Adaptation to Environment

• Define habitat


  The characteristics of the type of environment where an organism usually lives
• Biotic factors are interactions of a species within and between the species, includes the entire living cast of characters for when a organism interacts
• Abiotic factors are nonliving influences that shape ecosystems, for example temperature, light intensity, etc.
• Grass species are able to adapt to the limited water by turning brown to limit water loss and reduce transpiration
• Mangroves are adapted to live in high salinity water as their roots are above the water with roots can filter the salt and have plenty of access to sunlight
• Distribution are determined by abiotic factors such as;

  • rocks
  • food
  • air
  • water
  • nutrients
  • temperature
  • light
• Range of tolerance refers to how organisms have certain limits for an environmental factor
• Optimum conditions are most favorable for an organism to survive, grow and reproduce and is within the range of tolerance
• Outline the sampling method used to record the abundance of a species! 


  Line transects & belt transects
• Outline the limiting factors of population size 


  • precipitation
  • nutrients
  • sunlight
  • predation
  • competition
• Outline types of reefs


  1. Barrier (offshore)
  2. Atol (deep ocean in volcanic foundations)
  3. Fringing (near the barrier reef)
• Hard corals are polyps that build hard limestone cups around their bases to form a colony
• Describe the process of coral reef formation 


  1. polyps provide structure and shelter
  2. algae carries out photosynthesis to create carbon
  3. some polyps secrete calcium carbonate that solidifies on the surface
• Define biomes


  geographical locations that have a unique set of biotic factors and ecological communities
• Define ecotone


  intergradation or transition of a biome
• Climate and vegetation vary accordingly to altitude and latitude
• Desert characteristics 


  • precipitation is low and highly variable
  • may be hot or cold
  • plants preserve water
  • many animals such as snakes and rats (mostly nocturnal)
• Savannah characteristics 


  • sesasonal precipitation
  • plants are adapted to be tolerant to drouhgt
  • animals such as insects, wildebeests, zebras, lions, and hyenas
• Coniferous/ Taiga Forest


  • variable precipittion
  • animals are migratory with huge animals
• Tropical rainforest characteristics


  • rainfall is constant
  • competition for light is intest
  • temperature is high
• Wetlands characteristics


  • high organic production
  • supports most plants
  • animals -> insects, birds and humans
• Estuaries characteristics 


  • transition between river and sea
  • highly productive
• Tundra characteristic 


  • low precipitation
  • winters are long and cold and summers are cold
• Outline the factors of plant adaptations


  1. waxy coated leaves limit transpiration
  2. deep roots tap underground water
  3. drop leaves and dormancy
• Animal adaptation -> Toucans

  they have big bills to reach high fruits
• Animal adaptation -> sloths

  behavioural adaptation and camouflage has algae in fur to reduce detection and moves slow in the trees
• Animal adaptation -> boa constrictor

  improves predation by hiding and striking the prey
• Outline the graph that is used to determine the precipitation in relation to the temperature at any given biome!

  climatograms