Organisms and ecosystems

• Adaptation


  A feature that allows an organism to survive in its environment
• Bactrian Camel

  • Long eyelashes
  • Hump filled with fat - energy store
  • Fat breakdown releases water
  • Flat feet stop sinking into sand
  • Thick fur for warmth
  • Thick skin on lips to eat cacti
• Fish


  • Gills take oxygen out of water
  • Fins to swim with
  • Streamlined bodies help move easily through water
• Global warming


  Increase in Earth's average temperature caused by increasing pollution and human activity
• Interdependence


  The way in which living organisms depend on each other to survive, grow and reproduce
• Habitat


  The natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism
• If producer population decreases, consumer population will also decrease
• Humans can help keep food webs in balance
• Bioaccumulation


  Build up of pollutants, such as insecticides, in the fatty tissues of organisms
• DDT is an insecticide that was once used to kill insects. It is no longer used, as it killed many fish-eating birds.
• Food chain


  A diagram that shows what an organism eats. It shows the transfer of energy between organisms.
• A food web is a set of linked food chains.
• Most food chains have only four or five links. If there were more, too little energy would be transferred to organisms at the top of the chain.
• At each level of the food chain, less energy is transferred to the organism in the level above.
• Top predator


  The lion is called the top predator – this means it isn't eaten by any other animal. The top predator is always the last link in the food chain.
• This food chain has four links.
• Habitat


  The natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism
• Predator


  An animal that hunts, kills and eats other animals
• Prey


  An animal that is hunted, killed and eaten by other animals
• Predator-prey relationship


  The relationship between a predator and its prey
• Ecosystems survive in a balance. Populations increase and decrease in a cycle