Plant Life in the Taklimakan Desert - Bài tập đọc hiểu 🏜️ Plant Life in the Taklimakan Desert Bài tập đọc hiểu tương tác • Multiple Choice + Choose FOUR mechanisms • Nộp bài • Xem giải thích chi tiết Bạn có thể làm bài, nộp và xem đáp án + giải thích ngay lập tức 📖 Reading Passage Paragraph 1 The Taklimakan Desert, second in size only to Africa's Sahara Desert, occupies some 337,600 square kilometers (130,300 square miles) of northwestern China—an area about the size of Finland. Sparse rainfall, daily temperature swings of up to 20°C (68°F), and violent sandstorms make it one of the most extreme environments on Earth. Paragraph 2 Eighty-five percent of the Taklimakan Desert consists of shifting sand dunes, some up to 250 meters tall, that are largely free of vegetation. Yet, transitional areas between the open desert and oases on the desert fringe support diverse plant forms that not only have adapted to the harsh conditions but actually thrive there. Paragraph 3 Successful desert plants are resilient to scorching summers and frigid winters, drought, and high-salt conditions. The plants' principal defense against these environmental stressors consists of drawing in as much water as possible while minimizing moisture loss. Three Taklimakan plants—Populus euphratica, Tamarix ramosissima, and Alhagi sparsifolia—represent some of the most diverse, prolific vegetation in the area; although they share many survival strategies, each has developed unique coping mechanisms of its own. Paragraph 4 The Euphrates poplar, Populus euphratica, the only tall tree in the Taklimakan ecosystem, has an extensive root system that allows it to absorb water far from the standing tree. P. euphratica controls evaporation by opening and closing the stomata, or tiny pores, on the leaf surface in response to the amount of moisture being lost through the leaves to the surrounding air. These stomata generally remain open during the day while the plant conducts photosynthesis. Paragraph 5 P. euphratica can endure high-salt concentrations in the soil. It takes in unlimited amounts of salt through the roots, up the stem, and into leaves, where it dilutes the normally toxic salt by increasing...