While many desert plants survive drought by storing water in succulent tissues, some species, known as ephemerals, employ a different strategy. Ephemeral plants do not store water; instead, their seeds remain dormant in the dry soil for years. When a rare rainfall occurs, these seeds germinate, grow, flower, and produce new seeds in a span of just a few weeks. By completing their entire life cycle rapidly during brief wet periods, ephemerals entirely avoid the prolonged dry spells that characterize their arid environment.
Which choice best states the main idea of the text?
- ADesert plants have developed a wide variety of highly specialized physiological adaptations to survive in dry environments.
- Rather than storing water, ephemeral desert plants survive dry periods by rapidly completing their life cycle when rainfall occurs.Answer
- CEphemeral plants are able to store large amounts of water in their seeds during rare rainfalls to survive years of drought.
- DBecause ephemeral plants grow so quickly, they will eventually outcompete and replace water-storing succulents in desert ecosystems.
Answer
Rather than storing water, ephemeral desert plants survive dry periods by rapidly completing their life cycle when rainfall occurs.
The correct answer accurately states the main point of the passage, which is that ephemeral plants survive desert droughts not by storing water, but by remaining dormant and quickly completing their life cycle when water is available.
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