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why are leaves reduced to spines in cactus

leaves are reduced to spines in a cactus , so that the water does not get evaporated with the heat of the SUN.

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Leaves are reduced to spines in cactus because-

1.They are present in hot deserts which are scarce in water so in order to reduce the loss of water by Transpiration from the surface of the leaves, its leaves are reduced to spines.

 2. It prevents or rather protects the cactus plant from being eaten by the desert animals. It thus ensures the survival of the plant long enough to reproduce & carry on the survival of its species.

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Cactus is a special plant that is classified under xerophytes. Xerophytes are those plants which can survive in arid conditions or in deserts. Xerophytes are otherwise called as desert plants as they get adapted to the hot conditions. The main characteristic feature of xerophytes which is commonly observed in all of them is that they are succulent. The desert plants store excess water in their stems and reduce their leaves and the leaf area. The reduction in the leaf area is to decrease the area of transpiration so that less water gets evaporated through leaves.
Cactus is one of those type of plants which also exhibits succulent feature as well as reduction of its leaves. Many people keep this plant in their garden as some of the cacti look beautiful. It is visible to all of us that cactus have spines on their stems. Cacti have large stem shapes widely spread in their surface area and the stems are mistaken as leaves. The large succulent nature of the plant organ seen in cactus is the stem part of the plant. The spines that are observed commonly by everyone on cactus are reduced leaf forms.
The spines on the cactus are otherwise known as modified leaves. The leaves either get reduced in their size or are modified to enable the plant to survive comfortably. The spines were found to save the plant from its predators such as animals and humans. Humans generally keep themselves away from the spines while some animals will not face any discomfort due to these spines. They are javelin, pack rats, desert tortoise, and desert bighorn sheep. The cactus stem also gets protection from the sun through these spines. There is another group of cacti called as Cholla cacti”. This group of plants has barbs on the tip of the spines. These barbs get attached to any object that comes in contact with the spines. When humans or animals walk nearby these plants, the barbs get attached to them and fall on the ground. These fallen barbs reproduce vegetatively and give rise to a new plant. That is the reason for finding numerous Cholla cacti distributed all over.

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Leaves are reduced to spines in cactus because-

1.They are present in hot deserts which are scarce in water so in order to reduce the loss of water by Transpiration from the surface of the leaves, its leaves are reduced to spines.

2. It prevents or rather protects the cactus plant from being eaten by the desert animals. It thus ensures the survival of the plant long enough to reproduce & carry on the survival of its species.

 

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the leaves of a cactus plant are reduced to spines to reduce the loss of water through transpiration and to prevent the plant from being eaten up buy animals

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what enable yaks to survive in extremely low temtreture
 
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To reduce the loss of water
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  The leaves of a cactus are reduced to spines so, that the water stored in the cactus 
  does not get evaporated in a very small amoumtby the suns heat. If they would not 
  be reduced to spines a large amount of water would evaporate.
     I hope this answer would be helpful!
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Most cacti do not have leaves because they grow in a hot, dry environment, with little water. They are able to survive by storing water for long periods of time; they do this through their extensive root system, which absorbs water from the soil when it rains. In a typical leaf, there is a large amount of water loss through small openings at the leaf surface (called the stomatas). This water loss, called transpiration, is speeded up with warm temperatures. Cacti have adapted by being leafless, storing water in their stems, developing waxy skin to seal in moisture, and growing spines, a form of leaf modification. Spines help shade the rounded or ribbed stems from the blazing sun of their desert habitat. They also protect desert animal species by providing them with shelter.
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This is happens, so that the water does not get evaporated with the blazing heat of the sun in the dessert.
Hope that this wud help you☺️
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The leaves in a cactus plant are modified into spines to prevent the loss of water.
Leaves release water from the stomata to cool the plant. This process is called transpiration. Loss of water from the leaves tend the roots to pull more water from the ground.
The cactus plant grows in a desert where there is a shortage of water. If the leaves lose water from the surface the plant would die due to shortage of water.
To prevent this cactus plant has adapted itself  to the desert habitat and the leaves are modified into spines to prevent loss of water from transpiration  
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to reduce the lose of water
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Cacti have spines as these minimise the surface area and so reduce water loss by transpiration by breaking the effects of the wind. The spines also protect the cacti from animals that might eat them.
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LEAVES ARE REDUCEDE IN SPINE IN CACTUS PLANT TO PREVENT  WATER EVAPORATING
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Leaves are reduced in cactus such that they don't lose water by transpiration
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Desert plants like cactus have some features :-
  • The leaves of these desert plants are either small or absent.
  • Leaves are converted into spines which help to reduce loss of water.​​​​​​​
                                                THANK YOU
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leaves are reduced as spines in  cactus because to prevent water loss in such dry climatic regions like desserts
 
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Leaves are reduced to spines in cactus plant as they prevent water loss due to transpiration. Hope this helps you.
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Please find this answer

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Leaves are reduced to spines in cactus because it protects it from losing water
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Because it prevent cactus from loosing water in it
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Blue whale
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To prevent water loss through transpiration
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No. 13) True
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To reduce transpiration
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Please find this answer

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