How does the mojave yucca adapt to the desert

This riparian vegetation is an important resource to animals, especially migratory birds. Mojave National Preserve's botanist explains why some areas have such a rich diversity of plant life. Explore This Park. Mojave National Preserve California. Info Alerts Maps Calendar Reserve.

Alerts In Effect Dismiss. Dismiss View all alerts. Joshua Trees are commonly seen in the Mojave Desert. The trees appeared to them as if they were raising their branches in supplication. Other travelers, such as John Fremont, described Joshua trees as "repulsive.

A yucca moth is a moth whose larvae feed on the yucca plant. Yucca plants depend on the Yucca moth to survive. The plant depends on the moth because the moth helps to pollinate.

The word yucca is a noun, a plant. Example sentence: The yucca is a flowering plant with tall spikes of blossoms. A Yucca Moth caterpillar eats yucca plants. The adult moth lays her eggs on yucca plants. The moths pollinate the yucca flowers. The moth larvae caterpillars feed on the developing seeds of the plant. Log in. Botany or Plant Biology. See Answer. Best Answer. Study guides. Q: How is the yucca plant adapted to its desert environment?

Write your answer Related questions. Where does a yucca live? How is a desert environment a desert environment? What type of environment does a yucca live in? In what desert does the yucca plant grow? How can the yucca plant survive in its environment? Adaptation of a yucca plant in a desert? What clothing did pueblos wear? How do you spell yucca? The Joshua tree is the best known of the plants endemic to the Mojave Desert, which is the only place where it is found.

Typically, it grows at elevations of to feet to meters. It must survive the extremes of this desert habitat, including very arid and hot summers, freezing temperatures during winter nights, and little precipitation most rainfall comes in the winter. See also: Mojave Desert. Because of the highly specific adaptations that allow the Joshua tree to survive in the Mojave Desert, it is often considered to be an indicator species for the health of that ecosystem.

Joshua trees, like most other yucca species, rely exclusively on the female yucca moth genus Tegeticula for pollination, and no other animal is capable of performing this action. Because of the limited range of the Joshua tree and its total reliance on the yucca moth for its reproductive success, the plant is quite vulnerable to dramatic changes in its environment. In particular, the effects of wildfires, droughts, and trends toward rising temperatures that have been attributed to global warming are predicted to be detrimental to the long-term survival of this species.

See also: Climate modification ; Drought ; Endangered species ; Forest fire ; Global climate change ; Global warming ; Plant vulnerability to climate change.