Plant Adaptations

Mistletoe, a hemiparasitic plant, invades the top of a mesquite tree.

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In the plant world, there is a standard for doing business. You don’t rely on food from other sources, you make it yourself using sunlight energy to convert carbon dioxide and water into glucose (sugar). That way, you don’t have to rely on much other than some rain and sunshine. And if you can’t count on sunshine, then almost every living thing is in trouble.

Even though there are far fewer described plant species than animal species (350,000 compared to about 1.5 million), there is still an amazing amount of diversity—plants adapting to different climates, biomes, and conditions. For instance, plants are the basis for habitats such as rainforests, temperate forests, deserts, grasslands, tundra, and chaparral. In fact, without plants, “habitats” such as the Sahara, the top of Mt. Everest, and Antarctica don’t support much in terms of life (unless connected to the ocean). Plants range from beneath the ocean surface almost to the tops of the tallest mountains (about 20,000 feet a.s.l.). They survive Arctic weather to desert heat. There are few places on this planet that are too harsh for at least some form of plant life to grow.

However, there are at least three types of plants that have adapted to fill empty niches and have broken the basic plant template of having roots anchored in soil and/or photosynthesizing to obtain nutrients. The first of these is the epiphyte.

An epiphyte, often referred to as an air plant, lives among the branches of a host plant. Ah, you might be thinking, it is a parasite. Not so. By definition, epiphytes do not gain nutrition from the host, only support. In other words, epiphytes do not have roots that connect them to the ground. They garner their water and nutrients from the air itself. So long as the soil is of quality sufficient to support the host, they don’t care about the soil’s nutrient ability. Plants that fit into this category include many mosses, orchids, and bromeliads such as Spanish moss. Every major group in the plant kingdom has epiphytes, but most come from the flowering plants.

The second group is the parasitic plants. These plants, unlike the epiphytes, utilize a host’s systems for their own nutrition. As we remember from high school biology, parasitism is a one-way street. The parasite gains from the association and the host loses. There are about 4,000 species of plants that are parasitic to some degree. One of the most common in our area is the paintbrush (Castilleja), which is hemiparasitic, meaning that it still photosynthesizes. It has specialized root-like structures called haustoria that can attach to the roots of other plants to get a boost of food and water. If you have ever tried to grow paintbrush, you have seen how dependent the paintbrush is on a quality host (usually a grass). Without the host, paintbrush seldom thrives.

Another common parasite is mistletoe. This plant grows in host trees, and while it is a hemiparasite, it is heavily dependent upon the host plant and can eventually kill it.

A fully parasitic plant is the dodder plant. This one is a bane to any landowner who is unlucky enough to find it growing on his or her land. Because of its lacy appearance, it is often called devil’s hair. These rootless members of the morning glory family will twine around a plant in a tangle of thin stalks and quickly suck the life out of it.

The third group and possibly the most interesting, are the carnivorous plants. There are at least 720 species and science has shown that they have evolved independently at least six times. They are always trying to solve the problem of living in nutrient poor soils and they accomplish this by dissolving prey like insects for nutrition. The evolved trickery they use to attract and capture prey is astounding. Some smell like carrion, attracting flies and such. Others provide rich nectar that pollinators cannot resist. Trap mechanisms vary from simple pitfalls where the victim falls into an inescapable trap, to sticky leaves and hairs, to snap traps that function similarly to mouse traps. How’s that for cool!

Over time, plants have evolved to fill every conceivable niche. Each plant is a wonder in its own right, finely tuned for the habitat in which it exists and breaking the rules is part of the game.

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Help Idaho Wildlife

When we traveled across the state in October 2017, most of the vehicles we saw using the wildlife management areas did not have wildlife plates. Buying wildlife plates is a great way for non-hunters and hunters alike to support wildlife-based recreation like birding.

C'mon folks, let's help Idaho's wildlife by proudly buying and displaying a wildlife license plate on each of our vehicles! 

See below for information on Idaho plates. Most states have wildlife plates so if you live outside Idaho, check with your state's wildlife department or vehicle licensing division for availability of state wildlife plates where you live. 

And tell them that you heard about it from Nature-track.com!

Wildlife License Plates

Great news! as of 2024, there are three NEW designs for license plates. They still are bluebird, cutthroat trout and elk, but they are beautiful.

Idaho Wildlife license plates provide essential funding that benefits the great diversity of native plants and wildlife that are not hunted, fished or trapped—over 10,000 species or 98% of Idaho’s species diversity. Game species that share the same habitats (such as elk, deer, antelope, sage-grouse, salmon, trout) also benefit from these specialty plates.

No state tax dollars are provided for wildlife diversity, conservation education and recreation programs. Neither are any revenues from the sale of hunting or fishing licenses spent on nongame species. Instead, these species depend on direct donations, federal grants, fundraising initiatives—and the Idaho Wildlife license plates.

Both my vehicles have Bluebird Plates. I prefer the bluebird because the nongame program gets 70 percent of the money from bluebird plates, but only 60 percent of the money from elk and trout plates - 10 percent of the money from elk plates supports wildlife disease monitoring and testing programs (to benefit the livestock industry) and 10 percent from cutthroat plates supports non-motorized boat access.

Incidentally, in 2014, the Idaho Legislature denied the Department of Fish and Game the ability to add new plates or even to change the name of the elk and cutthroat plates (very specific) to wildlife and fish plates, a move that would have allowed for changing images occasionally and generating more revenue. It would seem that they believe that we Idahoans don't want a well funded wildlife program.

I think it is time we let the Legislature know that Idahoan support wildlife funding and that we would like to see these generic plates come to fruition.