adaptations

• Adaptations for survival:

  • Organisms must be adapted to their environment to survive
  • Adaptations can be structural, behavioral, or functional
• Structural adaptations:

  • Physical features like shape or color
  • Example: Seals and walruses have a rounded shape, store fat, and have a low surface area to volume ratio to conserve body heat
  • Gray-brown color helps camouflage them from predators
• Behavioral adaptations:

  • Way an organism behaves or acts
  • Example: Elephants flap ears and spray water to cool down in hot environments
  • Swallows migrate to warmer countries during winter to avoid cold and lack of food
• Functional adaptations:

  • Processes inside an organism's body like metabolism or reproductive system
  • Example: Desert animals conserve water by producing little sweat and concentrated urine
  • Camels accumulate fat in humps to release water later
• Brown bears (Ursus actos) adaptations:

  • Found in northern latitudes, indicating adaptation to cold environment
  • Thick fur for insulation is a structural adaptation
  • Diverse diet includes plants, fungi, fish, invertebrates, and mammals like deer
  • Adapted to catch different prey with long sharp claws for fish and strong muscles for deer, both structural adaptations
  • Hibernate in winter to conserve energy, lowering metabolism, a functional adaptation
• Extremophiles:

  • Microorganisms adapted to extreme environments
  • Can live in high temperatures, high salt concentrations, and high pressures
  • Example: Bacteria found on the outside of the International Space Station