De manera que desarrollan estructuras y procesos para sobrevivir y proliferar en estas condiciones.
As you may have guessed from the cover image, I intend to talk about drought. The "chronic" water shortage is a condition that imposes great restrictions on natural communities and consequently provokes adaptations. In some cases these are extreme. Among the organisms that show the most drastic adaptations to drought are plants. Since they do not have the ability to move, they can only adapt to and resist the conditions in which they live. So they develop structures and processes to survive and proliferate in these conditions.


Cactus barriliforme con suculecia extrema/Barrel cactus with extreme succulence

Suculencia
La suculencia es una de las adaptaciones a la sequía más llamativas que presentan las plantas. El desarrollo de estructuras carnosas les permite almacenar grandes cantidades de agua en las épocas de lluvia y luego sobrevivir largos períodos de sequía. Esta adaptación usualmente viene acompañada de un sistema metabólico que permite a las pantas almacenar carbono en sus tejidos durante la noche. De esta manera la planta puede realizar fotosíntesis durante el día sin necesidad de intercambiar gases y de esta forma evitar la pérdida de agua durante los momentos más calurosos y secos. A este tipo de metabolismo se le llama CAM, Metabolismo Ácido de las Crasuláceas (siglas en inglés).
Succulence
Succulence is one of the most striking adaptations to drought in plants. The development of fleshy structures allows them to store large amounts of water during the rainy season and then survive long periods of drought. This adaptation is usually accompanied by a metabolic system that allows plants to store carbon in their tissues during the night. In this way the plant can photosynthesize during the day without the need to exchange gases and thus avoid water loss during the hottest and driest times. This type of metabolism is called CAM, Crassulacean Acid Metabolism.


Fragmento de agave con cera/Agave leaf with wax

Secreción de ceras
La prioridad de los organismos en condiciones desérticas es evitar la pérdida de agua, pero esto resulta en estremo difícil para aquellos organismos que deben resistir la radiación solar. En ocasiones evitar el intercambio de gases en horas de sol puede no ser suficiente para evitar esa pérdida. Es por eso que algunas especies desarrollan adaptaciones adicionales como la secreción de ceras que crean una capa adicional de aislamiento.
Wax secretion
The priority for organisms in desert conditions is to avoid water loss, but this is extremely difficult for those organisms that must resist solar radiation. Sometimes avoiding gas exchange during sunlight hours may not be enough to prevent water loss. That is why some species develop additional adaptations such as the secretion of waxes that create an additional layer of insulation.


Hojas reducidas a espinas/Leaves reduced to thorns

Espinescencia
Otra de las adaptaciones a la sequía y quizás de las más conocidas es la reducción de las hojas hasta formar espinas. Esta adaptación permite la reducción del área de la planta capaz de transpirar y reduce el porcentaje de la planta exuesta a la luz solar, de manera que se reduce la pérdida de agua.
Spinescence
Another of the adaptations to drought and perhaps one of the best known is the reduction of leaves to form thorns. This adaptation allows the reduction of the area of the plant capable of transpiration and reduces the percentage of the plant exposed to sunlight, thus reducing water loss.


Árbol en flor con ausencia total de hojas/Tree in full bloom with total absence of leaves.

Defoliación
Otras especies se han adaptado a las condiciones de sequía utiizando más bien una estrategia de "escape". Esta consiste en perder completamente sus hojas durante el período seco. De esta forma reducen el área de evapo-transpiración. Por otra parte, en esta época reducen también su actividad metabólica, por lo que suelen ser plantas de crecimiento lento. Sin embargo, son capaces de desarrollar hojas en muy corto tiempo cuando llueve.
Defoliation
Other species have adapted to drought conditions by using an "escape" strategy. This consists of completely losing their leaves during the dry period. In this way they reduce the area of evapotranspiration. Moreover, they also reduce their metabolic activity at this time, so they are usually slow-growing plants. However, they are capable of developing leaves in a very short time when it rains.


