Camouflage, as in a toad's ability to blend in with its surroundings, is a common example of an adaptation. The bright orange color of a monarch butterfly is an adaptation to warn potential predators that the butterfly is poisonous and prevent it from being eaten. These special features have evolved over long periods of time, through the process of natural selection. Adaptations afford the organism a better chance to survive in its surroundings. Deserts, where the environment is generally hot and extremely dry, provide many striking examples of how plants and animals are adapted to their surroundings.
Plants have many adaptations to cope with the lack of water.
Some desert plants, such as the barrel cactus, have expandable stems for storing water. Other plants have adaptations that reduce water loss from their leaves, the part of a plant through which most of the water is lost. Still others have a waxy coating on the leaves, or have small leaves, that reduce the surface area exposed to the drying elements. In many cases, desert plants have no leaves at all. Photosynthesis, which normally occurs in green leaves, is carried out in the stems, which are themselves green with the pigment chlorophyll.