adaptations

• adaptations allow organisms to...

  survive
• how do adaptations allow organisms to survive?

  to enable them to survive is different environmental conditions
• adaptations can be...


  structural, behavioural, functional
• structural adaptations


  a physical feature of an organism's body having a specific function that contributes to the survival of the organism
• structural adaptation of artic animals

  white fur to camouflage against the snow to avoid predators and sneak up on prey
• structural adaptation of animals living in cold places

  thick layer of fur/fat and low surface area to volume ratio to help retain heat
• structural adaptation of animals living in hot places

  thin layer of fur/fat and large surface area to volume ratio to help lose heat
• behavioural adaptations


  ways an organism acts that increase its chance of survival
• behavioural adaptation: migration


  many species migrate to warmer climates during the winter to avoid the problems of living in cold conditions
• functional adaptations


  internal processes or systems in an organism that give it a survival advantage
• functional adaptation in desert animals

  desert animals conserve water by producing small amounts of concentrated urine and very little sweat
• functional adaptation in brown bears

  brown bears hibernate over winter. They lower their metabolism, which conserves energy, so they don't have to hunt when there's not much food about
• why do microorganisms have a huge variety of adaptations?

  so that they can live in a wide range of environments
• extremophiles


  organisms that are adapted to live in extreme environments
• examples of extreme environments

  - high/low temperatures

  - high salt concentration

  - high pressure
• what do food chains show?

  what's eaten by what in an ecosystem
• food cha\ins always start with a...

  producer
• common examples of producers in food chains

  green plants or algae
• what happens when a green plant produces glucose?

  some of it is used to make other biological molecules in the plant - this is known as the plants biomass
• biomass is the mass of...

  living material
• biomass can be thought of as...

  energy stored in a plant
• biomass


  the total mass of the living material that is found in an organism, multiplied by the number of organisms that can be found
• what are producers in a food chain eaten by?

  primary consumers
• what are primary consumers in a food chain eaten by?

  secondary consumers
• what are secondary consumers in a food chain eaten by?

  tertiary consumers
• populations of prey and predators go in...

  cycles
• predators


  animals that hunt and kill other animals for food
• prey


  an animal that is hunted and killed by another for food
• what happens if the population of prey increases?

  population of predators increase
• what happens if the population of prey decreases?

  population of predators decrease
• what happens if the population of predator increases?

  population of prey decreases
• what happens if the population of predator decreases?

  population of prey increases
• why are predator-prey cycles always out of phase with each other?

  because it takes a while for one population to respond to changed in the other population