Adaptation

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Created by: katiemint2
Created on: 05-06-14 19:00

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Adaptation
- Competition
  - Animals
    - Food
    - Mates
    - Territory
  - Plants
    - Light
    - Nutrients from soil
    - Space
    - Water
  - In order to survive and reproduce organisms need to compete with each other for materials
  - When organisms compete those that are better adapted to their environment are more sucessful
- Features
  - Plants may be adapted to survive in dry environments by
    - extensive root systems
    - Water storage tissue systems
    - Changes in surface area, particularly leaves that are often reduced in size
  - Adaptations to the following features can help animals survive in artic or dry enviroments
    - Changes in surface area
    - Amount of body fat
    - Thickness of insulating coat
    - Camouflage
- Extremophiles
  - These are organisms that live in environments that are very extreme, they can be tolerant to high salt levels, temperature and pressures
  - Some plants eg cacti have thorns to prevent animals eating them
  - Some animals eg blue dart frogs have developed poisons to keep predators away
- Environmental change
  - The distribution of animals and plants can be affected by changes in the environment
    - Non living factors such as average temperature or rainfall
    - Living factors such as a change in a competitor
- Indicators of pollution
  - invertebrate animals indicate water pollution and are used as indicators of the concentration of dissolved oxygen in water
  - Lichens are indicators of air pollution, as their growth is affected by sulphur dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere