Interdependence and Adaptation

Survival
1. • To survive, organisms require a supply of materials from their surroundings and from the other living organisms there.
  1. • Organisms live, grow and reproduce in places where, and at times when, conditions are suitable.
Competition
1. Animals often compete with each other for:
  1. • Food
    1. • Mates
      1. • Territory
2. Plants often compete with each other for:
  1. • Light
    1. • Water from the soil
      1. • Nutrients from the soil
Adaptation
1. • Organisms have features (adaptations) which enable them to survive in the conditions in which they normally live
2. • The organisms that are best adapted to make use of their resources in a habitat are more likely to survive and increase in numbers
3. • For example:
  1. o To be able to obtain a certain food better.
    1. o To make it more difficult for predators to catch them.
      1. o To survive in extreme climates, eg arctic or deserts
        • Plants lose water vapour from the surface of their leaves
        • It is essential that they have adaptations which minimise this.
Extreme adaptations:
1. • Extremophiles are organisms that live in extreme environments.
2. • Some may be tolerant to high levels of salt, high temperatures or high pressures.
3. • Animals and plants may be adapted to cope with specific features of their environment eg thorns, poisons and warning colours to deter predators.
Extreme Animals
1. • Animals may be adapted for survival in dry and arctic environments by means of:
  1. o changes to surface area
    1. o thickness of insulating coat
      1. o amount of body fat
        o camouflage.
2. • Examples:
  1. o Camel
    1. • The camel can go without food and water for 3 to 4 days.
      1. • Fat stored in their humps provides long term food reserve, and a supply of metabolic water.
        The fat is not distributed around the body; this reduces insulation, allowing more heat loss.
        • They are tall and thin, increasing their surface area to volume ration, increasing heat loss by radiation.
  2. o Polar Bear
    1. • Polar bear has thick fur and fat beneath its skin to insulate it.
      1. • Their large, furry feet help to distribute their weight as they walk on a thin ice.
        • They are white which camouflages them against the snow. This helps them to hunt.
        • They are compact in shape, reducing their surface area to volume ratio; this reduces heat loss by radiation
Extreme Plants
1. • Plants may be adapted to survive in dry environments by means of:
  1. o changes to surface area, particularly of the leaves
    1. o water-storage tissues
      1. o extensive root systems.
2. • Desert plants
  1. • Eg the cactus, require very little water to survive
    1. • Leaves are spines.
      1. • Spines guard against most browsing herbivorous animals.
        • Spines also reduce their surface area, reducing water loss by evaporation
        • A thick waxy coating surrounds the plant to reduce evaporation.
        • Fewer 'stomata', reducing water loss
        • Roots tend to spread sideways to catch rain water.
3. • Arctic plants
  1. • Many of the plants are small, growing close to the ground and very close together to avoid the wind and conserve heat.
    1. • Some possess a light, fuzzy covering to insulate the buds so they can grow.
      1. • Many are dark colors of blue and purple to absorb the heat from the sunlight even during the winter months.
        • Because of the cold and short growing seasons, arctic plants grow very slowly.
Microorganisms
1. • Microorganisms have adaptations that enable them to survive in different environments.
  1. • Some microorganisms have flagella which enable them to move around quickly.
    1. • Bacteria undergo rapid reproduction when conditions are favourable.
Environmental change
1. • Changes in the environment affect the distribution of living organisms.
  1. • For example, the changing distribution of some bird species and the disappearance of pollinating insects including bees.
2. Non-living (abiotic) factors:
  1. • Light
    1. • Oxygen
      1. • Water
        • Temperature
3. Living (biotic) factors:
  1. • Food
    1. • Predation
      1. • Grazing
        • Disease
        • Competition – for: food, light, water, space.
Living organisms can be used as indicators of pollution:
1. • Lichens are sensitive to changes in air quality.
  1. • They are very sensitive to sulphur dioxide (SO2) pollution in the air.
    1. • Some species only grow in non-polluted air. Some species grow in polluted air. These lichens can be used as air pollution indicators.
      1. • Invertebrate animals are sensitive to changes in the concentration of dissolved oxygen in water.

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Interdependence and Adaptation

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