10.7 - Adaptations

Question 1

What are adaptations?

Answer 1

• Adaptations are characteristics that increase an organism’s chance of survival and reproduction in its environment. Adaptations can be divided into three groups:
  1) anatomical adaptations- physical features (internal and external)
  2) behavioural adaptation - the way an organism acts. These can be inherited or learnt from their parents
  3) Physiological adaptations- processes that take place inside an organism
• Many adaptations fall into more than one category. For example, the courtship behaviour of a peacock requires it to lift its huge, colourful tail to attract the peahen. This is an example of both a behavioural and anatomical adaptation

Question 2

Anatomical adaptations

Answer 2

Examples:

1) body covering - animals have a number of different body coverings such as hair, scaled, spines, feathers, and shells. These can; help the organism to fly, such as the thick hair on polar hair - provide protection, such as a snail’s shell.
2) Camouflage - the outer colour of an animal allows it to blend into its environment, making it harder for predators to spot it
3) Teeth - the shape and type of teeth present in an animal’s jaw are related to its diet. Herbivores, such as sheep, have continuously growing molars for chewing through grass and plants. Carnivores, such as tigers, have sharp large canines to kill prey and tear meat
4) Mimicry - copying another animal’s appearance or sounds allows a harmless organism to fool predators into thinking it is poisonous or dangerous. For example, the harmless hover-fly mimics the markings of a wasp to deter predators

Question 3

Marram grass

Answer 3

• Commonly found on sand dunes around the UK. It is a xerophyte. Its adaptations reduce the rate of transpiration and include:
  1) curled leaves to minimise the surface area of moist tissue exposed to the air, and protect the leaves from the wind
  2) hairs on the inside surface of the leaves to trap moist air close tot he leaf, reducing the diffusion gradient
  3) Stomata sunk into pits, which make them less likely to open and lose
  4) a thick waxy cuticle on the leaves and stems, reducing water loss through evaporation

Question 4

Behavioural adaptations

Answer 4

• Example:
  1) survival behaviours - for example, an opossum plays dead and a rabbit freezes when they think they have been seen
  2) Courtship - many animals exhibit elaborate courtship behaviours to attract a mate. For example, scorpions performs a dance to attract a partner. This increases the organism’s chance of reproducing
  3) Seasonal behaviours - migration ( animals move from one region to another to cope with environmental changes), hibernation (a period of inactivity in which an animal’s body temperature, heart rate and breathing rate slow down to conserve energy, reducing their requirement for food).

Question 5

Behavioural adaptations: 2 categories

Answer 5

1) Innate behaviour - the ability to do this is inherited through gees. For example, the behaviour of spiders to build webs and woodlice to avoid light is innate
2) Learned behaviour - these adaptations are learnt from experience or from observing other animals. An example of learned behaviour is the use of tools

Question 6

Physiological adaptations

Answer 6

• Examples:
  1) Poison production - many reptiles produce venom to kill their prey and many plants produce poisons in their leaves to protect themselves from being eaten.
  2) Antibiotic production - Some bacteria produce antibiotics to kill other species of bacteria in the surrounding area
  3) Water holding - the water-holding frog can store water in its body. This allows it to survive in the desert for more than a year without access to water.