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Evaluation · Q36

Q.List any two adaptive features evolved in parasites enabling them to live successfully on their host?

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Step 1. The chapter states that parasitic plants 'produce the haustorial roots inside the host plant to absorb nutrients from the vascular tissues of host plants' — this specialised penetrating structure, the haustorium, is a key adaptation letting the parasite tap directly into its host's xylem and/or phloem to draw out water, minerals and/or manufactured food.

Step 2. A second adaptive feature distinguishes hemiparasites (partial parasites) such as Viscum and Loranthus: they retain their own chlorophyll and photosynthetic capability, drawing only water and minerals (not manufactured food) from the host — this partial self-sufficiency is itself an adaptation that reduces the parasite's total dependence on the host while still exploiting it for what it cannot make itself. …

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