How has Antarctic Hair Grass adapted to the Antarctic?

There are very few plants in Antarctica. There are only two "higher order" or vascular flowering plants that are native to Antarctica and these are found only on the northern-most peninsula. The other plant life there includes mosses, fungi or lichens, algae or liverworts. The difficulties for plant life in Antarctica are: * low light (available energy) levels because of the latitude and the weather

* poor quality (degraded) soils * high altitudes in some areas * low precipitation (Rainfall/snowfall is less than 200-500mm/year and the majority occurs near the coast. Antarctica is a desert climate.) * low availability of moisture. (Water is frozen and not readily available to plants.) * high wind speeds * low temperatures * except in the dry valleys and on exposed rocks, where snow either does not fall or is blown away, the ground remains snow covered year round because there is no summer-long thaw, further restricting light access.

Adaptations plants have made to survive in Antarctica are: * being dark coloured to absorb as much light as possible * growing in crevices, under rocks and within porous rocks for shelter * growing in colonies to share resources * growing very low in profile to reduce exposure to the elements * being efficient at retaining water * having processes that are very efficient at low temperatures * reacting quickly to use available light and water when they are available