Planta de Agave emitiendo su espiga/Agave plant emitting its spike

Estación de la reproducción
Por último, una de las adaptaciones que más me impresiona es el hecho de que muchas especies de zonas áridas florecen durante el período seco. Esta adaptación es impresionante para mí porque a primera vista parece no tener sentido. ¿Por qué desarrollar adaptaciones para proteger el agua, y luego producir estructuras que demandan grandes cantidades de agua para su mantenimiento? Y aquí viene lo verdaderamente alucinante. Haciendo esto, se garantizan dos cosas. En una etapa de tanta escasez la producción de néctar atrae gran cantidad de animales que pueden actuar como polinizadores y de esta manera se maximiza la probabilidad de producir descendencia. Y por otro lado, la formación de fruto ocurre previa a la época de lluvias. Con ello, el momento para la dispersión de las semillas coincide con la época de lluvias, que es cuando las semillas tienen mayor probabilidad de sobrevivir en un ecosistema tan estresante
Reproductive season
Finally, one of the adaptations that impresses me the most is the fact that many arid zone species flourish during the dry period. This adaptation is impressive to me because at first glance it seems to make no sense: why develop adaptations to protect water, and then produce structures that demand large amounts of water for their maintenance? And here comes the truly mind-blowing part. By doing this, two things are guaranteed. At a time of such scarcity, nectar production attracts large numbers of animals that can act as pollinators, thus maximizing the probability of producing offspring. On the other hand, fruit formation occurs prior to the rainy season. Thus, the time for seed dispersal coincides with the rainy season, which is when seeds are most likely to survive in such a stressful ecosystem.


Representación ex situ de un paisaje de desierto/Ex situ representation of a Desert landscape

These are just some of the adaptations of plants to drought, the ones I like the most. There are many more, however, I think this is enough for now, I hope you have enjoyed this post. See you soon.
Estas son solo algunas de las adaptaciones de las plantas a la sequía, las que más me gustan. Existen varias más, sin embargo, creo que por ahora ha sido suficiente, espero que hayan disfrutado de este post. Nos vemos pronto.
All the images used are of my own and were taken with a Xiaomi redmi 9A cellphone. The post was translated with Deepl (free version)
Todas las imagenes utilizadas son de mi propiedad y fueron tomadas con un telefono Xiaomi Redmi 9A. El post fue traducido con Deepl (versión libre)
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Qué bueno que estás de vuelta publicando.
Se agradece éste tipo de contenidos, más de la voz de un profesional. Anímate a publicar también en la comunidad cubana, sobre otros temas que nos toca como cubanos. Abrazo.

!PIZZA

Gracias por el comentario, pues síle debo a la comunidad involucrarme más, pero se me hace más dificil. No obstante, prometo dedicarle un pensamiento

Me avisas para ayudarte en lo que pueda. 🫡

gracias, lo haré!
!PIZZA

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Desert or semi-desert regions introduce fascinating story as to the survival of plants, nice photography and information.

Thanks @joanstewart, I believe that desert and semideserts are ones of the most impressive ecosystems on earth. glad you liked the photos and the information. My pleasure.

People look at dry regions thinking nothing is able to live, yet fauna and flora thrive having evolved to live on these lands. Learned something new here about the wax on plants which I have seen but never researched.

Geography in rock formation or in bed of valley/rivers is normally most interesting finding links going back in time.

Sure thing, Most people think dry regions are wastelands, nothing more far from truth. In some cases desert plants can live several hundreds of years. Another very interesting thin is, how plants in stressfull ecosystems "cooperate" among them to encrease survival chances of each other in a process call facilitation. For me that notion was 🤯.

In Namibia desert region large antelope, lions and many smaller animals call the place home and look super healthy as well.

Plants most definitely pass on messages to each other, our Acacia tree warns those in close proximity when giraffes start eating from the top, amazing reality is life in fauna and flora.

this side of the "pond" there are cougars, deers, foxes, armadillos and more.
Also its astonishing that plants can share water and nutrients with other individuals, through mycorrizae, even with different species. Usually, the biggest ones help the younlings in their vicinities to grow 🙌.

An older series, if you have children _(parents as well 🙂) something worthwhile watching Nature Is Speaking

Thanks you @joanstewart, I will watch it!! thanks!!



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