Question

Describe the advantage of broad-leaved trees losing their leaves as winter sets in and the advantage of needle-leaved trees keeping their leaves if they are in poor soil

Answer 1

The advantage of shedding broad leaves in the winter is to conserve the energy that needs to expand in order to provide heat to each part of the plant including leaves as in winters it becomes very dry and cold. If they do not shed their leaves they have to spend more energy to spend energy on leaves.

Needles like leaves have a thick cuticle layer that prevents from losing water in dry conditions or conditions with a limited amount of water in the soil. These leaves also help in photosynthesis by capturing more sunlight as they have a larger surface area. These adaptions can live in poor soil, rain and snowy conditions.