Adaptions

Adaptions

Animals are adapted to their environment
1. Dessert animals have adapted to save water and keep cool
  1. Animals that live in hot, dry conditions need to keep cool and use water efficiently
  2. Large surface area compared to volume
    1. This lets desert animals lose more body heat which helps to stop them overheating
  3. Efficient with water
    1. Desert animals lose less water by producing small amounts of concentrated urine
    2. They also make very little sweat. Camels are able to do this by tolerating big changes in body temperature while kangaroo rats live in burrows underground where its cool
  4. Good in hot conditions
    1. Desert animals have very thin layers of body fat and a thin coat to help them lose body heat e.g. camels keep nearly all their fat in their humps
  5. Camoflage
    1. A sandy colour gives good camouflage to help them avoid predators or sneak up on prey
2. Arctic animals have adapted to reduce heat loss
  1. Animals that live in really cold conditions need to keep warm
  2. Small surface area compared to volume
    1. Animals living in cold conditions have a compact shape to keep their surface area to a minimum this reduces heat loss
  3. Well insulated
    1. They also have a thick layer of blubber for insulation this also acts as an energy store when food is scarse
    2. Thick, hairy coats keep body heat in and greasy fur sheds water (this prevents cooling due to evaporation)
  4. Camouflage
    1. Arctic animals have white fur to help them avoid predators or sneak up on prey
Plants are adapted to their environment
1. Desert plants have adapted to having little water
  1. Desert dwelling plants make best use of what little water is available
  2. Small surface area compared to volume
    1. Plants lose water vapour from the surface of their leaves. Cacti have spines instead of leaves to reduce water loss
    2. They also have a small surface area compared to their size (about 1000 times smaller surface area than normal plants) which also reduces water loss
  3. Water storage tissue
    1. a cactus stores water in its thick stem
  4. Maximising water absorbtion
    1. Some cacti have shallow but extensive roots to absorb water quickly over a large area. Others have deep roots to access underground water
Some plants and animals are adapted to deter predators
1. There are various special features used by plants and animals to help protect them from getting eaten
  1. Some plants and animals have armour - like roses
  2. Others produce poisons - bees and poison ivy
  3. And some have amazing warning colours to scare off predators - like wasps
Microorganisms have a huge variety of adaptions
1. Some microorganisms are known as extremophiles - they are adapted to live in seriously extreme conditions like super hot volcanic vents, in very salty lakes or at high pressure on the sea bed
Competition and Environmental change
1. Organisms compete for resources to survive
  1. Organisms need things from their environment and from other organisms to survive and reproduce
    1. Plants need light, space, water and minerals from the soil
    2. Animals need space, food, water and mates
  2. Organisms compete with other species for the same resources
2. Environmental changes are caused by different factors
  1. The environment in which plants and animals live changes all the time. These changes are caused by living and non-living factors such as:
    1. Living
      1. A change in the occurrence of infectious diseases
      2. A change in the number of predators
      3. A change in the number of prey or the availability of food sources
      4. A change in the number of types of competitors
    2. Non-living factors
      1. A change in average temperature
      2. A change in average rainfall
      3. A change in the level of air of water pollution
3. Environmental changes affect populations in different ways
  1. Population size increases
  2. Population size decreases
    1. e.g. the number of bees in the US is falling rapidly
  3. Population distribution changes
    1. A change in distribution means a change in where on organism live
Measuring Environmental Change
1. You can measure environmental change using living indicators
  1. Some organisms are very sensitive to changes in their environment and so can be studied to see the effect of human activities these organisms are known as indicator species
    1. For example air pollution can be monitored by looking at particular types of lichen that are very sensitive to the concentration of sulfur dioxide in the atmosphere. The number and type of lichen at a particular location will indicate how clean the air is
  2. If raw sewage is released into a river the bacterial population in the water increases and uses up oxygen. Some invertebrate animals like mayfly larvae are good indicators for water pollution because they are very sensitive to the concentration of dissolved oxygen in the water. If you find mayfly larvae in a river it indicates that the water is clean
    1. Other invertebrate species have adapted to live in polluted conditions so if you see a lot of them you know theres a problem
2. Non living indicators
  1. They use satellites to measure the temperature of the sea surface and the amount of snow and ice cover.

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	Creado por sian.allison hace más de 10 años